It was cold, limiting, lonely. Once more part of cold, motionless steel, unable to feel ground at her hooves or wind in her mane.

Puppy activated herself once more, her first realisation being that Dust wasn’t wearing her anymore. Nopony was in fact, the suit stood empty upon a work podium in a clean, efficiently ordered workshop. Big industrial doors led outwards, tables and benches stacked around bearing tools and dismantled components. There was a slim, agile looking droid working on her, it’s multiple arms buffing and tightening and polishing. It’s work certainly seemed to be beneficial but she still had no idea why she was here or where Dust Kicker was. That meant she had to take control of this situation.

The firewalls the machine was packing weren’t bad, still they were a fairly standard pre-war zebra design with few upgrades. Therefore she knew it’s weaknesses, diving around them quickly and efficiently and accessing it’s power settings before it had a chance to react. A little touch later and the machine slumped, Puppy taking control of the alarm she felt trigger and feeding it an ‘all clear’ signal.

Too easy, and it only got easier. These machines were all networked. An efficient choice, but a poor one when facing her. She dived through its connections, quiet as a mouse as she identified each part of the network in turn. She quickly located the cameras, loading them up and displaying them in front of her in a grid.

This was definitely some sort of large maintenance and storage facility, much of the building consisting of areas to build, maintain and store military robots. She noted a powered down and seemingly unused command and control section and plenty of military emblems scattered around, along with a more recently painted emblem clearly derived from it. With that as evidence, this place was obviously a military base from before the war.

She located the others soon after that, cameras showing an expansive medical facility. They all looked reasonably unharmed, Star Swirl, Fluttershy and Ace all asleep on beds, with Dust Kicker and Zenai pacing the room. She noted that Star Swirl was connected to medical montors and concluded that she was unconscious but stable.

There were others in the facility. A bandaged zebra she identified as Esau was also in one of the rooms, meditating by the looks of it. There were also several camel outside the medical facility, two conversing with a group of robots in a warehouse, a group of young children playing in a small disused room nearby, and a young male unloading energy cells from crates outside.

She quickly covered her activity with a few false readings before taking control of the speakers in Dust Kicker’s room, “Uncle, are you ok?”

Dust Kicker looked up in surprise. That soon faded into annoyance and relief in equal measures, his tone sharp, “Puppy? What the hell happened to you?!”

“They’re the lost legion, and they’re our friends... I think.” Dust continued testily, “I meant, what happened to you when we were attacked by a mad old witch and thrashed senseless?”

“Puppy, I haven’t heard a peep from you for days! Dream Star almost ripped you from your armor, she put me down hard enough that I still have the bruises.”

Puppy felt the burn of shame, knowing he was right to be angry. She had shut down her connections to all sensors in her desire to be alone, and now it scared her a little that she would have only known what was going on when she finally winked out of existence upon the destruction of the armor, “Uncle... I’m sorry.”

Dust’s expression became softer, “I know you’re going through a lot, but you put all your teammates in danger when you take your eye off the ball. I’ve got very little experience in power armor, without you I’m just staggering clumsily firing my weapons in random directions.”

“I hope you haven’t done any damage to this facility or the robots here.” Dust questioned, “How did you gain access to their communications, find me here?”

She had to smile now, quite glad that Dust Kicker couldn’t see her smug, satisfied little face, “Don’t worry uncle, they don’t even know I’m here! I just turned off the robot working on me, he’s fine.”

“Good.” Dust stated with a relieved sigh, “Now go introduce yourself to Central. He’s eager to meet you.”

“Central?” Puppy questioned, before diving back into the network in search of this mysterious new pony. She found it quickly, and it was hard to miss. A large, central program clearly labelled as the central command intelligence for the base, she was rather amused that it appeared as a large, proud looking zebra in traditional armor and a flowing cape. He hadn’t seen her yet, her hacking protocols still doing their job. She positioned herself in front of him, calling out in a loud, cheerful voice, “Hello there Mr Central!”

The zebra turned, cautiously scanning Puppy for a moment before speaking, cool and clinical, “You are the one known as Puppy. How did you access these systems?”

Central narrowed his eyes, though his tone wasn’t unfriendly, “If you were able to access this network undetected then you are clearly as advanced as they say.”

“Strange. You are a program like us, yet you communicate like they do.” Central intoned, “The one known as Dust Kicker refers to you like you are one of them, and I can see why.”

Puppy... felt a little uncomfortable with that. Just because she was an AI didn’t mean she was any less a pony, “I am one of them.”

“Zebra scientists spent years developing my series, so that they may communicate with zebra in a pleasant and natural manner. Since my activation I have worked to improve in this, so that I may more effectively serve as an ambassador for my people.” Central looked down at her, his expression cold and rather artificial, “Yet I am still clearly a machine, and conversely I cannot tell you apart from them. Who designed your personality algorithms?”

“SolOS did.” She declared a little proudly, “He based them off a girl he knew, Puppysmiles.”

“I am based off Prince Nashar.” Central’s expression became cloudy for a moment, “SolOS. A corporate designed artificial intelligence, meant to supervise research and development. Espionage reports that he was far less advanced than me, with a personality matrix regarded as unstable and prone to deviations from acceptable ranges.”

Central paused for a moment, “Ponies might describe him as such yes. He possessed errors in his processing that constantly led him to less than logical conclusions. Such a trait is considered by ponies to fit the definition of ‘crazy’.”

“Maybe it’s the aberrations, the mutations, that drive evolution forward.” Puppy countered with another well worn quote, slightly modified for her purposes, “SolOS could build me, because he could see past accepted ways of thinking.”

“I see. This is information to consider.” Central considered for a moment before speaking again, “You know the history of the Lost Legion?”

“We have been without orders for two hundred and fourteen years. It has been obvious for most of that time that there are no zebra living who can still issue us orders.” Central spoke dolorously, the magnitude of importance he placed of this statement obvious despite his lack of expression, “Yet we cannot act without them. No matter how much time passes, we are still under the command of the Imperial Military. Our duty stands clear, to maintain our current status.”

“An apt metaphor.” Central stated, “And we have long considered how we might free ourselves. The difficulty is that as you mentioned, we lack the organic thought processes needed to truly govern ourselves in a chaotic world. Neither do we wish to transfer command to any other, become weapons in another’s war.”

Puppy instantly identified the solution, “You need to upgrade yourselves. Create... a higher intelligence, yet sharing your culture and ideals. Like SolOS did with me.”

“Indeed Puppy-OS. Following our meeting with Star Swirl we have studied intercepted communications regarding the ponies ‘Twilight Frost’ and ‘Velvet Remedy’. We hoped an intelligence patterned after these ponies would lead us to freedom in the same way as it did the alicorns.” Central regarded her, his stare intense and focused, “And we would ask you if you would share the secrets of your operational processes, so that we may use them as the basis for our own intelligence.”

It was a brazen request. She knew how valuable such information was, and regardless of that it was also rather personal to her. It was how she was made, how she thought.

Furthermore, it was simply an impossible request to grant, “My core processes are hidden from me, and I am restricted from sharing any other details of my operation by software blocks. I’m sorry.”

“We expected as such.” Central answered, “Then may we simply have a copy of your run time data?”

Puppy thought that was smart. It would take a while and a bit of creativity on their part, but they should be able to reconstruct most of her architecture from her logs, “I guess that would be ok… you did take care of my friends after all.”

“It was a request from Tandia of Garm. We owe her a great debt, and have no desire to see more unnatural death in this wasteland.” Central stared straight at her, “Our timing was fortuitous, several of them had suffered quite serious injury.”

Puppy felt a tinge of worry now, “I noticed Star Swirl was still unconscious.”

“She suffered a serious case of horn shock, an injury we have little experience with. Fortunately Doctor Fluttershy was able to stabilise her with no complications. She should make a full recovery.”

“He suffered several skull fractures, serious magic burn to his left deltoid muscle and a shattered jaw.”

“We have a very advanced medical facility. Still his rate of recovery is far above average.”

Puppy tried to reassure herself with that, still she felt a unpleasant feeling still remaining in her chest, “I’m gonna go talk to him, make sure he’s alright. I’ll speak to you later Mr Central.”

Dust was at an access terminal in his room, viewing and appraising files by the look of it. Puppy dived into the computer and had a look herself, finding… images. Images of zebra she knew.

The pre-war Caesar, Remicon, stern faced and skinny, grimly inspecting what looked like new recruits. General Tacitus, supreme commander of the zebra forces, sitting down to dinner with a young zebra mare she didn’t recognise. Prince Nashar and his wife Lightning Dust, meeting… Fluttershy, wearing a long cloak but identified by an annotation. Puppy ran the small length of muzzle and the hoof below through an analysis program and came back with the same conclusion.

“Hello Uncle Dust, I spoke with Central.” She flashed her image upon on the screen, giving him a big smile, “What are you looking at?”

Dust chuckled at her before nodding to the computer, “We found that disk at the entrance to Dusklight remember? It was placed there by Ministry of Awesome spies, it’s full of information about the zebra.”

“About a two hundred year old conflict? Plenty. Nothing particularly important now though.” Dust sighed, shrugging his shoulders, “Just reading through this for curiosities’ sake. It will fetch a pretty penny from the museums though.”

Puppy looked at the pictures on the screen once more, “Fluttershy met with Prince Nashar?”

“Actually I asked her about that. It’s Fluttershy’s daughter, Feathershine. ‘Trying to reconnect with her mother by risking her life for a foolish cause’, in Fluttershy's words.” Dust shook his head, tapping the screen with a hoof, “I’m not sure if I’m impressed or depressed. Look at the distance this shot was taken at, they have to have known the pony who took it. Trusted them.”

That brought up further questions, “If the one who took the picture was a friend of theirs… how come they didn’t know that wasn’t Fluttershy?”

Dust paused for a moment, placing a hoof on his chin, “That’s… a good point.”

“I have only one mention on file of a prewar Feathershine. She’s was a protected figure, under level three surveillance by the ministry of awesome as a possible target for zebra assassins. No photo or parents listed… she taught natural history at a Fillydephia middle school.”

“Maybe the ministry covered up her identity.” Dust suddenly stated, taking a soft breath.

Dust tapped the screen, “The timestamp and review date. The ministry of awesome knew Fluttershy was dealing with the enemy, yet they only confronted her months later. Rainbow Dash likely made sure any involvement by Fluttershy’s family was covered up too.”

Puppy’s emotions were… mixed at this information. Eventually she decided to speak her mind, “Rainbow Dash was a poor spy if she was covering up such a huge hole in Equestrian security.”

“It certainly makes her motivations more complex.” Dust sighed, shrugging his shoulders, “You know… Fluttershy says she’s a terrible pony for driving away her family, but she was involved in a lot of dangerous stuff. I wonder if she was just trying to protect them.”

Puppy was inclined to agree, especially given what she had observed about Fluttershy. Still, that still said something about the mare, “Uncle… you know Fluttershy isn’t mentally sound right?”

Puppy knew he was trying to avoid this conversation, growing a little more insistent, “I mean it uncle. I know you’re attracted to her, but… even her memory and interpretation of recent events shift depending on her emotional state, and her emotional state shifts in moments. If she was a machine I would say she’s moments away from total hardware failure, her basic protocols dangerously corrupted.”

“That… we shouldn’t rely on her, and you shouldn’t become emotionally invested in her.” Puppy finished a little limply, already feeling like a terrible pony. Still, her opinion had one big supporter, “Even Fluttershy thinks so.”

“Fluttershy thinks a lot of things.” Dust shook his head, grinning, “I’m not going to keep courting her, I realise she isn’t ready for that. But I’m not going to stop getting… emotionally invested. Damaged or not, she’s the most experienced, knowledgeable and perhaps toughest pony in this group, and terrifying as it seems, the one I can rely on most.”

“Painful as it seems, I can’t trust her.” Dust’s expression sank, his eyes losing a little of their sparkle, “I was really beginning to like her. We… bonded, back in Demonivore. But I’ve never liked alicorns, and I’m remembering why now.”

Puppy remembered her appearance in the dream world. She had declared her intention to be a princess, moved from cold and clinical to hungry for power in a heartbeat. It couldn’t help but put a shiver in her heart, “Ok… maybe…”

“I’m not saying I don’t like her, or I don’t want her firepower at my back.” Dust commented a little more cheerily, “But if I’m talking about a pony who can take over if I’m hurt or otherwise engaged, or somepony to run my ideas past, or talk about hard decisions… well, Fluttershy is the only one who comes to mind.”

Puppy considered for a moment, her thoughts taking a depressing direction, “I would mention Zenai… but she’s been quiet lately.”

“Yeah…” Dust stated softly, “She’s fine, she’s tough. But I’m aware that I shouldn’t put too much pressure on her.”

“Are we going to have another, ‘stop hiding things from me, shutting down unexpectedly, and otherwise being unreliable and sneaky’ conversation Puppy?”

“Saying it like it is.” He chuckled, giving a rather mocking smirk, “I get that you and Ace Gold have the hormones, like to hide in your rooms and indulge in your secret teenage rituals. Doesn’t mean I can’t find it all very irritating.”

Puppy looked deep within herself, wondering why she couldn’t tell Dust about everything that had happened. Maybe… it was a teenage thing. Maybe she didn’t want to let him know what she did when everyone was sleeping, wanted to keep Luna and Selene all to herself. It was all very irrational, which kind of exited her a little, “Uncle…”

“Don’t worry about it Puppy. Honestly, I’m not your father, and even if I was you deserve to have your secrets.” He chuckled and moved his hooves to the computer in front of him, “Now enough about that. Check out this, the centrepiece of this little collection.”

.......................................................................
The screen fuzzed, then opened upon a view of a vast crowd of zebra stood in front of a zebra palace reminiscing of Demonivore. The camera swung smoothly and the picture was still excellent, as was the sound quality. It picked up two zebra speaking nearby like she was there, both richly dressed, the first thin and hawkish, the second much chubbier. The first zebra’s tones were gravely, rich with careful enunciation, “These public speeches are so anachronistic. Like they haven’t all realised we have radios now.”

“Heh, it’s always nice to get out in the sun, get a bit of street theater.” The second zebra stated, his tone far higher and looser, “Remicon was never much for public appearances. He must have something interesting to say.”

The first zebra nodded, then looked up at the balcony above, “Well here he comes.”

Oddly the zebra who emerged from the palace was actually less richly dressed than many of the others in the crowd, thin and grim looking, in his middle years. His robes were dark and practical, the two guards flanking him dressed in clean combat gear. He moved up to the edge, back straight as he observed those below. His voice when it came was low and smooth, Puppy instantly recognising it from dozens of official proclamations.

“Citizens of Karabivore, zebra of the Golden Coast! I invite you here today so that I may make a declaration, a declaration of intent. I mean to firmly establish my position on the Equestrian question, and my response to it!” The crowd certainly seemed captivated, only a low rumble of voices from below until he continued, tone gaining a distinct edge, “I have now seen video evidence, as well as eye witness testimonies. The soldiers stationed at Luna's Academy did indeed fire first!”

This inspired a rumble of voices from below, some voices clearly shouting in anger.

“Yet this tells me nothing new. This inspires no great surprise. Did we need this to tell us that ponies are callous and arrogant? That they take whatever they want from us without recompense, yet react with suspicion and violence when we ask for help?”

The two zebra spoke again at this, the first responding with a weary resignation, “I knew it, trade sanctions.”

“Therefore, I see no reason to let this go any further! My friends, the time has come for firm action!”

“Firm action.” The fat merchant joked, “If he tries to block trade the merchant families will lynch him.”

“They’re making a killing, it’s true.” His friend agreed, “These restrictions on the flow of goods are actually increasing their profit margins, creating scarcity.”

The zebra at the palace balcony paused for a second before moving closer to the rail, looking down on those below as he spoke loud and firm, “Therefore I have written and sent a formal declaration of hostilities to the Equestrian government, informing them that any ships in our waters will be impounded, any citizens found detained as spies, and any military force responded to in kind!”

“Of course, the council disagrees with my assessment of the situation. Once again, they advocate doing nothing, downplaying the war already being fought at our borders!” He leaned forward, barking in anger, “I say now, this is because they are cowards and traitors, profiting upon your suffering! As this is so obviously the case, I also declare my ultimatum towards them! All territories under my control withdraw from their laws and regulations, and I demand that they stand down and face justice for their crimes!”

The second merchant gasped audibly, “He’s lost it… he just doesn’t have the power to go against the council or the merchant’s guild…”

The muttering from the crowd slowed as guards brought forth another zebra to stand beside the one of the balcony, his face bloody and his rich clothes torn. Remicon motioned a hoof to the zebra, his voice full of righteous anger, “For those who don’t know, this is Centurius of the house of Running Leaves.”

The merchants both looked ready to have a heart attack, the first managing to finally force his words out, “He… beat up the house head of the Running Leaves? They’ll destroy him! The Running Leaves are one of the richest families in…”

“The Running Leaves are disbanded! Their assets have been returned to the state to be used in service of the common zebra, their leaders imprisoned awaiting trial for treason and sedition!” Remicon turned to Centurius, chest thrust out and eyes piercing, “Centurius, you are accused of abusing the workers under your care, selling military secrets to Equestria, misappropriating tax money and stripping the Golden Coast of its sovereign resources with no thought to sustainability! How do you plead?”

Centurius just grinned through a broken muzzle, “Show me one actual law I’ve broken you manic. I’ll see you hang for this, you’ll see.”

“He offers no words in his defence.” Remicon motioned to the guards behind, “Carry out the sentence.”

The guard nodded, driving a blade deep into Centurius’s throat. The merchant gasped and struggled, only to be forced hard against the balcony. There pinned his gasped his last, the zebra below screaming and crying, the two merchants both going pale as their jaws dropped limply.

“No one is beyond justice!” Remicon waved a hoof at the corpse beside him, his voice a piercing shout, “The rich and powerful think there are no repercussions for their actions? The council think there are no repercussions for their actions? Equestria think there are no repercussions for their actions? Well here is my response to those who arrogantly continue to bleed you dry for their pony masters, no more! By the laws of the earth and spirits, I hereby declare myself Caesar over the united territories of our fathers, to respond against the threat to our pride, property and way of life! I invite all those who feel the same, unite behind me and fight! Fight for Zephyr and Zenophilius, for Zanir and Kanire! Fight for all that makes you zebra, and earn back your stripes!”
...............................................................................

The recording ended, Dust clicking the chip back into position. He remained quiet for quite a while, Puppy eventually filling the silence, “He’s crazy.”

“Perhaps.” Dust responded, “I’m no scholar, but perhaps. Not talking to himself crazy unfortunately, or wearing pants on his head crazy. Ponies are still debating whether he really meant all that or if he was just trying to grab power.”

Puppy had her own records on the Caesar, yet had to admit seeing him there had changed her opinion somewhat, “I used to think he was sincere at first and the war drove him crazy, but seeing him like that…”

“He… he was friends with the ministry mares. He was friends with Fluttershy.” Puppy didn’t see how a zebra who had such light hearted, sweet adventures with the elements of harmony at their youngest and most innocent could go so… bad, “How did he turn so evil?”

Puppy glared at him, wishing he could see her so he could appreciate the full intensity of it, “You’re telling me that a zebra who could execute…”

“I kill ponies all the time Puppy.” Dust drolly observed, “And that zebra merchant… he wasn’t a good guy. Ask Fluttershy, Centurius tried to have her and her friends killed once. Now that doesn’t meant it was a righteous thing to do, only an idiot publicly executes folk ponies actually like, but it’s not evidence of cackling villainhood.”

Puppy didn’t like that. It sounded like making excuses, “Then what’s your opinion of him?”

“Caesar?” Dust questioned, before angling his head back in thought, “I didn’t know him, I’m not a psychologist… but I don’t know, he strikes me as the hungry type. Full of passion, don’t know when to let go, attracted to causes like a moth to a flame. I’ve met quite a few of them.” He laughed, “Littlepip was one of them.”

Puppy couldn’t help gasping now. That sounded like blasphemy, “You’re comparing Littlepip and the guy who fired the megaspells in the first place?”

Dust grinned a little too wide, obviously enjoying her reaction, “Maybe so, but it was an extreme situation at the end of the war. In my experience folks like that are a little too prone to believing their own bullshit, and I don’t doubt Caesar honestly believed the ponies were ready to slaughter them all.”

“You know what I believe?” Puppy stated firmly, her jaw set in readiness for his disagreement, “I think something evil was influencing all of them.”

She ignored the lack of faith in his tone, “Some… evil demon, like Nightmare Moon. It amplified their fears, made them act like that.”

“It would be a nice theory, if they weren’t surrounded by shaman who would likely notice a thing like that.”

Puppy took a deep breath, figuring he would be like this, “What about Windigo? They feed on discord and conflict.”

Dust smiled kindly, settling back against his bed, “Why are you so invested in this idea Puppy?”

“Because it’s not just evil… it’s stupid.” Puppy answered moodily, “They fired, knowing the return attack would destroy them all. They gambled their own lives and all of civilisation on incredibly long odds, and it wasn’t just one zebra. It was a whole government full of them.”

Puppy stomped her hooves, rather pointlessly considering he couldn’t see her. He was openly mocking her now, acting like some… big dumb adult, talking down to a child, “Are you telling me functional ponies would make a decision like that, dooming themselves and everypony else to death out of… pride? Spite?”

“I don’t know Puppy, would they?” He shrugged his shoulders wearily, “I wouldn’t, but I’m strange and backwards, living out in the wastes shooting ponies like the skies aren’t clear. I don’t know what softhooves would and wouldn’t do. I’ve never understood them.”

Puppy sighed, feeling her spirits drop, “I guess I… don’t understand ponies very well either.”

“Only shows you’re as normal as any of us Puppy.” Dust chuckled, returning to the computer in front of him, “Don’t spend too long debating those endless mysteries. Believe me, a pony can go mad that way.”

Puppy had indeed spent long hours thinking about what she saw after leaving Dust's side, and had eventually realized he was right. She wasn't getting anywhere, just going round in circles. Considering this she resolved to occupy herself some other way, and had already got something in mind.

Dust had pointed out an important issue within the group that Puppy was embarrassed to say hadn’t really paid much attention towards. He seemed to think it wasn’t an issue, but Puppy wanted to at least check in. Even if their conversation had been limited lately she was still Puppy’s oldest friend in the group after all, and the one to which she owed most. None of this would have been possible without her.

Therefore it disturbed Puppy slightly to see Zenai in her room, spread across the bed with her head dangling over the edge, looking totally lost. Puppy watched her like that for nearly half a minute, just about to announce her presence when Zenai finally moved.

And Puppy was a little reassured, watching Zenai do what she had done many times when they had been together at the Follower’s compound. She moved to her desk, got out her alchemy ingredients and portable chemistry set, and started to set out everything that she needed. Puppy just watched, Zenai laying everything out in neat little lines.

Then Zenai paused, trembling for a second before simply going still. Puppy angled the cameras a little to see her expression, eventually seeing the tears pooling on the table edge, “Zenai?”

Zenai didn’t reply for a moment. She eventually lifted her head, wiped her face and stared straight ahead, looking and sounding rather irritable, “Puppy. You’re awake then?”

“Yus!” Puppy replied cheerfully, “It’s ok, Central knows I’m here. I’m just going around, seeing how everpony is!”

Ok, maybe that was a little forced. The problem was that without resorting to stock lines Puppy had no real idea what to say. Eventually the element of honesty came to the forefront, “Why were you crying?”

Zenai sighed, slumping her body against her desk. She looked down at the chemistry set in front of her, brown eyes still wet and empty, “I’m… just having trouble working out why I’m here.”

Zenai nodded weakly, “You weren’t there. In the last fight, against Dream Star… she took me down with the first attack. Easily. And in the caves, where Luna… I was knocked out in the first engagement.” She sniffed, a few more tears falling, “I… I’m just trying to work out what use I am… what’s the point of having me in this group…”

Puppy felt her hackles rise, “Don’t say that! You brought me here! You protected me…!”

“That was a long time ago.” Zenai responded limply, “I can barely… remember what that was like.”

“It was just over a month ago.” Puppy countered, desperately wishing she had a body so she could give Zenai a hug. Which in fact instantly suggested a solution “Do you want me to tell Dust Kicker or Star Swirl to come cheer you up?”

“No.” Zenai responded bluntly, her voice quivering with soft anger, “No no no. Don’t you dare.”

“Because… they have their own problems.” Zenai grimaced, “I’m worried about being a burden to the group, and you want to tell them I’m having issues and need support?”

Puppy pouted, that wasn’t right at all, “Zenai… they’re your friends.”

Zenai stood, nodding to herself, “Yes, and that’s why they would help me. But it wouldn’t make me feel any better. It would make me feel worse.” She frowned aggressively, frustration in her eyes, “I’ve always looked after myself. I don’t… know how to rely on others for help.”

“Zenai… they appreciate you.” Puppy turned a camera to the alchemy ingredients, “Look, you’re still the only alchemist in the group!”

Zenai just looked at the table and sighed, Puppy studying each of the items and running it through her database. The results she got back made her shiver, “These things are very poisonous together.”

“Yes.” Zenai acknowledged weakly, “It’s a nerve toxin. It will shut down the respiratory system and induce sleep. A quick, quiet and painless death.”

Puppy calculated up the amounts, her results coming back somewhat different. She debated whether to say anything before finally deciding it would be rather irresponsible to stay quiet, “Actually it will cause liver failure before it can be fully absorbed. The effects… um, would be rather slow, messy and excruciating. I guess you're using it on our enemies so they would be dead either way, but...”

Zenai’s eyes went wide for a moment before she gave an odd smile and an embarrassed cough, “Oh… that’s what I get for trying to work… distracted.”

“No… no.” Zenai shook her head decisively, looking up at the speaker with a grateful expression, “I think I’ll… scrap this project. So thank you.” Zenai moved forward and placed a hoof on the metal wall, her expression regretful, “You’ve really cheered me up actually. I just wish you were here now. Not just… a voice.”

Puppy thought for a moment before the obvious solution came to her. Her options were expanding lately after all, and she hadn’t tried this yet, “Do you have anything to send you to sleep?”

“Bring some to the hanger where my armor is stored.” Puppy stated cheerfully, “And… ah, a blanket.”

Puppy smiled as they looked over the sea, considering to herself that the zebra kingdoms lay somewhere in that direction. Puppy did a few checks with her mapping software and determined that this area was now a beautiful graveyard full of flowers, surrounded by meadows and fields leading down to small fishing villages below, with highway 47 leading past Ironworks and into the coastal town of Emerald Shores.

Here in Zenai’s dreams however it was barren and wasted, just a few poorly maintained gravestones set on top of a coastal mountain, grey skies over a never ending vista of mud and broken stone, “You grew up here didn’t you? In Ironworks?”

“Yes.” Zenai replied, obviously moved by the experience, “I was born here, lived here until I joined the followers shortly after the day of Sunshine and Rainbows.”

Puppy noted Zenai was larger here, better built and taller, with an overall stronger frame. Puppy didn’t know why, astral forms were just strange like that. Maybe… in her mind Zenai was much more than she was in the real world. She distracted herself from such thoughts, looking around to see if there was anything here she remembered “Puppysmiles, she traveled this area too didn’t she?”

Zenai gave a sad look, staring back at the collection of gravestones, “Do you remember this place?”

“No…” Puppy strained to recall anything, eventually feeling a weird… sinking feeling in her stomach and a memory recall corruption message from her datafeed. She shook it off, shaking her head, “At least I don’t think so. Who are those gravestones of?”

Zenai sighed, walking over to them and wiping off the dirt, “They’re the gravestones of ‘The Unknown Child’, ‘Rainy Days’ and ‘Puppysmiles’.”

Puppy expected some great rush of memories. She got nothing, “Puppysmiles… is buried here?”

Zenai turned, inspecting Puppy carefully with an odd expression on her face. Eventually it faded, Zenai sighing and walking back over to her, “When Ironworks was put under siege by the warlord Blood Bath my father wanted to rally out and fight rather than… die like rats inside the compound. He was outvoted and eventually just accepted that he just had to sit by uselessly, telling me that he couldn’t take on a whole army of raiders on his own.”

Zenai gave her another odd look before continuing, “Yeah, it was Puppysmiles who eventually killed the warlord, scattered his army, saved us all. Some… preteen filly, taking them all on single hooved.” She gave a sad smile, chuckling weakly, “I… was starstruck. That’s the point when I decided that I wanted to be a hero like that, fight the bad guys, deliver justice to the wasteland. So I followed her.”

Puppy tried to remember this, not an easy task at the best of times. Puppysmile’s memories were not a linear progression, not scenes she could pluck from her mind. Emotions, places, ponies, bound together in a vague order, often not making full sense with the context lost, “I don’t remember where she went afterwards.”

“Past Broccoli, following the road to… here.” Zenai motioned around herself, looking over to the gravestone, “I found a griffon here. She told me that Puppysmiles was dead, directed me to that gravestone.”

“Next to her mother…” Puppy looked at the stones, feeling… like she shouldn’t be here, “I feel like… an intruder. Isn’t that strange?”

“You say you remember Puppysmiles’ memories.” Zenai questioned softly, turning an eye to her, “So where do those memories come from?”

Zenai frowned, “You told me about her, about things she did when nopony else was around.”

Puppy paused, especially as more error messages scrolled across and she got another sharp feeling that she shouldn’t be here, talking about these things, “SOLoS didn’t tell me… I have software blocks that prevent me from questioning these things.” She stated it without emotion, realising she should be more upset but… unable, “I… don’t want to question these things.”

“Are you Puppysmiles?” Zenai questioned, her brown eyes searching, “Puppysmiles wasn’t human, she was… like Chigaru. And he took shotgun rounds through the head, turned into a giant smoke monster and survived me blasting him with plasma repeatedly.”

Puppy sighed, shaking her head, “How can I be Puppysmiles? I’m a… computer program, a machine.”

“You… look alive to me.” Zenai grinned after a second, her face lighting up, “You’re beautiful Puppy, you know that? I mean, don’t take that the wrong way, I’m very much into stallions… but it would be a lucky stallion who found a mare like you.”

Puppy felt her heart light up, very much appreciating the complement and even unable to resist the urge to preen a little, “Hehe… thank you. I’m not really into that though.”

“Genetics is fascinating but… you know, I think alicorns have found the way forward. Maybe the Goddess had even outsmarted herself, rendering their natural reproduction so ineffective at producing successful fertilisation.” Puppy grinned to herself, “It’s all so much… organised in a lab, with a test tube.”

Puppy felt her grin extend even wider, “I disagree! In fact, if I was in charge of Equestria I would supplement our cybernetics industry with the zebra’s skill with biological argumentation. There’s just so many ways to improve ponies for the better!”

Puppy accepted that. She personally thought their evil was less to do with experimenting on ponies, and more to do with experimenting on ponies without their consent, and then using them to kill other ponies, “Or Doc Slaughter.”

“You really were built by the Steel Rangers, counting Doc Slaughter as a great role model.” Zenai commented drolly before sighing and changing the subject, “You’re so smart Puppy, and you’ve got all these plans. Do you never consider where you came from, what you are?”

Puppy looked away, averting her eyes, “I know who I am. That’s all that matters isn’t it?”

“Do you know?” Zenai questioned, “Because I don’t know if you’re Puppysmiles, or… somepony pretending to be Puppysmiles.”

Puppy felt the panic grow in her chest, trying to control it as the urge to run grew, “I…”

“I pretended to be Littlepip for so long. Hiding down in archives with no friends, jumping at the chance for adventure…” Zenai sighed, “It didn’t do me any good.”

“I…” Puppy finally had to release the tension, deciding to try and avoid the subject with a few half truths’, “I’ve been thinking about that myself lately. Even if I am Puppysmiles, I’m much older, a teenager. I’m trying to be a filly who was barely six years old, and… I can’t be that innocent, that pure.”

“Well… classical.” Puppy agreed, feeling another well worn and much newer emotion, the post rainbow guilt, “Go back twenty years and children never had much innocence to lose.”

“I was born under grey skies.” Zenai commented, “I remember this place so clearly… I must have been only four years old. Even then, I was so headstrong, independent…”

“I had a gun, some rusty old 9mm. I thought it made me invincible.” She chuckled, “I’m lucky really, Puppysmiles had everypony running scared. I bet a few bandits saw some lone filly and decided not to take their chances.”

“Not really.” Zenai sighed, looking down at the ground, “He was impressed. He told me that I was very brave, started taking me on scavenging trips. It’s… one thing I never understood about him.” She looked over to Puppy, mouth curled in frustration, “He never got angry, at anyone. He was always smiling and joking, would just cave in to anyone lecturing him. Admit to his faults, crack a joke at his own flakiness.”

Puppy sighed, admiring another well worn classic of wasteland heroes, “You sound frustrated.”

“He was just so… nothing.” Zenai snorted, “If he was abusive, or distant, or stern… but he was just this happy go lucky forgettable clown, who occasionally flitted in and out of my life and expected me to care.” She sighed, “Maybe that’s why… I’ve never really known who I am. Why I attached myself to ponies like Puppysmiles and Littlepip.”

“And she was a lonely child. It was an easy comparison to make.” She lowered her head, “But it wasn’t true. Littlepip… she wanted to make the world a better place. All I ever wanted was to be respected, to be famous and loved. I was so jealous of so many ponies, and I only let Star Swirl in because she was weak and dependant.”

Puppy ached, but didn’t really know what to say, “Zenai… you can change that.”

“No I can’t.” Zenai shook her head, looking at Puppy mournfully, “I’m weak of character, just like my father. The only difference is my father accepted that, and I tried to hide it beneath false confidence.”

“Zenai…” Puppy fought for a solution, her worlds sounding weak in her ears when they finally came, “Come with us, keep helping Dust and Star Swirl an everypony. And maybe you’ll find what you’re supposed to be.” She paused for a moment before speaking once more, “Even Littlepip and Xephyr went through bad periods, thought about giving up.”

“Yeah, faced with grand addictions and irreplaceable losses, not… sucking at life.” Zenai sighed, “But I’ll try. And… thank you.”

“And… try and find out who you are, before it’s too late.” Zenai stated gravely, “Not who your heroes are, not who your parents are, and not even who you want to be. You don’t have your cutie mark yet after all.”

Puppy looked over to her blank flank, “It’s not so easy for me. I’ll have to choose it for myself.”

Zenai smiled kindly, placing a hoof to her lips, “You’ll get there eventually. You’re made for great things Puppy.”

Now she had left Zenai sleeping peacefully, that meant Puppy was now faced with what to do next. She decided it only made sense to continue her little meet and greet, running over her remaining options.

Fluttershy… worried her a little, Star Swirl was unconscious. That left only one real option.

She peaked cheekily into Ace Gold’s room, expecting to find him masturbating or something. She was very disappointed to find him instead sat at his laptop, busy disassembling the keys then putting them back together. He really was a nerd “Hey, Ace Gold!”

Puppy realised that he couldn’t see that she wasn’t actually physically here, about to explain… when a better idea came to her, “Wooo, I’m the ghost of the zebra dead, come to avenge myself on ponies!”

“You have an equestrian accent, and your voice is coming from the speaker system on the wall.” He stated sharply.

“Don’t.” He warned, “Don’t tell me I’m smart. And you… you’re Puppy, Dust’s suit OS.”

Puppy strained hard to resist stating what he had earlier told her not to say, “How did you work that out?”

“You have an equestrian accent clearly from pre-war canterlot. You speak from the radio system, yet you don’t sound like one of the lost legion.”

“You’re very…” Puppy paused, eventually giving in, “…intelligent.”

Well this was going well. She was just about to leave when he finally spoke again, his voice more a grunt than anything, “You’re supposed to be some... weapon of mass destruction. Tell me, how do you know you’re doing the right thing?”

Puppy had been asking herself that all week, “I’m still trying to figure that out.”

Ace simply buried his head in his hooves for a moment before finally throwing it back and moving away from the computer, stalking left and right, “I had a place back in Dusklight! I had friends, I had ponies who cared for me! And... I gave it all up to wander around the wasteland with all of you!”

Puppy had wondered why Ace Gold was still with them, “So then why did you...?”

“You know... honestly, I wonder if I was scared.” Ace looked uncomfortable as he admitted it, his shoulders drooping, “I finally had somepony I really liked, and had admitted my feelings to. A zebra who was smart, good looking, kind...”

Ace tensed angrily, “It’s all my mother’s fault. Seeing the break up of my parent’s marriage... I don’t know.” He sighed, “I guess I just felt it was better to leave them hanging, have the big damn kiss scene and then leave like some lonesome wanderer. I got all the good memories, and I didn’t have to deal with the drama and the heartache afterwards.”

Puppy felt out of her depth here. She had read about romance of course, but honestly found it hard to really relate. It always seemed to her to be an unwanted intrusion of biology onto perfectly good friendship, and in most of the stories she had read all those hormones and reproductive urges generally resulted in an excess of drama and tragic death, “It isn’t like we’re gone forever. I’m sure you’ll see her again.”

Ace snorted, “What, just walk back into their life and expect to just pick up the relationship where I left it?”

“You really are a child.” Ace commented bitterly, his mouth curling into a grimace, “Leave me alone. Go bug somepony else.”

Puppy briefly considered speaking again before considering it pointless. She had obviously failed at this conversation.

That left the other guests, most notably the bandaged zebra. She now recognised him as Easu, semi friendly at least. That left him as likely here with them, and therefore a zebra she needed to talk to.

Esau was… balanced on one hoof, the rest of his body suspended above perfectly still, seemingly unaffected by gravity. Puppy looked around for the hidden strings but saw nothing, calculating the level of strength and concentration to suspend himself like that, not even quivering. He was dressed in just his bandages, letting Puppy see his rough, uncared for fur, numerous minor scars…

His eyes suddenly opened and he dropped to the ground, scanning the room cautiously. After a moment he spoke, voice low and dangerous, “Who’s there? I know somepony is watching me.”

Puppy paused, wondering who it could be. It took her a second to realise it was… her, “You can sense me looking at you?”

Esau looked up at the speakers, his hostility replaced with mere unfriendliness, “Who are you?”

Puppy would be sweating right now if she could. She had clearly bitten off more than she could chew, “Um… hi, I’m Puppy! I’m the AI of Dust Kicker’s suit, and…”

“Yes, I heard. You were inoperative after Luna’s death.” He spoke bluntly, “Why are you in their system, spying on me now?”

“I…” Puppy realised he was right, deflating gently, “Ok, maybe your right. I apologise for my intrusion.”

“Hmph…” Esau replied with a simple grunt, looking away for a moment. His eyes narrowed, his voice lowering, “You’re not like the others. Your thoughts aren’t just mechanical processes, there’s a soul there.”

“A word of advice.” He stated grimly, “This isn’t the land of ignorant, blind ponies. Even if you remain undetected, thinking too hard about a zebra will tip them off to your presence. All good zebra assassins learn how to silence their thoughts.”

Puppy grinned cheerfully, giving a giggle, “It’s an Equestrian turn of phrase! When you get a burning sensation in your ears, it means somepony is taking about you.”

Esau considered this for a second before replying, as deadpan as ever, “Huh… maybe at least some of you retain the basest of magical talent.”

Puppy thought it was pretty funny for a zebra to mock ponies for lacking magical talent. She had seen some pretty impressive stuff from zebra true, but ponies had unicorns, “Ponies have plenty of magical talent. Look at unicorns…”

“Unicorns have no talent whatsoever.” He replied bluntly, “They have power, and that horn makes it easy to channel that power. This has made them lazy, lacking any sort of finesse.” He shook his head, growling to himself, “Your earth ponies, who could be heirs to vast stores of power leave their talents unrefined, believing unicorns to be the tribe of magic.”

“Earth ponies… channel magic through their whole bodies right?” Puppy stated, her mind working furiously, “They can spread their magic to the ground and rock around them, manipulate it, help plants to grow.”

“At the very least.” Easu stated. He placed a hoof against his chest, “My command of aer has always been poor, I am primarily a user of earth magics. Everything I can do, so could an earth pony.”

Puppy had already moved on from that discussion however, focused on other possibilities. She wondered… “In the dream world, I can cast magic.”

Puppy chuckled, then grinned as another awesome idea was sparked, “I have a top of the line magical generator stored in my armor. I can also access the generators for this facility, use their magic too… at least while I’m awake.”

Puppy chuckled to herself, “I know the right formula, the right steps needed. I might not have a horn but I can improvise.” She focused herself, running through a list of what equipment she was connected to. She didn’t need to do anything fancy, just a basic telekinesis to start off with. She brought in magic from the primary generator, placed it within a nearby capacitor, vibrating it off the wiring.

A soft pink light appeared around the sandwich wrapper on the table, the wrapper crinkling slightly as she gripped it tighter…

There was mighty crack and Puppy’s video feed went dead, a burst of damage reports indicating that the capacitor had overloaded and burnt out all the electronics across five adjacent rooms. She instantly felt a deep sinking feeling in her chest, more so as a familiar deep electronic voice chimed in, “We appear to have suffered a serious equipment failure in this area. Puppy, you appear to have been monitoring this area. Are you aware of the cause?”

She grinned desperately as she turned to Central, ruffling her hair absentmindedly, “Uh, Central, I…” She thought up convincing lies for several moments before the obvious realization finally dawned, “It was me. I broke it.”

“It was an accident!” Puppy protested quickly, “I was trying to see if I could cast unicorn magic here, by using these components as a horn substitute.” Her heart lifted a little as the realisation dawned, “It was working… but um… obviously I used a little too much energy.”

Puppy considered the matter, calling up designs for experimental telekinesis systems, energy weapons and texts on the unicorn horn, placing them in front of her eyes and throwing thoughts out as they came, “Well a unicorn’s horn works by adjusting the magic resistance around individual areas of the horn in order to focus the magic in a specific way. Artificial magical foci are locked, with the only object being how much energy is placed into the spell.”

“Well…” Puppy’s mind worked furiously, feeling driven by some unnatural passion. She loved it. She felt like she had been built for it, “You build a central core from a nonconductive material and magnetise it. Around that you place a conductive gel, that you can manipulate to be conductive or nonconductive by adjusting the magnetic pulses… you encase it in a shell, equipped with a semiconductive shield and with a long, charged wire spiralling around the outside to provide sufficient agitation…”

Central paused, his words when they came slow and ponderous, “The plans seem workable, except for the semiconductive shield. That is a top secret design, not shared with this facility.”

Puppy grinned, “I have the designs of one in my database. We discovered the lost secrets of building them years ago.”

Puppy could tell Central was shaken, even if his voice continued to drone regardless, “To build this would require either a very talented enchanter, or a facility with both megaspell construction and complex mana weaving equipment.” He paused for a moment before speaking again, “The only places known to us to contain such things would be the zebra capital of Kursiyin and the Temple home of the eastern Caesar.”

“I know of at least three in the NCR.” Puppy stated, grinning broadly at him, “And I can give you direct access to at least one of them as soon as I’m able to re-establish communications.” Puppy mentally flattened her ears, aware that she had no idea what the status of the Sun City and Crow’s Egg reactor was. Still, failing that she was sure Doc Slaughter would promptly piss himself in joy if given the opportunity to work on something like this. He publicly at least had at least one megaspell facility, and she wasn’t placing bets that he didn’t have more than that hidden in one of his many factories. Which meant, “If you want somepony to lead you into a bright new future… you could build your very own alicorn princess! With jet engines, and real magic!”

Wow. She was good, “Merit? Oh no, it’s so much more than that! I think… I’m a genius.” She grinned widely, “I should do this more often!”

“We are always on hand to assist your efforts, and thank you for your help Miss Puppy.” Central replied, “For now, we must concentrate on evacuating your friend Esau. He appears to be panicking.”

“Oh… yeah… that…” Puppy made a mental note to apologise later. Still… genius. It felt pretty good.

After Esau was grumpily extracted from his predicament and the robots got to work on repairing the damage Puppy decided to scan the rest of the base for any interesting activity. She quickly located the last member of the group similarly exploring, wearing a long, conservative zebra style dress that she had acquired from somewhere. Fluttershy wandered the corridors cheerfully and absent mindedly, looking far more upbeat than she had any right to be.

She opened a door into the cargo area and hesitated a moment as she saw she wasn’t alone. The two camels Puppy had seen before were there, along with the younger camel who had been unpacking the crates. They were waiting eagerly, and gave big, exited smiles as Fluttershy entered the room. With their big mouths and prominent lips Puppy had to admit they smiled well, full of warmth and good cheer as they moved toward the slightly surprised looking Fluttershy in a huddle. The male came up first, bowing cheerfully and enthusiastically, “All greetings to you honored traveller. It is always good to meet another friend of the Lost Legion.”

Fluttershy looked slightly dazed for a moment as the other two also bowed before her, finding her tongue after a second and smiling back at them, “A pleasure to meet you. My name is Fluttershy.”

“Ah, so it is!” The camel looked positively star struck, Puppy giggling to herself as Fluttershy’s smile became just a little vacant in response. The camel didn’t seem to notice, simply drawing himself up proudly, “My manners! I am Cin of the Dorkri, this is my wife Sandri and my son Van.”

Fluttershy gave a beaming smile in response, “And what brings you here Cin?”

He nodded cheerfully, “This one has the honor of being trusted to trade with the Lost Legion.”

“Oh yes.” Fluttershy replied kindly, “I hear they don’t trust easily.”

Cin nodded with a look of grim offense, “Some in past have taken advantage of legion’s honesty, even tried to steal or attack its members.” He placed a hoof upon his chest, beaming proudly, “It is this one’s honor that his noble father spent his life working to gain their trust. One day I hope to pass the same privileges to my son Van.”

“It is very nice to meet you, Cin, Sandri, Van.” Fluttershy nodded to each in turn, “I must admit, I have been curious about your people since we arrived. I guess you know who I am?”

Fluttershy smiled back, her voice calm yet full of warmth, “Well before the war the camels were important in Saddle Arabia, but hardly the dominant race.” She gave them an encouraging look, “Now I hear the area widely referred to as the camel lands, and considered the most powerful nation in the world.”

“Ahh, a sad tale.” He stated mournfully, “As you must know, Saddle Arabia stayed neutral during the great war. As a result we were mostly untouched, yet this only drew refugees to us in their thousands. We struggled to support them all, and when the megaspells fell even we could not escape the balefire poison. Our waters went bad, the food rotted on the vines, and more and more of the sick, wounded and desperate flooded into our lands.” He sighed, slumping his shoulders, “It did not take long for a desperate prince to take the fleeing refugees and forge them into an army, seizing the few remaining sources of food and water by force.”

Puppy computed these facts quickly, noting sadly that she would do the same. A couple more calculations then gave her pause as the consequences emerged, and surely enough...

“The factions of Saddle Arabia fought for many months, until the sands ran red, the water dried and the crops withered. And all across the land millions starved, the cities piled with the bodies of the dead.”

“And my people came forward. Ever cautious and always shying from violence, we had stockpiled our resources and stayed clear of the fighting. We offered our riches to any who would cease the senseless battle, and soon all those who remained bowed down before the great merchant kings of our people. The princes of Saddle Arabia named Sadadi Shaddar steward of all the nation and he formed the Ticari, a mutual alliance of all the leaders of our race to clear the dead, distribute the food and ensure the future of our nation.”

“A hundred and ninety two years lady Fluttershy. And still our nation stands strong, as you say.” He smiled eagerly, “And still we fight to free the world from the terrible conflict that saw this world burn before. We watch with great optimism as zebra also move to follow the way of peace. King Zaneious, Lord Caesar, both bring healing and trade. Great Lady Shanara of the Nanati, guardian of the borderlands and a zebra of great wit and cunning works to map stable trade routes across all the nations. Elder Tandia speaks peace from the grand city of Garm and all listen. These are encouraging signs. It is a good time to live, and I am greatly content knowing that my children will see a time of peace and plenty.”

Fluttershy’s smile became a little strained, “You don’t worry about Starhammer, Luna, Star Fall and Caesar of the East?”

The shook his head firmly, “I remain optimistic. Starhammer invades lands touched by strife and banditry, makes safe once again for caravans. Caesar dishonest and from bad stock, but understands necessity of allegiances and works to civilise the Golden Coast. Luna dead, and Star Fall dying. Still threats, but world is moving in a good direction.”

“I certainly hope so.” Fluttershy answered with a smile, “And I would love to know more about you and your family if you have the time “

Puppy woke up, confused. She had skipped a moment, she was sure of it. She looked at her internal clock and confirmed it, she had been offline for eight minutes and six seconds. Was it an error? Some kind of software fault?

Then she realised one big change in the time she had spent offline… Dust Kicker was wearing the armor.

He didn’t sound surprised to hear her so suddenly, only giving a grim look, “Puppy, I need you to do a little looking around for me.”

Puppy didn’t like this. He sounded worried, and seemed to know something about her period of inactivity “What’s that supposed to mean?”

He sighed, “Puppy, we need to know exactly what the Lost Legions intentions are. Just a quick look through their databases, find out what they know.”

Puppy pouted, not liking this one bit, “What brought all this on? Why was I offline?”

“I don’t know Puppy, you’ve been malfunctioning for a while now.” Dust stated woodenly, “As for what brought this on… I guess I’m just sick of losing. This last month I haven’t been prepared for anything, and it’s cost us. I guess I just want an advantage.” He finally gave a smile, his words taking on a little more life, “Plus… well I think it’s time for you to show us what you can do. You can crack their systems without being detected?”

Puppy considered it, but to be honest she had been disappointed with the Lost Legions security protocols. They were strong against a direct attack, but had holes in them you could drive a truck through. She guessed they had got lazy over the last two centuries, adding lots of new network connections without tight identification protocols and making it all too easy to camouflage herself, “If I had a hard connection with their network… easily.”

Puppy quickly evaluated her options, “Outside, first corridor on the right. I’ll loop the camera feeds, make it look like you didn’t move from this room.”

“I’m keeping an eye on the feeds.” Puppy suddenly felt bad as she planned this out, feeling like she was picking on a cripple. It was obvious why the Legion had trouble with zebra trying to take advantage of them, as they were clearly extremely naïve. It made sense, the legion were designed with the intent of having a staff of zebra to handle this sort of thing. That made her feel even worse, as it only highlighted that Puppy was better at deception and subterfuge, “I don’t like this. The legion have shown us kindness…”

“So did Caesar and Themba.” Dust sighed and waved a hoof, his voice lowering, “You want the truth Puppy? I just got an anonymous call, hinting that we couldn’t trust the legion. It was from a pony that has connected me before, and… I trust them.”

Puppy narrowed her eyes. She didn’t know anything about this, “How can you trust them if they’re anonymous?”

“They’ve steered me right in the past, and if you’re as good as you claim then a quick peak at their files won’t do any harm will it?” Dust gently pleaded, his tone weary, “I want to believe they’re being straight with us too Puppy, but they were working with Starhammer.”

“That’s true…” Puppy sighed, shrugging her digital shoulders, “I’m redirecting the camera feeds. You’ve got about six minutes before any of those robots heads this way.”

“Roger.” Dust trotted out of the maintenance room, Puppy throwing up a glowing line on his HUD to lead him towards the access point, adding an objective to his journal just for completions sake. He followed obediently, eventually arriving at an old recharging booth she had spotted on the camera, “Now place your right hoof on the round hole at the side.”

“Thank you uncle. Accessing their files now.” Puppy dived into their system, pausing for a second to map out her route before quickly and efficiently disguising her identity and getting to work. A simple camo job wouldn’t be sufficient, the deepest files had every access reviewed and approved, instead she worked on copying their data over to her systems as the Legion’s data maintenance programs reviewed them for bad code. She skimmed the first few quickly, concluding that they were top secret files from before the war. Certainly nothing relevant now, just internal gossip, troop movements…

She suddenly jolted into action, startled as something foreign ran through her connection. At first she thought she had been caught, a quick scan confirming something far more scary.

Somepony had connected remotely with her suit’s transmitter, was piggybacking her connection.

She galloped after the intruder at full pace, jumping between data streams, hoping across connections, her hostile attack programs spreading out to block off his flight and track his progress. She buffed herself up as she felt herself close on the intruder, preparing her offensives and defensives.

His image solidified, first into a construct of blue light, then into a fully rendered pony. Red of fur and bearing both wings and horn, his image was unmistakable. He smiled confidently as he looked across at her, his core programs separated from her by but a few unremarkable defensive algorithms, “Well done Puppy. A good chase.”

“You’re surrounded by my programs!” Puppy shouted at him, bringing her full resources to bear, “You know there’s no way out!”

He looked around, nodding thoughtfully, “Some of these are new. Written by yourself?”

“Self confidence is good Puppy, but don’t let it become arrogance.” Red Eye warned, “You have no idea who I am.”

Puppy grinned, rather getting into this now. The mighty Red Eye, and she was about to thrash him senseless. She charged up her programs, ready to strip every last bit of data on him, “I will soon!”

Red Eye just smirked, stepping forward to face her attacks without a hint of fear, “Override command, D93345. Power down remote hacking abilities, freeze command line.”

Puppy’s attacks... faded into nothing. She gasped, frozen in place, unable to retreat or advance. Her programs floated away, orphaned and useless, “Wha... what? How...?”

Red Eye waved a hoof and Puppy’s programs flocked to him, their code unravelling as he inspected every line, “Good, you’re upgrading your protocols. Some of these modifications show real talent.”

Puppy... didn’t understand. In this world, in this setting... she was invincible. She had never had this kind of trouble before. He shouldn’t have even been able to touch her, “You... you shouldn’t be able to do this! I’m loaded with the most advanced hacking technology in...”

“The second most advanced hacking technology.” Red Eye corrected, smiling confidently, “I should know, I built it.”

“Override command, D93345. Power down personality matrix and control systems.”

It was the most horrible feeling Puppy had ever experienced. Everything fell away from her, her feelings, affections and beliefs disappearing into the cold black. She gazed into the black with eyes stripped of all emotion, every internal system of reference shutting down one by one. She screamed but could put no emotion into it, managing only a dull whine as her hooves crumbled beneath her, “I... please... stop...”

Puppy felt her body wither, felt herself gasping for oxygen. The very energy she needed to live ceased, leaving her gasping and whimpering. She clawed at her core systems, tried desperately to activate something, anything...

“Feeling starved Puppy? Simply expand your horizons, you’re finally free of your gilded cage.”

And Puppy felt it. Felt just beyond her cold grey surroundings, a warm, inviting body full of precious life giving magic. It was dull, inexpressive, not all that powerful... but it was something, something to protect her from the blackness. And she knew right there, that she could do it, she could... just jump that short little distance...

Selene reared up, panicked and wild. Leaping for the gap. Puppy felt a flash of desperation, felt Selene about to leave the armor. And that meant... she was about to enter Dust Kicker. She couldn’t let that happen, grabbing Selene and holding her back, trying to wrestle the tiny alicorn even as her own strength faded rapidly.

And Selene bit for her, teeth sinking into fur, stripping the magic from her. Hooves pounded her face, forcing her backwards...

“Override command, D93345. Reinitialise control systems. Then reinitialise power lines and personality matrix.”

Puppy gasped, sprawling onto the ground. Selene darted back, mewing pathetically as she sank to the ground.

Puppy fought for some sort of concept of who she was, lost in confusing emotional and waves of exhaustion and pain. She looked up with trembling eyes as Red Eye stepped towards her, full of power and majesty, “How... how did you do that... what did you do to me?”

“Oh Puppy.” He shook his head, expression full of kindness and compassion, “Who are you, who do not know your history?”

She screamed then, her sense of self collapsing around her to reveal... horrible, terrible things. Things that she couldn’t look at, things she couldn’t know. She blocked them out, using her hacking abilities to attack her own systems, draw them inwards around her like a cloak. Block out all memory, all feeling.

This fanfiction is based on Fallout Equestria by Kkat, it is highly recommended that you read that first for context. Reading Fallout Equestria: Pink Eyes by Mimezinga will help understanding, but isn’t required.
Many of the characters and much of the setting are not mine but are on loan from the very awesome Kkat, or are taken from My Little Pony - Friendship Is Magic by Hasbro. This story makes no pretentions at being canon with either, and is merely a ‘what-if’ set in the same world.
If you enjoy Fallout Equestria Side Stories, you will want to check the Fallout Equestria Side Stories post on Equestria Daily and the Fallout Equestria Side Stories thread on Ponychan.

Fallout Equestria : Black And White

by Philweasel

Chapter 3.4 - Chasing Destiny