//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1: Sad Reminders 
// Story: Fallout Equestria: Shadow Games 
// by Cenkic 
//------------------------------//

“You have a sad face, Fixer Pony.” Pincer said as he looked at me inquisitively, “This is the right place, is it not?” He asked, but I couldn't bring myself to answer.

An hour had passed since Watcher’s sprite bot exploded, and we made our way through the ruins of northern Manehattan. While it was somewhat slow going due to collapsed buildings and damaged roadways, it was thankfully (and surprisingly) a quiet trip. By about midday we found ourselves near the coast, and I couldn’t help but stare at the destination.

The stable was inside an old elementary school. 
    
Faded and slightly misshapen signs made by colts and fillies dotted the building, with little pictures of silly ghosts, smiling pumpkins, and fluttering bats next to them. Each sign, put together with care and affection, and somehow surviving the abuse of over two hundred years, said ‘Happy Nightmare Night.’

I closed my eyes, “Such a happy place once..." My words trailed off.

My own mind began to wander to more carefree times. I remembered my own childhood in the stable, trying to come up with a complicated robot costume for Nightmare Night. In the end I looked more like a walking scrap pile, but I still beamed with pride at my accomplishment. It was a happy night, giving thanks to Princess Luna for protecting the night, getting free candy, and not having to worry about a school day. All children should be able to enjoy such happy times. 

“Fixer Pony?” Pincer asked.

“Sorry...” I let out a sigh, “It's just… a location like this… it’s just a sad reminder of all that has been lost.” 

The gryphon scoffed, “Then don’t think about it.”

“Or blow it up?” Crackerjack suggested.

The gryphon thought about it for a moment, “How about after we get our payday first.”

Part of me wanted to yell at them for such callous disrespect, but I held my tongue. They were born of the wasteland and could not appreciate what was before us. Although a very small part of me was envious that they simply didn’t care like I did. That part of me quickly got mentally bludgeoned into silence.

“I don’t understand.” Pincer said, looking at me expectedly.

I shook my head at him. “Don’t worry about it. We have a mission to accomplish.”

As I walked up to the doors, they highlighted in my vision with a name appearing. ‘Little Sun Elementary.’ Steeling myself, I pushed the main doors open while the others prepared their weapons. When nothing came charging at us, Gil took the lead in entering the facility, and we followed close behind. 

“Gah!” I let out on reflex when I entered the building. The others tensed as they looked around, and I couldn’t help but feel sheepish, “Sorry, my EFS just suddenly lit up with dozens of hostile markings.”

“Any idea what they are?” Cracker asked with a smile.

I ignored his teasing as best as I could and focused on the markings, “No, but based on the erratic movements, I’d say mutated bugs. Bloat sprites or radroaches most likely.” I replied, secretly praying that they were bugs and not...

I shook the thought from my mind and took a moment to look around. Though it was the middle of the day, thick clouds hung over the sky, which in turn allowed for only the faintest of sunlight to squeeze through the holes in the roof, casting even more gloom in the abandoned hallways. More faded Nightmare Night signs decorated the halls as dozens of row of lockers stood rusted and empty, while piles of abandoned school supplies and broken roofing littered the hall in a haphazard mess. 

For the briefest of moments, a small amount of sunlight shined through both the eternal cloud blanket that held the sky and a small hole in the ceiling. From the darkness an overlooked foal’s saddlebag was bathed in its light, though I was the only one who seemed to notice. I trotted over and noticed something sticking out of the bag. I picked up the thing and the item highlighted as ‘Whinnie’, a teddy bear that had somehow survived the ravages of time. I brushed off some dust as I looked at it with a smile, fondly remembering my own stuffed toy when I was a filly.

“All alone for Celestia knows how long… maybe we can find a child to care for you. That sounds nice, right?” I whispered to the toy.

The light faded and the the sharp bang! of a locker door caused me to jump and drop the toy. Quickly drawing out my shovel spear, I frantically looked around for an enemy attack. Instead, I found that the others were going through the lockers looking for anything of value. Pincer in particular was helping by picking any locks that he came across. 

“Seriously…?” I asked as I placed the teddy bear in my saddlebag.

“Hey, never hurts to check for extra caps,” Gil began as he continued to lead the others in their little search, “Besides, you took something from that bag, didn’t you?” 

I opened my mouth to argue, but a chittering sound distracted me. Paying attention to my EFS, I noted several red icons moving much more quickly than before. Looking at a nearby stairway, I could see shapes moving in the shadows, all of them coming right at us. The things were the size of small dogs, though their six legs and carapace backs gave away what they were.

“Radroaches, about eight.” I stated as I drew my shovel spear. The others instantly stopped their looting and began drawing weapons. “Don’t waste ammo on them, just squish ‘em up close.” I stated when I noticed a few going for their guns.

“We aren't novices, Amber.” Gil said as he slung his rifle back over his shoulder, “Ugh, what an annoyance…”

He moved in first and got only a few steps before a terrible crack suddenly echoed through the hallway as his claw went right through the floor. He let out a surprised screech as he slammed into the ground in a pathetic heap. One of the radroaches lunged at him and bit down on his tail. The bug held onto the thrashing appendage for a few seconds before it lost its grip and was flung right at me. 

“Eeep!” I let out as I instinctively closed my eyes and stuck my shovel forward.

I felt an impact, and opening my eyes, I saw it twitch for a moment on the spear before it went still. Pushing the disgusting thing off, I rushed into melee combat. Crackerjack stabbed at them with a combat knife, though looked really disappointed with the results even as he expertly cut through them. One of the things lunged right at me, and was rewarded for its efforts by getting batted into an old trophy case with shards of jagged glass. It was at that moment that I noted that Pincer was missing, but I wasn’t worried. In fact I was a little annoyed, but that could be dealt with later.

“Gildann, you alright?” I asked as I speared a third bug that had jumped on top of the gryphon.

Gil let out a screech of rage as he ripped his claw out of the floor. “No, I’m not fine! That was completely embarrassing!” He pointed at Crackerjack who finished off the last one, “He was more useful in melee than I was! I didn’t even get to-” 

A second crack echoed as the floor that he was standing on collapsed. I barely jumped away in time to avoid joining him, only to land right on top of a dead radroach. Crackerjack just took one step back and the floor miraculously stabilized right where he was standing. Without even looking. I wanted to grumble about his seeming good fortune, but I let out a cough as dust flew in my face.

“Gil?” I asked again, waving  away the dust cloud. 

He yelled out a number of obscenities in response which I didn't care to repeat. But that meant he was fine.

I stuck my head into the hole to check on him, and saw that he had fallen almost two stories. I wondered how he had not managed to break anything, and a wave of concern washed over me. When he flexed his wings, a piece of debris beamed me in the head, causing that concern to quickly disappear. As I rubbed the new injury, I noticed a small red light near the gryphon.

“Hey, what's behind you?” I asked.

He turned around and stared for a moment before looking right at me. “Our objective.”

“Well, that's convenient.” An odd voice spoke behind me.

I instinctively swung my spear around at the unusual voice, and just barely stopped myself from hitting something that looked straight out of a nightmare. The thing was pony shaped with a black exoskeleton instead of fur, holes in his hooves, see-through insectoid wings, and fangs that looked straight off a fruit-bat. It was also wearing a familiar Ministry of Peace doctor suit.

“Damn it! I nearly smashed your head in, Pincer!” I began as I put my weapon away, “How many times have I told you not to sneak up on me like that?” 

The thing looked at me curiously, “None, why? Also, doesn’t your weapon do more piercing than slash-”

“Don’t get technical with me right now, and I shouldn’t have to tell you not to do it in the first place!” I pointed a hoof at him, “Especially your... umm, true form!”

He cocked his head, “Changeling form?” 

“Yes, that! In fact why did you-”

The sound of metal cutting into flesh distracted me, and I turned to see Crackerjack gutting the radroaches for meat. My anger towards Pincer faltered as I cringed. 

“How in Celestia's name did ponies ever even consider eating meat?” I asked, sticking out my tongue in disgust.

“So, are you idiots just gonna stand there all day, or are we going to get on with this?” Gil asked from below.

“On our way!” Pincer said happily as he fluttered down, while Crackerjack jumped and grabbed onto a strangely convenient Stable Tech banner and landed no worse for wear. 

I on the other hoof took out a length of rope and wrapped it around some railing near the stairs. After verifying that it was secure, I carefully lowered myself down to the others. When I got down, I immediately went over to Gil who just brushed me aside.

“Took you long enough,” He said as he got the last of the debris off of himself. He then gestured behind me, “I don’t need a checkup, Amber. Just open the door.”

Nodding, I turned my attention to what Gil had found. Before me stood the pinnacle symbol of achievement for the innfamous Stable-Tech corporation. An imposing metallic door shaped like a giant gear with the numbers 66 emblazoned on the front of it. Nothing short of a high-yield, point blank balefire bomb could even hope to physically affect it, and the console that connected to the door had only a single button on it that did nothing when pushed. To many, it stood as a nigh impossible mini-fortress that allowed none to enter or leave. 

However, I was undaunted by the challenge. Reaching down to my pipbuck, I carefully pulled out a unique connection wire, and then revealed a hidden slot on the console for it. I plugged it in, and after a few moments my pipbuck flashed with a ‘Connection Verified’ message. I then pushed the button, and after a few moments a green light lit up on the console and the giant gear door began to roll aside with a near deafening sound of grinding steel.

The scent of rusting metal and mildew slammed into us as it opened. Lights attempted to flicker on, but they weakly sputtered out and were replaced with dim red emergency lights. I began to think of my own home that-

“Get lost in thought later.” Gil’s voice shattered my train of thought, “We have a mission to complete.”

I huffed at him, but quietly agreed with his statement. I flicked on my pipbuck light while Pincer made his horn glow a low green to highlight. A bridge slowly extended so we could actually walk into the stable proper. The initial area had little of interest, with a security station with non-working terminals on one side, and a maintenance station on the other. The others quickly checked for anything interesting but all they found was rusted tables and worthless debris. 

Going down the main flight of stairs, we came into a large opening that was all but covered in darkness. Even with our respective lights we could make little out, but the smell of mildew was much stronger. 

“So, where do we need to go to find this file?” Gil asked, doing his best not to breathe through his nose.

I looked at my pipbuck for a moment as I judged the layout. “It’s too different from my own stable for me to be sure of the route, and if those elevators over there are any indication,” I gestured to some doors with red lights above them, “This place is in low power mode. We should find the Overmare’s office so I can turn on some lights, and maybe locate a map.”

“You’ve been in other stables before, Fixer Pony?” Pincer asked.

I nodded. “That’s right, this is your first excursion with us. Not counting this one or my home, I’ve been in about three alongside Gil.”

“Well, I helped with one of them.” Crackerjack’s face scrunched as he remembered a bad memory, “Really don’t like fighting in them though.” 

“Places are too cramped for my liking.” The gryphon grumbled.

“Exactly! I can’t use my explosives in places like this.” 

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Except for certain areas, these things were barely designed to handle even two ponies in the same hallway. So let’s get this wrapped up so we can get out of here.

The others nodded in agreement. 

Locating the Overmare’s office wasn’t difficult, and it was in slightly better condition than the rest of the stable, if only just. A large circular desk sat in the center of the room, with a window that overlooked the stable proper. While the others fanned out and began searching through smaller desks and filing cabinets for anything of value, I sat in the Overmare’s chair. It was quite comfortable, and I allowed myself a moment fantasy as being the ‘most powerful pony in the stable.’

‘Access Denied’ popped up in bright green letters on the main computer, dampening my little fantasy like an annoying raincloud. I started looking through the drawers for a password or keycard that would let me in. While most had minor junk like pencils and paper clips, the last one I checked held several old audio files. While they only had basic labels on them, my targeting indicator showed me more complete names of the files. Yet another strange mystery of the pipbuck. 

With no password, I resigned myself to working on hacking the system itself. Before I did, I looked through the files and found one called, ‘Overmare’s Directive’. I placed it into my pipbuck and allowed it to play while I began my work on hacking into the terminal.

“Damn it… damn it all! How the hell did it all come to this?! This shouldn’t even be necessary, it shouldn’t…

“…"
“I’m sorry. This is Scootaloo, vice-president of Stable-Tech. You have been chosen to be the Overmare of the specially designed Stable 66. While Stable-Tech HQ is more than likely gone, as is deserved, you will continue to live on with our ideals of a new and better Equestria. Yet, we cannot allow ourselves to make the same mistakes of the past, and we must learn what went wrong. So your stable has been chosen to perform a special experiment to ensure that the failures of the past don’t repeat themselves.

“...Princess’s help me, this is so much harder than I thought…"

“I’m sorry for that. Your stable has been chosen to test the viability of a younger population ruling over those stuck in the past. Therefore, every five years, any pony age fifteen or older must vacate the stable. A specialized AI program has been installed within the stable with full control of the automated robots to insure that order is maintained and that the younger generation is well educated. Meanwhile, those going outside the stable will be given training and equipment to survive, with the hopes that they can establish a new settlement for the next generations to follow. Now if those who leave have children, and things are deemed too dangerous on the outside, then those children may be allowed back into the stable until they grow up."

“However, if things go out of control or the lives of your charges are ever threatened, there is a failsafe. The AI can be placed into a standby mode, or even shut down completely from several points. The command program exists within the Overmare Pipbuck, along with Head of Security, Chief Mechanic, and even the Chief Medical pony has it. Just plug into any terminal that the mainframe is connected to and upload the program, and it will be overridden. But if this is done, it will erase the current personality of the AI, so use it as a last resort. But please, above all else make sure that your charges are well taken care of. Especially the kids… that’s why your stable was built after all. To give them a hopeful future in this forsaken hell. This is Scootaloo, signing off.”

I flipped through the programs and quickly found the ‘command program’, though it was unlike anything I was expecting. It was more than a simple off switch, but instead was a massive and complex program. I began the download and it quickly began eating up storage space on my PipBuck.
    
“This stable was used to experiment on ponies?” Pincer asked, interrupting my thoughts.
    
I nodded as the download completed, “All stables were supposed to be like that, unfortunately. Safe havens built to protect generations of ponies was the sales pitch, but…”
    
Gil chuckled. “Instead they were test subjects in ‘social experiments.’” He used his claws to emphasise the point, “So much for supposed pony kindness and friendship.”
    
If looks could kill, the stable and half the city would have been vaporized with the glare I gave him. However, as much as I hated to say it, I couldn’t refute his point. 
    
The changeling had a horrified look on his face. “Why would ponies do this?” 
    
“Because war made everyone stupid.” Crackerjack offered helpfully with a smile on his face. 

That line caused everyone but Pincer to chuckle, though mine was for a different reason. After my third try I finally got through the system security, and I began going through the files. After a few moments of work, power began to flow through the stable. About half of the lights came back on, and the elevators now showed power running through them..

The others were going over the few bottle caps and junk items they had found, trying to see what was valuable. Just as I was about to get up and join them, I remembered what I heard in the log and looked through the terminal again. 

“Hmm, I’m not seeing anything suggesting that this area is connected to the Mainframe mentioned. I’m guessing something happened that disconnected it from at least some, if not all of the systems.”

“And that means what exactly?” Crackerjack asked. 

“That either the security was shut down, or more likely, that it’s still active in some form. Which means normal method of shutdown won’t work.” I then looked at the rest of the group, with some still giving be vacant stares. “Ugh. Whatever happened to this stable could still be a problem, so we should proceed with caution.”

Affirming nods of understanding went through the group. “So what happened to the ponies that were here?” Pincer asked.

I shrugged. “Picked up several audio logs, so perhaps something is there. We can listen to them while we explore, unless there are any objections?”

Gil nodded. “Actually yes, let’s listen to them after we are out of here. I don’t want the logs distracting us, or attracting any potential threats.”

“Good point.” I began as I looked at the map, “So combining Watcher’s intel and the stable schematics, the file in question is in the Crusader Mainframe.”

“For those of us that don’t have a computer strapped to our legs, where is that?” Gil asked impatiently. 

Crackerjack laughed. “At the bottom, obviously.” All eyes turned to him, and he shrugged. “What, you never done this before?” He gestured at the window that overlooked the Stable. “When you are looking for something important, its always at the top or bottom of a place. Since its not here, it’s obviously at the bottom.”

All eyes turned back to me, and all I could do was shrug. “He’s right.”  

I then trotted over to the window that gave an overlook of the stable. At the bottom, a small little green arrow highlighted where I needed to go, heedless of what walls or obstacles that might be in the way. “Like Crackerjack said, something like that should be-wait.” I squinted through the window, “Who are they?”

The others clustered around the window, and we could see multiple ponies entering the stable, though it was hard to make anything out through the grime on it. 

“Alright, how do we want to handle this?” Gil asked as he looked at me.

Crackerjack opened his mouth, but I put a hoof on it, “I’d rather avoid a fight if possible,” I began as I looked around, “I’m guessing that you didn’t find a back door?” When they shook their heads, I removed my hoof from Crackerjack as I pondered. 

“Peace is preferable to conflict, as the yellow and pink one would say, so I shall talk to them.” Pincer said with confidence. 

I resisted the urge to scoff. “I don’t know if-wait, where are you going?!” 

Green magic surrounded the insectoid being and once again he transformed into a male version of me, and before I could stop him, Pincer walked out with a confident smile. 

“Greetings, fellow explorers!” He said aloud, gaining their full attention.

“Hold your fire! We only want to talk!” I yelled as I scrambled after him. I filled myself with surety that we could reason with whomever had come in. After all, not just anypony would enter into a stable, right? 

Karma (being the malicious little twat it was) was clearly reading my mind as I could see just who had entered the stable. About a dozen of the ponies were dressed in simple clothing and barely old enough to be even wielding guns. The weapon they did have were such low quality pistols that I figured I could do better with scrap metal, duct tape, and pipes. Such ponies wouldn’t look strange inside a settlement, but there were others that stood out. Five of them were dressed in armor that seemed more for intimidation than functionality, with rifles that looked of similar build. The real deal was what had to be the leader. Standing taller than the others, he wore a buffalo skull as a helmet and was decked out in spiky metal armor with what I guessed were blood stains on it. What concerned me  was that he had a freaking missile launcher on his back. 

Everything about the six screamed raiders, some of the most vile things to ever exist in the wasteland.

“Well, well, wasn’t expecting to actually see any stable dwellers still living in this dump, especially a bookish cutie like you.” The leader said with a lecherous tone as he looked right at me.

I did my best to ignore it and the looks the five armed ponies were giving me. Instead, I opened my mouth to speak, but Pincer beat me to it.

“She is not a tenant here, but in fact a mercenary. Based on your gear, I would guess that you too must be a mercenary of skill to command so many.” Pincer said with a level of confidence and certainty that I was not use to hearing from him.

“Yeah, something like that.” The leader chuckled, “What's it to you?” 

Pincer smiled as he pointed to himself, “We are ponies of business of course. These stables are quite dangerous, so not just anypony comes here without a plan or a reason.” He then extended his hoof, pointing at the other raiders. “You have clearly brought a large crew to investigate something, I would wager good caps that what you are after and what we seek are unrelated and useless to the other.” The raider leader opened his mouth to speak, but Pincer quickly stopped him. “Ah, ah, ah, this area would have been utterly, completely inaccessible without my techy associate here. Since we opened the doors, I think it is fair that you tell us why you have ventured here first.”

My jaw just hung open as I stared at Pincer. I couldn’t believe what he was saying, or the fact that he sounded so damn convincing when saying it.

Even the raider leader seemed to stutter for a moment as he looked for  words. “I-I’ve…umm, we are looking for a water purifier.” 

“Really?” I asked, curiosity getting the better of me. “Why are you looking for one?”
He sneered as he looked at me. “Nothing that concerns you, heavy accent. Seriously, where did you even pick that up, somewhere up north? More importantly, why are you here?”

I opened my mouth to say something, but once again Pincer stopped me. 
“Now, now, no reason to get fussy.” He then turned his eyes back to the raider. “We were hired by somepony to retrieve a data file of unknown type, but we are being paid decently for its recovery.” 

“How much, exactly?” The raider asked, now interested when money had been brought up. 

“Enough to warrant our attention to this place, but certainly not enough to afford what you are looking for.” I let out a silent sigh of relief that he didn’t actually tell them how much. “But, this is how I see things…”

“I still can't believe that worked.” Gil said as we made our way down the stairs to the bottom level. “You’ve been holding out on us.”

The ‘unicorn’ shrugged. “I just said what I thought needed to be said. They seemed reasonable enough.”

“‘Raiders’ and ‘reasonable’ don’t usually go in the same sentence.” I said as I moved away from a dripping pipe. Still, I couldn’t deny the results. Pincer had not only convinced the raiders to stand down, but to allow us to freely explore the bottom passageway while they explored the upper areas. Pincer had promised to give them the water talisman if we came across one in exchange, but it seemed like a good deal. For the raiders anyway. “I’m just glad you didn't mention the actual payment.”

“Well, you said to avoid speaking about having many bottle caps right, so I did. But how do you know they’re raiders?” He asked as he looked right at me, “You said raiders are the most evil of all things that wear shabby armor, but most looked like town ponies to me.”

I nodded. “The five with the armor and the one with the missile launcher and chained mare are definitely raiders. But you’re right, the others don’t look like-”

“Wait, chained mare?” Pincer asked, with both Crackerjack and Pincer giving me odd looks. 

“Well, yeah. While you were talking, I noticed that there was a mare hiding behind that raider leader. Couldn't get a good look, but I definitely saw a chain around her neck.” I turned to Gil, “You noticed at least, right?”

“No, I was taking stock of the enemy.” He held out his claws as he went through the numbers, “Two of em are armed with shotguns, sawed-off variant. One with a sniper rifle that's about as useless as Pincer in melee,” I noted that the ‘unicorn’ didn’t seem to take offense as Gil continued, “Plus two with hunting rifles. Even combined they shouldn't be an issue when we fight, but that missile launcher will be a problem, no mistake.”

“So they are… bad ponies?” Pincer asked, almost horrified at the prospect. 

I sighed, but mostly at myself. I had given him a general rundown of things to avoid in the wasteland since meeting him, but this was (surprising in retrospect) the first time we had actually come across raiders, or any other pony for that matter that actually aligned against us. I opened my mouth to explain the raiders further, but I suddenly found myself gagging. The others were not doing much better.

“Ugh, what in the shadows of the moon is that horrific stench? Smells worse than that time I tried cooking with gunpowder.” Crackerjack said.

A large swimming pool sat at the center of the bottom floor, murky green water with small patches of seaweed dotting the top. I imagined for a moment what it would have been like to have a working swimming pool in my own stable, and I couldn’t help  feel a bit jealous. However, as I held my hoof near it, my pipbuck began making ticking sounds at me, the telltale sign of radiation.

I turned to face Pincer.  “Trust me, you don’t want to go into that. Even though absorbing radiation does well for you, it wouldn’t be worth it.” 

He looked at me with a disgusted look. “I may have much to learn about this land, but I’m not so foolish as to jump into… that.” 

“Yes, let's just bask in this wretched cesspool all day. It’s not like we have a payday or anything to worry about.” 

Gildann’s sarcastic tone notwithstanding, I agreed with the sentiment. Looking around, I spied an area that looked to be restrooms or perhaps a shower area. Beyond the stairs we had entered in from, there was a single main hallway that lead deeper into the facility. Unlike most areas of a stable, this hallway was easily big enough to accommodate all of us comfortably. Taking the only route available, we pushed forward. The first room we came across had see-through windows that were covered in gunk, but a quick investigation found that the rooms were once hot tubs that were likewise spoiled by foul seawater, rust, and decay. Beyond them  other room held a variety of old exercise equipment, shooting ranges, and other recreational setups that I could only guess at what their function was.

I couldn’t help but think of the comfort that those living here were able to once enjoy. But by the same token, I didn’t envy them for when they had to wake from their fleeting dream and get thrown into the deep nightmare of the wasteland. No amount of training could ever prepare any stable dweller for what they would be walking into. 

As we walked, I saw less recreational rooms and more pipes, along with haphazardly placed metal supply boxes and maintenance bays. Gil suggested breaking into them to see if there was anything of value, but I dissuaded him. Instead we pushed forward, with me following my pipbuck arrow, as it led us to the very end of the long hallway and clearly highlighted where I needed to go next.

“Fixer Pony, why are we staring at the middle of a wall?” Pincer asked. 
“Because the magic computer arrow told her to.” Crackerjack replied in such a tone I wasn’t sure if he was mocking me or not. 
    
I chose to ignore it as I looked at my pipbuck and then the wall again, “I’m guessing there is a secret door here or something. The pipbucks GPS system usually lands on the mark.” I said as I tapped the wall, checking to see if it was hollow.
    
“Except when it’s wrong,” Gil said with an evil smile, “Like the time you kept going around in circles to find something when you really just needed to take the next stairwell-”
    
“That was one time Gil!” I whined, which cause the others to laugh; even Pincer was chuckling at me. 

Indignant, I began looking around the surroundings for anything that stood out, but all there was to see were more pipes. Though as I stared at them, I began to see a pattern in their path. After a few more moments I realized that most of them were very large, all of them ended here, and they went downwards.
    
“Amber?” Pincer asked. 
    
“Hold a second, I think I might be onto something,” I began as I looked at them more closely, “If these pipes are any indication-” Gil tried saying my name, but I was locked in thought, “Then that must mean that there is another level, one that wasn’t in the map system. That means-”
    
“That there is a secret elevator like this one I found that leads down to the lower level?” Crackerjack asked.
    
“More like a maintenance elevator but-wait, what?” I turned around and sure enough, there was now an elevator door where before there had been a wall. I turned to the other earth pony who was pointing at a faded ‘Maintenance Switch’ that I had missed, and somehow hadn’t heard open. I gave Crackerjack an annoyed look, “I dislike you sometimes.” 

The others laughed at me as Crackerjack rubbed his hooves together. “Now onwards to that six thousand cap per pony payday!” 

“Six thousand?!” A voice yelled from down the hallway.

Gil pulled his service rifle out and fired, while Crackerjack let out a laugh that wouldn’t be out of place at a birthday party as the familiar thump of his grenade launcher echoed close to my ears. Screams of pain quickly followed as bullets started flying around us. I quickly dove for cover and took a peek at who we were fighting. Laying in a pool of blood was one of the civilians, with at least three more of them cowering in fear. Leading them were two of the raiders with automatic weapons, who barked orders to open fire. The remaining ponies jumped behind the old metal crates for cover and began firing back.

“Just shoot the raider looking enemies, not the civi looking ones!” I cried out.

“They are shooting at us too, ya know!” The gryphon complained as he let out another burst. 

“I’ll pay you 200 extra caps for each one that lives, Gil!”

The gryphon eyed me for a second before nodding. “Deal.”

I then turned to the other earth pony, “Crackerjack, I bet a grenade that you can’t hit only the raiders!”

The look Crackerjack gave me was priceless as he loaded his weapon. “Challenge accepted!” 

He lobbed another grenade down the hall, but the ponies were now taking cover behind some of the crates and it detonated harmlessly against them. He grumbled, loaded another round, and this time fired it at the wall near one of the raiders, causing it to ricochet and detonate behind them. One was thrown from his position and onto the floor, which Gil took advantage of. I couldn’t help but noticed that a large number of the bullets initially missed their target as he got back up and nearly made it behind cover before a bullet from Pincer own pistol slowed him down enough for Gil to finally land a killing blow.

“Drop your weapons and surrender! You stand no chance of actually beating us!” I yelled before pulling out my laser pistol and joining the fray.

“You’re the ones who started shooting first!” One of them yelled back.

I answered by firing my laser near his position, forcing him to duck back down. I really didn’t feel like arguing about semantics at this point. The last raider apparently decided that we weren't worth the effort, ducking down and making a break for it. I fired my laser pistol in rapid succession to keep the two civilians pinned down as Gil slung his weapon over his shoulder and leaped into the air, just barely having enough room to open his wings fully. Within moments he caught up to the raider and pounced on him like a predator. I charged forward, my pistol still firing shot after shot to keep the two ponies from firing at us. I jumped on top of the crate and looked down at both of them with as much menace as I could.

“Fro down yer wapons!” I commanded while still holding my weapon in my mouth. 

This was the first I was really getting a good look at the two. Both were young stallions, a unicorn and earth pony just past their teen years by my best guess. The unicorn diligently let go of his pistol  and raised his hooves. The other looked at me with a terrified look, and glanced over to the final death throes of the raider. When he dropped his weapon as well, I smiled inwardly as I holstered my weapon. 

“Now, I have some questions for-” I began, only to note that the earth pony had something in his mouth, something that shouldn’t be there.

A grenade pin out of its grenade.

Without even thinking, I lunged forward and slammed into the unicorn just as the sound of an explosion rang across my ears, and everything went white.


~~~~~~~~~Hoofnote~~~~~~~~~
50% remaining til next level