“28… 42… 17…92…34…” Celestia, make it stop! I spouted off numbers involuntarily, feeling my stomach lurch inside, acid traveling up my throat along with what little was left of my breakfast. Vomiting over the floor again, the cashier stepped bacwards, out of disgust. Twintails was panicking beside me, glancing out at the bottom of that radioactive cesspool as my horn hummed painfully. Shit… Twintails, help! I let off a groan as the numbers continued to filter through my head.

“Dammit man, give me that!” Fringe shouted into my ear, reaching for and grabbing my pip-leg. Gah, don’t pull so hard! He worked with the dials, flipping a switch on the back of it. The inter-built pip-buck began to blast out a high-pitched whine, which quite honestly didn’t help my headache at all. I held a hoof to my head, feeling sick again, but at least now not being assaulted by numbers. I swore seven was mocking me... “Come on, get ahold of yourself. Would figure the buzz is irritating, but it’s better than whatever the hell that signal is doing to you.” The power-armored stallion grunted, holding one of my shoulders and steadying myself as I panted heavily, the whining soon dying off along with the numbers. I looked up at Fringe, coughing a bit. “Why haven’t you learned how to jam signals if that’s your reaction to them, eh? Thought you were supposed to be good with stuff like this.”

My breath was a little ragged as I stood up, the cashier picking up a mop to start cleaning up my sickness. I rubbed my temple a bit, still disoriented but thankfully watching as the planet stopped rolling like water. “Ugh, s-sorry…” Twintails looked back at the bomb in the center of town, a grin forming on his muzzle and his eye twitching erraticly, looking somewhat faint. I thought you liked watching these bombs go off... “Whatever station that is that's doing that, it’s coming in a lot clearer here than back outside EQUAD. If we find it, we should be able to shut it down.” Fringe grunted lightly, giving myself a few pats on the shoulder before we headed out of the shop, the shopkeeper glaring at us as we left. Quit your whining, stripes, you’ve probably dealt with it before.

“W-well, the tower can’t be too far out of the way, it doesn’t look like there’s anything between here and Sunrise Castle. No wonder they call this the 'big empty'...” Twintails regained himself, stumbling a bit on his hooves ad taking a deep breath as we walked through town. I did my best to avoid making eye contact with anyone around - the sooner we got out of here, the better. “It’s probably just an old CONELRAD system stuck on a broadcast loop. Used during the war to confuse dragon bomber strikes. Far as activating balefire bombs, though, that... that's a new one for me.” Fringe led us around the edge of the crater, heading into a small café. Guh, food, yeah, might... maybe not want food that things that are healed by radiation eat. The power-armored stallion laid his large rifle down against a couch, sitting down next to it with a whirr of motors. Kind of wonder if I could bribe Nova into giving me a set of that stuff...

“You two ought to get comfortable, storm’s not clearing up anytime soon.” Fringe let off another grunt, peering out of the old window - huh, why does that look more fitting on that cruiser we hitched a ride in? - and lighting up another cigar. I reluctantly sat down on the dirty sofa, Twintails sitting beside me, his rifles jingling as a small cloud of dust puffed out, a soft clicking being heard from our geiger counters. Fallout-filled furniture, great. We sat in silence for a moment before a ghoul waiter... waitress?... trotted over to us. “I’ll have a Wild Pegasus, anything hard.” The ghoul jotted down Fringe's order as I shook my head, Twintails pulling out a Sparkle Cola. The waiter walked away, and I rummaged around in my saddle bags. Second to last Sarsaparilla, better make this one last... I popped the cap off and slipped it into my worryingly light cap bag, the measly 7 caps jangling against each other slightly.

I took a sip of cola, the fizz stinging a little as it ran down my acid-burned raw throat. A black and white and red form caught my glare as a zebra ghoul passed by the clouded window, breathing heavy. “Why is it Zebras haven’t been evicted from this city yet? The others seem to have gotten the idea down already.” I was about to take another drink, but the power armored earth pony answered myself with a very heavy hoof to the shoulder. I felt the lip of the bottle jam into my teeth, spitting some of the soda back into it. Owwie...

“Keep your smart mouth shut, last thing we need is to be kicked out of here in this weather.” He hissed in my ear. The ghoul returned with Fringe’s drink, setting the orangeish bottle on the counter before he collected the required caps. Fringe twisted the cork out, taking a swig of it around his cigar. “Besides, it’s not like they have much of a choice. If you happened to forget, bombs hit everyone, and everyone suffered the consequences.” I didn’t say anything, only taking another sip of soda. Twintails did the same, glancing around the shop absent-mindedly.

My pegasus friend set his Cola down on the table, leaning into the chair a bit. He pulled up his Pip-Buck map again, checking to see how far exactly we were from Sunrise Castle. The wind howled outside as we drank, ghouls passing by, always unwilling to step back out into the cold. “So, you’re with the Steelponies?” Twintails asked, trying to find something to break the admittedly awkward silence. “Why exactly are you following us around anyways, keeping us alive? Oh, ah, thanks, by the way...”

Fringe slipped the quarter-empty bottle into his saddlebags, turning to face us both, a certain look on his face. “All I'll say, there are ponies out there that have taken an interest in you.” I downed the last bit of Sarsaparilla, levitating the bottle over to a trash can. “Of course, with your habit of charging into any situation head-first, they have every right to be concerned. I'm just, well, making sure you don't get your bloody asses blown off.” He said gruffly, glancing at Twintails. He'd been doing that a lot...

Twintails gave a slightly annoyed look at the mustached stallion, about to say something but only letting off a sigh. We sat in silence for a while longer, Fringe eventually pulling out a deck of cards and started to play Solitaire. I looked out the grimy window, watching as the guards standing at the gate switch shifts. The storm had died down quite a bit since we arrived, the clouds returning to their normal welcoming shade of bluish-grey. Fringe collected his cards and slid them back into their box, tossing it back into his saddlebags before standing up and hitching his rifle to his back. Twintails and I stood up; I cracked my neck a bit as Twintails ruffled his feathers. “The storm’s letting up. If we start now we can probably make it to Sunrise Castle in a couple hours.”

I readjusted some of the metal plates on my armor before we headed out of the restaurant, Fringe having left a couple caps on the table as a tip. The freshly fallen snow crunched a bit under our hooves, the idle clicking of our Geiger counters returning as myself and Twintails swallowed down a few more of the anti-radiation pills. The dirty snow blew through the open gate, Fringe leading us in the correct direction, the compass swinging around madly in the corner of my vision to say that we all were heading southwest- or, wait, south. Guh, stupid thing's probably on the fritz from those bombs. Our Geiger counters quieted to the occasional thirty second or so tick as we put more distance between ourselves and Topatow. I felt my horn vibrate softly again, a faint static filling my ears. I groaned and put my hoof to my head, but the sensation passed quickly. Twintails looked over to me, concerned. “I’ll be alright. Let’s just hope we find that station soon.”

---

We walked through the snow, the icy winds blowing around us, thankfully not making it feel like I ran my face over a cheese grater this time. Twintails shifted his back-mounted guns a bit, their clinking in the saddle faintly heard over the blasts of wind. We were near the base of a gradual hill, something starting to come into view over the edge. I checked my Pip-Buck, the light green lines showing we were still a few miles from Sunrise Castle. As we approached, the static filled my ears once more, my horn vibrating. Aaagh, shit… not again. I put a hoof to my temple, but instead of a wave of numbers breaking in again, my Pip-Buck gave off a loud whine, mingling with the static. Twintails looked worried, but Fringe continued on. The beep continued, but my headache didn’t grow worse, thankfully - my head simply felt like a dead TV screen, filling with a large amount of static rather than numbers.

Unfortunately, the closer we got, the more the signal seemed to be overpowering what interference my puny pip-leg could put out. Fif…teen… For…ty…Five… I stopped, rubbing my head some more. Twintails and Fringe stopped, my pegasus friend trotting over to me, looking into my eyes. “Are you alright? Should we, ah, should we find a different way around?” A frown grew on his face, myself first nodding, then shakng my head, pushing forwards towards the metallic... thing, my headache pounding. Hold it together, Minty... Twintails looked back up at the top of the hill, the tip of a radio tower now visible. “I, ah, don’t think that interference trick is working anymore, Fringe.” I gave a shuddering breath, praying the transmission would end soon.

“We just… need to wait until… it stops.” I gulped down a breath of air, trying to fight the vomit rising in my throat. My haunches fell to the snow, the fluff dampening my tail as I shut my eyes tightly. My Pip-Buck beeped and whined, trying to dampen the signal from the tower. Seventy… Six… One Hundred… and Three. I groaned, the signal slowing, the whine of my Pip-Buck subsiding. I swallowed several times, forcing my lunch back down. “Al-alright, I think I’m good. I just hope it doesn’t start again when we’re inside. I don’t think I could handle being that close to the signal.” My eyes went up to the top of the tower, watching the slow blink of the red light.

We slowly traipsed up the hill, the small building coming further into view. It was nothing more than a small radio station, the windows boarded up, the doorway blocked by a small pile of snow. It didn’t look like anyone had visited in a while, though that didn’t set it apart from many other buildings that were around here. Fringe tried the handle, but the rusted and iced-over metal didn’t budge. He grasped it in both hooves, shaking it back and forth violently, but to no avail, prompting a stern grunt from teh stallion as he bit on the nub of his cigar. “Alright, stand back.” Twintails and I stepped behind him as he moved backwards, lifting up his rifle and taking aim at the lock. The massive gun cracked loudly as the bullet smashed into the small hole, the door flying open from the force. Ow, ballistic lockpicking, I thought that was just something that Twintails did...

We stepped into the building, entering what I could best describe as a monitoring room. A few tables of switches, dials, knobs, and lights lay before a surprisingly intact pane of glass, which revealed a room of microphones and seats. I trotted up to the desk nearby, looking around for a power switch. Ah, come on, there has to be something here! As I twiddled a few dials, something atop the desk, admist the degraded paper and pencils, caught my eye; it was a small porcelian figurine of a yellow pony, appearing to be hovering in the air with one hoof barely on the ground. I picked it up, her pink mane covering one of her eyes, reading the inscription upon the black base; 'Be Kind'.

Fringe trotted over, scanning the corkboard on the wall as I tucked the figurine into my bag, not wanting him to see it for whatever reason. I looked around the room, spotting a circuit breaker on the wall, a wide grin coming to my face as I quickly ran over to it. Clasping the rusted lever in my hooves, Twintails poked his head up from behind a garbage can - okay, not gonna ask - coming over to help. There was a loud screech as the metal slid against itself, but as the switch fell to the off position, the few still functioning lights flickered out, leaving us in semi-darkness. A sigh of relief escaped myself, along with a light chuckle, finally feeling my head not being massaged into jelly. Twintails fell back, chuckling and grabbing myself in a light hug, wearing a smile as he... wiped his rusty hooves on my barding. Gee, thanks. “Well, thank goodness that’s dealt with.”

As we were heading back out, ready to greet the wasteland again without worrying about things exploding in our faces, there was a jiggle at the door leading into the sound booth. It swung open, a figure freezing mid-sentence as he spotted the three of us. “Oh come on, did this thing die aga-” My eyes went wide; in the small beams of light that tricked in from the boarded windows stood a figure with an unmistakably striped coat. He looked between the three of us, very worried - oh, he had every right to be. He leapt back behind one of the degraded couches, lifting up a hunting rifle. “W-what’re you doing here!?” Fringe stepped forward, but the zebra turned the muzzle of the gun towards him.

“Hey, calm down mate. We thought this place was empty.” The power-armored earth pony lifted a hoof up in front of himself as I lifted up Ivan, pointing the charged prongs towards the zebra. The stripe turned his sights towards myself as I pulled on the trigger, the prongs beginning to spark, lightning arcing between them. The cowardly bastard stalled, looking out from behind the scope, inspecting Ivan more closely. His eyes went wide as he dropped his rifle, raising his hooves - good, always like battles where the enemy knows their place.

“Wait! Don’t shoot, I’m a friend!” He shouted, shaking his forelegs in front of himself. Like hell you are. I pulled the trigger tight, the lightning discharging towards the striped bastard. What a coward - he'd ducked, letting the electricity sear the wall behind him in a big black mark. I popped out the dead ECP - why couldn't that wiry foal-eater just have stayed still!? - but before I could reload, Twintails knocked Ivan off of my back. It fell to the ground, several parts clattering inside of it and sounding as if they'd broken. “Hey, careful!” The zebra rushed over to the Tesla Cannon, inspecting it for damage. I jumped forwards, my dense augmented forehoof connecting and pushing him away, into the wall nearby. Don’t you even think about putting your filly-raping-... As I shoved him to the side, I was granted a good look at the symbol upon his flank. My gaze falling down towards Ivan, the same ornate ‘i’ emblazoned on it's side... euuugh!

“Gaaah! I’ve been using Zebra tech for this long?!” I shuddered, feeling positively filthy, seriously wanting to take a bath or shower as soon as I could. Hell, I'd jump into that radioactive cesspool back in Topatow if it meant I could get the... ZEBRA germs off! Twintails looked apologetically towards the striped bastard, who looked very offended. Oh, cry me a fucking river, you savage. “Wh-why did I take that thing? No wonder it was in terrible condition!” Fringe winced as the zebra’s expression grew angrier. I stared over at him in horror, moving between my forehooves - out, out damned stripes! - and the rather scowly face.

“Great. Of course the captive I lend my cannon to is a racist.” He trotted back over to the power switch, starting to push it back up. “If you’re all here to raid the place, go ahead. Just leave this thing on.” I felt a pit appear in my stomach as he struggled with the switch, my rear legs throwing myself forwards as I shoved him away from the breaker box. He let out a sharp scream as his head banged into the corner of the wall nearby. “What in the name of Luna was that for!?” He shouted, standing back up shakily and holding a hoof to his head. I noticed the bit of blood trickling from his forehead, a twinge of guilt striking through the wall of disgust I still felt on myself. Wh-why did I feel guilty? The zebra rubbed at his head, looking down at the bit of blood on his hoof, Fringe walking up to take a closer look at the wound.

“Sorry, he’s a little… odd.” The power-armored earth pony said simply, as I bit back a retort. “That signal of yours is screwing with his head, turning it back on now wouldn’t be that bright.” As Fringe explained further, I felt the little twinge of guilt building inside myself. I... I hurt someone that was surrendering... no! The one surrendering was a, a dirty no-good Zebra! The soft, timid voice of a mare spoke up, seemingly inside my head. 'That was rather rude, wasn’t it? I mean, the poor thing seemed like he was just scared.' I shook my head a bit, trying to drown out that voice. He was a Zebra. Zebras are all evil... right? I focused back on the conversation, the zebra looking a little less frustrated. “We were just stopping on our way to Sunrise Castle, we'll leave as soon as the signal stops making our friend here have seizures.” For a moment, I was tempted to kick Fringe right in the side. You don’t tell a zebra your plans!

“Fine, but I can’t leave my signal off. Why, that is my business and mine alone.” His enigmatic answers weren’t helping his image right now. No doubt trying to send back information as a spy. “But you said you were heading out to Sunrise Castle Air Base, correct? I know the rough location of a large cache of experimental weapons, that’s how I made Jules here.” He nudged the tesla cannon, a faint smile coming to his face. I felt my cheeks going a bit red in anger, watching him cradling the lightning gun. It's name. Is. Ivan. “Unfortunately, I tripped the security system while I was first there, and all the bots are likely active again. I can’t get in myself, but all four of us might be able to.” He picked up Ivan, managing to swing the giant mechanism over his shoulder with ease. Dirty striped... but, he said he lent it to me... it's done a lot for me- NO! Zebras are chaos incarnate! Their weapons and technology and everything about them is pure evil!! That pink-maned pegasus mare in my head looked a little disappointed, her puppy-dog eyes staring right at me. “Doutful anyone besides myself would even know the codes, and hacking the busted up mainframe would likely be near impossible. If you will help me recover some of the weapons there, I’ll dampen the signal and you’d be free to take whatever it is you needed.”

Twintails looked over at me, worriedly biting at his lip as I scowled and rubbed at my head. Stupid... little... mare... “I don’t think we really have a choice, Minty.” I was taken aback, staring at my pegasus friend's face for a moment. Leading a zebra through to an old military base with security on maximum supposedly to stash of weapons? Yeah, I can’t see any problem with that, not one fucking single issue! Twintails trotted closer to me, lowering his voice. “Minty, even if he is planning on recruiting some sort of army with the stuff in there, do you really think it’ll stand up to Megaspell Mary?”

“I’m more worried about him right now. How do we know he doesn’t already have a bunch of his friends holed up in that place?” I hissed back at Twintails. He bit nervously at his lip, glancing back at the zebra. The stripe was simply standing and staring at us, one of his eyes blocked partially by his Mohawk. Twintails gave me the same look as before, indicating he didn’t have any better ideas. I groaned a little under my breath before turning to face him. “Alright, you’re coming with us. But the station stays off until we bring back what you need, and we’re not afraid to take necessary actions if you decide on backing out on your end of the deal.” I glared at the zebra.

He snorted, trotting forward. “Well, it’s certainly good to know we’re all in a loving relationship.” He trotted past me, pushing the busted door open to the cold wasteland. “After you.” Holding the door open, he returned my own glare, that mocking tone in his voice irritating me to... well... not do anything. We all headed out, Fringe taking up the rear as Twintails and I lead the group. I looked back at the zebra, who let off a small sigh as he brushed some of his mane aside. “Sorry. I’m Nikolai.” He put a hoof out to shake mine, myself pausing for a moment, staring at it. That little yellow mare in my head nudged at couple wires that ran through my brain, urging me to take his hoof. Begrudgingly, I stuck my hoof out and gave it a few shakes, immediately turning forwards again and wiping my hoof on my armor. The little mare spoke up again, a sigh moving through her smile.

'Well, that’s a start.'

"Good afternoon to all you out in the Big Empty, you're tuned into Roughcoat Radio, with your host Dead Air blathering on in your ears, providing entertainment, chat, and otherwise sanity to everyone out there from Topatow to the SCAB. First pleasantries, turns out that pair of balefire warheads that detonated late yesterday night thankfully didn't hit anyone, 'cept they did manage to give a trio of smoothcoats one hell of a scare. Crazy bastards, said they were trying to avoid the storm en route to SCAB - if anyone's still left alive out that way and ya see an earth pony, pegasus, and unicorn carryin' weapons towards ya, don't open fire. Last thing we need is another goddess-damned war, as a lot of you can likely agree.

"Anyways, the lines are open, anyone out there wanting to get a few minutes of airtime can feel free to break in at any point. Celestia knows it's not like we've got all that much else going on 'round here..."

---

The day had carried on rather far... I think... as we all made way towards where Sunrise Castle ought to be located. Fringe had kept his helmet stowed, sticking to his soft brimmed hat and idly chewing on a cigar he'd yet to light up. Minty took to skywatching, his gaze moving around aimlessly, yet always staying away from our new striped acquaintance. I get that he's pretty racist, but, sheesh, come on man. Nikolai traveled a short distance away from the rest of us all, his only barding being a thick jacket and black cloak detailed with ornate markings and scriptures, the large lightning cannon previously owned by Minty cradled carefully on his back. The dying wind whistled around us, myself idly glancing down at my pip-buck - damn, out of range of Hi-fi's station. I could go for a bit of music right now...

"You're a Stable pegasus?" The sound of the new voice behind myself was understandably startling, at least up until I caught eyes with Nikolai. I glanced towards Minty in front - well, he was either not listening or he was showing some goddess-like levels amount of restraint. At least he doesn't have any guns out, or his wings, for that matter. Suppose it's understandable... "Sorry, I did not mean to startle. I'd just never considered that such a flight-oriented species could survive in such... constrictive condidtions."

"Ah, well, yeah... it was interesting, to say the least. Hardly that strong a flyer now, honestly." I let off a weak chuckle, rubbing at the back of my head idly. The zebra beside myself passed on a slight smile, nodding once as I let off a small sigh. Can almost remember what my stable smelled like, felt like... "It wasn't bad, honestly - kept to myself, helped Gamma Ray with the reactor, watched old test films in the downtime..." I let off a small snicker, grinning and turning to look out aross teh wasteland, cheeks taking on a blush. "Couldn't have thought I'd step out into the wasteland and get to see three of 'em go off." Nikolai fell behind myself, the smile fading from his muzzle momentarily as he seemed to pause in thought.

"Three... you mean, those balefire warheads? Why would you -want- to watch them?" He wore a look of confusion across his face, taking a few steps away from myself as a sheepish grin crossed my own. Oh, he's not going to get used to us for a long while. A few light chuckles escaped myself, turning to look at him with that grin; yup, he was definitely kind of uncomfortable. "You're... you're mad, aren't you? Like, just not right in the head at all."

"Everyone's got something going for them. I mean, hell, I don't want to see anyone getting hurt by the things when they go off, but... oh, they are beautiful." I snickered lightly, trotting ahead of Nikolai, still behind Minty and Fringe. A passing glance back at the zebra showed a true look of disbelief, before he shook his head and finally caught up with the rest of us. Welcome to the club, buddy. Minty chuffed out a breath, some large snow dunes passing by us in the far distance, the loose frigid ice being blown about by the northern winds as the night seemed to just barely begin to fade on to morning. Nikolai watched the tail of the unicorn with myself, each breath condensing into small, steamy clouds. "So, ah, why were you out up here, anyways? I mean, besides whatever you're doing at that old numbers station."

"My parents were part of a group that was attempting to reach and establish trade routes between ourselves and your kind, headed for a city you probably know as 'Quebuck'. We were taking a route over the north ice cap, but..." He let off a sigh, looking down at the snow as it passed by underneath his hooves. "I still do not entirely understand why it became such a graveyard for Equestrian and Zebra Ballistic Missiles. The group had split when my mother came to give birth, several scouting ahead. By the time we finally found... what was left... it was only my mother, father, and a midwife left. We came across the broadcast station, and..." He'd clenched his eyes, biting at his lip and sniffling. Okay, far as tragedy goes I think he's just about met Minty-level by this point. "I was still just a foal. Thankfully the station did seem to have a large supply of food, but... I was the only one who was left. We weren't prepared for whatever those things were, with skin coming off in strips and horrible, cutting teeth..." He'd come to a stop, myself alongside him, watching as the tears ran down from his eyes and froze against his coat. Minty, eat your heart out...

"Hey, hey, it's alright. You-you're fine now, you can fend for yourself, and, and... well... you've got friends." I passed on a soft smile, Nikolai sputtering softly as he lifted a hoof to wipe at the frozen tears. Blinking a few times, he looked up towards myself quizzically, his eyes obviously strained, and behind them a young sense of fear. I knew the expression well. Shuffling my rifles a bit wider, I leaned forwards and gently wrapped my forelegs around the striped neck and mane of the zebra, squeezing the surprised equine in a soft hug. What was that about Zebras being evil creatures from hell, Minty? Emotionless, foal-eating, mare-raping demons? Pah. This one's a big softie. I could have sworn I heard Minty's jaw drop and hit the snow as the sound of hooves stopped, Nikolai timidly returning the hug. Fringe let off a grunt behind myself, having turned to look at the hold-up.

"Ay, when you two're done, can we get moving already? Think I see something that looks like the perimeter fence of the Air Base." Breaking the hug and helping Nikolai to his hooves - and pausing for a moment to snicker at the expression of disbelief Minty had on his face - I turned myself about, trotting forwards alongside the power-armored earth pony. Down below the ridge we had stopped on, the faint outline of an old fence topped with barbed wire could be just seen sticking out of the dunes and contouring itself to the outline of the land. Past that, the usually mountainous wasteland became flat, a long expanse that faded to the haze of the snowy night and made the mountains in the far distance seem much less imposing. Minty stepped up alongside myself, Nikolai reconvening on the opposite side of Fringe.

"So that's an Air Base? I was expecting something a little more, uhm, floating in the sky..." My augmented friend rubbed at the back of his head, his gaze moving between the snowy expanse below and the clouded sky above. Fringe let off a grunt, looking over to the paths on either side of the ridge, a hoof moving to check the breech of his rifle. Nikolai similarly brought the tesla cannon around to bear, scanning about the area. "Uh... why the readiness? Something up? Or, something supposed to be up?" Har har.

"The SCAB's supposed to have a group of ghouls and snow dogs living in it, but they went silent a few months ago, and all that's been coming out from up here are hellhounds. I don't know about you two, but I'd rather be able to keep on living, thanks." The power armored earth pony traded his soft hat for the matching helmet, pausing and scanning his view over the air base below, myself taking a moment to bring out that lovely little grenade rifle of mine. Ooh, this'll be fun~ Wearing a grin, my view moved over to Minty, levitating out his old goop rifle with a less than pleased expression on his face. Aw, c'mon, don't be such a sourpuss, we'll probably find more than enough parts there to make you twenty of those tesla cannons, with fuzzy dice too! He let off a sigh, trotting forwards with the rest of us, heading down the snowy slope from the high ridge. Nikolai had taken up the lead, allowing myself and Fringe to seperate him from Minty - we don't shoot hot plasma at other people who have a bigger gun, remember that.

"So, uh... where'd you get that gun, anyways?" With a weak chuckle, I found myself trotting alongside Fringe, that permanently stern look on the helmet that covered his face being understandably not the friendliest sight. The mounting for the rifle was impressive in it's own right, myself mesmerized as it seemed to stay perfectly level with his visor as we moved down the uneven passageway towards the perimeter of the base. "I-I mean, I haven't seen anything like it, not even in the Gun Runner's store in Trotisk. This a custom-built job, or...?" The stallion let off a grunt, turning his helmet's face towards my own, stopping in his gait for the moment. Okay, no touchy the gun that loads rounds that can blow my head off. After a moment of awkward pause, and a few weak chuckles escaping myself following a good few steps away from Fringe, he continued onwards, letting off a grunt.

"Yes, it's a custom model. No, you can't use it. Look, I don't exactly enjoy small talk Leftenant-..." Left-what? Okay then, that was a little... odd, to say the least. Fringe froze for another moment, then continued onwards, letting off a long sigh. Riight, save the small talk for later. I tugged at the straps for my auto-rifles, adjusting them idly, a frigid wind cutting over the sloped path and kicking loose snow about, the lines of the fence that cut through the snowy wasteland fading to the bluish hue of the snowy night, light only just starting to fade back in from the southeast. Guh, things only got weirder as you traveled north, didn't they? Of all the wastelands I could've come out in...

---

"Easy there, hasn't seen us yet. Stay low, and don't fire unless he's got friends." The line of barbed wire was just barely visible atop the steel fence that divided the snowy wasteland, but the large, hulking creature beyond it was rather plainly visible against the white powder that made up the ground. Fringe had crouched himself down, the rest of us similarly laying in the cold snow with weapons at the ready. Minty had kept a selfish glare on Nikolai as the zebra shifted the tesla cannon in his hooves, holding it in the same way that gatekeeper in Topatow weilded his assault rifle. Still really wanted to know how they trained themselves to do that... "Target range, one hundred meters. Crosswind coming from north-northwest... Goodnight, sunshine."

The rifle resounded with a loud, booming crack, firey exhaust blasting from the muzzlebrake and sending the round downrange. A millionth of a moment later, the beast seemed a bit short in the head department, the limp body falling downwards into the snow, turning it from bluish-white to bluish-black as it bled out. A shudder ran up my spine, but thankfully that Sparkle-Cola stayed where it was, Fringe letting off a satisfied grunt and standing himself up. The rest of us followed, the long barrel of my own grenade launcher bobbing in my view as I chuckled around the mouthpiece. Hellhounds or not, that trefoil around the map marker for the hangars could only mean that fun things were inside this particular pre-war facility. Might have to keep them from wanting to disarm it somehow, but hey, a megaspell is a megaspell...

"I'm looking forwards to no more walking for a while, even my pip-leg is starting to ache..." Minty shook his metallic hoof in the air a little, grunting lightly as he set it down. Oh, such a drama princess... huh, why wasn't he using his fancy wings, anyways? He had to have the power cell-things for it, and I bet that it would've definitely kept him away from Nikolai a bit better. Then again, those things were pretty sharp, and he seemed like he -really- wanted to give Nikolai the good news with his goop rifle... probably for the better he didn't have them on. Wings or not, he did have a point, we'd been walking all night and the adrenaline was really starting to run out, and sugar-filled irradiated soda could only carry you so far. "Think the place where the crews here lived are empty, at least?"

"The scouts that came back from up here all said that most of the activity was around the hangars and control tower, so we should be good for the night. At the very least, stand guard in shifts while the others sleep, just to be safe." The speaker on the outside of the helmet carried through Fringe's voice, along with a light sigh. The motors in his suit whirred as we all moved along, starting to sound under strain and overall fatigue. "Nikolai and myself can take first watch when we get there. You two look like you need the rest."

"Alright. I... just hope we can find enough beds." Minty almost seemed to sneer, trotting ahead of Nikolai and along towards the base. Well, he's at least acknowledging his existence now, and that in and of itself is an accomplishment. Still have a lot of work to do in the 'niceness' department, however. Grenade rifle at the ready on the off-chance another nasty beast needs 40mm of good news, we'd soon reached the large barbed wire fence, looking along it for some easy entrance. The snow hadn't drifted in the same way as it had around NEAMO's fence, making this barrier just about as sound as before the war. Fringe passed myself a look, lowly chuckling behind his helmet. Oh boy, 40mm grenade rifle fence-breaching!

"We might want to take a few steps back, and get ready to run. Worst case, that fence just needs some plasma along the joints after this one..." Nikolai and Minty both paused, myself glancing back at them with a grin and wink, the barrel of the rifle coming level as I readied for the shot. Oh, I loved the smell of high explosives in the morning... evening... whatever time it was right now. My lips pulled into a wide grin as my tongue tugged at the trigger, one firm pull sending the pin into the primer, igniting both it and the gunpowder in the casing, propelling the four-centimeter package of high-explosive goodness in a short arc towards the base of the steel link fence. The detonator in the cap ignited the payload, causing the quick chemical reaction and release of energy that sent a hot shockwave out in all directions, throwing up a plume of snow and warping, tearing, and bending the wire in the fence apart, forming a pony-shaped hole as the reaction ran its course, the snow and dirt kicked up showering down around us all, myself still wearing that manic grin as I brought myself back from the recoil of the rifle. I love my job.

Fringe pushed forwards through the hole first, his metal armor causing what was left of the fence to bend aside and yield, making a much less worrysome entrance for the rest of us. Whaddayaknow, unnecessarily bulky power armor did have some uses! The power-armored earth pony stood on alert with his large rifle as Minty shuffled through next, Nikolai still adjusting the manner in which he carried the tesla cannon to fit through the gap that'd been created. I took the moment of pause to drop the cartridge free of the barrel, smiling and sliding in another round - one of the orange-tipped ones, incendiary, right? Ooh, the next thing that comes up to us is going to get a face-full of fun~ Nikolai worked himself and his cannon through with some difficulty, Minty trying his hardest to show some concern for the Zebra that'd fallen in the snow- no, wait, the zebra's cannon, I mean. At least he gave it back. Wings held against my sides, I pressed through the fence as well, chuckling and taking the moment to look down at my pip-buck map - oooh, so very close to that trefoil! I could taste the mushroom-cloud-causing capabilities from here~

"So, the barracks are... over that way, right?" Pointing a hoof towards the small collection of half-pipe structures obscured by the snow, I smiled and began trotting rather happily towards them - nothing quite like a good old explosion to get the blood pumping again. The rest of the group followed behind, the cool bluish snow passing by underhoof, the wasteland seeming a little bit calmer and pleasant now; or, maybe that was just my tinnitus acting up. Screw that ringing in my ears, I'm just happy to be causing more explosions again! Oh, I just can't wait to see what might be inside those hangars, how big a boom those experimental thingies could make...

The blissful smile on my face faded slightly as I spotted a warped piece of metal jutting out of the snow, pausing outside of the row of barracks and examining the perforated sheet a bit more closely. Could've sworn I'd seen something like that before... something that ran lengthwise to it was unmistaxibly a very dented piece of pipe with a cap and pressure guage at one end, and a very warped handle as well. Must have been some kind of weapon... my gaze traveled along back towards the barracks, spotting a large scorch mark and crater in the very center of the row of houses. Trotting nearby it, it clicked idly with residual radiation, as well as giving off a faint greenish glow - a mini megaspell, maybe? But what... That was when the walls of the barracks came to my sight. Minty and the rest of the group had caught up, my augmented friend pausing as he looked between the front walls of the housing units with myself.

Bomb shadows. Five of them.

They were all pony forms, some of them were mid-gallop, others seemed to be facing towards the center of the crater, all of them very recently burned firmly into the walls of the four houses nearby. The wind seemed to blow only mildly here, barely something you could call a breeze, but chilling to the bone. What could just outright vaporize ponies like that? Were these buildings THAT well-built? Could... could it have been... a balefire egg? Fringe stepped up to myself, pulling off his helmet and lighting up another one of his cigars - sheesh, how many of those things did he have? "C'mon, let's get moving. Find one of the other bunkhouses... I'd rather not spend the night in these ones." Yeah, that sounded like a plan, don't spend the night inside the buildings where ponies were vaporized right outside of and had their sihlouettes burned into the facade.

Further down the row, Fringe wrestled with one of the door handles, finally managing to wrench the aged enterance open and permitting us all to head inside the unit. Arcane lanterns illuminated the area inside, casting a soft yellow glow across the four beds and series of lockers that occupied the room. Minty moved forth and immediately sought to bury his face into one of the degraded pillows, letting off a muffled groan as his saddlebags settled on the old mattress. Fringe set himself up beside the doorway, Nikolai alongside, as I took to one of the other beds, letting off a long sigh as the soft bliss of slumber overtook myself. Goddesses, how long -were- we walking for, anyways? These beds were way too comfortable to have been here for two centuries straight... and yet...

---

Back in my Stable. It was my birthday. Snickerdoodle had really outdone herself with decorating my cake this year, and everypony was still enjoying themselves in the dining hall. Myself, I'd retired early, resting up in the bedroom adjacent to Gamma Ray's, pouring my eyes over an old copy of one of those Civil Defense booklets and drinking down a nice cold Sparkle-Cola. Oh, the cute cartoon character they used to teach foals about civil defense, Bert the Turtle - it was funny, Junebug insisted that he was a tortoise, something about his shell or beak or something. I didn't really care, the pictures looked pretty and I liked learning about this stuff. I'd flipped to a page discussing the proper duck and cover procedures - which, in all honesty, involved sticking your head between your flanks and kissing your tail goodbye - when the door opened with a hiss of hydraulics, a vibrant light-blue unicorn with neon-green mane standing outside in her light jacket. She passed on a smile and trotted inside, myself setting the little book to the side and getting up from my bed.

"Happy Birthday, Twinnie. You know, you're missing a pretty swinging party up there, heh..." Gamma Ray snickered lightly, wrapping a leg around my neck as we embraced in a light hug, giving a few scratches behind my wing joints. Ooooh, yeah, that always felt good... "Glad to see you're enjoying yourself, sweetie. I hope that that new pip-buck of yours isn't chafing too badly, trust me, you learn to get used to it." Smirking, she righted herself, glancing up at the shelf above my bed. I took a few steps back, following her gaze up to the small statuette of the orange earth pony with the stetson, a light smile coming across her face. "Growing up so fast... still seems like just yesterday your mom came rushing through to the infirmary, you came out almost the minute she came in." She let off a light chuckle, followed by a sigh, resting her forehooves on my bed and levitating down the porcelian figure. The black base was inscribed with two simple words; 'Be Strong.' "We still haven't any idea where your mother got this from. Two centuries, and not one scratch..."

"Gamma... what was my mom like?" The elder unicorn stumbled, dropping the statuette onto the bed in surprise. I trotted promptly over to her side - oh, please don't be having another one of your episodes, Gamma. They're scary... She righted herself, putting on a weak smile and picking up the statuette, setting it on its base. Her eyes moved to meet my own, a free forehoof rubbing at the back of my head, a sigh escaping her mouth. She paused for a moment, looking forst down at the floor, then over to the porcelian earth pony with her mane tied in ponytails.

"She... she was lovely. The most kind and caring pony I'd ever met. You're a lot like her, you know." A smile came to her muzzle as she hugged myself against her side, ruffling my mane a little. Letting off a chuckle, I wrapped a wing around herself, looking down at the statuette with her. "She'd be happy you're the way you are, Twintails. She'd..." Gamma Ray let off a sigh, her magic aura encompassing the statuette and levitating it in front of us both for a moment. "She's in a better place now. She'll always be watching over you, no matter where you are, just like the princesses." With a smile, the elder unicorn set the small figure down upon the shelf, giving a gentle kiss upon my forehead and patting at my shoulder. "C'mon, I think there's still some cake left. Can't let Silver Plate finish it all off again..."

---

I awoke to the sound of a pair of voices screaming quite loudly at one another, and one having a rather hearty chuckle at the doorway. Popping myself upright in the bed, I couldn't help but join Fringe - on the bed across from the one I picked, a very panicked Minty and very surprised Nikolai stood on either side, my augmented unicorn friend laying quite a beat-down on the unfortunnate zebra with practically every pillow in the room... and a snowball. Faster than I could blink, even more pillows were being exchanged from the zebra at the unicorn, and then returned back; was I still dreaming, or was Minty currently having a pillow fight with a zebra?

I found myself flopped onto my back, rifles clinking either side of me as my view changed from the pair to the ceiling, wrapping my hooves around myself and otherwise laughing myself to tears. This was just too good to be happening, I must be dreaming. After a few moments and further exchange of Inter-room Ballistic Pillows, the feathers seemed to slow to a stop, both Minty and Nikolai looking between myself and Fringe as we worked the last few chuckles out. Nikolai coughed a little, shuffling himself onto the other bed as Minty seemed to turn as red as a stoplight.

"It's not funny!"

"Oh, shut up..." I glared at all of them, Twintails and Fringe trying to keep straight faces as Nikolai rubbed a bit of snow out of his mane. Grumbling to myself, I lifted my saddle bags up onto my back, pulling out my plasma rifle and slinging it over. Twintails readjusted his machine guns as Fringe stood up, loosening himself and his armor after his long shift... did he even sleep? Uck, at least we know one of them isn't part robot. I let off a strong shudder - cuddling up to a zebra was NOT a good way to start the day.

The snow-covered paved path wound its way between more barracks, some of the buildings sporting such large holes I was honestly surprised they were still standing. Nikolai was walking closer to the front of our group, leading us to the large encampment embedded in the snow-blown hill nearest the big flat strip. Note to self, ask somepony what the heck an Airbase actually is sometime. Nikolai glanced behind himself as us, Ivan strung across his back as he pulled the hunting rifle out. "The front door ought to be easy to get through, but if not, there is a sewer system running underneath this place. Granted... I have no clue where we'd wind up inside, but we'd be in, at the very least." I felt my stomach lurch inside at that - so he's really just about as blind going in as we are? Great.

We walked to the front door, Twintails jiggling the lock for a moment, contemplating the holster on his hoof before stepping back. I bent down to peer into the keyhole myself, smirking at the honestly simple mechanism. "Psh, cakewalk. Step aside, no need for ballistic lockpicking..." Sliding out my trusty screwdriver and a bobby pin, I slipped them both into the slot with a smirk. Twisting the pin around, the tumblers began to give way as I continued to work it. As I continued, though, there was some large chunk of something inside the tumbler that really didn't feel like it belonged. I applied some pressure, but the pin snapped in half, ricocheting off my glasses and very nearly shattering them. Oooh, glasses I can replace or fix, I don't think I can find any augmented eyes. "It's frozen shut. Moment please..." Pulling out my plasma pistol, the electric prongs slipped easily into the hole. There was a splatter as I pulled the trigger, the ice inside melting. Twintails huffed - sorry, Twinnie, not all locks need a bullet to be opened~

A few moments of jiggling later, and the door popped open with a satisfying click. We entered the dark building, Fringe bringing his rifle to bear in front of himself, the lamp on his helmet automatically clicking on. Ooh, I really want a set of that armor... "What kind of security did'ya say this place had again?" His voice was muffled through the speaker, the helmet lighting up the forlorn and dusty waiting room. Before Nikolai could answer him, however, there was a beeping sound and whirr of electronics behind us. A turret began firing rounds at me, one grazing my horn - no, nonononono, I really don't want to know what happens when augmentations connected to my brain are shorted out! I dove into a hallway that led off of the area, Twintails firing off a grenade in the general direction. It hit dead-on, the turret exploding in a shower of flames and sparks - ooh, pretty. I thanked Twintails as I stood myself up, the wires and smoking hole where the turret once was sparking idly. "Well, that's one answer... if this place went into lockdown after your last visit, we're going to need to find a security terminal to unlock the doors."

“I think I may have seen one on the upper level. May be wrong, though.” Nikolai scanned the upper balcony of the reception area, Twintails and Fringe reconvening in the light of the lamp. Is tehre a light switch somewhere, or something? Heading up to the second floor of the facility, we continued down the hallway, Fringe checking around the corner before pressing on. The facility was actually still fairly intact, for being two centuries old; I guess somepony commissioned the right company to build these things, for once. Another ceiling turret had began firing at us through a doorway, but a quick shot by Nikolai managed to smash its targeting lens, and a blast of plasma from my own rifle finishe it off by frying it's circuits. Eck, never liked that smell of shorted electronics... We came to another hallway, a few pieces of ceiling having fallen through to the lower floor. Nikolai lead us around the holes carefully, a twinge my gut still making me not exactly happy with this situation. Leading us blindly into a weapons facility with security fully armed is not a fast way to invoke confidence in my book...

The door swung open squeakily, a securi-mare trotting back and forth between a few cubicles. We all ducked out of sight, the robot’s gaze scanning the hall before returning back to it's pre-set patrol path. I lifted up my plasma rifle, preparing to jump in on the fray and give the robots a hot glowing ball of good news, but before I could even step out into the hallway... -something- pushed me out of the way. Stumbling a bit, I took a moment to look around for the culprit - nothing. Nothing was there, though I swear the air shimmered a little along the row of cubicles, as if something was there, but, wasn't. The same moment, I couldn't help but notice the distinct lack of a certain striped skin in our group. There was a loud crash, and the sound of wires sparking and a robot voice garbling out a generic threat before Nikolai walked around the corner, his cloak shimmering a bit and returning to it's normal black color. We all trotted up to him... some a little less enthusiastically than others... Twintails chuckling a little. “Well, I didn't see that coming.” The pegasus looked over at myself, bumping his foreleg against my shoulder playfully and grinning widely. Nikolai’s smug expression grew a bit more than a little irritated - well, I guess everyone hates puns.

Fringe let off a groan, taking a moment to place his hoof to his forehead and shake his head disapprovingly before stepping forth and continuing on. I took a moment to inspect the disabled robot, hoping for a couple energy cells at the very least, but unfortunately, everything of worth was destroyed. Yeesh, overkill, much? Even Twintails at least leaves a pile of salvagable scrap. I grumbled to myself idly, mentally wincing as the mare in my head gave me a small disciplinary whack to my wires. Yeesh, hey, at least I’m not holding a gun to his head, alright? She gave a less than approving roll of her eyes before going back to work on the jungle of wires and circuits that constituted most of my conscious brain. Twintails fired off another couple grenade shells, smacking a wandering robot square with a splash of greenish plasma. It slowly turned it's main armament towards us, but the central processing unit in it's head was quickly disconnected with a large rifle round courtesy of Fringe.

We walked down the hall and stepped over the robot, Nikolai pushing the switch to open the door at the end. The door slid down, revealing a large room full of computers, and unfortunately broken monitor screens. Another blast of plasma and broken turret later, and we were able to examine the room a bit more closely. Twintails moved to peek at the main monitor and switch boards, as I moved to the computers, Nikolai and Fringe rummaging through the printed files for anything. Most of the computers were busted, but every so often one of the screens still flickered occasionally. I lowered my horn to the port, slipping it in and making the connection; numbers and letter filled my vision, a wave of information crossing my mind. Come on, security, security… A few options appeared in the front of my vision;

> Disengage Lockdown
> Unlock Artillery Section
> Self Destruct.

Well, I certainly don’t feel like choosing that last one would lead to anything good. Highlighting and selecting the first one, a password screen quickly appeared. Alright, Mr. Robronco security systems, here we go… A combination of words filled my vision, some being as random as 'ibuprofen' to 'oatmeal'. Alright, you wanna do this the hard way, you pile of circuits? Come on, show me what you've got… The computer beeped as the correct code was selected. 'Ascender', huh, weird. [LOCKDOWN DISENGAED, ARTILLERY RESEARCH ACCESS DAMAGED] the screen flashed, as I pulled my horn out of the socket, looking up at Twintails as he stumbled a little, bits of smoke trailing from his tailtips. Somepony have a shocking discovery? “The lockdown’s off, but it won’t let me through into the 'Artillery Research' section. Something’s broken.”

Nikolai spread out a collection of papers on the desk, a faint gleeful smile on Twintails' face at the mention of artillery. Rolling out a large blue piece of paper, the Zebra and my pegasus friend began to look it over, the former in concentration and the latter in excitement. “We found some schematics of the place, and a few user passwords in the files. Hopefully those will let us into the deeper parts of the facility.” I scanned over the papers idly, taking note of the location of the armory. Oooh, that was rather close~... and that was one huge elevator. “It looks like there’s another security station a couple levels lower. That should let us in.” He rolled up the papers, sticking them into his cloak with a crinkle of the old parchment as it folded further.

“Well, I still have a good amount of high explosives left, if it won’t~” Twintails chuckled as we headed out of the security office, Fringe letting off a disapproving huff and Nikolai falling a few steps behind the pegasus with the grenade rifle. I kicked a rock down the steps leading deeper into the facility, the clacking echoing off the cold walls. After a few moments of careful climbing, we soon reached the bottom floor, the sound of more robots stomping about from the other side of the door. “Ugh, of course the security robots are still working... for now, anyways~” Twintails let off a chuckle as he brought his grenade rifle up to bear, myself levitating out my plasma rifle and peering down the sights. Fringe kicked open the door - oh, I REALLY wanted a set of armor like that - allowing Twintails and myself to charge in, firing madly.

The large robot’s thick hull dented as it was pelted with plasma and explosives, a pressure tube connected to the hooves coming loose. It stumbled as it began firing off the mini-gun on its shoulder towards the both of us, prompting myself to duck down. Firing behind cover worked on biological things that flinched when a ball of steaming hot green goop flew past them - for all I was doing, I might as well have been using a plasma shotgun facing the opposite direction. Ooh, plasma shotgun, now there's an idea... to be saved for after the robot is dead! That round was way too close... Twintails managed to hit the exposed wiring with one of the plasma grenades, the robot falling to its knees and sizzling where it fell. There was a moment of happy pause, before the sound of a missile being fired at our left prompted us both to duck, the rocket-propelled package of high-explosive death flying over our heads. The second robot shot off a few lasers in our general direction as we reloaded, but before it could throw another missile at us, Nikolai appeared to materialize out of thin air behind it. He rammed the butt of his rifle into the uncovered processor unit, the robot sputtering before it fell over, still spouting errant warnings.

“Alright, the armory should be on this floor, which way now?” The zebra hopped over the robot carcass' legs, as Fringe caught up with us, the end of his large rifle reeking with the smell of burnt gunpowder. Nikolai pulled out the map, adjusting his cloak with the ornate designs idly. I shuddered a little - I really didn’t need the constant feeling that Nikolai could be hovering over my shoulder whenever he wanted with that thing. He flipped the map around before heading off down another hallway, reading it while walking along on his back hooves. Eeeech, that's really weird... Fringe took out a couple more turrets as we moved along, coming to another large door, a terminal hooked up to it. The power-armored earth pony booted it up, Nikolai passing him a torn slip of paper. He punched in the code, and the door slid open, granting access to a ridiculously expansive room.

The walls were covered in shelves and shelves filled with various weaponry, ranging from conventional pistols to rifles to Gatling lasers, nearly every single weapon imaginable. I walked in, gazing around at the vast supply, jaw agape. Twintails immediately zipped to the back, exploring the wide array of explosives with an almost too excited level of glee across his face. Nikolai trotted himself over to a shelf, lifting a large sledgehammer-like object in his hooves, grinning widely. “And here I thought I’d lost you forever.” He let off a chuckle, caressing it warmly - alright, that’s a little weird. As if on cue, the little yellow pegasus mare dug up a memory of myself hugging Ivan, crossing her hooves on her chest with a smug little smirk. Alright, fine, it’s not as weird as it could be. Still is pretty weird. “Thank you all for your help, I'd wanted to retrieve this for ages.”

As he shouldered the hammer and started wandering around the shelves, I trotted myself over to one of the unmarked crates, spotting a long, heavy case with a skeleton laying next to it; there was a note secured to the top. I stepped over the skeleton and lifted up the note, starting to read it;

Captain Sparks,

Here’s the experimental Model J01-T5 Ferromagnetic Rifle you requested. It’s still a bit tempermental and inefficient, but it should run smoothly with proper maintenance. Flip open the panel on the side to insert the MF Cells, it’ll require 3 to power up the CMB firing mechanism. We should be able to come up with a model for mass production soon, we hope the prototype meets your needs.

Setting the note aside with a little more than a bit of curiosity, I took a closer look at the case it had been laying on. It looked quite unnecessarily heavy-duty, the latches secured by a turnstile combination lock in the center. I leaned in, flipping a few numbers this way and that. Ugh, picking this kind of lock is a lot harder than a key one... Laying my ear against the case, I could just barely hear the tumblers shifting around inside it. There was a loud crashing from the back of the room, Twintails cursing a bit in pain. Jeez, don’t blow up this place, Twintails! I fiddled with the lock again, grunting in frustration. Come on, you stupid little piece of... there was a click, and the latches popped open slightly. I lifted the lid open further, the metallic braces keeping it propped and revealing to myself... sweet goddesses above.

Inside the lined case lay the intricately made rifle from the note, the untouched metal shining in the light and displaying the production number stamp on the casing. I lifted it out carefully, coils around the barrel reflecting my hooves just barely as I turned it over in my aura. I could feel the large grin creeping across my face as I inspected the cool blue-glowing rifle, fitting the shoulder pad up to the top of my foreleg and looking through the scope. The red-tinted glass distorted the light slightly, the crosshairs just happening then to line up with Nikolai’s head. Letting off a slight snicker, I lowered the rifle back down, the yellow mare in my head in a full panic. Yeesh, I was only joking, calm down. I opened a rounded hatch in the side, revealing three large ports for Microfusion cells. Ooh, I so wanted to try this out now...

“What’s that, eh?” Fringe trotted over, the only one of us not gawking at the wide array of weapons - lighten up, old-timer. I chuckled, rolling it over still to get a look at it from every possible angle. The back had the model number carved into it as well, the symbol for high magical energy warning on the side only exciting me more. As I peered down the sights again, I found myself able to spot Twintails rummaging around in the back still, through the rows of shelves. Ooh, a luminosity spell to boot? I could feel myself grow a little… excited… by it. The yellow mare gave a slightly disgusted look - please, at least I'm not going to sleep with it. Maybe.

“Some kind of experimental rifle.” I grinned widely, turning to look at him through the scope. He pushed the long barrel away from my face, giving me an 'I can see that' look mixed with quite an unamused glare - okay, yeah, maybe seeing through his armor was taking it a little far. I chuckled a little weakly, moving the rifle to hold it lengthwise between us both. “Okay, okay, so maybe it’s not the best of ideas to mess with an untested bit of military hardware, but, come on, Fringe! Look at this thing!” I practically shoved it into his chest, allowing him to look it over. He inspected the reloading mechanism before shutting it with a light grunt, holding it up to his head. He was forced onto his haunches to look down the scope, rolling his shoulder as the butt was pressed into it. After a moment of looking it over, he returned it to me, letting me holster it on my back.

“Well, you’re lucky you have that magic, that’s a pretty poorly designed rifle, practicality-wise. The butt isn't padded at all, and reloading three cells after each shot would be a nightmare with hooves, especially in close quarters like this. Not to mention any sort of sniper rifle’s going to have a hell of a kickback.” Well, note to self: keep magic well fueled. He paused for a moment. “If you’d like, I could show you how to use that thing more efficiently, when we get out of here. Used to help train some of the snipers in EQUAD.” I perked up a bit at this, grinning wider. Before I could thank him for the offer, however, Twintails came barreling from the back of the room, carrying a ridiculous-looking piece of... half-cut clear pipe on his back? Has he lost it?

“You two will not BELIEVE what I just found!” He said, grinning so widely it looked like his face would split in two. Nikolai trotted over as he hefted something off of his back, looking over at the excited pegasus in confusion, then worry. If the striped one is scared about what Twintails has... "A Balefire Egg Launcher! There was even a whole battle saddle mount for it, and I found a couple of the eggs in an unlocked safe!" His grin seemed to widen even further as he pulled out a black gem, the light warping around it in odd ways. Welp, there goes another pair of pants. Maybe I -should- ask Cross Stitch about those diapers he keeps playing with...

"O-oh, my..." Nikolai said, looking equally as worried. "Um... maybe, for the sake of those who want to keep living, don't try to use that in here." Twintails let off a small sigh and rolled his eyes, tucking the egg back into his loaded saddlebags. He hefted the launcher on his back, seeming to adjust it, spreading his wings and giving them an idle flap. Yeah, I don't think you'll be flying with that thing... "Aaaanyway," Nikolai turned to face me, as Twintails continued to silently gush over his new toy. "Thanks for helping me get here. You wouldn't believe what I could make with this stuff." He circled a bit, looking around the mass of weaponry with a smile.

I'd not wanted to respond, but the yellow mare nudged a couple wires about, making new connections. "You're, ah, welcome." I said, begrudgingly. She smiled, Nikolai looking a little surprised, but smiling lightly nonetheless as he turned to face myself, my own cheeks going a bit hot. "But if I hear you're starting a Zebra invasion with all this, I'm not against putting a hole through your skull." His smile faltered a bit, stepping away from myself and sliding up alongside Fringe, starting up a quiet conversation. Twintails stepped over to me, still beaming and giggling deeply, wearing a stupid grin on his face - it was the cruise missiles all over again.

"This place is amazing! We need to keep searching around, imagine finding another cache of balefire eggs! Or- or balefire eggs that split into smaller balefire eggs! Or even... even a Balefire warhead..." He giggled, blushing profusely as he quieted himself down, the launcher swinging with his body. I rolled my eyes, the pegasus sticking out his tongue playfully. "Oh, come on, like you're not just as excited as I am. There might even be a whole weapons factory deeper in, just think of aaaaall those Ivans you could have, not to mention the master maneframe all to yourself to tinker with~" I blushed, a smile creeping across my face. An Ivan for every day of the week... Celestia-damn it, Twintails.

“Alright, alright. Maybe the blueprints will show a way through. Hey, ah, Nikolai, could we see that map again?” He nodded, wearing a small smile, giving the large blue rolls over to us before turning back to Fringe. He'd layed his hammer on the workbench, pulling some kind of metallic hoof up from it and onto himself. I rolled out the blueprints flat, taking a look at the various passageways and staircases. I turned the map around, trying to get my bearings. Alright, if we’re here in weapons storage… and we walked this way for a few minutes…

There was a large pounding on the doors to the armory, all of us looking over to it in surprise. There was another pound, the door shaking against the force. Something roared from the other side, another joining in as the pounding continued. “Ah shit, the Hell Hounds must’ve found their way through the rest of the security robots! Is there another way out of here?” Fringe jumped forth with his rifle, sliding on his helmet frantically as Nikolai scooped up his hammer and the components of the hoof he’d disassembled, tossing the latter into his bag. The power armored pony shoved me aside, scanning the blueprints. “Alright, there’s a maintenance shaft in the back.” He scooped the diagram up haphazardly, starting to run to the back of the room. We all followed, save for Twintails, as he was sliding a gem into his launcher. It made a high-pitched *ding!* - I take it that's the noise that lets everyone in the general vicinity know somepony's about to do something very stupid...

I tore the grate off of the ground, both Fringe and Nikolai sliding down the ladder. As I was about to jump in behind them, I looked over and saw Twintails grinning manically, taking aim with the egg launcher. The door broke open, a couple Hell Hounds running in, their metallic claws pounding loudly against the metal floor. Twintails let off a maniacal cackle and pulled the trigger, the egg flying out of the half-pipe and arcing through the air. We didn’t stay to see it's effects, as I yanked Twintails down the stairs, pulling the hatch shut before we tumbled into the narrow passageway. There was a thunderous explosion abovem which shook the hallway and sprinkled dust and loose dirt atop us all. I stood up as the blast subsided, my Pip-Buck starting to click a little faster.

“Are you CRAZY?!” Nikolai shouted at Twintails, who looked a little disappointed he couldn’t see the blast. The pegasus blushed a little, chuckling nervously and looking up at the launcher. “Why would you EVER think-!!” Nikolai was cut off mid-scream by another roar from above. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me, there’s more?! We need to get out of here before those things grow a brain and find this hallway.” Without another word, we started to rush down the hall, the noise of the hounds scraping at the walls and floor, searching for us, fading as we charged further along.

We hurried down the maintenance shaft, taking a right as the Hell Hounds' roars echoed through the hallways. Pipes shook as machinery rumbled beneath the walkway, the errant hiss of steam adding moisture and clouds to the cool subsurface tunnel. "Oh, come on, where's the exit?!" I shouted, something pounding after us. Fringe pulled out the map from the crook of his rifle support, myself levitating it up to my face. The shaft we were in lead to a couple smaller rooms deeper down and one large one nearer to the surface. Oh great, the half-robot one is navigating... "Left!"

Nikolai cantered down the hall, turning and leaping down some steps. I glanced back, one of the Hell Hounds barreling through, tearing apart the walls with its claws. Too close, too close, down rover, down! I lifted the magnetic rifle up, plugging in the three cells frantically and pulling the trigger as the dog ran closer, not bothering to look down the sights. The rifle let off a loud zap, what looked like a bolt of blue energy flying out of the muzzle and striking the dog just above its eye, blood spurting as it howled in pain. After a moment of pause, it fell to the ground, twitching and clutching at the new hole before growing limp. I panted a bit, staring down at the dead beast, but was pulled along by Twintails as another roar was heard further off.

"Forward two, then right!" My shouts and their footsteps echoed in the corridors as they followed my commands, running down more steps before coming to a halt. Fringe was ramming his shoulder into a door, the familiar scraping of claws against metal returning in echoing, ominous fury. Nikolai pushed him aside, lifting up his large hammer - okay, even I have to admit shoving a whole suit of power armor aside was pretty impressive. Standing up on his rear haunches, he swung and the door practically flew off its hinges from the impact. We ran down the new smooth stone-walled hallway, passing by a few security robots. They started firing after us, but we only rounded another corner as the Hell Hounds crashed through. Well, at least they’ll keep each other busy for a while. The sounds of the hounds fell back with the robots, the echo of rockets and lasers, and howls and scrapes filling the cavern. Yep, really should ask Cross Stitch about those diapers!

We broke through a few more doors, desperately trying to find the way out. “Here!” I shouted as we passed by another large door, myself skidding to a stop outside it. Trying the door revealed, quite unfortunately though, that it was locked. I thought I disabled all of the locks! Fringe shoved me aside and placing the muzzlebrake to meet the bolt before firing, the door flying open, and my ears ringing. Ow, I hate ballistic lockpicking... Twintails fired off a couple grenades and emptied his machine guns down the hallway as a few surviving robots followed behind us. They promptly exploded in a shower of sparks, smoking where they stood, as we all ducked into the room. I panted, magically shutting the heavier entrance door behind us. Maybe if we’re really lucky they won’t bother searching for a while... I looked around, all the others frozen in awe as the stared up at a… ah…

“What the HELL is this doing here?!”