//------------------------------// // Chapter 39: City of Lights // Story: Fallout Equestria: Heroes // by No One //------------------------------// City of Lights “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” I took another step forward even as I felt the weight of the world on my back. One step and another and another I felt myself being pressed into the ground. My stomach twisted and turned, and my mind was racing with everything that could go wrong. I stopped to check my pipbuck for the time. It was close, so close I could taste it, and everything I had fought and struggled for would begin. I would end this war, destroy the Watchers, and bring peace to Dise. In five hours. So then why did I feel so uneasy? Maybe it was because I hated waiting. Before, when I got a stupid plan in my head I would charge forward without thinking, taking everyone with me on my ill conceived battles. Yet now we had plans, and planners. But I was not one of those planners no matter how much I pretended. I was a doer; I lived for the moment because the past was too difficult to think about and the future too hard to see. Maybe I could pull off visionary talk, but I had been taking these things as they came up until now. And now things were coming hard. There was nothing to do but wait, so maybe that was why I decided to deal with Wallkirk now instead of waiting further. I needed to be rid of him, he was just too dangerous. Besides, it was either that or wait around until morning, and the stress of not doing something would kill me if I did that. The tunnels were still occupied, but only in certain spaces. It was designed to house the entire city of over a million ponies before the war, so even with all the ponies of Dise occupying them so much was empty and barren. Flare seemed to sense my tension as we travelled alone through the darkened sewer tunnels that snaked under Dise like an ant colony. “How are you holding up?” he asked me, glancing around carefully as we walked. It was a walk I knew well, as we had done it before: travel deep then come up at Wallkirk’s secret bunkers. “Fine.” I lied. I was normally an excellent liar, so something in my voice must have given me away. “Are you really?” He raised an eyebrow. “No.” There was no point lying if he was going to know anyway. “You?” “Hah! Now that’s a joke. I’ve never held up well: that’s why I make jokes.” It could be incredibly hard to tell how serious Flare was at times. “I’m doing better than I expected.” “How do you mean?” He gave a sigh and stared towards the darkened tunnel. “With everything. I lost my wing. After it happened I thought I would never be okay. That it would haunt me like… something haunting—I don’t know. But I’m still me, right? Wing or no wing.” “You worried you’d become someone else?” “Fuck, I mean, sure?” He rubbed the back of his head with his wing. “Since I was a kid I had it drilled into my noggin: ‘You need to be a good Pegasus, pegasi are the superior race: we control the sky so you’ve got to fly. We are low in numbers, so go find a pegasus mare and reproduce. We need to protect what we fought for, so make sure to join the army. Because of who you are. A pegasi needs to be strong and smart and fight for their people.’” “That’s dumb.” I didn’t mean it as an insult, but it came across like that. “I guess. I thought it was dumb too. Oh how I rebelled! I fell in with handsome earth pony stallions, I looked into other areas of work. But in the end I came back, joined the army, became a good pegasi to make my parents happy; or maybe I was just telling myself that. Maybe I tried to be something I wasn’t because I felt I had to. So I could feel like I belonged. And then it all came crashing down.” “Bitter Steel?” I asked quietly. I had heard the story enough times I didn’t need to hear it again. How he directed his squad to attack a house that was holding children. I shuddered to think of it, even though I knew he didn’t know about them when he did it. “Yeah...” His voice trailed off for a second before he caught himself. “Which is how you found me, give or take ten years and my entire squad falling apart, most dying. Because of me. You know, when we met you threatened to kill me.” “I recall,” I said trying to suppress a smile, “I’ve considered it a few times since.” “I considered it then too! We have so much in common. It seemed an appropriate end but then… you didn’t. And I followed you for want of better things to do. Then the Enclave hired me back to follow you. I was back, baby! I thought I had it made, and I found a cute unicorn stallion. Still no pegasi, but I couldn’t become a perfect stallion in a day. The point being I thought I had purpose again, and I thought it was a purpose the Enclave gave to me. “But it wasn’t. I thought maybe it was you who gave me purpose, a reason to keep going but it wasn’t really either. I did it myself. I looked deep within myself, the good the bad, the fucking ugly and said, ‘why not try to do some good?’ And so I did. With or without wings. With or without the Enclave. With or without you.” “Why are you telling me all this?” I asked, though I did ask so maybe it was my fault. “Not sure,” he admitted. “Because I want you to know I feel… fine. Sure, things will be tough, but the world has always been tough. But I get where I am in the world. So I guess I am telling you not to worry about me. I haven't always been the most reliable, I know, but you know you can count on me, right?” “I know.” I sighed as we continued on our way. I wished I could be as content as Flare was in his lot in life, but the chains of my past kept holding me back. Here I was with my grand plans for the city, but I couldn't even decide on what name I wanted people to call me. Maybe I wasn't the right pony for this job, too lost to the past to see clearly. But there was nopony else, was there? Sure there were other ponies who knew about the conspiracy, but few others knew its depths and the true extent of the events in and around Dise. And even if someone else was knowledgeable and capable enough I would still insist on being here myself. I had to see this through, no matter where it led. In this case it led directly to a door I had seen too many times now. Deep in the bowels of the city, underneath the Clips and Clops Casino, flanked on either side by destroyed Ponitrons was a small unassuming door. Behind it was the supposedly secret ruler of the city. But not for much longer. “Lets do this.” I muttered to myself charging forward into the Crusader Maneframe room. I had forgotten how similar it was to the room in The Facility where Baptisia resided. The computers were the same, the lights in the same place. It even smelled the same, like mold and copper, but it was different. Unmistakably different. It was like the difference between seeing a picture of a beautiful sunset, and being there to experience it yourself. The room was the same, but it lacked something, it lacked a meaning that was hard to describe. When the lights flickered on and flashed at my coming my heart didn't throb to their beat. There was no weight on my shoulders, no sense of pressure in the air. It was sterile, clean, and devoid of life. There was a picture of a sun, but no heat. “You return.” On the screen in the center of the room the image of Wallkirk smiled back at me. “I was worried you would not come back.” His voice was calm, but it was impossible not to notice the lack of inflection. The subtle signs of life that made him so unnerving to speak to. “We need to talk.” I said as Flare trailed behind me, his grenade launchers primed and ready. “I would say,” The pony on the screen said, “I have been watching your little alliance and I must say it is all for naught.” “What?” That was not really what I was expecting. “It won’t bring the city to peace, I have found another way. I have created a new intermediary to speak with them and decided that to truly bring the city back to its glory I need to work with them.” “Looks like he's got a glitch. Where's the ctrl-alt-delete buttons?” Flare said helpfully from behind me. “You're being played-” “I have made all the necessary calculations.” Wallkirk interrupted me. “They are the only faction with enough support to create stability. The gap in power between the Enclave aligned Watchers is so much that no one gang matches, and all together would create a devastating war. My previous calculation will not work for now, I will need alter the arrangement. This will work.” “You already told them about the alliance didn't you?” I don't even know how he knew. No Ponitrons were around for the meeting. Hidden cameras? Microphones? He basically built the city from the ground up, anything was possible. Fuck, I should have dealt with him sooner. “Of course, they are a danger to my plan. I will bring peace back to my city, I have made the necessary calculation-” “Just like the calculations you made for the tunnels?” I glanced back at Flare who looked confused at me, he was already starting to aim his grenades but stopped when I waved him down. Behind him in the room outside I could hear an ominous rumbling. Ponitrons that Wallkirk still controlled I had no doubt. “What is that suppose to mean!” The computer protested simulating anger. It wasn't real anger, not like the kind that Baptisia had that made my head spin just being around. This was an approximation of anger, rounding to the nearest decimal point. “You made your calculations. You thought you had enough material to block radiation from a megaspell attack. You were wrong and millions died!” “That was merely-” “The truth.” I cut him off as I started to pace about the room. I wasn't about to let him talk his way out of accepting responsibility. “You miscalculated, and the city died. When it was reborn you tried to control it, and how did that work?” “Fine. I cultivated four gangs of similar strengths so that none could destroy the other, as it was too dangerous to have a single power for people to rise up against.” “Until they did.” I said as I quickened my pace. “Until the gang system bled people dry, until they were tired and suspicious enough to allow the Watchers to manipulate them. You miscalculated.” “But-” “You tried to make a pony megaspell as an ultimate weapon, but so far the only times ones have been used were against your own city!” Behind me I could hear the sound of ponitrons filling in behind me, but I kept talking. “You miscalculated.” “Well I-” “You tried to live forever. But your crusader maneframe is flawed, your soul magic lost to you before you had the chance. Now you only exist as a defective program. You emulate but don’t feel. You are not Wallkirk, you never were. You miscalculated. You are a miscalculation.” “That... that is absurd.” The ponitrons behind me stopped, and when I glanced back they didn’t even have their weapons raised. “You tried to control the city and look where it left you.” I said sweeping my hoof in front of me. “Two megaspell explosions. The population decimated and afraid. Buildings broken and shattered without hope of repair. Dise is dead, and you killed it.” “Well that’s not fai-“ “Name one thing you did right.” I took a few steps towards his screen, my eyes locked with his. “Name one damn thing you didn’t fuck up.” The air was thick with tension. Behind me I could hear weapons readying but I didn’t break eye contact. He had to answer, I wouldn’t let him squirm away from this one. He had to know. “I… well…” The voice stopped and I could almost hear his processors working overtime. “I…” “Nothing.” I spat out. “You want to do one thing right, you’ll tell me what information you gave away. Tell me what you told the Watchers.” “The location of the alliance… where you were meeting… they plan to attack tonight.” That was… not good. Fuck. I turned and started to leave almost forgetting what I even came here for before a voice called back to me. “You do not truly think I did such a bad job?” I glared back at him. “You are the worst thing that ever happened to Dise.” The figure on the screen looked completely broken. I almost felt sad at the pitiful look on his face. He wasn’t real, just wires and electricity holding together a façade of a pony, yet clearly some part of him felt remorse. Or maybe it was just his programming not able to handle the information I just gave it. “I… see… processing.” Nearby one of the lights blinked out of existence as the ponitrons before me rolled out of my way. “You will have to see yourself out. I have preparations to make.” I wasn’t sure what that meant, but I didn’t care. I pushed past the ponitrons and left the room. I was still going to destroy him, but the time it’d take wasn’t worth it when he was so demoralized, and I didn’t know how to best destroy the massive computer system. Flare looked over at me with a smug grin and was about to say something but he was cut off with an audible crack. I stopped to look back into the computer room. The screens were cracking. Electricity laced across the façade of the computer. Lights shattered and burst as an error siren blared over the speaker. I saw Wallkirk staring at me from his screen, his eyes filled with sadness as his dreams fell apart… as he fell apart. He smiled for a split second just as a crack crossed his screen. A second later it shattered, and the cacophony settled down save for a small voice. “Self destruct complete.” --- Explosions rocked overhead. We emerged from the tunnels sore and sweaty from the run to see flames engulfing Parasite Mound. In the sky glimpses of black armour raining death from above stood starly against the orange glow that was lighting up the sky. It seemed the whole town had become an inferno. In my rage, I aimed my weapon up at them only for Flare to push my barrel down with a hoof. “There’s too many, we need to regroup.” I hated when he was right, but he was right. I couldn’t take on an army by myself, that’s why I enlisted an army. But where were they? Photo Finish should have had complete and unquestioned control of the Ponitrons by now, why was it that they weren’t firing back. The answer was almost too obvious, as when I looked towards the Finisher’s headquarters I saw it nearly completely collapsed and spewing flame and dust. “Fucking, fuck!” I groaned and turned away from it towards the casino. I sprinted down the street, Flare close behind so I yelled back at him. “We are going to get Serenity and Haze and rally th-“ The ground in front of me exploded into a shower of concrete shrapnel. The force of the blast sent me stumbling and my ears ringing. When I eventually could right my senses and look up I saw a black armoured figure circling around me high above before starting to dive again. So much for trying to stay unseen. With a grunt I hoisted Subtlety up and aimed… just in time to see another flying figure shoot straight up tackling them first. For a second my saviour looked familiar, but when they started to spin against each other exchanging kicks I lost track. I would have helped, but if I tried to shoot either mostly likely both would die so all I could do was say a silent prayer, keep my head down and keep running. I made my way through the burning streets as Flare sprinted beside me, shouting over the din. “We need to find the Finishers, Photo Finish.” “But Sereni-“ “Is being protected by Haze! And look!” He gestured with his wing towards the casino I was heading towards down the end of the street. Mercifully it was completely free from the fire that was ravaging the rest of the town, and surrounding it was a large contingent of Steel Rangers shooting anything that even got close. “She’s safe there.” As much as I hated to admit it, Flare was right. Serenity was safe surrounded by the best armed ponies in the wastes and an alicorn. There was nothing I could do to help her more than she was already being helped. I had to readjust, focus on the big picture. Not that it didn’t kill me inside to leave her be. Photo Finish had to take priority if we were going to fight back. She had the key to the ponitrons. The key I gave her. Without that we didn’t stand much of a chance of taking the city, nevertheless taking it as bloodlessly as we were going to try. The bigger picture. Safety for Serenity not just now, but into the future, that was the goal. The Finisher HQ wasn’t too far away, so I turned and made my way to there dodging fire and bullets along the way. Despite the constant bombing runs and madness engulfing the city it seemed like the Pegasi were focusing on firebombing buildings instead of ponies. The Finisher building was no expectation, as when we reached it, it seemed half the building was already engulfed in flames. I reached into my pack and put on the gas mask I had received from the minotaurs after the first megaspell explosion. It wouldn’t help the lack of oxygen, but hopefully would filter out some of the fumes from the fire. Flare had his Enclave armour so he hardly had to worry about the fire at all. As I burst through the flaming door I was glad to see the inside was not as bad as it could have been. Though the air was thick with smoke, much of the inside was yet to be touched, thankfully this included the stairwell at the far end of the hallway. I made my way there as quick as I dared, eyes darting into each room we passed to make sure there were no ambushes or ponies needing help. To my eternal relief I found little in the rooms, save for a large ornate table burning to embers. And after all the work it took dragging it here to... This left little but for us to make it into the stairwell. If memory of the building served this stairwell would only take us to the third floor, to get to the fifth floor and find Photo Finish we’d need to get a separate stairway on the third floor. Oh how I hated this building. Judging by the fire I guess I wasn’t alone in that feeling. The third floor seemed worse off than the ones below it. Through my gasmask I could see flames roaring through the hallways, and when I stepped out onto the floor I heard the building creak underneath my weight. We had to move quickly before it collapsed. “C’mon, we can’t dawdle.” I rasped, my voice hoarse from the smoke and lack of air even with my gasmask could do what little it could to help. “Wait stop.” Flare raised a hoof in front of my face forcing me to slow my gait. He seemed to barely notice the flames licking at his black armour as he strolled slowly through the burning building. He whispered to me, “There’s voices.” How he heard voices through the roaring flames I couldn’t know. “This way.” He moved as silently as anypony could in that bulky armour of his, slipping into a huge side room. it was at this point I realized why this floor was catching so quickly. Judging by the sheer number of half finished dresses in the room (most of which were on fire) this was where the Finishers actually manufactured the dresses they were so famous for. Flare didn’t stop to gawk, maybe he was still embarrassed about the one time they made one for him. After a few more rooms Flare finally stopped at the edge of a doorway, and finally I could hear the voices as well. “I told you I don’t know how she controls them!” The voice was unmistakably Screenshot’s, Photo Finishes’ second in command. “Is that so? Do you think that armour will save you? Do you know where it comes from? We’ll get our answer.” Flare stared at the door for a good few seconds before quickly peeking his head through then redrawing it twice as quick. Without saying a word he pointed at the wall he was currently crouching behind before making what I assumed was his attempt at a kicking motion. He needn’t say anymore. Between my strength, and the fire ravaging the building, when I slammed into the wall with all my strength the wall fell outward onto the arguing ponies. Through the dust of the wall and the smoke I could barely see the carnage that unfolded, though I did hear the screaming. By the time I forced my way through to see what was happening Screenshot managed to wrap one of the Enclave ponies mask in a half finished dress and was firing at them frantically with a pistol making the black carapace spark but doing little damage. The enclave ponies, two that I could see, swore loudly and were trying to reassert control. One grabbed for Screenshot but she squirmed away lashing out with the scorpion tail that came with her repurposed enclave armour while the other struggled with their makeshift blindfold. The blinded pony made for an easier mark. It was simple enough, with them blinded all I had to do was walk up behind them and slam my forehooves down as hard as possible onto the weakened floorboard. With the fire, and his weight he barely had time to raise his wings in surprised before the floor gave way below him sending him crashing down in a great cacophony of ash and smoke and screaming. Finally the second Enclave pony noticed me. I could see him start to aim, but it didn’t matter. Flare tackled him to the ground with a strength I didn’t know he possessed. There was a brief struggle as I made my way to them around the destruction I caused but with the element of surprise Flare got ontop of the other pony and grabbed for the Enclave pony’s helmet. “W-what, stop what are you doing F-” The pony screamed as Flare tore off the pony’s helmet. Underneath was a handsome older stallion, but without the helmet protecting him Screenshot’s pistol was able to find its mark. One shot was all it took, but she emptied the magazine. When all was done blood was soaking into the burning floorboards. “Flare did you know them…” I asked carefully, worried I was stepping into something I shouldn’t. “Does it matter?” He sighed looking back up at Screenshot, “Are you alright.” The mare huffed, her face red as she lifted up the fallen pony’s helmet and placed it on her head which hissed quietly to create a seal, “Better now. But we need to hurry. You must know who they’re after.” She said, her voice even worse than mine. “If they don’t have her already.” “Where’s everyone else?” The Finishers may have been the least of the gangs, but they were not a two pony operations. “As soon as the attacks started I sent them to protect our food and medical storage buildings. When HQ was targeted I went back to evacuate as many left behind as I could, which is when I was uh… accosted by these fine ponies.” She motioned to the fallen pegasi. “But we… we don’t have time for this. if they have me they have Photo Finish, and we’re lost without her!” With that she galloped off and we could do little but follow. Unfortunately for the Finishers the higher floors were not as devoid of ponies as the lower. As we galloped through the building trying to stave off smoke and fire I counted no less than five corpses, some engulfed in flame while others were seemingly killed off in the initial bombing. When we reached the final penthouse we found the sixth corpse. By a blackened burning hole in the wall laid Photo Finish. One leg was twisted all wrong, her mane was burnt away and her neck and face were charred to the point of melting. It looked like she attempted to crawl away from the fire when she collapsed, her head facing the hole in the wall. As Screenshot screamed and rushed towards the corpse my eyes were drawn to the sight outside the wall. The last thing Photo Finish ever saw were the tall imposing walls of Dise staring back at her, and the shining shimmering skyscrapers just beyond. It seemed so far away from here, completely unattainable, as untouchable as the sun or moon. With a sigh I looked down at Screenshot who was trying her best to wake up a corpse. But no amount of slapping, or healing potions would awaken a corpse. She likely died when the first bomb hit, all alone… “I’m sorry.” I said placing a hoof on Screenshot’s back, even as she shoved it off roughly. “But there’s no time. You need to take her place.” “What?! How can I? Do you have any idea what we were before she came along. We were so close to getting the recognition we deserved to… to…” I could hear the sobs through her helmet. “I’m no leader, I’m a bookkeeper at best.” “There’s no time. You said it yourself. I’m sorry but…” I pointed to the armour Photofinish was wearing. “Download the program. Take control of the Ponitrons. I promised it to the Finishers. You need to be Photo Finish now.” “But-” “But what!” I waved my cybernetic leg around the flaming building, “There’s no time. You can mourn her, or live up to her memory!” I hated this. I of all ponies couldn’t tell people not to mourn. But… we had to act now. Or else all our plans were going to go the way of Parasite Mound itself: To ash. “I…” She took a deep breath and stood up straighter. “Y-you’re right.” her voice cracked. “How do I…” Even through her mask I could see her grimace as she looked down at her fallen friend. For her sake I moved in to initiate the connection between the two sets of power armour, and the download. “The controls are simple.” I explained. “I’ll explain as we leave. The Death Clock Casino, the Rangers are holding it off. We’ll use that as a base of operations.” “But, what should I do first.” It was impossible not to hear the sadness and confusion in her voice. Without her leader she must have been so lost. “She would have known what to do…” “The Enclave. Those on our side. Protect them, lead them to the Casino. We need them.” With a heavy gulp she nodded. And we were on our way. There was no time to lose. --- “Hired Gun.” An Applejack Ranger said when I approached the bastion in the chaos. Even as the town burned around us the Casino was untouched. No doubt because it was surrounded by Rangers on the ground and the roof. No Pegasi would dare get close. “What have you done?” Underneath the armour it could be no other than Curly Fries. Part of me wanted to explain to Curly Fries how it was really all his fault, but I didn’t have time to explain the joke. “Saved the war.” I waved at Screenshot, “Let us in, my daughter is in there… safe I assume?” “No thanks to you.” I couldn’t tell if he was looking at me or Flare. “Let it go.” Flare sighed, “We don’t have time for this.” Curly Fries grunted at us and nodded towards the entrance before letting us pass and letting him go back to his post. The inside of the Casino was chaos manifest. In the few short hours we had been gone it seemed that every pony in Parasite Mound had packed inside the relatively small casino for safety. There were few other places to go with so much of the city on fire so I could hardly blame them their choice. “I need to find a corner.” Screenshot muttered, “Figure all this out.” Even through her mask she seemed bewildered trying to figure out how to work the new systems. “Enclave First.” I reminded her. They had three vertibucks to use, which was all we needed to get to the raptor and destroy it. It had to take priority because if it started to fire its massive guns on our position we’d be straight fucked. She nodded vaguely leaving me and Flare to awkwardly push through the crowd. I didn’t have to look for long, as Platinum Haze stood a head above the rest and tended to provoke a reaction even when she stood still. And of course there was Serenity. “Momma!” She cried when she spotted me from her perch atop Haze’s head. “Over here!” She said with a wave of a hoof. For someone who prided herself in going unnoticed she sure could be loud when she wanted to. “You’re safe.” Platinum said sighing quietly in relief. “We were worried.” “I’m fine.” I said my eyes drawn to Serenity’s leg, “What happened to your cast sweetie?” I asked Serenity. Last I knew her leg was still healing from our fall from the sky. “All better.” She said tapping it with her other hoof. “Setting the leg plus healing potion did the trick, so I took it off. I’m a doctor so…” She was hardly a doctor, but she did know more about medicine than anyone her age should. “She insisted.” Haze said, with a look on her face that indicated she insisted frequently at some volume. “We are glad to see you safe, but we must ask. Walkirk, is he?” “Dead.” I quickly corrected myself, “Destroyed. Disabled? I suppose the difference is pointless.” I could see she was about to ask how, but there were more important things to discuss. “But not before he gave away information on our meeting. We have the ghost of his ghost to thank for what has been done to Parasite Mound.” “Not that they wouldn’t have figured it out soon enough anyway, but he did destroy our element of surprise. So… surprise!” Flare offered… helpfully? “That is… unfortunate.” Outside an explosion rocked the building enough to shake it, and at least one person in the building fell on their ass. Somewhere a foal started to cry, either from the blast or the growing smell of smoke and ash and blood. Platinum Haze steadied herself, “What is it you will do now that the momentum has been lost?” “Not all too much has changed in terms of strategy.” I turned my head to Flare as he spoke. I wasn’t sure I agreed with him, but I was curious about where he was going with this. “The Raptor still needs to take priority. It hasn’t attacked yet, but when it sees the Ponitrons activate it will. And when it does it’ll obliterate the entire town.” “How strong are we talking about?” I asked. The great cloud monstrosity was impossible to ignore hanging above Dise like a blade ready to fall on the neck of the city, but I still had no real idea just how powerful it was. “They were made to fight dragons.” That alone was enough to give me pause. “One alone could take on a medium sized dragon, smaller than the one we fought but not by much. A wing of five could take on ones damn near the size of mountains. A single blast from one of its main guns would vaporize this entire building.” he waved dramatically with his wing. “So that’s bad…” I said slowly. “No shit.” Flare sighed. “And after the civil war in the north I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the last operable one in the entire world. Taking it out has to be priority, hang everything else. So long as that thing flies we can’t win, and the longer we wait the longer it has to start to take aim.” “We’re going with you right?” Serenity asked with a smile. “No.” I said as sternly as I could, but I could tell by the look on my daughter’s face that this was not the end of the conversation. “Why not?” Platinum Haze thankfully answered the question for me. it was good to have backup. “We discussed this at length sweetie, it’s far too dangerous.” “Not sure if ya’ll noticed but, uh, the whole town’s on fire.” Considering I was still covered in ash it was hard not to know. “An’ Flare said it already. Those big guns could destroy tha whole building. if they get a shot out who you think they’re gunna shoot. Far as they can see the Rangers are protectin’ this place more and more. If it shoots, BOOM!” She threw her forearms into the air to show what an explosion looked like. “Then you should go so-” “An’ who will protect me then? Haze is awesome but only one pony. And the Watchers know me. An’ they know you’re comin’ for’em. Folks always tryin’a spirit me away ta get to you, an’ that always happens when you’re away. I’m safer with you than anywhere else.” “But…” There was a flaw in her argument, I just knew it, but I couldn’t figure it out right then. “We’ll talk about this later.” “There wont be a later.” A voice said from behind me. When I turned I was looking at the face of Lemon Cake, sans helmet, her face smeared with dried blood and smoke. “Where were you?” “Away, I-” “Did you think, for one fucking second?!” I did not expect the yelling and had to take a step back in shock. “You may think you’re one piece in a puzzle, but you’re damned important in keeping everything together.” She seethed at me. “I didn’t know I-” I tried to defend myself but she kept going. “The Finishers were scattered within seconds, Celestia above only knows what happened when the Enclave hit them. Without anything to unify us we fractured. We needed a leader. I can lead my Rangers better than any pony living, but you ever see me try to give orders to one of those birds?” “I’m not a leader I-” “Bullshit.” She rounded on me, circling like a hungry shark. “I don’t care what you want. You brought us together, you kept us together. I am only here because of your fucking promises. Well I upheld my promises. I never said I was going to fight a war, just protect innocents and supply weapons, so that’s what I’m doing. I upheld my end. Now you need to uphold your end and lead before it’s too fucking late and we’re all dead.” I grimaced at the accusations, looking for support in my companion's faces, but they seemed just as conflicted as me. With a sigh I stared at the ground at my hooves, feeling the weight of the city rest on my shoulders, threatening to crush me. “You’re right.” I said eventually. “I shouldn’t have left in secret.” As much as it pained me, she was right. I was the glue that was holding this… grand coalition together. I couldn’t run away for my own reasons, not like I could do before. “I’m sorry.” “Good, if you don’t smarten up soon we’ll all be sorry.” She spat back, still plainly enraged at me for what she could only see as an abdication of duty. “Well.. I need an update then. Where is everyone.” “Last I heard Molly is still at her The Alehouse waiting for orders. She was suppose to join the city reclamation force when the ponitrons got that far and cleared the siege of her casino. The Enclave Remnants Exiles or whatever the fuck scattered when the bombing hit their camp. As far as I could tell they’re trying to regroup. The Finishers, well you’d know more about them. The NCA have been the only reliable force, they’ve been evacuating and rescuing ponies caught in the blazes. Major Lucky is overseeing that. If I didn’t know better I’d say he’s enjoying getting his hooves dirty. I think meetings and shit tire him.” “So you only have contact with the NCA?” “And the Finishers now that you brought back… their second in command? Leader? Photo Finish is dead isn’t she?” She could tell from my grimace the answer to that question. “A shame. Never seen anything like them up north. Sure we have some pompus ponies in Tenpony Tower, but nothing so.. outgoing. They seemed effective, and that Photo Finish ran a tight ship. I can respect that. That being said, the ponitrons…” “Screenshot has control of them now. Or, well, she’s working on controlling them. Told her to find the Enclave first.” I said slowly watching Lemon Cake’s reaction. She was inscrutable, but eventually sighed. “That will do. The Raptor still need to be taken out. Have any of you seen those things in action?” I shook my head, but Flare raised a wing. Platinum Haze to my surprise rose a wing as well. Lemon Cake seemed to smirk at Flare. “Of course you… I mean no offense but you are a pegasi.” She turned to look up at Platinum Haze. “One of Red Eye’s?” “Never.” Platinum Haze said defensively. “But when the Enclave came in force we found them rather hard to ignore completely.” She shuddered at the thought. Not that I had any clue what she was talking about. Lemon Cake nodded before turning her glare back on me. “I was on the front lines during Operation Cauterize during the battle for Fillydelphia. I saw my commanding officer and three squadmates vaporized in an instant. I had to take the lead and managed to take out its main gun with some artillery I stole from Red Eye’s slavers.” I understood roughly half of that sentence, but it gave me a much greater sense of who exactly I was dealing with. This was someone who had seen the true face of war, and never backed down. She should have been in command, not me. “It has to go, this is beyond dispute. Until it is, we can have as many ponitrons as we want and it’ll mean nothing.” “And how do we do that?” She seemed to have an idea what she was talking about. I mean, we already had a plan to infiltrate but I feel like if we ever had the element of surprise it was gone now. “Either we get a fuck tonne of anti-air, some artillery, or you need to get close and personal. I’m not sure how many ponies are onboard.” She glanced over to Flare who shrugged back at her. “But I doubt fighting through them all is possible.” “Give up the idea of getting inside.” Flare sighed. “Critical systems will be well guarded on the inside too much for even you to assault. With enough fire power outside you could take out a few propellers, that might crash, but there’s an easier options.” “Don’t leave us in suspense.” Flare furrowed his brow and took out a piece of chalk from his saddle bag so he could draw a crude sketch of a raptor on a nearby wall. Well, I assumed it was a raptor, the way he was drawing it looked weird. “Eyuck.” Flare said spitting out the chalk and wiping his tongue. “This is the top down view of a raptor.” Oh, that made more sense. “Here, and here.” he pointed to flanking sides of the ship, “Are the cloud generators.” “Oh course!” I’m glad Lemon Cake knew what he was on about. “A Raptor cannot fly without clouds, and unlike other critical systems they need to be on the outside of the ship.” “And at the top, to avoid attack from the ground, but if you land atop the ship.” Flare said with a sly grin. “A kilo of tnt, or equivalent on each side is more than enough, blow them at the same time and that fucking thing is going down.” “And the Ponies inside?” Platinum Haze was the only pony who asked what was perhaps the most pressing question. Everyone looked up at her, but none responded. That said as much as she needed to know. “I can provide C4.” Lemon Cake eventually said ignoring the question completely. “Good.” Flare looked over at me, “Meet me on the roof, I need to get a look at the situation and I expect that’s where we’ll get picked up… if we get picked up.” With that Lemon Cake and Flare left to devise their little plan. Leaving me with Platinum Haze who was staring a hole through the back of my head. “What do you wa-” “We shall be accompanying you.” We had already discussed this, but it seemed more forceful now. “Haze, you won't want to se-” “But we shall.” She just kept cutting me off. “We shall see the destruction with our own eyes. We believeth to be our duty. We are partially responsible for bringing this battle to fruition, we shall not discount our part nor surrender the consequences through a veil of ignorance. We shall see, and we shall remember.” She sighed looking away. “We have spoken of this at length. Do what thou must, but pray remember the follies of those who have gone before. Lightbringer. Mother. Even Dragonslayer. Remember.” “I will.” I said trying my best to suppress a grimace. “Then we can ask no more from you.” She sighed. There was a brief blanket of silence that covered us, but thankfully not for long as Screenshot came running over to ruin this awkward moment. “Hired!” She gasped, “I… okay, so. Need to be brief. So much to watch.” Her eyes looked frantic, and I didn’t blame her. “Helped rescue enclave. Three Vertibucks left. one went to pick up Molly. Stuck on her Casino. Burning. Other two coming here.” “How long?” “Five minutes.” “Good work.” I growled before turning away letting Haze and Serenity followed me. I took one step towards the stairs, half confident half anxious. Whatever may come, there was no coming back from this trip empty handed. We won, or we died. This was it. No pressure. --- “It’s getting closer.” I growled from the top of the Clips and Clops Casino. All around me the world was still ablaze, so bright it could have been the middle of the day instead of night. What’s worse is that it started to rain, but the thin sheets were doing nothing to deal with the fires, only make us more uncomfortable. “And rising, look.” Flare said pointing to the Raptor on the other side of town. “To aim, there are too many buildings in the way. Any second now…” Flare paced back and forth nervously, “Where are they, we don’t have time to dick around.” “Patience Flare.” Haze said serenely. “Can you not hear them?” How Haze could hear anything over the roar of flames was a mystery to me. Or, it was until I heard it too. “This way.” I rushed to the edge of the building to see two Vertibucks flying low to the ground weaving between buildings. Trying to avoid fire from above, it was clever. The buzzing of the Vertibucks turned into a roar of engines as they rose on either side of the building, doors sliding open. “This isn’t a damn family picnic.” A pony I didn’t recognize yelled from the inside of the vertibuck. There were only two Enclave in there, and no others accompanying. Too few. “Whatever get in. Big mare last.” Platinum Haze glided in first, Serenity clinging to her back, then Flare. There was a gap between the vertibuck door and the edge of the roof, and it wasn’t that I was scared, it was just. “What are you doing Hired!” Flare yelled back at me, and I shook my head. This was silly, I had to go… before I came up with the nerve there was a flash of light in the corner of my eye. So bright. “MOVE!” I didn’t need anymore prompting. I dove of the vertibuck landing with shaky legs. Behind me the swooosh of the beam was near deafening the world glowed a sickly green. When it was over and I looked back I saw the raptor missed the Casino, but hit the building behind it. There was a hole larger than the vertibuck, and the edges still glowed green. A few seconds later and the building started to collapse. From a single shot… “Go go go!” The mysterious pegasi shouted as I heard off in the distance the Raptors main gun start to charge back up. With a gut wrenching dip the vertibuck started to zoom off as the pegasi pushed at me, “You door. Specialist Flare open the other door. If anything flying follows us fucking kill it.” The pegasi grunted. Against my better judgment I stared out the open door with Subtlety. The world zipped by, thankfully not open sky but buildings close enough to touch as we zipped close to the ground. “Where’s everyone else?” I gasped at the Pegasi. “Helping the NCA, and trying to stop the bombardment. This will be enough, stop fucking looking at me out the damn door!” I snapped my attention back towards the zooming buildings and gusts of air. “How many do we have?” “Five in this vertibuck.” Two manning the wings, the two inside, and the pilot I surmised. “Ten in the one over. Three in the one that picked up Molly. They’re going to join us, fucking gangers need to be good for something.” “I thought she was back at her casino.” I shouted over the rush of wind. “Mob broke in, revolutionaries finally taken down the last gang. Most escaped through Molly’s tunnel. The ass herself got caught on the roof.” The Pegasi said glancing between the two doors. “Don’t matter now, the General said we have a mis-” With a bang and a crash the vertibuck shook violently and started to list. “Fuck!” I agreed, stumbling to keep my footing. I looked back to make sure Platinum Haze and Serenity were alright, just in time for the pegasi to yell at me again. “DOOR!” “There’s nothing there!” I complained. We were flying so close to the damn buildings, all I could see was walls. I looked back at Flare’s window to see what he had sights on. There was another vertibuck right beside us, close enough to spit at. “Where are th-” BOOM The top of our flanking vertibuck exploded into shrapnel so bright I had to shield my eyes. When I looked back all I saw was the faint impression of a vertibuck sized hole in a nearby building before we zoomed past it. “NO!” The pegasi beside me shouted. “A dozen boogies, maybe more, two vertibucks.” He was getting the information from somewhere. “No room to maneuver. We’re not close enough, fuck!” “What’s going on?” “We’re going up.” The pegasi growled as we rose higher and higher, flying erratically the higher we got. Before we were well above the rooftops, and I felt like I was going to puke as I looked down. There wasn’t time though, not when I realized what we were up against. There had to be twenty armoured pegasi tailing us, and two vertibucks. At some point we were joined by another friendly Vertibuck on outside, but we were hopelessly outnumbered. We had managed to make it as far as The Alehouse Casino, but the raptor seemed like a world away the way it loomed over. Just in time for its main cannon to fire turning something far far away into rubble. The pegasi surrounding us knew where we were going, and that we were too far away. Instead of attacking they surrounded us left right top and bottom until we were forced to hover in place or start fighting a battle we couldn’t win. When I looked back I saw the two enemy vertibucks, shiny an black and newly repaired it looked like, lurking. This was a folly. “Surrender!” A voice boomed at us. “Flare, I know that you are in there. Stop this madness, all of you. We are all pegasi.” The pegasi guard beside me muttered a curse, but had no response. Flare however did have a response, leaning out his door and yelling. “Dad?” Oh that’s great, all we need now is a family crises. “Throw down your arms Flare. Tell me where my brother, niece and nephew are and you can all go free.” The pegasi who was speaking we high above us, and was the only pony without a mask. it was hard to see exactly in the darkness, but from where I sat he looked like a spitting image of Flare, only older and with more white in his mane. “We are family.” His voice slightly muffled by the rain that now fell in sheets. “Are we?” Flare said with a smile on his face. “When was the last time we spoke, does it even matter?” “Stop this Flare. I know you’re petty but-” “Fuck off.” Flare turned to me and let out a deep sigh. “Do you still have the spark pulse emitter?” When I nodded he threw his helmet off and down to the ground below, “Won’t be needing that… let me have it.” “Flare…” Outside his dad was still yelling but we ignored him. Flare only looked sternly into my eyes, his pink eyes never wavering. With a sigh I took the weapon out and hoofed it over. “Do you know what you’re doing?” He took out the C4 he had been preparing and threw it towards me. “Nope, but it doesn’t matter. I don’t need wings to fly." He grabbed the weapon in his mouth and leapt out the door before I had a chance to respond. This shocked everyone: me, Serenity, Haze, our pegasi guard, and the poor unfortunate pony he landed on top of. “What the fuck get off!” The stallion panicked firing their twin machine guns rapidly in shock as Flare crashed into him. From the stallion's back Flare grabbed his head and pulled pointing the confused stallion's guns at his friends. Only when his fellow pegasi was shot down screaming did the stallion stop firing just in time for Flare to zap him in the back. The stallion screamed, but it wasn’t the pain that did him in. Without the technology of the enclave power armour, it was just an incredibly heavy weight, and the stallion couldn’t support it. Not that Flare would stay on to see. He lept off the stallion as soon as spark pulse emitter hit , aiming towards his next target. How he managed to not slip in the rain amazed me almost as much as everything else. This pony at least reacted bolting upwards, but not fast enough. Flare managed to latch onto the pony’s hind legs dragging them down. At this point everyone was watching weapons trained, but nobody risked shooting. One pony dive to try and tackle Flare off, but as soon as they got close Flare zapped them forcing the one he was attached to catch her. “What are you doing, you’re going to die!” Someone shouted. Flare ignored them completely. he pulled himself quickly onto the pony’s back and zapped them too. The pegasi frantically opened their wings trying to glide, but they were falling fast as he tried to carry the weight of three ponies. Three more ponies flew at him. He tackled one in mid air, but three against one it wasn’t a contest. “Fuck. Get ready to move.” I said to our pegasi companion. He stared at me in confusion as I took aim at the jumble of pegasi wrestling in mid air. Maybe the pegasi watching didn’t have the guts to shoot. But I did. Subtlety roared and one of the pegasi fell. A second soared down to try to catch them leaving Flare with one left. One that I also shot. Flare didn’t even look over to thank me for my help. Instead he grabbed the pony by the head and as they fell, attempting to glide, and steered them towards the enemy vertibuck. He leapt off just before they collided. The pegasi slammed into the propellers, there was a crack, and a glimpse of fire before it started to list… Right into the other vertibuck tailing us. As Flare fell he looked up to see his handiwork as the two vertibucks erupted in the night sky. More pegasi flew down, to catch him. Or kill him. I couldn’t watch. We had to go. “Move! MOVE!” I shouted as our machine roared to life slamming into nearby pegasi leaving those remaining staring and confused. Some fired, and I fired back. There weren’t enough to stop us now. As we charged past Flare’s dad I saw he wasn’t watching us, but his still falling son. He continued to ignore us as he flew down, too slow to catch Flare. “What the fuck was tha-”The guard started to say before I cut him off. “If you’ve anyone left, deal with stragglers.” I grimaced taking a seat. Flare… He was fine, he had to be fine. “Momma, Uncle Flare is he?” Serenity said so quietly I could barely hear her. “He’s fine.” I never saw him hit the ground. Ponies were chasing him. That fucking idiot. He was… “He…” I took a deep breath. It smelled like ash and blood, barely dampened by the rain. “He’s fine.” Serenity sniffled and peered out the door a bit too close before Haze pulled her back. We didn’t have time to think about it. We had to keep moving. One step forward. “How long?” I gasped at the pegasi. “Almost there.” Sure enough in no time at all the giant cloudship lumbered into view. It was moving towards parasite mound down the strip. It was a distance away, barely at The Clips and Clops by the time we buzzed alongside and landed on it. Ontop of the ship’s deep black metal carapace it seemed like a great beast, lumbering through the sky. “Get out.” The pegasi barked and we complied, the four of us. Beside us the other Vertibuck landed, and its occupants streamed out. Molly, and a good five of her gangers looking a bit rattled from the rocky flight. “You have work to do, so do we. Twenty minutes, we’ll be back.” I stared in confusion at the stallion as he boarded his airship. “What? But-” “One our ships went down. We’re not leaving them.” Before I had the chance to reply the vertibuck lifted off leaving me, Haze, Serenity, Molly and her goons alone. Molly sauntered up to us, stopping just short to hold her hat on as wind whipped around us. “Where’s your fourth. The pretty little parrot, this is his sho-” “Shut up.” Molly went to say something more, so I pointed subtlety at her. “If one more word comes pouring out of your cunt mouth I-” “I get it, I get it, jeeze.” Molly laughed looking up at Haze, “Touchy isn’t she?” “We are surprised to see you here Miss Molly.” Platinum Haze said cooly. “We had thought your base was secure, what happened and why praytell did you require rescue.” Molly glared at Haze and sighed, “Those revolutionaries or whatever. Those people your Watcher friends co-opted finally found a way to break in, there were too many to risk fighting directly so I ordered my people to regroup in Parasite Mound. Meanwhile I forgot my hat in my office. By the time I got it there was a bit of a fire. Does that answer your question my little dove.” Haze did not respond, just continued glaring. Now I knew she’d never hurt Molly, but I wonder if Molly knew that. “What about you quiet mouse.” Molly said to Serenity, “You still like me at least?” “I’ve never liked you.” Serenity squeaked. If Molly was annoyed she didn’t show it, laughing opening and motioning for her goons to get closer. They walked slowly and carefully on the shaking and slippery hull of the ship. “With allies like these. So what is this mission I have been volunteered so generously for. How are we talking out this whale?” She said kicking the hull with her hoof. “This.” I tossed a package of C4 at her hooves. “Take out their cloud generators. If we get both-” Molly made a long slow whistling sound before, “Kablooie. Crashed ship. Good plan. Until the rescue birds don’t come back. I wonder how high we are...” It made my stomach lurch to think about, but if Flare could survive a fall at this height so could we… “We won’t detonate it until they return.” I held up the detonator Flare gave me. “I need you to go to-” “I know where it is. No need to howl at me. Do you think I haven’t thought about taking this monstrosity down? It comes between me and power.” “A lot of things will come between you and power.” I spat back. “Just do it right.” Molly laughed before whispering something to her goons. They started to make their way over the curved hull, slowly, carefully, as the ship seemed to shake constantly as it moved, and the wind up here was fast and bitter spraying cold rain in our faces. “I like you Hired, don’t die.” She said before sauntering off across the ship. “Momma…” Serenity said quietly. “It’s fine. We’ll all be fine when this is over.” Not that I was sure when that would be. I could only hope soon. We made our way shakily across the ship. The rain made the going slow, to avoid falling, but not as slow as I would have liked. Part of me wanted to look out over the city, to see the view, but most of me wanted to puke at the thought. Fuck heights. So I just kept my head down and stared at the black shell of the ship as I walked. Watching my hooves to make sure I didn’t trip and fall I made my way over to the cloud generator. Every so often the ship underneath us would shake violently, and it was then I knew the main cannon was firing. Too often. I had to hurry if I wanted to save our plan. Maybe I should have found artillery. Make this whole thing easier. Fuck. “Momma look!” I reluctantly looked up to see what we were aiming for. Not a hundred meters away was a series of cables, and boxes my mind couldn’t comprehend. But it was pumping out clouds at an alarming rate. That was it. “Thanks sweetie.” I said picking up the pace. I still didn’t want to look out over the city, but when I had something to focus on I barely noticed the fact I was dangling hundreds of meters above the ground on a machine I was about to fucking destroy. We made it half the way there when alarms started to blare. “Celestia Damnit!” I moved faster than I had any right to, and I was just about to dig the explosives out of my pack when something slammed into my side. The next thing I knew I was flung partway down the ships hull tumbling head over heels, pain blaring. I looked up to see black armoured Pegasi staring down at me, weapons trained. It didn’t seem at all fair that they got rocket launchers… I barely had time to cover my eyes before they fired. A split second later the world was awash with sound and fire. When I opened my eyes again I saw a shimmering purple shield around me, still smoking. I glanced over at Haze who was yelling something, but I couldn’t hear through the ringing in my ears. I didn’t need to hear to know what was going to happen next. The two ponies could clearly see who was creating the barrier. But it meant they were taking their eyes off of me, which was always a fatal mistake. It gave me enough time to take the C4 out of my pack and slide it towards Serenity. BANG I fired so fast with Subtlety that I missed. But it was close enough to throw the pegasi I was aiming for off course. The other ignored their faltering comrade to let forth a volley of explosions which slammed into Haze’s shield. I’d seen her take Dragon flames before, this was nothing, so I had to focus. Two more shots, but the pegasi was damn fast and I couldn’t get a good shot at this range with them moving. Luckily for me they stopped for a split second. Just long enough for them to fire a rocket at me. With Haze preoccupied. Fuck. I moved to dodge, for what good that’d do. If that thing hit anywhere near me I’d be dead. But it didn’t hit me. Instead it hit a thin pink magical barrier. The rocket didn’t explode but was redirected enough that it went flinging off to slam into the ship shaking it under my hooves. I turned my head to Serenity, who was standing as close as she could get to the cloud generator, her horn glowing pink. When the hell did she learn that? The pegasi noticed too and shouted, “Filly what are you doing!” The mare yelled, until she saw the C4 she was carrying. “Wait, stop!” And pegasi dove at Serenity. Not fast enough though. I dove through the air slamming into the pegasi mare midair. We went tumbling through the air, crashed onto the wing of the ship, and slid across it until we were half hanging off the edge. I was on top of her, but it meant I was staring down hundred of meters below, and it was all I could do not to puke as I felt the ship shift below me, and it was impossible not to feel so very small. “Stop!” The mare choked as I pressed my forearm into her armoured neck. “If you take out those cloud.” My metal hoof slammed against her helmet, but still she kept talking. “Everyone inside.” Another slam of my hoof. “Civilians. Children! You ca-” The third kick took her out, dead or unconscious, it didn’t matter which. Civilians. Children. It was going to be Bitter Steel and Karkhoof all over again. But there were children in the town the Raptor was destroying too. In the very building they were aiming for... “Serenity!” I gasped turning to her as I pulled the unconscious body from the abyss, “Are you okay? When did you learn that?” “H-haze.” I mean I figured she learned it from Haze. But then she said again, “Haze!” She pointed over to see Haze struggling with the other enclave pony. If she only let herself use her full power the pony would stand no chance, but she held back behind her shield. “Stop!” I shouted as the pony reloaded again. “Stop!” She turned to me, weapon trained as I held up the C4 remote. “What is that?” The mare glared down at me from on high. “We’ve planted explosives on your cloud generators. Without those, this whole thing goes down...” In truth I had no idea if Molly had managed to complete her mission, but at this point it didn’t matter. it was bluff or nothing. Still I glanced over the curved roof of the ship. Somewhere beyond there Molly was working, I had to hope I’d hear from her soon before more came to bother us. “W-what.” She balked glancing between Haze and I. “That’s madness.” “You’re aerial bombarding us. Did you think we wouldn’t retaliate.” Even through the mask the mare looked conflicted as she slowly floated down to land on the ship with us. “Please rethink this.” She said, her voice shaking slightly. “I have family on board I-” “And what of the families in Parasite mound.” I glanced over the curve again. I couldn’t bluff forever, eventually she’d try to remove it, and then I would have to press the button. “It’s war.” She muttered unconvincingly as she slowly made her way towards the engine. “It’s war.” I repeated as she glanced down at the engine. Serenity hadn’t hidden the explosive well, and was backing up from the much larger pony. She was going to make a move any second. “Don’t think about it.” I growled glancing over at the curve of the ship. For a brief second, I thought I saw the tip of a brown hat. Just in time for the mare to dive. I slammed my hoof onto the remote. The mare grabbed the explosive just for it to explode. The combination of blasts shook the ship so much I was rattled off my hooves, and the mare was sent flying back slamming into the ship. She was smoking black almost as much as the engine which had caught fire. The whole airship was shuddering and sputtering. Luckily for me it was Molly who was heading out my way, limping heavily, and bleeding profusely. She yelled at me from across the ship. “What did you do? Fuck, I didn’t fight through four of those fuckers to go down like a rat on a sinking ship!” She was right. The vertibird hadn’t returned. We had no way off. I scanned around looking for signs of them, but through the rain I could see there was no vertibucks nearby. What where was though, was the roof of the Clips and Clops casino. The giant pony head. The raptor was listing heavily, and it seemed like the wing would pass right by, if we could jump we’d be safe. “There!” I shouted, and the ponies around me knew what I was talking about. “No.” Platinum Haze had made her way to me, but wasn’t looking at me. She was staring off in the distance, her horn glowing. “You should go. Clean Cutt will be there, we are certain. There you shall end this… this…” her voice trailed off and she took a deep breath. “We shall stay here.” Slowly I saw a purple shield expand from below her hooves expanding in all directions. It didn’t take a genius to understand what she was doing. “You can’t!” I shouted, but she wasn’t even looking at me. “Your magic. You’re overtaxed as it is. When The Moon fell it almost killed you to save us! This… you can’t!” “Mayhaps we will die.” She said solemnly, still refusing to look at me. She just stared towards the city, eyes transfixed as her mane waved in the wind. “But we shall do it protecting all the ponies aboard. We shall not escape and let them suffer. Too many will die if we do not. If I do not.” She turned to me, tears shimmering in her eyes. “I cannot help you in this war. But this one thing, I can do right.” The shield she was creating shimmered and grew until it encompassed all of the ship I could see. Her horn was glowing with so many layers of magic I thought it might explode. It was simply madness. “Haze…” “Take Serenity and go. If we die do not mourn us, we hath made our choice.” She turned from me as another layer of magic encompassed her. There was nothing I could do to stop her. So I did the only thing I could do. I grabbed Serenity, turned away, and leap onto the roof of the casino. The world spun around me as air rushed past my ears with a roar. I landed on the roof of the Clips and Clops with a thud, rolling across the giant pony’s head praying I didn’t fall off. I held Serenity tight in my grasp until we came to a slow skidding stop. All around me the world was spinning, but I couldn’t care about all that, I had to make sure she was alright. “Serenity.” I looked down at her to see her grimacing in pain holding the leg she had just taken a cast off of. “I’m okay.” She said in a tone of voice that could only be a whine. As far as I could tell she looked fine, so I placed her carefully on the pink roof and looked around blearily. In the distance I could hear a great crash and crack. I shut my eyes and refused to look. Platinum was fine. Flare was fine. We had to keep going. We were at the bastards home base. Just get inside, kill him and… easy. “We need to keep moving.” One hoof ahead of the other. I stood shakily to my hooves and glanced around. Unlike the top of the ship, the roof here was almost entirely curved in weird and awkward ways. It was shaped after a pony’s mane after all. Also blindingly pink. Even in the darkness of night and the haze of rain it was obnoxious. “Move where?” Serenity said sullenly, glancing towards the mainstreet where the Raptor was still crashing. I gently placed my hoof under her chin so she would look me in the eyes. “She’s fine. Flare’s fine.” I took a deep breath as I stared into her grey eyes. She was scared, terrified even. Nothing about this plan had gone right, half the city was in fire, and we were alone on top of the world. How could she not be. I was an idiot for bringing her here. I should have left months ago, to a safe place. This wasn’t my fight. Or hers. But… wasn’t it my fight? I mean, it had to be somebody’s fight, right? After all they did to me, all I learned, I couldn’t have just walked away. But damnit, I wanted to. Serenity deserved better than this. She deserved a mother who could focus on her, and damn the world. But I couldn’t give that, I had to stick my nose in things. “Momma?” She asked so quietly I could barely hear her over the din of the world all around. “When this is over…” I wanted to promise her the world. That I’d get her a puppy, a new toy, some ice cream. But everything I could promise couldn’t make up for the hell I put her through. The tunnels, and the facility. War, death… forcing her to choose between life and death. It was all on me. She still fretted over the corpse of Dragonslayer, a pony who deserved far worse. Of course she did, she was so young. “I… I’m sorry.” It wasn’t a proper answer, but it was all I had. I turned my head away from her eyes. There wasn’t time, we had to go. To finish this, finally. “Momma, are you okay?” I wasn’t. Maybe I never was and never could be, but I had to pretend. To be strong, for just a little while longer. There, in the distance. A hatch near the pink pony’s ear. We could use that to enter the building. To finish this… “Momma!” Serenity yelled as I trotted off. One hoof ahead of the other. One more step. It was so close, I could taste it. The hatch was easy to pry open with my leg and strength. Inside was a narrow dark ladder. it was going to be a bitch to get through but I had no other choice. We were almost there. “Momma, listen to-” “Go ahead, I’ll be right behind you.” I said softly, looking down at the darkness below me. “Mom!” Now that drew my attention and I had to look at her again. “We’re bein’ watched!” She pointed to a portion of the giant mane that stuck up in the air. And sure enough, standing on the peak was a tall alicorn. My heart jumped for a second thinking it Haze back already, but Haze wasn’t green. “Thistle.” The one from the Facility. Fuck. “Get in.” Serenity glanced up at me so I said louder. “Get. In.” Still she didn’t move so I shoved Serenity towards the hatch. There was no time for gentleness, not with that thing. “Be safe, I’ll be right there. “Momma wai-” Serenity started to say as I slammed the hatch. Serenity wasn’t strong enough to lift it, and that was all that mattered. “Well?” I called up at the Alicorn. “What are you waiting for?” “Where is she?” The mare said with a cheerful grin. I had no clue what she was talking about, so I let her continue. “My Sister?” “Pre-occupied.” I took a few tentative steps forward. I was ready to shoot, but with their shields I knew there was little I could do. “Saving ponies.” “A waste.” She gave a dramatic sigh before leaping off the tip of the mane gracefully to land not twenty meters in front of me. “Mother had the right of it, Sis should have listened. All that matters is strength, you know?” She said far too cheerfully, “That’s why Mother made us strong. If we help the weak more weak ponies will live dragging the strong down, it’s silly! Mr. Cutt gets it, he’s no Mother, but he understands the strong need to survive on their own.” “Is that why you want to fight her?” “Eh.” She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter, I’ll find her soon, after I finish you off.” “You think you’re stronger than me.” Even after everything I had been through that night, I had to smile. The Alicorn’s horn flashed bright green, and I could feel her magic around me. For a second my heart skipped a beat, expecting the pain that followed like the time before. But here there was nothing. Nothing to stop me walking towards her. “Oohoho! A fancy trick, you should show m-” BANG Her words caught in her throat as I forced her to bring up her shield with a shot. Then another shot. And another. Subtlety rippled against the mare’s shield over and over and over until I was out of rounds. But her shield was cracked, and she was sweating and straining from the effort to keep her defenses up. She was not nearly as practiced as Haze. “C’mon little filly is that the best you got.” She teased as her green shield slowly cracked and shattered into a flurry of lights. I didn’t bother to respond, there was nothing left to say. She was a crazy alicorn, and the only thing between me and Clean Cutt. So I did the only thing I knew how to do, I charged. She wasn’t expecting me, and together we went tumbling across the pink pony’s head sliding and tumbling and sliding across the slick roof. By the time we stopped I was ontop of her rearing up. Alicorns were magically powerful, but when it came right down to it they were only ponies with all the fragility that implied. All I had to do was finish her. Until I felt something tug and lift me into the air. “What!” I shouted in surprise. My barding was immune to her magic. Haze wouldn’t have made a mistake she… I glanced over and saw her green magic wrapped around Subtlety lifting me off kilter. I barely had time to process the information when I was suddenly and violently tossed through the air. I crashed into the pink pony’s ear so hard I swore I cracked the panels before sliding into a pile. My head was spinning, and I felt like puking from the throw. When I looked up I barely had time to orientate myself to the threat when I felt myself getting lifted into the air again. Without thinking I fumbled with my battle saddle tearing the harness off as fast as I could. I landed on the slippery vinyl and watched my battle saddle, and Subtlety, get tossed off the edge into the rain before fading from view. I turned back to see the alicorn mare stalking towards me through the rain. Her head was held low and she had a crazed grin on her face. She was having fun, I realized to my horror, this was just another game to her and I was finally providing a challenge. Shakily I stood back to my hooves, careful not to lose my grip in the downpour. It was a long way down… Suddenly her cheerful smile broke into a glare as fast as a blink. “I knew you’d come!” It wasn’t Thistle anymore. I recognized that voice. Clean Cutt had taken control of her again, or rather she let him speak through her. “Thistle loves a challenge, and I knew you’d be able to keep her amused enough to do what I asked. She wants to know if you find this fun.” Her horn crackled with magic. “Not really.” Which just made her laugh. The real her. Before I had the chance to try to tackle her again a bolt of green energy flew from her horn. I barely had time to duck before it cracked into the ear behind me. I dared to look back and see it starting to melt. The second bolt came faster, and if I hadn’t moved before she fired it, it would have hit. But I did move, and charged right at her once again. She fired a third shot though, and I barely got my metal leg in the way to block it. It turned the metal so red hot that rain sizzled off it, but it wasn’t enough to melt, unless she shot again. I had no other choice. I had to get rid of her horn and I still had one weapon left. I leapt at her with all my strength, letting my cybernetic leg extend the sword I had installed so long ago. She was too quick though, and jerked her head back before my blade could reach. All I could do was cut into her cheek sending blood dripping down to mix into the rain. I stabbed again but I was off balance so the best I could do was slash at her neck. I nicked it and added more blood to the pool, but it wasn’t anywhere vital. By the time I got my third stab in she took to the air hovering above me. Right, she could do that too. She didn’t shoot blasts like before, this time it was just a stream of magical energy, right at my face. I barely got my blade up in time to catch the beam. I grimaced and my knees buckled as her magic streamed into the base of my blade turning it red hot. If I so much as twitched the beam was going to melt a hole through my skull. So I grunted and held. As strong as my cybernetics were, they weren’t as strong as me. I could see the way the blade was warping and cracking. I had precious few seconds left. The blade cracked and shattered and at that moment I dove away. The beam slammed into me for naught but a second as I leapt back, but the blastwave sent me tumbling across the roof until I was laying on my stomach meters away beside the remains of my cybernetic blade. My barding was burning and smouldering, but the rain was taking care of that, and it was a miracle the rest of my cybernetic leg was still intact. Behind me, through the heavy pounding of rain, I could hear the flapping of wings. “You did well.” Clean Cutt said sadly through her voice. “I knew there would be resistance, but you did something I could not have imagined, something I could not have planned for. You should be proud.” She was above me now, I could hear it, and feel the beating of her wings on my back. I glanced over at the remains of the blade. So close. I dove for it, grabbing the blade in my mouth and spinning with such force when I let go of the blade it flew through the air and slammed into her wing. her cocky tone turned to screeches as her flapping increased in an uneven panic. She was falling, and close enough I could reach her. “It huuuurts! Mother! MOTHER HELP!” I heard her screech. The pain must have drove Clean Cutt out. Good, I hated his fucking boasting. I reared up and grabbed a leg with my forehooves, and with all the strength I could muster slammed her into the ground so hard it cracked. She let out a sharp gasp and the magic that had been storing in her horn fizzled out. I stood above her, hooves on her wings. Her horn started to glow again, but weakly. There were tears in her eyes, and I almost felt bad for what was about to happen. “It didn’t have to be this way.” I grunted as the rain started to let up around us. “You could have joined Haze. She’s doing good work. We didn’t have to be enemies.” Talking hurt, and my mouth was bleeding from the sword I had been biting down on. “You don’t get it.” She coughed. “It’s not about you. It’s about honouring mother. This was all for her. My sisters got caught in the lies of lesser ponies. I had to show them.” “Nothing.” I grimaced. “You showed them nothing.” “There’s still time.” Her horn was glowing strong, and my shoulder was burning. Something was wrong. My stomach twisted and turned as I looked around frantically. What was wrong! And then I saw it. Floating in the misting rain was a glowing white syringe, suspiciously empty of anything save for one last drip of a mysterious liquid that fell and mixed with the rain. It was like the one Dragonslayer had tried to use on me, the one that he claimed would activate the Megaspell inside of me. It was already too late... “Oh.” Was all I managed to say when it hit me. It burned. It burned. It Burned! I gasped and stumbled off. My veins were on fire. My mind racing. I could feel it. Begging to get out. A great pressure on my skull that I couldn’t get rid of. The tension was immense, pushing, struggling. I gritted my teeth and refused. I couldn’t let it. I refused to let it get to me. I stumbled back and forth, trying to find the right position to not let it overcome, to hold back the magic inside me. I couldn’t let it win. I had to survive! But I couldn’t. I could feel it. My skin that wasn’t covered in barding was cracking, and through the cracks a bright white light poured out. When I opened my mouth it felt like I was breathing flames, burning my mouth and all before me. This was it. The ultimate failure. After everything. I couldn’t withstand the fire inside of me. I stumbled, leaning against the ear as my legs struggled to keep me standing. I was burning, dying dead. I couldn’t take another step. With nothing left to do, I glanced over the city I failed to save. The height could no longer unnerve me as my body failed. The rain had broken, and the clouds had started to part just as the sun was rising, basking the city in an orange glow. If you could ignore the fires in parasite mound, the wreckage of the raptor, and the debris from the Moon it was something… incredible. From high aloft the tallest building with the city sprawled out below me I finally understood why ponies built towers so high. From up here, everything was so beautifu- Level Up? Skill Notes: ? New perk: ?