Chapter Thirty-Eight: Working with Steel
“Ad Victoriam!”
Crossroads had been left far behind us by this point, the five of us making our way into the core of Vanhoover. It was almost a shame to leave the friendly town behind, Celestia knows that there are precious few of those nowadays. But it had to be done, and we had departed after a few final farewells when the day’s first light had arrived.
Now we just had to make it through the ruined streets and reach the local Ministry of Arcane Sciences hub before anything else decided to try and distract us. We’d probably had enough of a detour as it was, I don’t think Kronos and his band of assholes were going to wait for us to go on epic side quests or have any kind of rest and relaxation.
Shame.
Fortunately, the hub wasn’t too far away for us to travel. We’d be there long before the sun even reached its height. From there… well, Spring Haze’s stories of death robots weren’t exactly reassuring. I could imagine a ministry hub had quite the arsenal to defend it. And we weren’t exactly just popping in and out either. No, we had to make it all the way to the Ministry Mare’s own office, which I could easily imagine as being one of the most guarded rooms in the entire building.
At least Moon Blossom will enjoy the carnage. Assuming she doesn’t lose her face again.
Now that was a weird sentence to think…
All that aside, the street we were on was long and covered in the tattered remains of a whole two hundred years’ worth of victims. It was also jam-packed with rusted vehicles, making it look like there had been something of a blockage the day to bombs fell. It may be that it was ponies trying to flee either in the immediate aftermath or in the knowledge that they were soon to be next. Both, probably. I could barely imagine the sheer chaos that day must have brought, all those people trying so hard to survive only to either die in the blast, the carnage or to the radiation.
At least ponies in the countryside had places to go while waiting to die. But these cities… they were gravestones even before the bombs dropped.
Ugh, there I go depressing myself again.
Still, I could hardly help it when I saw sets of bones big and small in every other car.
“Grim,” Moon Blossom commented, seeing me gazing at one such car. “And that’s coming from me. You’d have thought all those pre-war ponies would’ve thought of a better way for ponies to run the fuck away before they got blasted.”
“To most ponies, they never thought the end would actually come,” Cobalt stated. “And when it did, those without a stable entry pass were left to fend for themselves. Back past where Crossroad is now ponies might have been able to slip away, but right here in the busiest part of Vanhoover… Nopony had a chance in hell.”
“This city was not directly hit, and still the devastation was clear to see,” Xena muttered.
“The bomb hit close enough,” Cobalt responded. “We head around the edges I’m sure we’ll find where the shockwave flattened a whole district. Past that, the crater is probably filled with all kinds of lovely mutants.”
“Let’s not go there,” I deadpanned. “Ever.”
“We’re after a code, not copious amounts of radiation poisoning,” he shot back. “I don’t think we have to worry about that.”
I looked up ahead. Past all the rot and ruin, right at the end of the street, was an extremely large building that seemed to clash with the architecture of the rest of Vanhoover. It was a large skyscraper that seemed highly stylised in its design, seeming like an almost chaotic mismatch of windows and balconies. Decaying pink highlights ran up the length of the structure and on the forward-facing slope was a giant sign containing three party balloons and the words ‘Ministry of Morale Vanhoover Hub’.
“And I thought Manehatten’s was garish,” Cobalt dryly remarked. “No parties in there anymore.”
I find it creepy that ponies would party in the same building that all kinds of morally ambiguous black ops shit was inevitably happening. Pinkie Pie was probably a bit of a twigged pony in life, wasn’t she?
“At least we know we are close,” Xena stated, stopping a moment to study a clearing in the surrounding buildings as we came to it. “And we may not be the only ones.”
The clearing was just large enough to hold a raised structure that connected up to some of the overhead monorails. Or what was left of them, all but one of the tracks had collapsed down onto the highway. But what had caught Xena’s eye was an old military barricade set up by the escalator leading up to the station, each barricade holding the symbol of the Steel Rangers.
I hummed curiously, trotting off the beaten path and over to the barricade. There was nothing on my Eyes Forward Sparkle, the station seemingly being abandoned. Looking behind the barricades, there were several empty ammo boxes strewn all over the place alongside some rusted gun parts. A single skeleton in a tattered army uniform was sat up against one of the barricades, an ancient combat knife not far from his bleached hooves.
“Yeah, nopony has used this place for decades,” I informed the others. “Maybe there was a time when the Rangers had tried to get the monorail system working again.”
“Looks like that ended really well for ‘em,” Moon Blossom commented, gesturing to all the devastation around us.
“I bet they were really pretty to look at when they ran,” Altrix wondered wistfully. “Before everything became terrible.”
“I wouldn’t even want to hazard a guess at how long it would take to get even one line working in Manehatten,” Cobalt mused. “Whole thing is about as much of a wreck as here. They weren’t exactly designed to withstand the forces of a balefire detonation, and Manehatten had one go off inside it.”
“Still, there could still be some Steel Rangers around,” I said, bringing us back on subject. “They’re supposed to be interested in the MAS hub as well, remember?”
“I would suggest we trot lightly,” Xena suggested. “They are not known for their friendly approach.”
As if I wasn’t already aware of that.
We continued onwards, moving down the highway until we found ourselves at the base of the Ministry of Morale building. There was a small plaza in front of it, an old fountain having long been blown to hell by someone with a rocket or grenade to spare.
The road split in two directions from there. Looking down the right leading road heralded signs for the hubs belonging to the Ministry of Image and the Ministry of Awesome. Left was were my map marker seemed to want us to go and had signs for the Ministry of Arcane Sciences hub along with Wartime Technology and Peace.
With little else to do, we followed that route.
The remnants of all the traffic on the last day was just as bad around here as it had been on the highway, though some spots were clearer than others. There were several roads branching outwards, all of them together making up a large grid that was the city centre. Down a couple of these branches, we could just make out the hubs for the Ministry of Wartime Technology and the Ministry of Peace. The former just looked like a large office building while the latter looked to be a decently sized hospital more than a hub. Altrix had eyed up that building in particular, probably imagining all the medical equipment that might still be inside.
Still, we didn’t take any detours. Instead, we kept following the road round as it looped to the right. If we kept following the road indefinitely, it would probably loop around to the other hubs and eventually back to the MoM building. But we needn’t have to, seeing as our destination was slowly coming into view overhead.
The building wasn’t quite the marvel of a skyscraper that Morale’s had been, but it would have still been a sight to behold in its day. It was situated right at the northern-most point of the city centre, whereas the MoM hub had been south, the two buildings almost directly in line with one another. Whereas Tenpony Tower was designed to look luxurious due to its dual purpose as a hotel, the Vanhoover hub stood in great contrast with a coldly scientific design. The building was largely black in colour with some lavender highlighting scarcely dotted around. There were rows of perfectly symmetrical window placement that seemed to almost contest the chaotic design of the other hub, another plaza sitting out the front where I could spot several revolving doors that would amidst entrance. A large golden plaque sat in the plaza, an engraving of a starburst cutie mark carved into it with some text confirming to the uninitiated that this was indeed the Vanhoover MAS hub.
There were also several red and green bars around it surrounded by erratic beams of magical death that were flying all over the place.
Quite the welcome.
We ducked down behind an old truck, whoever and whatever was fighting seemingly having yet to spot us seeing as none of those beams flew in our general direction. Still, someone was really trying going at it outside the entrance of the hub!
Peering around and entering S.A.T.S. for good measure, I saw who exactly it was getting pummeled out there. Several robots were charging out of the ministry, at least five Mr Gutsy units and a couple of Protectaponies by my initial count. Facing off against them, taking cover behind some vehicles of their own, was a group of five Steel Rangers along with another unicorn mare who was wearing some kind of red robe.
All of the Steel Rangers aside from that one mare were decked out in power armour, but that didn’t mean that they weren’t getting something of an ass-kicking. Several of the Mr Gutsy robots were firing small blue crackles of energy one of their three limbs that looked more electrical than magical, though I would hardly say I’m an expert. Still, whatever it was, the Steel Rangers seemed particularly wary of it. I could already spot one of the Rangers seemed to have had his armour lock up on him, the unarmoured mare working to get him moving while the others fired at the robots.
“So… we let them kill each other or what?” Moon Blossom asked.
“Their bars aren’t red,” I noted. “They might actually be friendly.”
“Friendly? Really?”
“Not every Steel Ranger acts like an overpowered raider,” Cobalt pointed out. “These might be some of the nice ones.”
There was a bang as one of the robots was hit with a red beam and turned to ash, Moon Blossom looking at the sight with an unconvinced look. “How much you willing to bet on that?”
“If they choose not to shoot us on sight, they may also take issue with the computer on your foreleg,” Xena then pointed out, gesturing towards my PipBuck.
“True,” Cobalt conceded. “They have a directive to collect valuable technology. Even if they’re less fanatical than some of them, they still have their orders.”
“We won’t know unless we ask,” Altrix stated. “And they’re in trouble! We help people, right?”
Well, my PipBuck hasn’t steered me wrong yet.
I pulled out my assault rifle, giving it a quick checking over before looking over at the others. “If they decide to be dicks, we’ll handle it. But if they are some of the nice ones, they might help us get inside. And you know what? I’d feel a hell of a lot better having some ponies in power armour stomping those robots between us and that code.”
“Well, there we go,” Cobalt commented as he lit his horn.
“Fine. But I reserve the right to say, ‘I told you so’ if they turn us into ash,” Moon Blossom likewise declared.
I’m sure she will.
Still, this would either turn out to be a stroke of luck or a mistake. I had to hope these weren’t the kind of Steel Rangers to see wastelanders as insignificant pieces of shit in their way and were more of the kind who generally wanted to help ponies. The ones we’d seen back at that park had been red on my E.F.S. from the get-go, but these guys were not…
Welp, time to gamble!
I popped back into S.A.T.S. as I whipped around the corner and targeted the first Mr Gutsy. I lined up to shots on its body and one on the front eyestalk, engaging the shot before they even knew I was there!
Three bursts slammed into the surprised robot, the first to shots peeling off a bit of plating while the third entirely severed the eyestalk. It swerved around in confusion at the sudden blind spot in its vision, during which a second shot from Xena sent the robot down to the ground in a smoking heap.
The remaining robots recoiled and moved to divide their attention. Meanwhile, the Steel Rangers looked up towards us, their bars thankfully remaining green. I faintly heard one of them bark something at the others before they continued their attack on the machines.
“I’m going to see if I can help get that one Ranger’s suit back online,” Cobalt called out. “Those robots have pulse weapons!”
We darted off, creating a momentary shield around himself to stave off some fire before sliding down behind cover with the armoured ponies.
“Hey, don’t forget about me!” Moon Blossom shouted as she hopped up onto the top of the truck. “Come say hi to Momma Moony!”
And then she raised her wings and darted off at the robots before any of us could even warn her not to!
“Oh dear,” Altrix muttered.
Like she would have heeded any warnings anyway.
Xena and I hopped back out of cover and started firing at the machines, trying to cover Moon Blossom as she planted all four of her hooves into one of the Protectaponies at speed before kicking off of it and tackling a Mr Gutsy with her knife, going straight for a gap in its armour! The Mr Gutsy recoiled and started batting at the unwanted passenger while the Protectapony was knocked to the ground in a heap, though not yet inactive.
As Xena and I fired, I noticed Altrix buzz her wings and dark off to join Cobalt, probably to see if there were any injuries. I let her worry about that, focusing my own attention on the fallen Protectapony as it tried to stand itself back up. A couple of rounds to the machine’s torso hit something vital, the robot sparking and shuddering for a moment before several panels violently blew off and it fell still.
I turned my sights to the next Protectapony, but I stopped short of pulling the trigger when I saw the Mr Gutsy throw Moon Blossom to the side and turn to fire on her. With Xena putting a round in the robot I was about to shoot, I instead brought the rifle up and aimed at the floating mother fucker who thought it could hurt my friend. I fired a burst from my rifle which certainly caught its attention, and-
GAH!
My shoulder burned from the red beam of magic that had just hit it! I think my barding absorbed the worst of the spell, but fuuuuck!
Several more beams came my way, forcing me to take a step backwards. Xena finished with the second Protectapony and turned on the Mr Gutsy that’d shot me, putting a round into its circuits before it was again tackled and ripped apart by an incensed Moon Blossom!
I slipped back to a nearby hulk, ready to get back behind it when I saw one of the remaining Mr Gutsy robots rush forward, firing a few red beams at the Rangers before pointing its blue pulse weapon at me. I fired some quick shots, clipping the robot but not enough to dissuade it from shooting me!
The blue wave hit me like a ton of bricks. I was thrown backwards, the world swirling as it felt like something was messing with my insides. I hit the car, seeing little Xenas floating around my head as I tried to get my bearings. A glance at my PipBuck showed that the pulse had done little actual harm to my body, though the screen was blinking and showing a bit of static from the blast. Still, the way it had resonated throughout my body had left me feeling sick to my stomach.
“Don’t let the civilians do all the work! Brothers, attack!”
That voice heralded the stomping of metal hooves as the Steel Rangers, including the one who’d previously been immobile, jumped over their cover and charged directly at the remaining robots. Xena ducked down and made a slide over to me, moving to help me to my hooves as I made sure to take a healing potion for good measure. The burning and sickly sensation I was feeling melted away thanks to the red liquid, allowing me to focus on the battle ahead.
The leading Ranger slammed head first into the Mr Gutsy that had hit me with the pulse, rearing up and slamming the machine into the concrete. The other four rushed the final robots, one firing another blue pulse that struck one of the ponies and caused his power armour to crackle and pop before he went rigid, the armour locking up.
The final three Rangers fired their weapons at the two floating robots, and before long both had burst into flames from the onslaught and fallen to the ground.
And with that, at least for the time being, all the red bars had been extinguished.
Xena and I glanced at one another, before then slowly making our way to re-join the others and greet the Steel Rangers we’d just assisted. They all turned to look at us, sans the immobile one, as we approached. Likewise, Cobalt and Altrix ran to us while Moon Blossom seemed to hang back with her knife still clenched title between her teeth.
“Oh gosh, are you alright?” Altrix asked me. “Why are you always getting shot!?”
“Guess I’m a good target,” I joked back at her. “But I’m good. They only singed my shoulder, and I think those pulse things are only meant for machines.”
“You’re not wrong,” the mare in the red robe stated as she also approached us. “It will crash any power armour’s spell matrix and lock it up easily, but it takes a bit longer for it to do any meaningful damage to organic material.”
“Which is what’s happening to the Knight over there,” the lead Steel Ranger said, stomping over to us and peering down right at me through that black visor of his. I’d never actually been up close to somepony in power armour before and… yeah, I could see why you’d find it a tad intimidating. “Roll In, see that he’s freed.”
“Right, Star Paladin,” the mare, ‘Roll In’ I would assume, confirmed before trotting off to work on the locked-up suit. “There’s always one who doesn’t understand the concept of ‘dodging’.”
“It’s not like I was the first, Scribe,” a voice was just heard from within the disabled power armour, sounding more than a little pissed off.
“I… should probably help with that,” Cobalt said, moving to follow her.
He didn’t get any argument, he’d clearly been of help the first time. But with them working on that, the Star Paladin turned back to me and my other friends. He scanned us while his Knights made sure to hang back, and even though I could see his eyes I just knew that they were frowning somehow.
“A zebra, but I would say you’re not with those remnants from Hoofintgon,” he began, before looking directly at the still tense Moon Blossom. “You scream raider, pegasus.”
“Former,” she muttered defensively past her knife’s handle.
“Right…” he muttered doubtfully, before looking at Altrix. “That one I’ve never seen. You’re not a mutant, are you?”
“Um…”
“She is a changeling,” Xena informed him curtly. “They are as natural a species as you or I.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” he said, before finally looking at me. “You… you strike me as the leader of the group. Nice PipBuck, where did you get it?”
“It was a gift from a friend,” I responded evenly. “You’re not planning on taking it, are you?”
“We should,” one of the Knights growled. “Rare technology like that in the hooves of-”
“Can it, Knight,” the Star Paladin scolded the other Steel Ranger. “These civilians just risked life and limb to assist us. So, unless I say otherwise, keep that talk to yourself.”
“Yes, sir.”
He turned back to us, humming behind his helmet. “You are a strange group to behold, that is to be sure. But you do have our thanks for the assist, not many civilians would do such a thing.”
“How’d you end up hiding behind a car?” I asked curiously.
“We were running a routine patrol of the hub there, checking out the entrance for any would-be scavengers trying their luck and not knowing what they were in for. The robotic defences don’t usually come outside, but this time they started firing the moment we approached. They zapped two of us with pulse weapons immediately, we had to carry them to safety while Scribe Roll In rebooted their armours. That’s when you showed up.”
“Do all of their machines hold such weapons?” Xena asked.
“It’s what has made scouring the place for technology so difficult,” the Star Paladin confirmed. “Our chapter started trying to gain entry rather recently, it was one of the most high-profile areas of the city we had yet to attempt to reclaim. The Elder thought it was time to change that, but this place was built to counter any eventuality. Including power armour.”
“But when we sent our usual muscle in, they got zapped instantly,” the Scribe said back over to us from where she worked to free her buddy. “Hard to fight in broken power armour.”
Moon Blossom spat out her knife, finally deciding to put it away for the time being. “Guess you walking mountains ain’t so tough after all. Why not just send in normal ponies for a change? We know you have ‘em.”
“We sent in additional teams without power armour support,” the Star Paladin explained. “These excursions were more successful than the first and allowed some recoveries. But casualties were high, the further in we got the more defences we were faced with. Combat armour does little to help when faced with a Sentry Bot.”
So, we were in for a fun time in there. Wonderful.
“There you go,” I heard Cobalt declare as there was a brief sparking sound before the immobile soldier became mobile again. “Rebooted and ready to go.”
“Not bad,” Roll In complimented him. “It’s not often that we meet a civilian with some skill when it comes to computers.”
“I’m not exactly a civilian as you’d define it,” he shot back, trotting back over to us alongside the Scribe. “Still, it’s a good thing we didn’t need to borrow Scrap’s PipBuck.”
Actually, now that I looked at her, I saw something held in the mare’s magic. It was a small boxy device that, while more primitive-looking, certainly held similarities to the device on my hoof…
“Did you think you’re the only pony in Equestria with a PipBuck,” the Scribe deadpanned as she put the device back into a saddlebag. “My PipBuck 2000 may be more rudimentary, and isn’t wearable, but it gets the job done.”
“Hey, I wasn’t judging,” I defended, holding my hooves up in an attempt to placate the irritate mare.
“Uh-huh…” she muttered in response, turning towards the Star Paladin. “McRoar, don’t you think it’s time we bugged out? This is one scouting run that’s been more trouble than its worth.”
“Wait,” I interrupted. “Maybe we can help each other? We need to get into that building, as do you. See where I’m going with this?”
The Star Paladin tilted his head. “Help each other? Kid, didn’t you hear us? Their pulse weapons makes our power armour a liability in there. And even without them, there are far too many of those machines for us to safely handle.”
“Come on, beating the odds is sorta our thing,” Moon Blossom dismissed. “We’ve killed dudes in power armour before, what’s a couple of tin cans?”
“Those ‘dudes in power armour’ were among the toughest we’ve had to fight,” Xena reminded her. “And we were only ever up against one of them at a time. At least when we killed them, the other times we were forced to flee.”
“Which is why I’d feel better with some friendly ones for a change,” I declared. “Look, if you’re so afraid of the pulse stuff, let us take the heat when facing the ones who can disable you. You can shoot in from the back. We just want one thing from that place, you can have the rest.”
McRoar shook his head. “Even so, this course of action isn’t-”
“Sir,” Roll In interrupted. “Our last expedition inside located the mainframe which controls the robotic defences. Now, the Elder has been reluctant to authorise us to go in and disable it but, with their help, we just might reach it.”
“You can’t be serious, Scribe.”
“I can disable the machine if we reach it. The other unicorn-”
“Cobalt.”
“-has proven his aptitude for technology. The rest are clearly good in a firefight. I believe, if we move carefully, we could succeed this time. Who knows when the Elder will try again, and I don’t like the thought of that technology sitting there waiting for somepony else to come along and take it before us.”
“We are going in one way or another,” I told them. “What would happen if we succeeded without you?”
“I don’t like your tone, civilian,” Star Paladin McRoar warned, but then he sighed. “But if Roll In thinks it’s worth a shot, she’s never steered me wrong before. Alright, you will have your shot. And if we do somehow succeed here, then you can have a share of the spoils.”
“Sir?” one of the Knights questioned.
“It’s only fair, Knight,” he retorted. “But if we get overwhelmed, we are bugging out with or without you and your friends. Understood?”
I nodded. “I figured. So, are we going in?”
The Star Paladin paused a moment, looking over the other Steel Rangers before speaking again.
“Very well. Rangers, form up on me. The civilians can take point.”
I looked up towards the MAS hub looming over us, the code we needed to confront Kronos and end his madness somewhere within. All we had to do was fight our way through an army of killer robots and hope that Star Paladin McRoar was a stallion of his word.
Moon Blossom smiled like a loon. “Great! I love suicide missions early in the morning!”
Footnote: Max Level