Fallout Equestria: Icicle

by PlagenShiki

Chapter 13 - Frantic

        “So, Cygnus, was it?” Thunder asks, receiving a nod from Cygnus. “Can you, uh...do the thing?” Thunder smiles brightly. Cygnus lets out a sigh, sticks out his tongue, and says a few words. In a moment, a knife appears. He hoofs it to Thunder.

        Thunder takes it in his hooves, and even bites down on the blade. “Huh, it is real. That’s crazy,” He says, continuing to inspect it. “So, you can make anything?” Thunder asks.

        “As long as I know what it is made out of and how it goes together, yes,” Cygnus answers. “I can’t make something I’ve seen for the first time, or things that don’t exist. But, as long as I can take the time to figure out what an object is made of, I can recreate it,” saying this, the knife disappears from Thunder’s grasp.

        “I can also make them disappear whenever I want. Though, after a time, they disappear anyway. Also, if I go unconscious while an object is summoned, it will disappear as well,” Cygnus explains.

        “I see,” Thunder says, rubbing his chin. “What if you make ammo for a weapon, and I use that ammo in a weapon that you didn’t create? Would that work? And what happens when you shoot someone with bullets you make anyway?” Thunder asks.

        “My ammo will work with any weapon. It is actually physical, after all. Though, once the time limit is reached, it will vanish. Similarly, if a pony is shot with ammo I create, they will be injured, however, any bullets that remain inside them will vanish when the time runs out,” Cygnus answers.

        “What is this time limit you keep mentioning? How long can your objects exist in physical form?” Thunder asks. A good question, one I wanted to ask myself.

        “The longest I’ve managed to keep an item manifested is ten minutes. However, the more items I create at the same time, the less time they can exist. For example, a single knife will exist for ten minutes. However, ten knives will exist for less,” Cygnus explains to us.

        “And before you ask,” Cygnus continues, “I don’t know if there is some sort of math behind the time in relation to the quantity of the objects, we never got that far in testing. For all I know, it is a random time. Though, I can tell when an object is going to vanish before it does.”

        “That’s good,” I say. “It gives you time to prepare something else and doesn’t leave you out in the cold, so to speak” Cygnus nods in agreement. “Anyhow, if we are done with all the questions,” I look over to Thunder, “I think we should get some sleep before morning. The few hours we have left, anyway.”

        “I’ve got plenty more questions, but sleep does sound good,” Thunder says. “Though, are you even tired, Cygnus? After being frozen all these years? It is just like sleeping, basically, right?” He asks.

        “Basically,” Cygnus answers. “It is like I just woke up. I’ll keep watch, though with the lockdown in place, it hardly seems necessary. Besides, I can keep miss CORA company,” he says, smiling at the terminal.

        “Oh you charmer, you,” CORA says. Charmer? I can’t even begin to imagine that sort of relationship. “I’ll be happy to tell you anything you want to know. You’ve been asleep for a while after all,” she explains.

        “Alright you two, we’ll see you in the morning then. Stay out of trouble,” I tell them as I lay down beside the already sleeping form of Arrow. I close my eyes and think of sleep. As CORA and Cygnus talk about what the world outside is like now, I slowly drift off into unconsciousness.

        The following morning, Lightning got the surprise of meeting our newest member. Like Thunder last night, Lightning was as interested about Cygnus’s ability. While they all got acquainted, I borrow a few grenades from Thunder and head back into the facility, specifically the room with all the books.

        I glance at a poster of Twilight that says, “Knowledge is Power”, and mutter an apology as I pull the pins from the grenades and toss them into the room, closing the door behind me and walking back up to rejoin the others. It was a shame to lose so many books in such good condition, but I couldn’t risk such books falling to Grimoire’s hooves.

        I offer my old barding to Cygnus, but he declines. Saying he can make his own if necessary and stating, “It is covered in way too much of your blood, anyway.” I really couldn’t argue with him there. But it was just strange to have a member of our little group completely unclothed.

        Without even bags, Cygnus’s spotless black coat and gray mane were a stark comparison to the rest of the wasteland. Though, undoubtedly he would be covered in filth like the rest of us soon enough. But, his odd markings really stood out.

        Instead of a cutiemark, large runes adorned his flanks. A line of runes ran down his spine from mane to tail, and more circled each of his legs near the hooves. I haven’t the slightest idea what the red runes that almost seem to glow mean, but they look, well, fucking awesome. The black rune on his tongue was also undecipherable.

        I once again attach my PipBuck to the terminal and pull CORA out of it while lifting the lockdown. As the system did its work, I look us over. Me, with my wounded legs, Lightning, leaning against Arrow due to his rear legs, and Thunder with his messed up side.

        Though none of us three complained, it was clear our injuries were putting a strain on us. If we get into a fight like yesterday...I’m not sure what will happen. With Lightning’s speed all but nullified, Thunder’s minigun out of commission, and my own body aching with each movement, I hope that we’ll be able to get through anything we come across.

        We set out from the facility following the path determined yesterday. After going through a few buildings without running into anything, I feel like the worst is over. Which is of course, why the wasteland just had to shit all over my hopes and dreams. Inside the next building, gunfire suddenly erupts.

        At first, I’m not sure we are the ones being shot at, but then bullets start hitting the floor around us. We are standing in the atrium of a two story library. Two pony tall shelves surround us, along with tables and chairs. Most of the shelves have fallen into one another and their books have been scattered.

        The second floor, which is essentially a balcony that runs all around the building allows those on the second floor to look down at the first. In each corner of the building is a staircase leading to the second floor. This second floor, is precisely where we are being shot at from. Not just from one side, but from all four sides. It seems we walked right into an ambush.

        Arrow and Lightning quickly take cover under one of the bookcases resting against another. Rose and Thunder find a similar position on the other side of the aisle of books. As for Cygnus and I, we sprint towards the checkout desk a few feet in front of us and dive behind it. While we run, I hear Cygnus muttering behind me.

        Once we are safe behind the desk, I notice he is wearing armored barding. The shooting around us dies off to a few shots at a time. I pull out my SMG and check the clip. About half the bullets are left. I hear Cygnus whispering again, “10 millimeter steel barrel…” A few sentences later, an SMG of his own appears.

        He looks over to me, and I nod over to the left. He nods, and together, we peek out over the desk and start shooting at the enemies to our left. I confirm two raider there and start shooting at one of them. After emptying the clip at my target, they are unscathed. Cygnus manages to take out his target without issue. However, my target begins to return fire and we both duck back behind the desk.

        I begin to reload my SMG when I notice Cygnus staring at me. “What?” I ask him, a little defensively.

        “Your aim is terrible,” He explains. “You didn’t even come close. I’m just wondering how you’ve survived this long.”

        “Well sorry!” I exclaim. “Not all of us were trained to use weapons from when we were young,” I tell him as the raider continues to riddle our cover with bullets. I hear the others returning fire as well.

        Cygnus’s empty clip disappears, he says something I don’t catch and another one appears. “You know what, here...10 millimeter drum magazine…” Another barrage of bullets causes me to miss the rest of what he says. As the raider reloads, a drum magazine appears and he hoofs it over to me.

        “Since your aim sucks, use this. Mind the recoil, these rounds will kick more than normal,” he explains before I jam the magazine into my SMG. A moment later, more bullets rain upon our cover. The raider must be using an assault rifle, judging by the accuracy and rate of fire.

        Once they reload again, Cygnus and I pop up and shoot once again. This time, he takes the remaining one shooting at us, and I aim at three new targets directly across from us. I line up on the middle one and let loose a burst of fire. My shots go just over them and strike the bookshelves behind them.

        What happens next catches me off guard. The shelves explode where my bullets hit and begin to start on fire. Cygnus looks over after finishing his target off and sees my jaw practically on the floor. He chuckles and says, “High-explosive incendiary rounds. They aren’t normally used for infantry, but seeing as you miss so much, I figured you could at least scare them a little.”

        Like he said, the raiders turn around and are looking at the flames crawling over the shelves and books. “Ok, these are pretty cool. But, you do realize we are in a very flammable library, right?” I tell him. As I do so, the fire continues to spread and the raiders begin running for the stairs.

        “Yes. Well, let’s try to deal with them before we burn up, shall we?” He counters. “Though, with your aim it might take a while. I hope your friends can hit their targets.” He turns away from me and shoots at one of the running raiders, catching them in the leg and sending them crashing through the railing and falling to our level.

        A large billow of dust erupts from where the raider lands. I turn my attention to the other two fleeing in the opposite direction and open fire on them. Going fully automatic was a bad idea, as it bounces up faster than I can correct it, sending a trail of explosions and fire arcing up and onto the ceiling.

        Flaming debris falls from the ceiling and rains upon the very flammable library below. “I told you it kicks. Are you trying to burn us alive?” Cygnus says, putting a hoof to his face. “Maybe I shouldn’t have given you those rounds…”

        “You think?” I yell at him. First he gives me this crazy ammo, and then he yells at me for using it. Sheesh. There was no pleasing him. I look around at the second floor as Cygnus shoots at the two I was aiming at. It looks like the others have managed to take out a few of the others. I count three more in addition to the two Cygnus is shooting at. There are also a few above us, but I can’t see them at the moment.

        The ones above us don’t seem to be moving, and they have Arrow and the others stuck under their cover. “Time for a stupid idea,” I mutter as I point my SMG directly up at the second floor where the raiders are shooting from. I pull the trigger and riddle the floor with bullets. Explosions ripple across it and flames begin to eat away at it.

        “Cygnus, move!” I call out as I just out from behind the desk. The raiders above us have stopped shooting, but they are too late to flee. Right as Cygnus climbs out from behind the desk, the floor collapses and three raiders fall through onto the ground into a pile of flaming rubble. I look back over the desk and take aim at them before they have a chance to recover.

        I pull the trigger, but nothing happens. “Yes, right. Enough of that,” Cygnus says, walking up to me and shooting the fallen raiders. “No more special ammo for you,” he tells me, turning around and reloading his SMG.

        I puff out my cheeks like a filly who has had their favorite toy taken away. “That’s not fair,” I say, as reload my SMG with normal, safe, ammo. Well, safe in a relative sense. “I didn’t even get halfway through the drum,” I complain.

        “Yes, well, I would like to leave before we burn to a crisp,” Cygnus replies. “Just look around at the flames already eating away at everything.” I look around at the library, and as he says flames are everywhere. I didn’t notice with all the gunfire, but the sound of the flames has turned into a roaring inferno.

        “Ok, point taken,” I tell him. “So, we should probably get the others and leave.” He turns to look at expressionlessly, blinks a few times, and then turns to look at where the others are at. “What?” I ask.

        “Yes, let’s leave, quickly,” Cygnus says somewhat irritatedly. “Hey, you folk, you good to move? We’ll lay down cover fire, get over here,” he shouts out towards the others. He begins shooting at the four remaining raiders in the far corner of the second floor, near the stairs. After a moment, I join him.

        We shoot as we move into the cover of a bookcase. The four raiders turn their attention to us and I see the others making their way towards us. We take out one of the raiders before Thunder and the others make it to the case across the aisle from us.

        By this time, a great deal of the library has been engulfed in flames. I peek around my cover to shoot at the raiders, only to see them jumping out of a window on the second floor. “Alright, that simplifies things,” I mutter. “Ok! Let’s get out of here! To the back door, quickly now!” I call out to the others.

        We begin sprinting for the door, avoid the roaring flames and dropping debris. Thunder reaches the door first and bucks it open. The fresh rush of air into the building fans the flames higher as we run outside one by one. Without skipping a beat, we run across the street and catch our breath in the alcove entrance way of the next building.

        “Alright Ratchet, Cygnus gave you something, didn’t he?” Thunder asks. “I know he didn’t do that himself, because only you have such shit aim,” he adds. I roll my eyes.

        “Yes, he did,” I answer, “but he was the one who gave me incendiary ammunition in a Celestia-damned library! And my aim isn’t shit!” Sure, I miss a bit. Ok, maybe more than a bit. Fine, I can’t aim. I’m a scientist damnit!

        “I thought you aim had gotten better when we were crossing the street into the MAS facility, but apparently that was just luck and an effect of the Dash,” Thunder says, shaking his head.

        “Anyhow,” Lightning says while leaning against Arrow. “We should keep moving. This fire is going to attract unnecessary attention. Being out in the open isn’t good, considering our current situation.” He motions to the door and Thunder kicks it open a moment later.

        “Right, let’s go. Quickly and quietly,” I say as we shuffle into the building. Cygnus and I are the last two to enter.

        As he passes me to enter the building, he turns and says, “You know, your aim does suck. If you ever want a lesson, let me know.” He winks and continues into the building. Yes, we all get it, my aim sucks.

        Lightning was right. The library fire is attracting a lot of unwanted attention. Drawn by the smoke, raider activity has increased. We begin moving at a snail’s pace to avoid unnecessary combat. With only Arrow and Cygnus at full strength, and Arrow looking after Lightning, we aren’t in any state for a firefight.

        Rose has been relatively quiet, sticking close to Thunder. She hasn’t put the pistol away since we entered the MAS facility. Not that I can blame her. Cygnus on the other hoof, seems rather chipper. He is looking around like a foal in a candy store, taking in every little detail.

        “The world has really gone to shit, hu?” He says nonchalantly, almost as if it doesn’t really involve him. He doesn’t really seem to grasp working as a group or stealth operations either. It is like he isn’t worried in the slightest about being attacked, like this is just a game.

        Most ponies I’ve met so far seem to be afraid of everything, worried about what will happen next. I can’t say I blame them, I quickly became the same way once in the wasteland. It is a natural reaction, given that at any moment you can be attacked. You are never really safe. But Cygnus doesn’t seem to feel like the rest of us.

        “If you keep staring, Ratchet, a buck might get ideas,” Cygnus says, looking back at me. “Something on your mind?” He asks.

        “Nothing particular, it is just that you seem rather calm and composed,” I tell him. He lets out a sigh and shakes his head.

        “No reaction at all, no fun,” I hear him mutter. “Well, when you are a test subject for a secret government project, you don’t have much freedom,” Cygnus explains. “I wasn’t allowed to leave the facility much. My father only took me out a few times, mostly when I was younger.”

        “So, after being cooped up in that facility for twenty-two years, well, I suppose it is around sixty now, isn’t it? I’m quite happy to be outside, even if we do occasionally get shot at. Even if a sniper were to put a bullet through my skull, at least I would have had some freedom before I died,” Cygnus tells us.

        “All in all, I would rather enjoy the present than worry about the future. Otherwise, it would be hard to enjoy my freedom,” he concludes. “Being free with worth anything this, wasteland, can throw at me.”

        I nod. “I can understand that. But, you could stand to be a bit quieter when we are trying to sneak around,” I tell him with a smile. At that moment, an object crashes through a window next to us. We stop and I move to see what it was. It is a small cylindrical object with holes around the middle, it looks like another cylinder is inside.

        “Ratchet, look away!” Lightning yells as a blinding flash of light and an insanely loud bang occurs. I immediately fall on my ass and begin rubbing my eyes, trying to regain my sight while my ears ring. I blink a few times and the world around me is filled with white spots, seeming to move in slow motion.

        At this moment, I feel a force pushing me into the wall on our left and i’m pelted with brick and mortar. I shake my head to regain my senses and look around. A large hole has appeared in the wall that was on our right side, leading out to the street. Despite the ringing in my ears, I can barely make out the others calling out, but i’m unable to tell what they are saying.

        Arrow is taking Lightning down the hall the way we were going, Thunder is shielding Rose and pointing for her to go after them. Cygnus is bent over me, trying to help me up. He lifts me and sets me on my hooves. I sway slightly, and look out of the new hole.

        Raiders. At least ten of them, one appears to be holding a rocket launcher. I keep blinking, trying to get my vision to clear fully. Cygnus starts pushing me down the hall after the others, and I wobbily go in that direction. “...o...atch...ee….ovin…!” I hear Thunder saying. It is broken and I can’t make it out properly.

        Cygnus keeps pushing me and Thunder starts to follow us. “Go! ...ep...ving” He calls again, shooting his rifle through the windows we pass. I keep walking, not fully able to grasp what is happening. I look around at the others in a daze.

        Thunder overtakes Cygnus and I and catches up to Rose, who is a few feet behind Arrow and Lightning. A moment later, another rocket slams into the hallway next to Arrow and Lightning, sending them sprawling against the wall. Thunder cuts in front of Rose and shields her from the blast and rubble. I stop.

        Cygnus runs into me and stumbles, but catches himself and gets in front of me, looking directly into my eyes. I stare at him blankly. “Snap...t...it!” I yells and slaps me across the muzzle. I shake my head, blink at him a few times, and then begin to dart my eyes around the room.

        “Right, yes, um,” I say, the ringing in my ears almost gone, but still causing me to talk slightly weird. “Thanks,” I tell him. Cygnus nods and turns back towards the others. “Arrow, Lightning, are you two alright?” I call out as they struggle to get to their hooves. Thunder moves up to the newest hole in the wall and starts laying down fire with Rose hiding behind him.

        “I...Think so…” Lightning says. He looks at Arrow. “Arrow, you…” But he is cut off.

        “Fine,” Arrow says bluntly. She puts Lightning's arm around her shoulders and continues towards the doorway. Cygnus and I catch up to Thunder and help keep the raiders pinned while Rose crosses over to the other side. The three of us follow after her as Thunder tosses out a few grenades at the raiders. From the screams, a few got taken out.

        We enter the door after Arrow and Lightning into the rear of the building. It is storage of some kind, with two large bay doors for loading and unloading. A number of pallets filled with large crates line the walls and large iron shelves.

        Once inside, with the door closed firmly behind us, we gather near one of the bay doors. “Ok, I think the pallets against the walls should provide us with a bit of time if they decide to rocket the walls. The door behind us is of concern, however. We can hole up here and try to deal with the remaining raiders, or we can make a run for the next building,” I tell them.

        “I think we should try to get to the next building. We should be able to make it and better fortify our location,” I say.

        Lightning gets to his hooves and turns to me. “No, we need to hold here. At least for a bit,” he says. “Arrow needs to,” again, she cuts him off.

        “Let’s go,” Arrow says without looking at us. She stares at the bay door, waiting to leave.

        Lightning stumbles over to her, grabs her shoulder, and turns her to look at us. She fights him, but eventually she faces us. The left side of her helmet is dented up. I couldn’t imagine how her head could fit in it like that.

        Cracks ran across various places and blood seeped from them. It ran down her helmet and drips onto the floor. Looking at the floor, there is a visible trail from where we came from leading to her. I turn my eyes back to her. “Arrow, we can’t continue with you like this, we need to stop the bleeding, at least!” I tell her.

        She shakes her head, sending blood flying off her helmet. “No,” She says.

        I slam my hoof down. “Arrow! I will not let you continue on in the state you are in. We are all injured enough as it is, we need you at your best, not wounded and bleeding!” I yell at her. “Thunder, Cygnus, find a way to block that door, and any other entrances. Lightning, Rose, help me with Arrow,” I command them.

        “Ratchet...we need to, no, stop,” Arrow says as we corner her and Lightning takes off her helmet. Cuts cover her face and her left eye is swollen closed with a large gash across it. Using some alcohol and bandages from her bag, we patch her up.

        Lightning secures her helmet back on and helps her back to her hooves. She appears a little woozy, she has probably lost a bit too much blood. Suddenly a rocket hits the wall sending some brick and mortar raining down into the storeroom. Luckily, one of the crates is between us and the hole, and it appears to hold up pretty well. A bit of the wood has splintered on our side and sand is pouring from the crate.

        “Sand?” I mutter, staring at the crate. Turning my focus elsewhere, I see that Thunder and Cygnus have blocked the door with a smaller crate and piled a few others in the middle of the room to use as cover. The two of them are standing behind it, facing the door. Their cover extends to protect their left from the side the raiders are currently shooting rockets at.

        The rest of us move behind one of the large shelves in the middle of the room, into an aisle between two of them. From here, we can see Thunder’s and Cygnus’s exposed side and the wall that is currently being attacked. I find a few smaller crates and pile them up on our left, to provide cover should the raiders decide to break in through the large bay doors.

        With our cover as good as it is going to get, we wait. Another rocket slams into the damaged crate and sand blows into the room, showering Thunder and Cygnus as it pours into the floor. The more sand that pours out, I see more and more of the dimming light of outside. Once half the sand is out, I can see the raiders smiling in at us.

        As the first raider mare steps in through the create, she yells, “Now!” A moment later, another rocket slams into the door we came from, blowing the light metal door off its hinges. However, due to the crate blocking it is pushed back a few inches, but then falls over and continues to block the doorway. It leaves the top half of the doorway open, and the raiders use this to begin shooting into the room from there as well.

        Arrow is the first one of us to shoot back, her bullet grazing the first mare’s cheek. Normally, she would have killed her immediately. Arrow’s injuries must be throwing off her aim. The others begin to return fire a moment later, peeking around their cover and targeting the nearest raider. My group has to aim carefully, as Cygnus and Thunder are in front of us.

        I see heavy barding appear on Cygnus as he slumps behind his cover. I aim my SMG at the hole in the crate and unload the remains of my clip into the raiders attempting to enter. Given the narrow tunnel they have to enter through, a manage to actually hit a few of them. As usual however, quite a few of my shots hit the wall or pass through the hole without hitting anything.

        As I reload, I notice Cygnus summon an odd looking weapon, point it at the doorway, and begin spewing flames at the raiders. Screams mix with the smell of burnt hair as fire from the doorway stops abruptly. He shoots the flames in small bursts while Thunder takes alternates with him between the bursts.

        With that entrance covered, Lightning, Arrow, and myself focus on the hole in the wall. The raiders, having learned from their failed attempts, have taken cover outside and are shooting in towards us instead of trying to enter. They shoot at us a few times, then there is a break in the fire. A new raider appears in the doorway with a rocket launcher. Arrow attempts to take them down, but her bullet grazes off the launcher.

        The raider fires, but the impact from Arrow’s bullet diverts the rocket from hitting our cover, and it instead impacts Cygnus and Thunder’s. The crates of sand explode into wooden shrapnel and a sandstorm, sending the two of them falling towards us. Cygnus’s flamethrower vanishes and a moment later raiders appear at the doorway again.

        With their cover from the hole in the wall gone, Cygnus and Thunder scramble to join up with us. “You two alright?” I ask as they come around the corner.

        “Yea, just got knocked down,” Thunder replies. “The sand seems to have cushioned the impact.” He aims through a gap between crates are fires at a raider who was attempting to climb over the busted door, only to fall down dead from Thunder’s shots.

        “You know, as much as that rocket launcher is giving us trouble,” Thunder says as he shoots, “I fucking want it. I call dibs, sorry Ratchet,” he says with a smile. I roll my eyes, of course he did.

        “Sure, whatever. It isn’t like I could carry it anyway,” I reply, joining the others in shooting at the raiders. “How many more of them are there? We’ve killed what, like seven already? In this group anyway,” I ask. I’ve lost track of exactly how many raiders we’ve put down just trying to go through the ruins.

        Cygnus, having summoned up an assault rifle, shoots at the raiders and answers, “I counted at least five more in the hallway. Assuming there are at least two on either side of that hole in the wall, and that one using the rockets, eight more? Though, I’d round up to ten for the sake of always expecting more.”

        “It was a rhetorical question, Cygnus,” I say, shaking my head. The raiders continue taking shots at us and we return fire. “Toss some grenades?” I suggest to Thunder.

        “I’ve got three left. You want me to use them?” Thunder replies, a hint of concern in his voice.

        “Use one for each entrance. Besides, we might find more on them once we take them out, and you’ll be getting a rocket launcher, anyhow,” I answer. Assuming the launcher has any ammo for it left.

        “Alright, sounds good,” Thunder says as he throws a grenade into the doorway and one through the hole in the wall. A second or so later, they both explode and we are rewarded with a fair amount of screams. “Sounds like we took down a fair amount,” Thunder mutters.

        “Indeed, good work!” I tell him. Just as i finish, a rocket slams into one of the bay doors. The sound of rending metal reaches my ears as gunfire follows from the new, gaping hole. “Great, another entrance. I’ve got it,” I say to the others as I move to take cover behind the crates I set down earlier.

        A few raiders manage to get in before I’m in position, but before they can find cover of their own I empty my clip into them. As more gunfire streams in through the hole, I reload my SMG. I’m running real low on ammo for it, I note. Given the proximity to the doorway, I put the SMG away and pull out my shotgun.

        “This is getting us nowhere,” I call over to the others. “We are just wasting ammo, we need to either draw them in, or go to them.” I look back at the others and then through the gaps in the crates towards the other entrances. “Hey Lightning, take over for me for a moment,” I tell him.

        He staggers over to me and I walk to the center of the aisle. I set down the shotgun, and concentrate on the large crate at the top of the shelf. After a moment, I begin floating it through the air and towards the gaping hole in the wall. I place it directly in front of it, sealing up the hole. I repeat the process for the door to the hallway, except first I pry the top off the crate and dump the sand in front of the doorway, making it inaccessible.

        “Ok, that should buy us some time. Let’s get out into the street!” I call as I hit the buttons on the wall that should open the two large bay doors. They both begin to lift up, distracting the raiders as we break from our cover and run to the wall the doors are on.

The damaged door as a passenger, however. A raider who was halfway through the hole is stuck in it as it lifts up. Slowly, the buck is lifted further into the air until his back reaches the top of the entryway. The door, not fully open, continues trying to open. The motors lifting up the door whirl loudly as it fights against the blockage and in moments the raider splits into two as the door finishes opening fully.

Blood rains down from above in a shower, but the raiders pay it little mind as a few enter through the opening only to be gunned down by Cygnus. “Ok, out the other door then!” I say as I start for the opening. Once outside, I quickly see three more raiders and shoot some buckshot at them. A bit catches one of them, but luckily Thunder is behind me and finishes them all off moments after they begin returning fire.

One of them is the one that has been using the rocket launcher. As Thunder walks over to it, I survey the street. Nothing around us, but there could be more raiders around the corner. Thunder picks over the raider’s body as I walk past him and peak around the corner. Four more raiders heading towards us.

I poke my shotgun around and take a few shots, sending them scrambling but not hitting any of them. As Cygnus comes up to join me, he puts a few rounds into them and they fall over dead. “You make it look so easy,” I mutter.

“I just aim, that’s all,” Cygnus says with a chuckle, before he walks around the corner and over to them. “Let’s see...I think i’ll be taking these,” he mutters, pulling some bags off of one of the raiders and dumping out all the useless junk. “My kills, my loot. Find your own, Ratchet,” he turns and tells me with a wink.

I roll my eyes and walk up to him, searching the other raiders that he didn’t kill. Large splatters of blood and body parts lay around the hole the raiders blew in the wall, but I manage to find a few guns that aren’t damaged. Some of the raiders have an assortment of ammo that I picket. I also find four Stampede, six Dash, nine bobby pins, and a single roll of bandages.

I linger outside the hole in the hallway, but given the amount of blood and the smell of burning hair and flesh, I decide not to take a look inside. Any loot there, I don’t want to deal with. I turn back around as Cygnus finishes up his looting and we walk around the corner together with the others. “What did you find?” I ask Thunder as I begin to pick over the bodies.

“The rocket launcher is in ok condition. It isn’t great, but it won’t break after a bit of use. She had two rockets left, and I found a single grenade on one of the others. I should be able to mount the rocket launcher where my minigun was,” Thunder answers.

“Better than nothing,” I say with a shrug. Picking over the rest of the raiders yields a bit of ammunition. The others’ weapons are basically falling apart, so I elect to leave them to the ruins. I look at the sky and surroundings and realize it is getting dark outside. Our stealthy detour really ate up a lot of time. But, we are only two blocks from the city, we should make it before night fall. “Let’s keep moving,” I tell them.

        There were times that I hated to be wrong. When I spent all night working on a theory only to have it turn out to be useless. When CORA corrects me on her programming, that I wrote myself. This time, it was when I thought we would reach the city before nightfall. We came close, in fact I could see the city from this building’s window.

        I can also see around thirty raiders. On this side of the building. In front of us was a harbor area with a good thirty feet or so of flat land with no cover. Behind us, a street with probably around twenty more raiders that chased us in here. The sides of this building probably has even more raiders hanging around, waiting for us to go out.

        The longer we wait, the more raiders seem to be joining up with the rest. Some fires have been lit and the raiders are gathered around them. They seem to be watching our building in shifts. We need to move, now before more come. Yet we have been fighting another battle other than the raiders.

        Lightning, Arrow, and Thunder’s wounds are beginning to take their toll. Thunder has been coughing, leading me to believe something is messed up inside him. Arrow is clearly getting dizzy, she probably has a killer headache as well. Lightning’s legs appear to be getting stiffer and causing him more pain.

        I personally, am not doing so hot either. The blood loss from yesterday has me tired, and my shot up legs were quite stiff. Add on to that the shot in my ass, the cuts on my face, and the buckshot wounds in my chest, and I’m quite sore. I want a bed, a doctor, and well, I want a lot of things right now. Equestria to not be such a shitty place is pretty high on my list.

        But for now, I am determined to get that bed. In order to do that, we need to leave right now, before more raiders show up. “Let’s go,” I say, getting to my hooves. “We can’t stay here any longer. I’ll take point, you all follow me out. I will try to draw their attention, you all stay in a wedge formation,” I pause for a moment, thinking.

        “Arrow, Lightning, you will be at the front. Thunder, take the left side, Cygnus the right. Rose, you’ll be in the middle,” I tell them. With Thunder’s right side torn up, having his good side facing the enemy will be best. Arrow’s and Lightning’s combined firepower should be sufficient to protect the front. Having them set the pace will also work in to keep the group together.

        “You’re going to do what you did last time, aren’t you?” Lightning asks with a note of concern in his voice.

        “Three of you are injured, Cygnus is the only one who can fight at his full potential, and I made a promise to Rose to get her home safely,” I answer.

        “You are injured too, Ratchet,” Lightning replies. “You’ll be torn to pieces if you rush out alone!”

        “Not quite,” I say, floating out an injector of Stampede and an inhaler of Dash. “I have plenty, and I seem to actually be able to hit things when I use Dash,” I add. Lightning starts to reply, but I raise a hoof and stop him. “This isn’t open for discussion. If we don’t do it this way, I’ll basically be useless, and we will be an even larger target. I’ll distract as many as I can, and you guys will make a run for the city,” I tell him.

        Lightning lets out a sigh. “We’ll be talking about this later, so don’t you dare think about letting them kill you,” he says, shooting me a glare. I nod, resigning myself to a lecture later. We check our weapons and take position at the door.

        I kick it open and charge out into the area. It seems to catch the raiders by surprise. I inject the Stampede and after a moment, I’m overcome with a boiling rage. I find myself grinning as I yell, “Time to die!” I grasp my shotgun in my magic as I inhale my first dose of Dash. Time slows to a crawl and I aim at the closest raider. Pulling the trigger, I blow his head into tiny pieces.

        The other raiders quickly turn their attention to me as my friends begin to make their way out of the building. Three raiders run at me with pool cues, three shots later and they are taking a dirt nap without heads. By this time, the raiders have begun shooting at me, but I can easily see their bullets and avoid them.

        Another raider nearby gets a chest full of buckshot and I aim at another and pull the trigger, empty. That’s right, I didn’t reload the last time I used it. The raider I was about to shoot, shoots me instead as the Dash wears off. His shot hits my barding, knocking the wind out of me, but not penetrating.

        I quickly use another Dash and begin reloading my shotgun as I float out my SMG as well. I pump a few SMG rounds into the raider and put him down as I finish reloading the shotgun. Aiming at two different raiders, I unleash a hail of lead and buckshot at them. Two more dead raiders. Not as accurate as the last dose of Dash, but at least I still hit.

        My friends are full out of the building and have begun to engage the raiders as well. Without any cover, it is nothing but an exchange of bullets. The ones with the better guns and armor will last longer. Thunder throws a grenade, killing a group of three raiders. Cygnus appears to be shooting an assault rifle and wearing heavier barding than I am. It looks similar to military grade riot gear. Arrow and Lightning do their best to stagger forward while shooting as well.

        With them moving forward, I mostly ignore the few stragglers at the sides and charge straight ahead. I empty my shotgun into two raiders while spraying a burst at a raider coming at me with a knife. I quickly reload the shotgun as I empty the rest of the SMG’s clip into a raider carrying a hunting rifle.

        At this point, the raiders are beginning to keep away from me. I see most of them using Stampede of their own. The initial surprise I had seems to be wearing off and they are getting more organized and focused. My Dash wears off and I catch a burst of bullets on my left side. Luckily, none of them penetrate.

        Taking another dose of Dash I just manage to avoid a sniper’s round as it whizzes past my head. I look around the few rooftops and find a few raiders. Unslinging my sniper from my back, I take aim at the first one. As I do so, I spray the SMG in an arch at the ponies on the ground to keep them off me for a moment. I fire a round at the sniper, and take his head clean off.

        I spin to look at the other snipers, and see Arrow shooting at one. Her aim is off, but it is keeping that one from looking up over the ledge he’s behind. I aim at the other one, and put a round directly into his chest, arching with the SMG again as I do so. I pull the rifle’s bolt back and eject the spent cartridge and cycle in a new one. Aiming at the barely exposed top of the last sniper’s head, I pull the trigger, sending the bullet into the back of his skull. A mist of blood explodes, indicating his death.

        I put the rifle back onto my back and quickly reload the SMG, only half a clip left. I turn back to the ponies in front of me, apparently I hit a few of them with my random shots, but nothing lethal. The Dash wears off, so I take another dose and pull my knife from its sheath. I charge into the ponies in front of me, using the remaining SMG ammo to keep them from shooting me as I approach.

        I manage to take one out with my remaining ammo, and quickly stab my knife into the closest raider’s throat. Out of ammo, I put my SMG away and draw out two of the shitty ones I looted earlier. I unload them into the crowd of ponies, dodging bullets and stabbing another raider in the eye. With those SMGs spent, I put them away and draw out the last two I picked up. I empty them into a few raiders as my Dash wears off.

        Quickly, I draw out another inhaler and put the SMGs away. I come really close to getting my head taken off by a sword but manage to duck just in time and jab my knife into its owner’s gut. “Come on you fucks! You can do better than that!” I yell at the raiders around me. I pull out my shotgun again and begin unloading it into the closest raiders.

        Halfway through the shells, I hear Thunder yell for me. “Ratchet, we have a situation here!” I carve out a path back to them, using up the rest of my shotgun’s clip. I then notice the stream of raiders coming from the sides of the building we were just in. Around ten from each side.  More appear in the building itself, probably having come through from the other side.

        By this time, we are about half way into the clearing and the raiders are surrounding us. With them flanking us like that, Rose will be exposed. Gritting my teeth, I run past my friends and take up position behind her, turning my attention to the raiders coming in behind us. “Keep moving!” I call out.

        Thunder throws out his remaining two grenades and the rest of us pour ammo into the crowd of raiders surrounding us.  “I’m down to my last clip,” Lightning mutters.

        “Ha, you too, eh bro?” Thunder says in response. “I could start using the rockets, but at this range, it might hurt us more than help us.”

        “Same,” Arrow chimes in.

        “Well, I could summon us all some ammo, but given the quantity I doubt we’d have the chance to use,” Cygnus tells us. He keeps shooting all the while.

        My Dash wears off along with the Stampede. “Out,” Thunder and Lightning say in unison. I hear a click from Arrow’s rifle, I guess she’s out as well. Fuck. The raiders don’t relent and continue shooting at us. I hear the bullets pinging off my friend’s armor as we group up tighter around Rose.

        After a few moments, I hear Thunder grunt and mutter, “Shit, I think some of them have armor piercing rounds.” Seconds after he says this, I feel a round impact my chest, penetrating my armor. I stagger for a second, but I don’t think it hits anything vital. The longer we stand there, the more bullets find their way into or through us. The raider’s gunfire lights up the night so much, it could almost be day.

        Suddenly, I hear a whistling in the air and seconds later a large explosion erupts from the raiders between us and Friendship City. The raiders stop shooting as spotlights illuminate the ground. There is silence for a few moments before a buck’s loud voice comes out of thin air.

        “Attention raiders! You are on the doorstep of Friendship City, our guns are trained on your position. Cease any hostile actions, and withdraw or be blown to bits like some of your friends just were. You have ten seconds to comply. Ten...Nine...Eight…” The buck counts down.

        When he reaches seven, the raiders begin to frantically run away and back into the ruins of Manehatten. The six of us remain where we are standing as the last raider leaves the area and the buck stops counting at two. After a moment, he speaks up again.

        “The six of you, stay where you are, and lower your weapons. Security is coming out to check you in,” he says. Not wanting to bring down the wrath of the gun that killed around fifteen raiders, we don’t move. I wish I can say the same for the blood flowing from our wounds. I am getting light headed again.

        After around five minutes, a group of ten ponies come into the light. They are armored in barding similar to my own and wearing riot helmets. Each one of them carries an assault rifle. They stop at the edge of the light, and one steps forward. “My name is Wrecker, chief of security,” a buck with the same voice as before says. “Welcome to Friendship City.”

        It is at this moment that my body decides that it has lost enough blood and I pass out.

Level Up!
-Level 8-

+10 Small Guns

+7 Melee Weapons

+7 Sneak