"Puppy, if there's one time you can come through for us it's now!"

"I'm sorry Ace, but something is locking me out of systems. On the move like this I just don't have the bandwidth to counter!"

Easu's low growl suddenly punctuated the rhythmic pounding of their hooves, "No. This will not happen."

Ace turned his head to Easu as they sprinted down the corridors, the zebra's eyes hard and furrowed beneath the bandages, "Easu?"

"I will not allow Fluttershy to be taken. Not like Zenai. Not again."

"Easu, I..." He felt his words fade into air as the zebra's hooves suddenly became a blur and magic surged around him, propelling Easu off into the distance at a speed near twice that which Ace could manage, "Oh come on! Are we ALL splitting up now?!"

"I'm still here!" Puppy squeaked.

Ace grunted, "Yeah, sitting on my back weighing about two hundred pounds..."

He heard weapon fire in the distance, grunting in frustration and pushing his muscles just a little more. It made it very difficult to stop as the wall exploded in front of him, Easu tumbling out with armor torn and fur smoking.

A spider bot came out after him, Ace giving a deep, echoing growl and hurling himself at the machine with desperate fury. It fired it's laser weapon at him and he dodged, ducking, rolling and springing upwards to strike the machine with a powerful elbow drop...

He bounced off with a solid clang and a cry of pain, the machine simply swiping him out of the air.

"Gah! Shit!" He winced as he eased himself out of the rubble with a clearly broken elbow and a lot of bruises, admitting to himself that it hadn't been the best idea. He had seen Xephyr take out a robot in close combat, he guessed he had just assumed it was easier than it looked.

"Ace, um... was that part of the plan?"

"Shut up Puppy!" He shouted, watching as the spiderbot's turrets span round to target him, "Hack it!"

"It doesn't have any remote access ports Ace!"

And then something hit the spiderbot hard in the side, spinning it over to slam through the wall in a cloud of debris. It retracted it's legs and rolled through the garden beyond, a single red light blinking on it's smooth surface. Ace looked round at the source of the shot, seeing a battered looking Easu discarding a disposable anti-tank rifle, "Ace Gold, that was my only shot. We need to retreat."

"Fuck..." He hoisted himself up and injected a healing potion into his damaged joint, limping as fast as he could... which wasn't fast.

Until Easu ran forward, snatched him up in his jaw and hurled him onto his back, "Yow!"

"Apologies." Easu muttered through gritted teeth as the spider bot began to move again, firing a blast that sent a rain of molten rock splashing across their path. Easu expertly avoided it, charging up a set of stairs as Ace scanned the route behind for pursuit...

And then they burst out into sunlight, Ace gasping as they ran across a courtyard looking out onto the city beyond. Statues of great zebra stood among dead plants, Ace almost distracted from the view as they reached the balconies edge.

A team of three spider bots flew through the air a short way distant, having sprouted a pair of translucent wings from their backs. Two of them had their legs curled in a vice like grip, two ponies clearly held within them. Dust Kicker and Fluttershy, "Damn... we're way too late... again."

Easu didn't reply, his eyes only moving across to the academy of science that was clearly the spider bot's destination... and then to the line of six small dots that had emerged from the academy to make their way towards them, "We need to go."

Ace gritted his teeth in frustration... and fear. Fluttershy was... she was... "Fuck! Fuck... this is totally shit..."

Easu's nose wrinkled, his eyes hard, "Agreed."

¬

They made it out of the palace and into the streets just in time, Ace feeling out a swarm of spider descending onto the buildings behind with his magic. They quickly scooted out of sight, pausing in a small side street to catch their breath, "Puppy, any luck with finding out where they took Dust Kicker and Fluttershy?"

"I just can't hack into their systems, and I don't know why." Puppy lamented, looking and sounding very frustrated now, "I have never seen this kind of encryption before, it doesn't make any sort of sense."

Could this day get any worse? "Well... then we need a plan."

And then he paused, ears pricking. Something was coming their way. A whole lot of something, Ace suddenly feeling the whole city come to life. And there at the back of is skull there was a sharp tone in the air, tingling and unpleasant. Puppy spoke up, her voice sounding worried, "There's a sound in the air, just on the edge of a ponies' range of hearing. And I'm detecting..."

"Movement." Easu answered, eyes darting around.

Ace nodded in agreement, the onrushing hoard seemed to have them surrounded, "I can feel them too."

And then the ghouls burst out of every alleyway, street and doorway, screaming and howling as they clawed desperately for the soft meatbags ahead. Easu's pistols sprang from their holsters, spraying the ones closest and opening deep wounds... that near instantly healed.

"Canterlot Ghouls!" Ace gasped, frozen in terror by the sensory overload. There had to be hundreds of the things, and they moved FAST for looking almost dead.

"Run!"

Ace turned and desperately drove himself towards the alley behind, only to be confronted by a snarling pony wielding a machete, clear stitching around his head. Ace yelled out and flung himself forward, barging the pony to the ground and continuing on. A clear note from that white noise they had heard previously caught his attention, sensing a spider bot standing on a high tower behind them with a speaker system mounted on it's back, "Damnit! They're driving these ghouls towards us! Puppy, do something!"

"I... I'm not sure what I can do... my wireless capacity is extremely limited, and I don't have the speakers to counter the signal..."

He cursed, "So you're completely useless then!"

"I... I'm not... Ace, to your left!"

The sheer amount of movement had made it very hard to keep track of everything, not helped by getting angry at Puppy. He responded to her warning a moment too late, a ghoul running at his side and tackling him off his hooves. He was slammed down onto his back, Puppy's straps coming loose and sending her rolling across the street. He struggled to extract himself but it was a Canterlot ghoul twice his size, he might as well try and wrestle a hellhound. He screamed as it sunk it's teeth into his hoof, batting it away only to have the thing take aim for his throat.

And then the air blurred, a slim, tightly muscled form fading into vision and slamming a extended hoof into the ghoul which sent it bouncing across the street. The figure dropped elegantly beside him, hoof spinning out to hurl a stun grenade into the onrushing hoard.

Ace struggled onto his hooves, eyes widening as he beheld the zebra who had saved him, stealth cloak fluttering, "Master!"

She snapped up Puppy's trailing strap with her mouth and flung her onto her back, shooting Ace a firm look, "Follow me, quickly!"

He didn't need to be told twice, sprinting alongside her as they darted through the streets. A ghoul came out in front of them and his master twirled, Puppy's case spinning about to slam into the creature like a flail. Another had barely moved to attack them when a bullet punched right through it's head, Ace spotting Easu a short distance away with pistols smoking.

"We must hurry." His teacher stated as she turned to them, still breathing heavy from the exertion, "Something has disturbed the city, their are many hundreds of hooves heading this way."

"Ah the mysterious zebra who helped us before." Easu commented, voice calm, "You weren't badly hurt then?"

"I was once quite renowned for being hard to kill." She commented back, shaking out a stiff hip joint and walking over to them, "I may have seen better days, but I'm still capable of taking it."

Ace was... angry. Why was he angry? He figured it out after a moment, watching her casually chatting with Easu. He was angry that she had made him worry, that she had just vanished after being so badly wounded back against the mercenaries. She ran away then, refused treatment only to reveal herself now? "Why didn't you let Fluttershy treat you?! We were worried! I was worried!"

She looked uncertain, pausing for a moment before advancing past and waving them down a alleyway, "This way, hurry."

He followed, not about to leave it at that, "You didn't answer my question."

"It is not the best time for discussion."

Ace heard growling behind, accepting that answer as they moved to retreat. But that posed another question, "Where are we going?"

"Away."

Puppy chimed in from her position atop his master's shoulder, "We are heading into a large, modern area, dominated by governmental and law agencies."

"Thanks tour guide..." Ace grunted, not in the best mood with Puppy at the moment. He was still brooding on this as he heard something echoing ahead, ears pricking up and his magic straining for a better look, "Anypony hear that?"

"Gunshots." Easu commented, "Two pistols and a heavy machine gun."

"If there's survivors here, we need to join up with them." Ace declared as he diverted from the straight path to turn off towards the source of the sound, "We're going to need support if we're going to save the others!"

He continued forward, even as his senses detected a large crowd of ghouls ahead. He increased his pace as he heard a loud, female scream, bursting out into what looked like a residential courtyard. It was teaming with ghouls, fortunately they seemed to all be focused on the rooftop ahead.

"No, pweaze, I...!"

He heard the female voice again, a moment before she screamed again. He located her quickly, a pegasus stood upon the roof, oddly shaped and clearly injured.

A griffon stood in front of her, slamming his claw into her chest and hurling her off the rooftop. She opened her wings but they were too badly damaged, air just whistling through the bullet holes as she descended sharply downwards. Ace tried to catch her in his telekinesis but she was too far away, all he could do was slow her fall as she struck the ground among the murderous hoard of ghouls.

The griffon gave her one final look before opening his wings and flying away. The ghouls pounced upon his stricken victim.

The little ball of feathers suddenly moved, crying out desperately and kicking one of the ghouls in the jaw with enough force to clean displace it. It didn't distract the creature for long of course, but a second later wings opened out and sent them scattering, the pegasi jumping into the air...

And thumping down again as one wing fell limp, staggering on misshapen hooves. She screamed and tried to headbutt the ghoul launching itself at her but it barely caused the monster to slow, giving him a nice opening to sink it's teeth into her neck.

Ace's hooves pounded the concrete, leaping up and using the heads of the ghouls as stepping stones, bouncing one to another before dropping down beside the pegasi. He turned, extended his hooves, gripped the ghouls jaw and broke it with a firm twist. It came away with a chunk of bloody fur from the injured pegasus but fortunately failed to result in the spray of a burst artery, Ace rolling onto his back and bucking the ghoul away with a fierce double kick.

That just left the other hundred.

"Yeeeagh!" Ace screamed as he slammed his shoulder into another, rolling onto his side and under the charge of the ghoul beside. A quick grab and a flip and he broke the creature's neck, rolling onto his hooves and jumping to strike another aside with a spinning roundhouse. They kept coming and he kept punching, the monsters strong and fast but predicable and sloppy in their movements.

He gasped as one got too close, it's hoof slamming into his shoulder with enough force to fracture the joint. It left him staggering but he wasn't going down so easily, spinning round and tripping the creature before bucking it away with a sharp thrust. He dodged round another and let it slam into one of it's fellows, jumping up and spinning his hoof down upon it's head before leaping away.

One of the ghouls sunk it's teeth into his hoof and pulled him down, slamming him hard against the stone. He gasped for air, prone on his back as more of them crowded around...

Bullets tore through them in a fierce spray, one of the ghouls just hitting the floor with his head shattered as his teacher charged in and flung another aside with almost casual ease. Easu galloped through the gap in their numbers and hauled Ace back to his hooves, his teacher's attacks precise and devastating as she seemed to flow around the onrushing ghouls' furious attacks.

And then one bullrushed her, slamming into her abdomen and flinging her back with a gasp. Ace jumped up and caught her, sending them both to the ground. Easu desperately fired into the encircling crowd, their numbers barely seeming to thin.

Then Ace detected some unusual movement, just a dozen meters away. A door had cracked open, and behind it... the ghoul they had seen before, the one that had been following them.

The one who had led Fluttershy away, had let her get captured.

He looked at them with mounting despair, eyes quietly pleading. And for all he refused to trust the creature, it was a better option than here, "Everypony, the door behind!"

Easu looked back, nodded and grabbed the injured pegasus, Ace staggering upright and helping his master to her hooves. A ghoul charged forward and Easu slammed it back into the others, taking the opportunity to turn on his hooves and run. Ace helped his teacher gain her balance before doing them same, both of them kicking out at the approaching ghouls as they used each other for support.

They reached the door a second or two after Easu, the zebra grabbing hold of them and hauling them through before slamming the door shut behind them. A chorus of banging followed, the door thankfully not even shifting against the abuse.

"Is everypony alri...ngh..." Ace started, before feeling his shoulder collapse under him. He staggered forward and lent against a wall, eyes scanning the well furnished living room they were standing in. It seemed inappropriately cheery and domestic really, considering the circumstances, "Master, are you alright?"

His teacher was openly in pain, tensing for a moment before sharply rotating her shoulder joint with a crack and a sharp yell. That done she panted briefly before taking down a healing potion, remaining silent long enough for it to begin it's action before nodding, "I am, thank you Ace."

"It is hard to tell, but I do not believe this one is doing so well." Easu stated grimly as he stood over the fallen pegasi, Ace now clearly seeing she was a ghoul. And not just any ghoul... Esau looked at her carefully before nodding, "I know this one."

"Clear Skies?" Ace hurried over, noting that the pegasi had been shot at least four times and taken more than a few bites from the attacking ghouls, as well as undoubtedly taking a fair amount of damage from the fall, "What is she doing here?"

"Dying. Let me through." His teacher stated firmly, the two of them parting to let her through. Things went quiet and Ace took the moment to look around, "Puppy?"

"Here!" Came a call from the side of the room where she lay.

"And..." His eyes met the ghoul that had let them in, now looking sheepish and avoidant, unable to look him in the eye, "...well... thank you. You saved our lives."

"No... worthless am I." The ghoul replied, mournfully shaking his head, "Not worthy to speak to great warriors."

Ace considered that pretty accurate, considering his role in events, "What happened to Dust and Fluttershy?"

"The Celestial King took them." The ghoul stated mournfully, "Just like he took every other zebra."

"But he didn't take you?"

"My fault it is." The zebra turned wide, shaking eyes up to Ace, body quivering, "I lead them to master, lambs to slaughter. He commands this worthless one, and worthless can only obey."

Ace gritted his teeth as the rage started to burn, "So you intentionally got them captured?! You're working for the one who took them?!"

"That is the right of it master pony..." The ghoul slumped, his pathetic, broken body sagging, "Take it out on my flesh, worthless deserves all your hate. Destroyed the world worthless did, now all I can do..."

Ace took a step forward, body tense, "...is get more innocents hurt?!"

"Celestial King can make world better again. Fix this one's mistakes." The ghouls eyes shone with painful sincerity, "Says he just needs more test subjects, more time. So worthless helps him, only way to atone for the sins of worthless..."

Easu spoke up in a calm, reasoned tone as he looked around the room with a cautious eye, "So is that what this is? Another trap?"

The ghoul considered this for a moment before shaking his head, "No... worthless has disobeyed master... master wants ponies dead, too many captives taken at once a threat..."

"Why? Why disobey him now?" Ace asked.

"Because... because Fluttershy lives still..." The ghouls eyes lit up in wonder and hope, tears suddenly breaking from ruined eyes to run down his face in a stream, "Fluttershy is kindness and light, she saved this one's friends from the darkness, released their souls to the holy fire. She carries the five and one, she can... forgive worthless for his crimes..."

Ace glared at the ghoul, willing himself to ignore the simple urges of blame and vengeance and focus on how he could help them, "This Celestial King is a zebra?"

"He was once so..."

"And he lives in the Academy of Science?"

"He does..."

Well that made their course of action even clearer than before. It was after all on their way.

He looked towards his teacher as she sat beside the ghoul pegasus, her administrations tender as she carefully shifted her wing bones back into position. It was expertly done, Ace turning and watching with quiet appreciation at her skill.

"She cannot be simply given a healing potion?"

His teacher didn't turn at Easu's question, her voice clear and matter of fact, "Pegasi wings are vulnerable, on ghouls most of all. If they heal poorly she may no longer be able to fly as she did."

"You know ghoul medicine?" Ace asked, rather impressed by the breath of her knowledge, "And pegasi medicine?"

"I do." She said, pushing the pegasi over onto her side and laying her smaller wing across her body, "I did not want the limits of my knowledge to be breaking bodies apart."

"The old, blind healer of Garm..." Easu commented, "Straight out of the storybooks."

"Let us wake her." The zebra stated, bringing her hoof up for a strike. A sharp tap to the head and the ghoul's eyes flickered open, staring at those around in fear. His teacher nodded, "You are safe now."

"...that baftsted..." The ghoul grunted after a moment's hesitation, "...I... I waf going to die..."

"Who?" Ace asked, though he already had a good idea.

"Arick fthking Grimftharters." The pegasi spat, "He sfabbed me in the back! Lifterially!"

"Arick?" His master exclaimed with surprise, her brow soon furrowing, "...hmph..."

"So it was him..." Ace had suspected when he saw the griffon, he was after all one of the only ones in the area, "Why is he here? What does he want?"

"Zebra Naftional Bafnk..." She hissed, "We... he... waths gonna rob ist."

"He is in the great city of the zebra people, from which no one has ever returned, where the secrets of the past and the key to the future resides... and he wants to rob a bank?" Easu stated with contempt, "Surely their are easier ways to make money?"

"We... were suppthosed tho thut down Ceasfers Cursthe..." She began, looking embarrassed, "But you swaw theh defenthes arounth thaf plathe."

"So you decided to abandon your mission, and go get rich." Ace commented with disdain.

"Well we werth suppthoused to hafth Sunthine Ivory with us, but..."

"Sunshine Ivory is here?" Easu commented, sounding very surprised, "She is trying to shut down Caesar's curse?"

Clear Skies looked mortified, her expression twisting, "Um... I southent havth told thou fat..."

Ace looked up at Esau, questioning, "The priestess?"

"She was cuddling up to Starhammer, and she had something to do with Princess Luna too." Easu's expression grew dark, "Tradash warned me not to trust her. Why did she want to shut down Caesar's Curse?"

Clear Skies waved her hooves desperately, "Thee didn't fell me! Honthest!"

"And you didn't ask?"

Her expression fell, her voice suddenly dull and hard, "I'm a merthinary. Ivth learnthed not to asthk questhions."

"Well you're in luck." Ace replied, not entirely keeping the anger from his tone, "Your mission is back on."

Clear Skies searched his face, her eyes growing wide at his firm expression, "You can'th be therious!"

"Try me." He replied, keeping his eyes focused on the pegasus, "You are going to help us get into the Science Academy."

She hesitated, looking scared, "Why shouthd I?"

"Because Fluttershy is in there! Because it might be the only way to save the NCR!"

"I don'th owe them nothing..." She looked away, jaw firming, "...not risthing my lifth..."

He stepped towards her, feeling the air shift as she startled and threw a hoof in his direction. He effortless ducked under her attack, springing back up into a punch that sent her straight to the ground.

"Ace!" Easu shouted, though he did not move to stop him, "That's enough! Leave her!"

"Oh, I'll leave her." He replied, stalking towards the stricken pegasus, "I'll break both her wings again and leave her for the ghouls."

She darted up with a flap of her wings, intending to barrel past him. He was having none of it, grabbing her as she passed and slamming an elbow into the back of her neck. Stunned and disorientated, the pegasus couldn't do anything to resist as he span her over and flung her down onto the floor.

His master's voice was quiet, but firm, "Do not let your anger control you."

"My anger isn't controlling me." Ace replied as he rounded on the scared looking ghoul at his hooves, admitting that it certainly wasn't absent. Still, that wasn't his primary motivation, "It's necessity. I wouldn't waste a moment on her, if it wasn't for the fact that we need all the help we can get."

"And you need us Clear Skies." Puppy spoke, her voice a clear note in the increasingly angry room.

Clear Skies looked round, "Whath?"

Puppy spoke again, insistent, "I have been scanning the city, and I've uncovered the reason behind it's most notable quality... that no pony has ever come back." She let that sink in for a second before continuing, "As previously established, time flows differently for different objects, with living creatures aging faster than inanimate objects. I have worked out some of the mechanism surrounding this, and I have also discovered the presence of a barrier around the city.."

Ace did not like the sound of that, "What sort of barrier?"

"Everything leaving this city will age several hundred years in under a second." Puppy explained with a grim solemnity, "There is no escape until that field is shut down."

Everyone paused in silence. Clear Skies was the first to speak, "I'm a ghoul. I... I'll survive."

"Do you want to take that chance?" His teacher stated softly, "Or take the chance that the ponies who have come this far can beat this thing with your help?"

"Ughhh... you're twisheting my hootfh... but thine." Clear Skies dropped her eyes, clearly unhappy, "Ithf ifthfs possithible... I'll geth you in."

So there we had it. Ace couldn't say he wanted to the cowardly pegasus with them, but he was forced to admit that her achievements were plain to see. They really had no chance without her. He turned to his master, "Thank you... for all your help."

She smiled softly beneath the hood of her stealth cloak, "It is no problem Ace Gold."

"But why?" He fixed her with a stare, not able to let her avoid his questions anymore, "Why did you run away from Fluttershy? Why reveal yourself now?"

"Fluttershy would ask me questions I'm not yet ready to answer." She responded with a sigh, her eyes darting away, "And it was better for your training that I was there for you, and you alone."

Easu continued to observe her carefully, eyes moving across her face, "You are Equestrian."

His teacher paused for a moment before nodding "Yes."

"But you have been here a while, judging from your accent."

"It is a long story." She replied, her voice firming, "Which is precisely why I do not wish to tell it."

"Who are you?" Ace questioned, looking for some clue, some idea... "You've never even told me your name."

"Some of the zebra call me the Mother." She stated, looking uncomfortable for a moment before nodding, "You can call me... Xaphina."

"You are the Mother?" Easu questioned, seeming to recognize the name. He looked straight at her for a moment before simply nodding, "I see."

Ace didn't like being left out of the loop, "Do you know each other?"

They looked at each other, silence reigning for many moments before Puppy spoke up, "I know who you are too."

"Ah..." She looked up at Puppy's camera, a little worry in her eyes, "The artificial intelligence, of course."

Puppy responded to her, a shiver of suppressed emotion in her voice, "Is she..."

"She cannot help you." His teacher responded firmly, "But you can help her."

"Yes!"

"First we need to finish things here." Xaphina responded, eyes turning round to Worthless, "Have you seen the Celestial King personally since the megaspells launched?"

"No one has..." Worthless replied with a shiver, "He has ascended to divine majesty, he is everywhere and knows everything."

"I doubt that." She considered for a moment before speaking simply, "We must get inside the Academy and kill him, as quickly and as silently as possible."

Ace raised an eyebrow, "Surely we should try and rescue Fluttershy and Dust Kicker first..."

"That would be our expected course of action. He would be ready for that." Xaphina replied, "He has us outgunned a million to one, we are no match for his machines. But for all those machines, he is still flesh and blood. We must find him and end him before he can turn his technology upon us."

Easu paused to consider this before nodding, "That makes sense. This Celestial king operates through machines, but that voice we heard... I cannot help but match it with a zebra of limited physical prowess. And you theorized that he was controlling his robots remotely?"

Ace had, though he had mostly been trying to distract the operator. Still it had some merit, "They obviously have some autonomy, but I doubt they have true AI. If we can access their controls, we could potentially turn them to our advantage."

Puppy quickly chirped up, "I might not be able to access their systems remotely, but if we were inside the Academy's network I know I'll be able to do something!"

"So we have a plan." Xaphina stated, looking at each of them, "Worthless, do you know a way into the Academy that we could use?"

The ghoul nodded, looking frightened, "One I know of... remote, easy to access, worthless has the codes... but it still has defense turrets, heavy machine guns facing out... only one path..."

"One pafth?" Clear Skies scoffed, "Thilly thebers, nothink a pair thove things and thome expthovies can'th thix."

"We'll need some explosives." Easu commented.

"I've got a record of a military supply depot between here and the academy." Puppy commented, "We should be able to find some there."

"And once inside, you can disrupt their security systems while I hunt down and kill this Celestial King." Xaphina added.

Ace looked at her, "Alone?"

"It makes the most sense." Her expression was resolute, "I am most adapt at stealth, and I have many years of experience with killing."

"So we have a plan." Easu stated with a cool confidence.

They did, though Ace had to say he wasn't that reassured. No racism intended but the two ghouls did not seem the most reliable allies, his teacher was about eighty years old, and he was a kid. And this was against a guy who had murdered a city, and a legion of mercenaries. He had also captured Fluttershy and Dust Kicker, the two members of the group who actually knew what they were doing.

Still, it was the best plan they had.

¬

They soon found the military depot Puppy had spoke of, a pompous, elaborate frontage opening up into stark, grey corridors. Ace searched the facility with his magic as they advanced forward, picking up a fair few ghouls and security robots but nothing that looked too impressive.

"This place makes me feel uneasy."

Ace turned at Easu's voice, the place pretty much like everyone else to his senses. It was a little cold and metallic true, and as they moved further on extremely spartan jail cells became apparent across the far wall, "I wonder what this place was used for?"

"Plase to sphtore undethiseables." Clear Skies replied, sounding very casual, "Equthstia haths them thoo."

War never changed. He scanned the cells with his magic, nothing more three walls and a bucket. He wondered what you had to do to get sent here.

But on to more pressing concerns, "Behind the door ahead, three ghouls."

"I'lth thake pointh." Clear Skies announced, quietly stalking forward as they took up positions to cover her. She reached the door and placed her hoof on the opening, twisting it sharp and throwing it open. There was a growl from beyond, Clear Skies flapping her wings and sending herself skidding backwards with her pistol blazing.

One ghoul emerged from the doorway, staggering on a shot away kneecap. Easu blew it's head away in a few clean shots. The second two came swiftly after, Clear Skies nailing one before his master moved in on the other. She leapt, span and caught the head of the final ghoul in her hooves, the momentum cleanly snapping it's neck and flinging it to the floor.

Easu finished it off with a bullet to the brain before looking across at Xaphina, the mare patting away a few patches of pink gas clinging to her robe, "It's dangerous to engage them at close range. The pink gas coming from their bodies..."

"I know what it can do child." She stated with a wry, knowing grin, "Do not worry about me, I've seen far worse than pink gas."

They advanced inside, a former guard station with the window smashed and bloodstains all across the walls. Two guards lay dead, looking like they had been torn apart by ghouls. Behind them, a large, intimidating looking vault door.

"How do we open it?"

"Give me a moment." Ace answered, stepping forward and scanning it with his magic. Mechanically it seemed fairly simple, Ace surprised for several moments before realizing that those who designed it would likely never have thought to protect it against a telekinetic with magical sight. As he was just that however, a few swift tugs did the trick, "There we are..."

It was glorious, Clear Skies giving a appreciative whistle behind. Ace had to admit the gun nerd in him was singing in joy, hundreds of perfectly preserved top end zebra weaponry piled up on shelves. Anti air rifles, shrapnel guns, net guns, flash missiles, frack missiles... everything needed to take out anything coming in from the air.

Clear Skies walked inside, looked around and shivered, "I wouth hate to come up againths this..."

"We are on a mountain." Ace commented as he looked around for something they could use, "They likely expected the assault to mostly consist of pegasi troops."

"The Enclave has a poor track record assaulting fortified positions." Easu commented with not a small touch of pride, "Star Fall, the Mutum Heartlands and the Golden Coast have all handed them clear defeats, even without the armies and technology of the great war. An assault on this city? Suicide."

"Well that's why Twilight Sparkle developed alicorns." Ace commented, peering at a long anti-armor rifle for a few moments before dismissing it as far too small a caliber to give a spider bot much pause, "The Enclave attacked the zebra lands?"

"It was not as easy a victory as Easu makes it sound." Xaphina noted, "They occupied the Mutum Heartlands for some time before the great winter drove them out."

Ace felt like he was out of the loop, "The great winter?"

"A story for another time I think." Xaphina answered with a smile, "A good one, though perhaps I had an advantage in that regard."

Easu looked to her as they searched, "How so?"

"I was told it by Sharps and Clear Voice themselves, as well as having access to the records of Garm." She smiled, honestly seeming exited in a way Ace hadn't seen in her before, "When we leave this place I wish to take everypony there. This place has had adventures the equal of any Littlepip had."

"You all speak of Littlepip with such reverence." Easu stated as he explored the vault, "I too wish to one day learn more about this mare."

Clear Skies gave a sour look, "Sheths noth that spethal..."

"That can be debated..." Xaphina replied with a hint of hostility before sighing gently, "Sadly, I am not a very good storyteller."

Ace found himself lost in his thoughts as he explored, finding his mind drawn back to his father and Xephyr. He had never really known Littlepip that well, but he did appreciate her legacy. Indeed he was finding himself a bit homesick, far from the comforting familiarity of the Lightbringer's protection. He had felt so distant from it back home, ever since...

He hadn't know Littlepip, but he had known Xephyr. He always imagined Littlepip as a lot like Xephyr, only... bigger, and when Xephyr disappeared he found himself unable to connect with the idea of Littlepip as he once had. He could no long imagine what a hero might look like.

It scared him. Xephyr had disappeared. So had Littlepip. His father was old and crippled. It felt like this city sometimes, an empty place of shadows and memories. He sighed and walked over to a large object covered by tarpaulin, grasping it in his teeth and pulling it away.

It revealed shiny black armor, a familiar oblong metal body, "Shit!"

"Ace?"

Everyone turned, Ace blushing as he tried to calm his heart, "No... sorry, it's one of the spider bots. It's inactive..."

"No it's not!" Easu shouted, galloping over.

There was a whirr of activating machinery, Ace feeling his heart run cold as long spider legs slid out from it's body, plate sweeping aside to reveal glowing red eyes...

"No!"

"Everyone down!"

"Oh no, oh no!"

Ace dodged away and rolled under a set of shelving as the bot's energy weapon blasted a furrow through the ground where he had been standing. Easu distracted it with a few shots from his pistols, running away into cover as it swiveled to track him. Clear Skies grabbed a heavy caliber anti-material rifle and started firing, shots slamming into the machine but only denting the bodywork. She yelled out as the machine gun turret swept round and blasted a hole in her shoulder, the pegasi scampering away with blood pouring from the wound.

Ace cowered like a fool under the shelving, using his powers to scan for weapons that might be helpful. The issue was that he didn't actually know how to use the big heavy anti tank rifles lying around, and judging from Clear Skies' attempt he wondered if it would even work.

Still anything had to be better than lying there like a coward. He just had to..

Easu ran out from the nearest corner, a large, impressive looking missile launcher balanced on his shoulder. Ace gasped in horror and tried to get behind some heavy objects, desperately covering his ears...

Easu was just swinging the weapon up onto his shoulder when the spider bot span on him, Easu desperately aiming at it's eyes and pulling the trigger. He had only just clenched his teeth upon it when he yelled out, hit by a wild burst of fire . He felt back with blood pouring from his throat, the muzzle of the rocket launcher swinging upwards as it discharged.

It hit the roof above the machine, showering the whole room with debris as the concrete collapsed inwards. He saw Easu disappear under a solid block, the spider bot taking a hit from a support girder but simply shrugging it away.

And when the sound had faded and the dust had cleared a cool breeze swept through the room. Ace scanned the area for the source, realizing that the hole in the roof now seemed to reach all the way upwards. He searched around with his magic a little more, soon locating Easu trying to free himself from the pile of rubble mounted atop him. He struggled uselessly for a moment before going limp.

"Easu!" Ace darted out from under the shelving towards the stricken zebra, barely a few steps before the spider bot lurched out of rubble and fired a shot at him. He dodged with a quick, roll, searching for cover as it advanced...

Xaphina uncloaked behind it, slamming a hoof into the area damaged by the falling roof. She grunted as the metal sang with a sharp high note and her hoof shone with magic, magic that flowed through her and into the machine. Ace paused in wonder, watching as he beheld a technique he had only ever seen from one other. Xaphina's own technique was no where near as refined, and her elderly, weakened body clearly struggled to maintain the power behind the blow. Still the machine only held up for a second before it tottered sideways, sparks flying from it's exposed areas as it struggled to remain upright.

She took a moment to center herself, flexed her leg and prepared for another strike...

Then he was surrounded by a rain of collapsing rubble as another Spider Bot came through the roof, slamming hard into the shattering floor before folding out it's long, shining legs. It rounded on Xaphina, the zebra stumbling as she tried to retreat back to cover.

The energy turret sprung out of it's smooth surface, pulsing a beam of white light. It hit Xaphina straight in the chest, the zebra's legs going limp under her and dropping her sprawling to the ground. He saw her mouth something to him, eyes struggling to say open... a futile effort in the end, her body slumping and the spider bot advancing on her.

"Xaphina!"

He ran out but it was already too late, the spider bot seizing her body in it's legs and jumping into the air with wings springing out from it's back. His eyes shot round, focusing on Clear Skies skulking behind some fallen masonry, "Shoot it's wings!"

She looked up at the spider bot, then gave a regretful shake of her head.

"NO!" Ace turned back to see the other Spider bot was trying to escape, it's one undamaged wing desperately trying to get it airborne. He felt a wave of impotent rage flood through him, charging forward and slamming pointlessly into the metalwork. The spider bot wobbled a little but remained determinedly upright, turning it's turrets towards him.

Ace considered his next action. He considered it very carefully, feeling like this was a choice that somehow would fundamentally change him.

He knew it was likely a stupid idea but he had little to lose at this point. He had gotten much better with his magic after all, horn shining as he added magic to his hoof and set it at a frequency to resonate with the machines armor. He moved like he had seen Xaphina and Xephyr move, their grace and power clear in his mind...

He darted in and struck the machine hard, a shock wave shooting through the spiderbot. The eyes flickered, the sound of popping components and the smell of burnt plastic filling the air. It collapsed sideways, whining in desperation.

He had done it!

And then he felt the rapid build up of magic at it's core, it's intentions obvious and no chance to get clear, "No... Motherfuc...!"

White light and heat became his world.

¬

Noise filled the house, the sounds of gunfire, of explosions. He didn't have time to think and his head was a blur, hooves moving on their own as he hugged Elegant Waters and pulled her behind the upturned table. His father was already running, dodging gunfire as he reached the gun cabinet... his hooves shook as he clumsily threw it open, Ace feeling his heart skip a beat as a Enclave trooper sighted up on him and pulled the trigger.

Calamity took the hit in his shoulder, pulling the rifle free from the rack but failing to maintain hold of it and losing his balance in the process. He fell clumsily to the ground, the rifle clattering down beside him.

"Secure Deadshot Calamity! He is to be taken alive!"

"Like hell." Spoke a clear, knife sharp voice behind, followed by the sound of a discharging shotgun and a yell of pain from one of the Enclave soldiers. Silver Rade galloped down the stairs and slid cleanly into place behind the table, leaning out and putting a hole in one of their robots with her shotgun, "Calamity, get to cover!"

"Not seeing any available darlin'..." His father rolled onto his back with a grunt, snatching up his rifle and taking aim on another of the robots... he fired, the bullet going wide, "Shit!"

"Calamity, you're in no shape to...agh!"

"Silver!" Ace surprised himself by his panic as the mare took a bullet to the shoulder and shakily darted back into cover, trying to stem the bleeding with her other hoof as her face became even paler than normal. He felt panic fill his heart at the sight, for all his issues with the mare the sight of her perfectly presented form covered in blood was a shocking one, "Are you...?"

"Take my pistol, cover your father!" She shouted, her eyes widening in panic as she looked towards Calamity in desperation, "Calamity, run!"

It was too late, the robot was upon him. He struggled briefly but the machine smacked him hard with one of it's metal arms, leaving his father clearly stunned and spitting blood.

Ace needed no further encouragement. He grabbed the pistol with his teeth, turned and... hesitated.

He had only fired a pistol casually, at a range. And his father was right there, in the arms of his target. He could still remember how it had looked to see his father drop, blood spraying from the top of his head, body hitting the stage...

"ACE!"

His sister's voice filled the room, his vision blurring, body shaking as the sweat poured down his face...

And then the window shattered, a black and white form flying through the broken glass and spinning in mid air. The enclave trooper in it's path was flung through the air by the impact, hitting a cupboard and going straight through it with a terrific crash. The robot spun a gun arm about as the figure landed, a zebra mare, solidly built and firm jawed. Her eyes darted round as the robot fired, sending a single, high caliber round hurtling at her face.

She reacted so fast that she became barely more than a blur, the pipbuck on her leg glowing as she swept it around and deflected the bullet into the ground with a sharp ringing sound. Her back legs kicked away from the ground, the floorboards shattering and her movements smooth and powerful as she raised her hoof and Ace felt magic tingle all along his horn.

She struck the robot, it's whole structure vibrating as screws and hinges twisted and broke free all along it's bodywork. Without them holding it together it was no contest, the zebra's hoof shattering the machine apart and sending parts of it crashing down all around the room.

Ace couldn't take his eyes off her, the same zebra who had been burning hayburgers just a few hours ago now standing there with a broken combat robot at her hooves. As he watched the power and strength faded from her eyes, the zebra stepping back and looking down at his father with terrified worry, "Calamity, are you ok?!"

His father chuckled, grunting as he linked hooves with her and let her help him to his hooves. He gave his familiar goofy grin, laughing off the pain, "Heh, ah'm ok Xephyr... sorry ah wasn't much help... whoh!" He was cut off as Xephyr hugged him tight, hooves clutching him as she shivered against him. He gingerly patted her on the back, looking embarrassed, "Ok big girl, told ya didn't I? Ah'm fine."

She stepped away, blushing fiercely as she once again looked like nothing more than the cheerful, rather awkward mare he had known all his life, "Sorry... you just keep worrying me Calamity. I couldn't help remembering... you know...?"

Calamity chuckled and offered her a paternal smile, patting the zebra on the head, "I'm not going anywhere big girl."

Ace stared at her for a moment longer before deciding that he was going to learn martial arts.

¬

Pain, so much pain... he was being dragged along... tarmac? His horn wouldn't work, and without it he couldn't see a thing.

He smelt smoke and blood in the air, felt talons on his neck.

The darkness took him once more.

¬

He didn't understand how anypony could move that fast. He caught her out of position, off balance, put all his speed and power into the blow... and he still found himself flipped over and pinned, so carefully and gently that he couldn't help but feel a little insulted. She didn't even bother to hit him properly.

"Why are you so angry Ace?" Xephyr asked as she released her hold, stepping away with hoofsteps so soft that she barely made a sound on the wooden floor, "It can be an asset in a fight, if you learn to control it. But... I don't understand. Are you angry at me?"

Ace bristled at the question, though he knew that only proved her point, "I'm angry that I can't even lay a hoof on you!"

She smiled, "I'm a thirty year old veteran who's been fighting ever since she was a child Ace. Even if I was four times the teacher, I wouldn't be able to raise you to that level in just five weeks."

"I... I know that." He took a deep breath, trying to focus, "I just wish you could try a little harder. It feels like you're hugging me."

Xephyr giggled at this, Ace frowning as she demurely placed a hoof against her lips. She eventually restrained herself, biting her lip before giving him an affectionate look, "Ace, sending you home with bruises would not help your training."

"I..." He tried to think of a good answer to that, finally just frowning, "I get that you're much better than me. Just wish you would be a little less obvious about it..."

"I trained very hard to have this luxury Ace." She stated, a little sad and unexpectedly serious. A smile edged back into her expression, nodding at him, "That I can afford to be gentle."

He looked questioningly at her, feeling... that she was trying to say something, "Is that why you never kill anyone?"

She smiled, "I'm glad you think that."

"It's not true?"

"I used to use a gun, I spent most of my childhood defending the zebra of my tribe from slavers. Alongside my mother I killed Red Eye's second in command Stern." She paused, letting that sink in for a little while before continuing. Ace thought he saw a shadow of doubt creep across her eyes as she spoke, "But after I received the Element of Magic, saw the power it was capable of... I believed that the best way to peace was to harness that power. So much conflict is caused by fear, and fear stems from weakness. I thought that a creature of sufficient power could afford to be gentle, wouldn't have to kill."

Ace guessed he understand that, "You don't kill because... you're strong enough that you don't have to?"

"That's... part of it. The other reason is... Ace, there's so many ponies watching me." She sighed, giving him a gentle smile, "I'm so far from perfect, I never believed I could live up to their expectations. But I thought that with enough power, I could afford to be the kind of hero they deserve. That I wouldn't have to compromise to keep everypony safe."

Ace looked back at her, chewing his lip for a moment before finally answering, simply and honestly, "You are."

She smiled and shook her head, "Ace, how many ponies died during the Enclave invasion?"

His mind clouded, "A lot."

"How many did I save?"

He gave her an angry look at this, "You saved me."

She chuckled, "Yes, I did. But a lot of other foals lost their fathers that day."

"You're not responsible..."

"I am." She looked back at the bench behind, where her pipbuck and the star shaped jewel within was placed, "As long as I wear that on my hoof, I'm responsible. But I was arrogant. I thought that as long as I had the strength to find the big bad and punch him in the face until he stopped hurting people, then I could keep everypony safe. And that's... a very childish view of real conflict."

Ace glared at her, angry at all these... stupid falsehoods, "Stop saying that about yourself. You're a hero."

Xephyr chuckled, though the sound wasn't very humorous, "I could say something that would really make you angry."

"What?"

"Your mother does a better job keeping the world safe than me."

He glared at her, silently and coldly.

"She builds schools, hospitals, she gives out food to the needy. She bonds the nation together."

He snapped, shouting now. He wouldn't let her say that, anything but that, "By abandoning her family and using a multi-million cap organization to blackmail any democratic system that tries to restrain her!"

Xephyr didn't help by laughing, though against his will he had to admit that her laughter did calm him down a little. After a moment she nodded, "You've been listening to Lonesome Pony."

"So... so what if I have...?"

She gave him a kind smile, "Yes, your mother can be harsh, and dishonest, and all those words he flings around so casually. I love your mother, but even I can admit that. But she brings ponies together. She's as much a mother to this nation as Gawd was." She sighed, "I could never do that, I'm too..."

"Honest?"

"Soft." She grinned, a little sadly, "She should have the element of Magic, and I take Kindness."

He gave a bitter snort, "I must admit I've always found her element a joke..."

Xephyr looked sad at this, contemplating his words with quiet regret. Finally she spoke, low and serious, "Your mother has never shown me anything but kindness Ace. Your mother and father both have been the parents I never had, and the only reason I've been any kind of hero is because they both supported me."

Ace looked up at her, that not sounding quite right, "What about your real mother?"

Xephyr's face stiffened slightly, the thin smile formed afterwards noticeably forced, "Well... maybe I can understand how you feel. A little at least."

Ace had wondered, even if he rarely paid too much attention to his father's friends, "I don't think I've ever met Xenith."

"She's not very social." Xephyr replied leadenly, considering for several moments before trying another, slightly more convincing, smile, "I understand how she feels, and I don't blame her. She's had a very difficult life, and sometimes... I think she just wants to forget."

Ace looked up at her. He could see the hurt in her eyes, even if she tried to hide it, "Forget you?"

"I don't know..." She sighed, "She never talks about her feelings, and she's just so... distant whenever I try to connect with her. Honestly... when she looks at me all I see in her expression is fear. And I guess I can understand that." She sighed, her eyes downcast "To her I'm just a stark reminder of how much pain she's endured."

Ace extended his hoof, touching it against the rough fur of Xephyr's leg. He already felt ridiculous, the gesture just so awkward and stupid. He wondered why he had even bothered, it wasn't like the sympathies of some kid were worth much.

He was therefore taken totally off guard as Xephyr placed a hoof at the side of his head, leaning down and pressing her muzzle against his forehead. Like all her movements it was impossibly gentle and induced a feeling of profound peace, Xephyr drawing away after a moment to offer him a beautiful smile, "You're going to be a fine pony Ace."

Then the room seemed to fade from his mind and he felt her draw away from him, extending a hoof and shouting her name...

¬

Ugh... was he dead?

He opened his eyes to darkness, panicking and groping outwards for something to grab hold of, sure that any moment he would fall back into the pit he felt open up behind. He opened his mouth to scream, "Hel...umph!"

A claw fixed itself across his muzzle, "None of that."

The voice was raspy, ill. It sounded wrong, but the voice was still unmistakable, "Arick?"

"I saved you." The griffon stated bluntly, Ace dimly feeling him draw away as he removed the claw, "You owe me."

"I... damnit..." He tried to ignite his horn, feeling but the slightest flicker. The consuming blindness was starting to make him panic, so used to his magical senses by now that he had forgotten what it was like to be blind. It wasn't magical burn out, but that didn't reassure him. Magical burn out would be terrible, but it was still a known quantity. With that ruled out the options stretched from concussion to serious brain damage, "I can't see Arick."

He felt the griffon pad over, pausing to look down at him. His voice was bitter, angry, "Fuck... I gave you a ton of healing potions, it should have worked! What the hell kind of stuff were they selling? Your face still looks like you shoved it into a thresher!"

Oh. He guessed Arick didn't know, "That happened a long time ago, it's... it's over with. It's my horn, I can't use magic."

"But it's glowing."

"I... I can use it a little but..."

"Then it's likely just a concussion, don't be a baby Ace." Arick moved away, Ace getting a small image of his fur as it shifted, "We don't have much time."

He lifted his body, making sure nothing was broken. Fortunately it all seemed to be in one piece, "For what?"

"Your little adventure down in old town did it's job, you lured all the ghouls and lobotmites away from the government districts." Ace picked up the sound of claws on glass, figuring Arick must be leaning against a window, "We have a clear shot to the zebra national bank."

So that really was his goal. Ace decided not to comment, "If that's true, why waste time saving me?"

"Because we're friends Ace! Because you understand me..."

Ace knew Arick well enough to understand that those statements were mutually exclusive, "You want me to help with your heist."

Arick tried his best to sound casual, still his tone was fooling no pony, "Well if you offer... it would be a good way to repay me..."

Hmph... called it, "Why? Why do you need me?"

"Well if you want me to think of something... you are a excellent engineer and hacker, and your telekinesis has always been very impressive. Those kind of things always come in handy."

Really? Not that he ever had a great opinion of Arick's decision making skills, but this seemed poorly planned even for him, "You didn't bring a safecracker with you?"

His claw thumped against the floor, voice sounding out angrily, "I can crack a safe, and that stupid motherfucker Clear Skies can apparently pick a lock. It's not my fault the zebra put a fucking deadlock on their safe, some kind of... timelocked shit!"

And he didn't expect that? Ace marveled at the mind that would believe the zebra central bank could be broken into with a hairclip and a stethoscope, "What about my friends?"

"They're all dead." Arick intoned stonily, "I'm all you have now."

He didn't believe him for a moment. All the same Arick was actually right. With his magic frizzing, wounded, separated from everypony... Arick was all he had. And if he wanted to find them he needed to get out into the city "Whatever you want Arick. You did save me after all."

"Excellent... excellent."

Ace took a moment to roll out of bed, gingerly checking his body. The healing potions had done good work but he had been caught in a magical explosion and nopony walked out of that intact. The skin was mottled and his fur was thin and rough in places, his shoulder sporting a nasty scar.

But that only reassured him. He had been right next to that explosion, and if he had survived that meant the others... he tested his hooves, taking a deep breath as he found himself weak but capable, "How long have I been out?"

"About eight hours... I don't know, I've stopped counting."

Yet more time wasted in this city. He couldn't waste any more, "Let's go."

Arick sounded surprised, "You've just woken up."

Sleep was for the dead, "No time like the present."

¬

They crept through silent streets, Ace feeling his magic flow back little by little. He could at least see a fair distance now, though the details were still indistinct and blurry. They were definitely in a very regal part of the city though, the pavement perfectly smooth, the buildings carved and embossed, elegant towers of polished stone spiraling into the sky.

After a little while the silence started to get to him, "We saw you throw Clear Skies off a building."

Arick was silently for a second or two before speaking, "She was about to do the same to me. Little backstabber."

"What made you think that?"

Arick turned his head to him, "She's a pegasus, and she's not a dashite. Little bitch bugged out the second the Enclave started to lose, spent the rest of her life obeying no master but hard cash. You think I could trust someone like that?"

Ace tried not to raise an eyebrow. Some folk could talk...

"Plus, I couldn't stand looking at that ugly mug a second longer." He waved a talon, giving a cruel laugh, "I mean seriously! She can barely walk, and that fucking lisp!"

Ace winced, that... making him feel guilty somehow, "We can't all be blessed..."

"But we are Ace." He chuckled to himself as stretched himself upright, opening his arms wide, "Me and you, we were born to own this world. Elite bloodlines, money, intelegence, good looks, physical perfection! If harmony is real, then we have been chosen by it. Blessed, born better and more worthy than the others!"

Ace averted his eyes,"I don't know about that..."

"It's true Ace." His voice dropped, colder and angrier, "And out of jealousy, society tells us that all this means that we deserve to be unhappy, to sacrifice ourselves for the benefit of those who happily hide away from danger, who live lives of peaceful bliss while we die young and suffering."

Ace wanted to disagree, but then he thought back to his father. With his shaking hooves, failing eyesight... he was the best of them, and he deserved so much more, "But we... if we have the power to make things better..."

"We have the power to make things better for ourselves." Arick snorted, his voice echoing in the empty streets, "No one cares when some farmer or minor civil servant looks out for themselves, but when the upper classes try being a tiny bit selfish for a change? My grandmother built the NCR with her own blood and tears, and her reward was to die a miserable, pathetic death. When you finally die in a ditch somewhere Ace, shitting out your internal organs and begging for it to end... what will comfort you more? That you suffered and sacrificed your chance at happiness for a bunch of ingrates, or that you actually took the time to have some fun?"

"The world needs saving..."

"And if you wait long enough, eventually some pony is going to save it." Arick snorted, waving a claw about the city, "The NCR will fight many wars, against many nations. Polititions are corrupt, evil masterminds plot and the world just keeps on with the same old shit. Don't be suckered into thinking this matters any more than the thousand other minor conflicts that have come before it."

"So..." Ace took a deep breath, considering his words, "Just give up? Abandon my friends, find that money and live like a king?"

"It's Fluttershy Ace. She's a hero, a proper one. What are you?" He gestured at him, "You're fourteen Ace, do you honestly think you had a chance against that tower? Let the real heroes deal with that shit, before you get yourself killed for nothing."

What did he think he was? What was he?

It was a good question.

¬

They finally reached the bank, huge, imposing and richly decorated. Others had tried to assault it previously it seemed, bullet holes and other battle damage mottling it's proud structure. A large statue of a female zebra loomed large across the entrance archway, Ace wondering who she was.

He walked up the stairs towards the entrance, reassured that his strength was returning. He was both heartened and distressed by the realisation that they were truly alone. Yes, the lack of ghouls was nice after everything they had been through, but the lack of his friends was also disturbing.

"Fuck..."

Ace's attention was drawn to Arick once more, the griffon stumbling up the steps, scratching at his fur. He had been acting like this for some time, periodically injecting healing potions and resfusing to admit anything was wrong. Ace wasn't fooled. He felt it with his magic, the wrongness about the griffon that he had glimpsed before. He felt his stomach lurch, actually feeling... sympathy? "Arick, we've got to get you some medicine. Fluttershy said..."

"I don't care about Fluttershy!" Arick shouted, turning on Ace with a angry growl, "It's always Fluttershy this and Fluttershy that!"

"Arick..."

"Shut up!" He shoved Ace hard, knocking him backwards to stumble across the stairs. Arick grabbed his shotgun from it's holster as he came forward, driving it into Ace's muzzle as the griffon shouted, "Did she have something to do with this? Did she do something to me!?"

"No! It's..."

"I'm... I'm so sorry Ace..." Arick drew back, pulling his shotgun away and stepping back a pace, "I'm not feeling myself."

That was not good, "Arick, we need to find you some medical care. Join up with the others, they..."

"No!" He hissed, holding his face in his claw and drawing away, "No one can see me like this. Not until it's fixed."

"Arick... this can't be fixed..."

"NO!" Arick charged forward, seizing Ace's throat in his talons and lifting him into the air. The sharp claws cut into Ace's neck, Arick's grip strong enough to cut off Ace's airway as he struggled, "Once I have that money I'll be able to buy anything I want! And you're going to help me get it!"

Ace nodded desperately, Arick finally dropping him to the ground. He stepped back a pace and fixed the buck with a furious eye, his breathing heavy and laboured, "See that you do."

The halls of the bank were littered with ghoul corpses, it apparent from their injuries that they had been killed by Arick and Clear Skies. It forced him to note that despite the griffon's faults, he had inherited some combat skill from his family at least. In light of that maybe interogating him wasn't the best choice, but still infomation was a useful comodity, "I've been told that you were paid to come here by a Priestess of Celestia."

Arick grunted, then a thin grin marked his face, "She was a pretty one I'll tell you that. Better company than that fucking ghoul."

"Why didn't she come with you?"

"She had an interest in that... what the hell was her name? The alicorn with you?"

His eyes opened wide, "Star Swirl?"

"Yeah, her." Arick didn't seem to notice his reaction, his movements increasingly jerky as he continued in a low mutter, "Fucking alicorn tried to kill us... but she was angry that we defended ourselves, picked up what was left of her and healed her up, abandoned the mission and just left with her."

Star Swirl was with Sunshine Ivory? "Is she paying you for the job?"

"Yeah. Supposed to meet up with her in some crappy little town, Karsville." Arick snorted, "But fuck that. You saw what we were up against, and this bank is a dozen times the payday she offered."

Karsville, he would remember that, "But what...?"

A zebra charged out of a doorway, slamming a blade into Arick's shoulder. The zebra had a line of stitches about his head and an empty expression, Arick extending a claw and driving it into the zebra's shoulder, "FUCKER!"

Another rushed out, mouth foaming. Ace charged in to help, grabbing the lobotomite that had attacked Arick and hurling him into the second. They both went down in a tangle of limbs, Ace preparing to finish them off.

"YOU DIRTY LITTLE SHITS! DIE!" Arick swept his machine gun round, emptying pretty much the entire clip. The two zebra were torn apart, and even then Arick didn't stop until the weapon clicked on an empty chamber. He was sweating, breathing heavily and raspily.

"Arick, you..."

His head flicked round to the corridor the lobotomites had emerged from, "More of them! They're after my fucking money, the little bastards!"

"Arick!" Ace called out as the griffon charged off, sighing and making pusuit as best he could. They soon emerged into a long hallway leading to a vault door, already swarming with about seven of the lobotmites in a clearly agitated state. They threw themselves at Arick and he didn't even bother to fire, simply beating the first to death with his gun before tearing out the throat of another. One ran at Ace and he slammed his hoof into the zebra's forehead, resulting in a hollow clunk and not even slowing it down. Ace cursed and rolled with the lobotmite's attack, circling the creature as he looked for weaknesses.

Ace scanned the lobotmite as it charged in for another go, nodding to himself before dodging to one side and slamming his elbow into the back of it's neck. There was a crack and a whine of dying electronics before the creature slumped limp.

The battle behind had gone almost silent, Ace turning to view a hallway covered in blood and beaten bodies. None of them had been shot, all had been killed with bare talons and brute force.

Arick still had one of the lobotmites in his beak. It was clearly dead, hanging broken and torn open by Arick's talons... and still he...

His beak tore a solid lump of flesh from the zebra, the griffon eagerly swallowing it. He gave a deep satisfied sigh, the sound animalistic and 'wrong'. His movements too were twitchy and off, something about his very energy fundamentally changed, "Huhhhh..."

"Arick... it's over."

"I... I know." His voice rasped, bloody talons stepping across the tiles. He flung the lobotmite aside, waving at the vault "There it is, all our dreams. Not much further... not much further at all..."

"No, it's not."

"We'll be rich, you know... both of us... neither of us will ever have to rely on our parents again..."

Ace turned away from the griffon, forcing his emotions back into his throat. He distracted himself by studying the vault door, reaching into the mechanisms with his magic. It was a fairly simple design to be honest, though certainly it the rest of the wall would come down before you made a dent in the lock. He routed back along the control systems, looking for something to push, or pull, or slot...

Ace couldn't believe it himself when he finally felt the connections, a little spark passing between two nodes. The vault door shook, then ponderously rolled open to reveal a treasure hunter's wildest dream.

The zebra nation's wealth was built on metal. The fertile soil of Equestria produced gems and food in abundance, but the churning, volcanically active rock of the zebra lands produced a bounty of some of the most sought after metals in the world. And it was all here. Stacks of mithral, of gold and silver, of titanium and nickle. Back in the old world this would have been worth a fortune. In the current world? You could build an empire on this alone.

"It's so beautiful..." Arick stepped into the vault, his voice a whisper, "You could lose a fortune at the tables and barely notice, buy your very own palace...aheh... mine would be bigger than my mother's..."

Ace stared at the haul. A house? "Arick, this... this could change the world."

He paused in consideration, stood in the center of the vault as his eyes shook and his grin became wider. Finally he spoke, a cruel edge to his tone, "I could buy myself an army. Make everyone bow down at my talons. The first Grimfeathers Emperor, wouldn't my mother be eating her words then?"

Ace took a deep breath, his heart heavy in his chest, "Is everything about your mother?"

"NOTHING IS ABOUT MY MOTHER!" He let out a rasping scream, pounding a claw into a stack of iron bars with such anger Ace felt Arick's talons break. The griffon didn't even seem to notice, spinning about, spittle flying as he ranted, "She thinks she knows me, that she's entitled to disprove! I'm of a better class, I'm better than everyone! They all just don't understand how smart I am! But... I'll show them... I'll show them all... I've been too soft, just like all you little ponies... but griffons have claws... yesssss..."

In some perverse way many would find this all fitting and right. Arick Grimfeathers, forever charming his way out of every situation with his looks and his brains.

Now both had been stripped from him. His charm and clever lies had been stripped from him alongside his fur and flesh, and now Ace saw what he really was.

It didn't make it easy. But Ace knew he had no choice. He made his peace with the decision, knew it had to be made. And though there was no satisfaction in it, he knew many would find this justice. Arick had finally found wealth and power beyond imagining, and he was welcome to it, "I'm sorry Arick."

He reached out with his magic, made the connections, then fused them permanently in place until the control system shorted out with a whine. The vault door shook, then slid shut with a loud clang and the sound of Arick's screams as he rushed to the door in a rage. Ace watched as the door felt into it's moorings, shuddering there before sliding inwards and shifting as the magnetic locks engaged.

"Let me out, let me out, let me out! You can't do this to me!"

Ace shook his head, sinking against the door. If he let him out, he would only cause more damage, hurt more ponies. He had hurt Fluttershy, Silver Scribe... hundreds cursed his name.

"You're a nice pony Ace Gold... too nice... I'll starve in here, withering away... I'm no threat to you..."

He cursed his lack of strength. That he hadn't been strong enough to finish it clean.

"I'll get out of here! Kill you! Eat your fucking flesh, like a proper griffon!"

He wished... it had ended differently.

"My mother is Regina Grimfeathers! She won't stand for this, she'll hunt you...!"

Ace finally disabled the microphone inside the vault, Arick's voice fading into static. Ace stood there just silently, he didn't know for how long.

Arick was still in there. He had just condemned another living creature to a slow, lonely death. And there was nothing he could do about it now, even if he wanted to. He... didn't know how to feel about that. He walked away, leaving that vault behind, leaving everything behind. He walked through the ruins of the bank, past the decaying corpses, feeling nothing but a cold, leaden weight in his chest.

He came out into the sunshine, dry, stale air settling upon his shoulders. He looked all around, not a soul in sight.

He... wished there was. He didn't know what he would say but he really needed somepony just to be here right now. Like... Fluttershy...

He missed his family too. His father, Pitch Perfect... even Silver Rade and Elegant Waters.

Especially them. They at least he could count on to tell him the hard truth.

His mind would not stray from Arick's comments about his mother, wondering if that fierce destructive hatred he had felt in his words was truly what had driven the griffon to such extremes. Did Regina truly deserve that hatred? Was she really the cause of his problems?

The answer was self evident, she did not deserve any of it.

The weakness and failure had been within him all along.

"Oh... Celestia, Luna and Cadance..." He gasped, holding a hoof to his eyes as he felt himself break, tears running down his face as he fought for composure. But it was too late, he had no further reserves left. Fluttershy was gone, Zenai was dead, Star Swirl was missing... everypony was gone, and he was alone.

There was nothing left. He let out a sob, legs wobbling as tears splattered the pavement, his gasping cries echoing in the emptiness, He knew they would call more ghouls, but at this point he had abandoned all concerns except one.

He had let down everyone who loved him. He would die alone.

"Ace!"

He lifted his head, staring through tear stained eyes. A figure...

"Ace! Are you hurt?!"

He shook his head, wanting nothing more than to just run over and bury his face into that massive frame until he felt safe again. He wasn't sure how he would react however, simply settling with a silent nod.

Easu came forward cautiously, scanning the area and keeping himself low, "Where is the griffon?"

"He's gone..."

"Gone? He..." Easu's eyes widened, searching Ace's face for meaning. His voice was now twinged with regret, "Ace Gold, I am sorry."

"One of us is." He snarked, feeling himself choke, "I... I..." He broke, face screwing up as he felt the tears form anew, "...I can't... oh... oh..."

And Easu came forward, lifted a hoof and gingerly and clumsily drew Ace close. The bandages tickled his fur and he smelt of sweat and blood, but at that point there was no place he would rather be. The zebra's low tones were filled with sympathy, even affection, "I am glad you are not hurt."

He sighed, feeling the tears ease as he took strength from Easu's unyielding form, "Thank you..."

"I... I know I'm not very good at this." He moved his hoof away, eyes embarrassed as he made some distance between them, "You would rather anyone but me no doubt."

"No." He protested, in fact rather disappointed at the sudden distance between them, "I... thank you. For coming for me."

"It was not all me." He shook his head, clearly not comfortable, "Worthless knows this city like no other, and he can track like a bloodhound. Even Clear Skies did her part, scanning the city from above. In fact we really should..."

Ace walked forward and embraced the zebra, embarrassed but unwilling to just let it drop. Easu's hug had been stiff, hesitant and unsure, but it had not been reluctant. There was affection there under those bandages and battlescars.

"So that is how it is done..."

Ace looked up at the big zebra. He seemed distracted, distressed somehow, "A hug?"

He paused briefly, before finally giving a reluctant nod, "As I'm sure you noticed, I have not had much experience with them."

Ace smiled, stepping away and drying his tears, "I've never been very good at them either."

Easu paused, staring at Ace. He seemed to be locked in self debate, finally bringing his hoof to his jaw and pulling his bandages away. They did not expose a fearsome skull face or horrifying burns as Ace had expected, instead... it was a face. Layered with scars and missing large tufts of fur, but not disfigured. Even younger and more handsome than he expected. Even Easu's voice sounded different without them, clearer and higher, "You... are not alone Ace Gold, any more than I am."

Ace smiled at that face, Easu seeming so... unassuming without his mask, "Because we both have scars?"

"Hmm..." Esau looked away, his eyes troubled, "I'm told your family are great heroes."

"Yes." Ace could think of no other way to put it, "Two of them carry elements of harmony."

"It is difficult, to have worthy parents." He gave Ace a grim smile, "My father, my brother, my mentor... they are all great zebra. I even understand this Arick, with what I have been told of him. I understand why you came to the Zebra lands with him."

Ace looked down, "Yeah."

"I was like him once." Easu took a deep breath, seeming... lifted, relieved somehow, "I could not handle the responsibility of my birth, and so I chose instead to abandon all responsibility."

Ace felt a cold feeling run through him, "Yeah..."

"You have rejected that choice." Easu smiled, oddly warm and kind, "I am proud of you for that."

Ace looked away, embarrassed and depressed, "It might have been better if I had taken his offer... it's not like we stand a..."

"No. This is the right path. The other is a life without meaning, and we all die eventually. Better to gamble your years on even a moment of victory, than to forever toil in spiritual poverty." He looked up towards the Academy of Science, expression firm and determined, "We will save Fluttershy and Dust, or we will die good deaths."

Ace didn't know quite what to say. Did he believe that? He decided to deflect the question, "Why are you here Easu? Why are you doing this? You were sent to watch Star Swirl, and she isn't here."

"No." He paused for a moment before answering, "I am here because I believe in Fluttershy. In what she said before."

"About peace between the zebra and NCR?"

Easu nodded, "If her plan works, it could lead to a new world. I world would be honored to live in, and I believe she has the vision and capability to pull it off."

"We really are turning into the Fluttershy appreciation society..." He smirked despite the grim situation, "Does anyone care about Dust Kicker?

"Hm..." Easu's expression shifted into a slight smile, "Fluttershy does."

"True." Ace stated, chuckling slightly to himself. It was reassuring that he could still laugh, even at times like this, "Let's go save them."

"Lets."

¬

"I'm glad you're not dead."

"So you've said Puppy." Ace replied somewhat tersely, neither wanting to make a fuss over it nor talk about his experiences with Arick. Puppy, fortunately or not, did not seem to notice his reluctance.

Clear Skies, Worthless, Puppy and Easu. It was an odd team, one he wouldn't have chosen for even your general patrol. Certainly their mission seemed almost impossible, suicidal even. Arick's words continued to live with him, the sheer, simple 'why'?

It wasn't because he was a hero, he realized that now. It was in fact for the most selfish reasons.

He liked them. Fluttershy, Xaphina... even Dust Kicker, despite his womanizing tendencies. He wasn't exactly the easiest pony to get along with, so he appreciated how they went out of their way to make him feel needed.

"We're getting closer..."

"Everyone keep an eye for booby traps." Ace replied as they made their way towards their destination, located within what appeared to be the poorer part of the city. The buildings here were noticeably newer in their style, yet cheaply constructed and tightly packed. Banners featuring inspirational messages and the photos of enlisted members of the community fluttered in the dry air, reminding Ace somewhat of Star Fall. He smiled grimly as he looked at one that asked zebra to pray for those who were actually listed as prisoners of war at Black Island, which Ace remembered as being the zebra name for the island that was now Star Fall. It almost made him laugh, "You know, the zebra that were out in the field... they likely survived, where as the families safe at home here were killed by their own."

"Zebra appreciate irony." Easu commented dryly.

"Worthless dreams sometimes, wishes he could help. That he was strong enough to do something." Worthless spoke quietly behind, Ace turning to the emancipated ghoul as he looked around the area in quiet despair. After a moment he spoke again, a slight hint of anger under his defeated drone, "Mercenaries that come here tell me of Star Fall, how it continues to oppress zebra, steal our resources. Zebra... deserve so much more..."

Ace found himself pricked by this, a note of... slightly misplaced guilt coming over him. Whether it was his fault or not however, he was still eager to lift the ghoul's spirits, "Star Fall has been defeated actually, at least on the mainland."

Worthless lifted his head, "Truly? I had heard of a warlord who opposed them, but those Worthless spoke to told me he was doomed to fail."

Ace shook his head, smiling at the ghoul, "He succeed in driving them out. His son rules now, as Caesar."

Worthless looked honestly lifted by this news, a hint of pride flowing back into his sunken features, "Tell him to look for peace... the zebra have seen too much conflict..."

"Um... thillithes and genthalcothts?" Clear Skies suddenly spoke up ahead, "We'th hereth."

The tower of the Academy of Science rose above them, a sheer, shining crystal bound in a silvery metal skeleton, elegant arrays of antenna and transmitters jutting out from it's surface. Ace tried to gulp down his fear as they approached, especially as he saw the lines of electric fences and defense towers that surrounded it, "Right, ideas everyone?"

Puppy spoke in response, quietly hopeful, "I still can't infiltrate their network..."

"But?"

"I can disrupt the power supply, forcing a section of the defense system to reset." Puppy explained, "It would give you exactly a minute to get across."

"Honored ponies..." Worthless's quiet voice sounded out behind, all of them turning as the ghoul gave them a miserable look, "...I cannot go with you."

"I understand." Ace stated after a moment's though, not really all that surprised. The ghoul had done his part getting them here, and it's doubtful he would be of much help inside, "Thank you for your help."

"Honored ponies..." He averted his eyes, body slumping, "...the Celestial King will know you're coming. He has... always known, always been prepared..." The ghouls haggard body truly deflated now, his voice a whisper, "I tried to fight him once. He laughed as he took everything, made me worthless."

"You are not worthless." Easu stated firmly, "You brought us here."

"More fodder for his experiments honored ponies." He lifted his eyes, "You are but three. I should not have brought you here, should have told you to run."

"Two." Clear Skies corrected, stepping away from them and looking defiant, "He'ths righth."

Ace looked round in horror, then disgust at the cowardly pegasus, "Really? After you came with us all this way?"

Clear Skies shrugged, "Brought you hther, gaveth you a chanth. Buth ifth thith ith a thusicide misthion, I donth whanth any path of it. I'll taketh my chanth with escapthing the city."

Ace stepped forward, "You...!"

Easu stopped him, laying a hoof on his shoulder, "Let her go."

He looked back, "Easu..."

"You, me and Puppy. This is enough." He looked up at Clear Skies, "A lame pegasus would be little help indoors."

"Iths true!" Clear Skies acknowledged with a nod, "I'm complethly usethes without my winths."

"Fine." He swallowed his anger, accepting that Clear Skies wasn't worth it. He had better creatures to be angry at, "Give us four hours. If we've not succeed by then, we're almost certainly dead."

¬

It was too easy. Puppy disabled the defenses as she said, they made it past the fence, turrets, plugged the codes Worthless had given them into the door, and...

"I don't like this."

Ace nodded at Easu's low whisper, looking left and right for any signs of danger. They stepped along a long service corridor, leading under the courtyard of the academy if his sense of geography was accurate. It was wide and open, apparently used to transport materials into the facility without clogging up the main entrance.

It should have been guarded, and to be honest it wouldn't have been hard. It was just one long straight corridor, with no cover whatsoever.

"You know, Worthless led Dust and Fluttershy into a trap..." Puppy mentioned, her voice a little too light and breezy.

"Well we're here now." Ace replied, having considered that already, "Any luck getting access to their systems?"

"No." She answered disappointingly, before speaking again in an exited tone, "I'm pretty sure I've worked out why though."

Ace sighed, "Go on."

"There appears to be a second time distortion field around the facility itself, along with... other strange things. I'm pretty sure the Academy is experiencing a different time flow than us, which of course makes it impossible to access their network from an outside source... at least without very complicated algorithms."

Ace hated this time shit, "And the weird stuff?"

"Well I'm kinda guessing, because what I'm recording doesn't make any sort of sense."

And then Ace felt it too, his magical probing suddenly running up against... well, he could describe it as pressure. Power was built up ahead, and it was churning, directed, straining against it's barriers, "I... can feel it too. What is that?"

"It appears to be magic, a huge amount, rotating around a central point. That pocket of very dense space appears to be the center point." Puppy then gasped, and not a reassuring gasp, "It's... a megaspell."

That wasn't good news. He was unsure how to react, "A bomb?"

"No... it's one of the most complicated megaspells I've ever seen, and it's... still forming."

"Like... in a reactor?"

"The facility is the reactor." Puppy stated after a moment's pause, "By sealing the facility inside a temporal bubble, it's created a perfect seal. That's how they've managed to make a megaspell so big. And through temporal and spatial distortion... it's generating a huge amount of power, which is all feeding the megaspell, making it stronger."

Ace briefly considered the idea of a skyscraper sized megaspell. The ones that destroyed cities tended to be the size of a barn, "So... what does it do?"

"I've set up a subroutine to calculate that." Puppy stated with a slight shiver in her voice, "Preliminary reports indicate... nothing good."

Easu spoke up, his voice matter of fact, "All life on the planet?"

"Actually quite the opposite. It's clearly based on the Gardens of Equestia." Puppy answered.

"That doesn't sound so..."

"Except the criteria for what constitutes corruption has been slightly extended."

Ace's mouth quietly dropped open. That... that made horrible sense, considering what they had seen in the city.

Perfectly preserved, even tidied and repaired... without a soul left to inhabit it, "It will wipe the planet clean of life, and create new life in it's place?"

"I... think so?"

Ace took a deep breath, the hurried his pace, "Puppy, ideas on how to stop it?"

"Um... several?" Puppy advanced, "Depending on how lucky we are, they range from the very awesome to the... not so awesome."

Ace was a cynic, "Not so awesome first."

"Well... the megaspell could be unstable, or locked in it's final condition. That means we would either have to unleash it as is, hope it would only rewrite half the planet, or blow it up, and hope it only takes out half the continent."

This was turning out to be a really shitty day, "Ok... slightly more awesome?"

Puppy sighed, "Ace, it's very unlikely that it will be that bad. If we're really lucky... I could rewrite the megaspell, create a gardens of Equestria spell for half the planet!"

They were NEVER that lucky, "You can't just rewrite a megaspell Puppy."

"Well maybe 'you' can't..." She sighed, long and deep, "...we won't know until I've got into their systems. If worst comes to the worse, we can just not fire the megaspell, and make sure no one else does either."

"Well, first we have to get inside." Ace nodded up ahead, where a large warehouse stacked with parked transport vehicles sat. Beyond, a service elevator, "Time to save the world..."

They found some stairs just behind the elevator shaft, along with a disused camera socket that they could plug Puppy into. She remained silent for a half a minute before finally speaking, "I've set the cameras on this circuit into a loop, and downloaded a partial floor plan. We should head to the eighth floor."

Ace raised an eyebrow, "That's all you have?"

"It's a very small network, meant to be used only by the security offices of the first four floors by the looks of it." Puppy sounded a little frustrated herself as she continued, "The building has fifty eight floors. I've only got plans for the first twenty."

"Why floor eight?" Easu asked.

"It's where the detention cells are kept." Puppy responded, "There are large holding areas there, along with docks for the spider bots and freight class elevators from the basement. Dust, Fluttershy and Zaphina must have been taken there."

Taken there sure, but were they still there? Still it was the best option they had for the moment, "What's on the other floors? Anything we can use?"

"It's mostly residential." Puppy noted, "This place was designed to be fully autonomous. They have indoor gardens, shops, gyms, swimming pools..."

"Weapons?"

"Let's not go looking for trouble Ace." Easu warned, "As I proved with that missile launcher, neither of us are trained in the use of heavy weapons, and we have already seen that this tower hosts at least a dozen of those spider bots. We cannot stand against that many, no matter our weapons."

"Ok..." Ace accepted reluctantly, "...maybe we can get some uniforms, blend in?"

Puppy spoke up at this, sounding exited, "There's a pony and a zebra scientist together on the forth floor. No guards about!"

"Do they look anything like us?"

"A... little..."

Easu gazed cynically, "Puppy, I am... distinctive, and Ace is fourteen and looks it. Let us concentrate on retrieving Dust Kicker and the others, and not get too complicated."

Puppy sighed, "Fine... but you're missing out on some crazy highjinks!"

¬

They ascended upwards past an array of blinking, sightless cameras, the rough stone of the walls fading into steely grey plastics. They ascended past the residential areas Puppy had described, Ace feeling his heart run cold as he saw zebra walking the areas beyond the glass doors. Not once did they ever glance their way however, so totally caught up in their day to day lives.

Finally they reached the eighth floor, this vastly more businesslike in it's architecture than the floors before. The grim, stark corridor ahead seemed empty so Ace took the opportunity to open up a panel and plug Puppy into the jack.

"I've found them!" She declared triumphantly, "Not by name, but the descriptions are clearly of Fluttershy and Dust Kicker."

"Where?" Easu started, looking tense and impatient.

"I..." Puppy paused, then her voice cracked a little, "Not on this floor. They've been taken upstairs... Fluttershy for medical dissection, and Dust Kicker for live fire exercises..."

Ace felt his flesh chill, trying to keep the panic from his voice, "All the more reason to hurry. Xaphina?"

"On this floor." Puppy answered, "Right, then three blocks ahead."

They continued on, a little more hurriedly than before. He ached with the desire to go upstairs immediately, save Fluttershy and Dust Kicker... but he knew that if they were going to have any chance of success they would need Xaphina's experience.

And then he stopped as suddenly as he was able, thumping Easu on the shoulder and pointing towards a set of corridors to the left. Easu thankfully didn't question, instantly hurrying towards the turning indicated. They both hurried down, the sound of metal spider legs echoing behind them.

And then he felt something else in front, panicking for a moment before getting a better read on them. Just two, the size of normal ponies, not appearing to be heavily armed or armored. He motioned to Easu and prepared himself as they reached the corner, prepared as the figures approached.

He saw a figure in a black body suit emerge and swung his hoof towards their jugular, angled and positioned for a quick take down.

But his hoof simply bounced off the figure's armor, causing little but a cry of surprise and a slight stumble. The pony in the black bodysuit turned, the glowing eyes of a set of high tech goggles sitting above a respirator, the rest of whatever it was totally covered by sleek black plastic. The other figure behind was clad identically, both looking way too familiar...

"Ghost warrior..." Easu whispered, his voice clearly trembling.

Easu was afraid. That... that wasn't a good sign.

The first figure moved, faster than he believed it possible for a pony to move. Ace dodged by the skin of his teeth, his counter punch not even causing the figure to flinch. He backed away, heart trembling as he saw Easu already thumping unconscious to the ground at the hooves of the other figure, "Puppy, give me something!"

"Um... they are wearing the same suits as Chigaru. He... um... energy weapons can be effective."

"I don't have any...!"

The figure moved like a flash of lightning, his voice clear and cheerful, "Oh that looks like a fun toy."

Ace moved to counter but the figure wasn't aiming for him, instead seizing Puppy from his back and tearing her free. He flung her over to the other figure, this one speaking in a scratchy female voice as she placed a hoof atop the casing, "I wonder what'ze keeping in here!"

"No!"

It was too late, the female suit pressing her hoof down and with worryingly casual ease popping the armor in half. She stepped back a pace as the chunk of star metal was revealed, letting out a little gasp, "Invuctus, what'z zat?"

The other suit eased forward, slim body slinking across the tiles, "That's Star metal! Connected to some sort of... destroy it! Destroy it now!"

Ace sprinted forward but it was to no avail, the female suit stomping her hoof against the star metal. It crumbled into dust with only a moment of resistance, Ace feeling his heart go tight and his magic burst outwards in flashing energy. He... Puppy... he had just let her...

"Sneaking a bomb in here, a star metal bomb no less. Veeeerrry sneaky little pony..."

No. No. He wasn't going to take this. He felt the female rush up to face him, fierce emotion running through his body as he came in to meet her. He ducked her thrusting hoof, launched himself forward and struck her in the jaw, feeling energy surge through his muscles. It did the trick, sending her howling backwards to slam against the wall with enough force to dent the metal. Her broken body flopped to the ground and she screamed, scratching a hoof against her broken respirator as a think cloud of pink gas built up around her, "Naiiiii! Aggiiiii, Invicutus, he hurt me! He hurt me!"

Ace paused, looking down at his hoof. Since when did he have the strength to knock ponies across the...?

Then something struck him hard across the head and all other questions were immaterial.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Footnote: Level up! (7)

Perk Gained:
Zebra Martial Arts Level 1
You have uncovered the secret to using your own natural magic to enhance your body. You can now learn and use zebra arts.

Quest Perk Gained:
All The Best Cowboys Have Mommy Issues
Perhaps you're finally starting to get a bit of perspective. As such, you gain a +1 to perception.