Chapter 24 - Thinning the Herd

"One by one they fell. I saw them drop and my only thought was to keep fighting. My comrades could be mourned later. My lord demands sacrifice, repeated and constant sacrifice. For him, my own life is but a drop in the ocean. But without him, I am nothing."

===~+~===

It took twelve hours for the rain to stop completely. In another six hours, the radiations levels outside had dropped to safe levels. My friends and I then spent the next three hours combing through the ruins of the Gremlin territory and eliminating those that remained. It wasn’t until we were absolutely sure that no Gremlins remained that we finally started back for my lab.

Cora had lost her two forelegs, but she was able to walk on her rear legs well enough and even kept up with us. I had her severed legs in my bags, that I would reattach to the armor later. That wasn’t the extent of her damage though. Countless bullet holes, dents, and scratches covered her armor. I’d have to repair it extensively. So when we finally reached my lab, I decided to have Shrill and Cygnus go on to Ponyville to inform Gunsmoke of our new arrangement while I set to work repairing Cora’s body.

I gave them the instructions and gave Cygnus a map with an X where my lab’s shed entrance is then sent them on their way. The arrangement was simple. The Junk Rats would sent word to Gunsmoke about Grimoire’s movements, and Gunsmoke would then send a message to me, leaving it in my shed. Of course, I didn’t have them mention the shed holds the entrance to my lab. I told them to say it was a sort of deaddrop I would check frequently. His messenger will leave the message and then leave.

In the meantime, I set about fixing up Cora’s body while she checked over the lab’s systems. Her body was a mess. In more than a few places, I had to completely take out the wiring and mechanisms and then melt the armor down and reforge it. Luckily, the interior components seem to have been spared any major damage. I only finished repairing half of the armor by the time Cygnus and Shrill returned the next morning. They had decided to stay the night rather than return here in darkness. Even so, I didn’t sleep a wink.

I stopped working for a few minutes as they told me about what happened. Gunsmoke agreed to help us out, but also had some information for us. Apparently Discordia is causing a stir out west near Vanhoover. He thinks we might find out something if we go there. I told the others we would check it out once Cora’s body is fully repaired. I’m not sure what we’ll find in Vanhoover, but it is currently the only lead we have on any major Discordia groups. We might even run into Grimoire himself. I tell them to get some rest and ready their gear as I get back to work.

After eight hours, I finish up with the last stroke of a paintbrush, applying the last bit of paint to the armor. Good as new, but also modified a bit. I took notes of the most heavily damaged places and reinforced them, adding as little weight as possible. I added more angles so bullets would skirt off the armor instead of penetrating. Cora also suggested I swap out the sniper for the anti-material rifle. We found just under a hundred rounds for the gun, so I decided to oblige her request. I emptied out the case of .308 rounds and replaced them with the .50 caliber rounds and checked her 5.56 ammo. It was almost empty, so I refilled it with every bullet we got from the Gremlins. Only about a hundred or so.

I then had her enter the armor and make sure everything was working properly. It was, and I then explained the ammo situation and told her that she wouldn’t be able to do much suppressing fire until we found some more. I really should have had Shrill and Cygnus sell the extra stuff we got from the Gremlins, but it completely slipped my mind at the time.

With Cora’s body ready, I emptied all the junk out of my bags into the armory and went to my office. I turned on my terminal, opened a new file, and began typing. I decided I should start keeping a log, or diary, or whatever you want to call it. I started with the moment I woke up and managed to get to right before the assault on the Rail Gang before I couldn’t keep myself awake anymore. I saved my current file and turned off the terminal. Before leaving the office and heading to bed, I took the Pinkie Pie figurine out of my bag and put it on my desk.

It was such a beautiful thing, and I didn’t want to haul it around the wasteland with me where it might get ruined. I wondered for a moment if I would find more figurines, maybe of the other Ministry Mares. But the thought quickly disappeared as I yawned and fell into my bed, instantly sound asleep.

We leave the following morning, I slept for around fifteen hours before Cygnus finally woke me up saying, “I’m tired of Shrill standing over you smiling. It is creepy. Get up already and let’s go.” Vanhoover is a few miles further away than Manehatten, so the journey will take us almost as long. Though, from what Gunsmoke told Cygnus and Shrill, I don’t think our objective is the city itself. It sounds like there is some suburb of the city Discordia is set up in. Which makes sense, since Shrill tells me that over half of Vanhoover is still irradiated way past safe levels.

As we travel, we only encounter a few minor creatures scurrying about. But the closer to the city we get the more creatures there are. A radroach almost as big as us scurries from behind a farmhouse, causing Shrill to let out an ear splitting scream and empty her pistol into it multiple times, even after it stopped moving. I poke my ears with a hoof. “Jeez, I can see why your name is Shrill. That scream was crazy. I think I almost went deaf!” I complain.

“Did you see that thing!?” Shrill says, panting. “It was huge! Disgusting! I hate these creatures. They are so creepy,” She says, shivering.

Cygnus sighs. “At least you shot it, instead of turning tail and running,” He mutters. “Seriously, we’ve fought raiders, mole rats, and bloat sprites, but the radroaches are what scare you?” He says, shaking his head.

Shrill glares at him. “They don’t scare me, they disgust me. With their skittering...and their nasty appearance...and their…” Shrill says, listing off things about them she hates, but Cygnus interrupts her calmly.

He points a hoof behind her and says, “Oh, look there’s another one.” Shrill lets out another scream and spins around, firing wildly. Of course, there is nothing actually behind her, which she quickly realizes as Cygnus erupts into laughter. “Gremlins are pranksters! Ha! Now this is a sidesplitter. They don’t have anything on me!” He declares. I can’t help but joining in with a few laughs as well as Shrill pouts and stares daggers at Cygnus.

After getting ourselves under control we continue on. After another hour or so the sun begins to set and we start looking for a place to wait out the night. We find an old water stop along the railway to take shelter in. It isn’t too large but it will provide us with cover from prying eyes. We settle in for the night with Cygnus taking the first watch.

Vanhoover begins appear on the horizon, but our focus isn’t the city itself but a suburb to the south. I see the skyscrapers standing tall against the horizon, but I count considerably less than the last time I saw the city. I guess it got hit by a bomb like Manehatten. Just how many megaspells went off, I wonder?

We keep walking, watching for any movement, be it wasteland creatures or raiders. But what reaches our ears first, is gunshots. Not just a few either, it sounds like an all out battle is raging somewhere close by with explosives included. I notice smoke rising off the the distance. “That’s the area Gunsmoke mentioned,” Cygnus mutters. “Seems Discordia is fighting something,” He adds.

I nod. “Yea, let’s go see what’s going on. Maybe someone needs our help,” I say as we pick up our pace. We rapidly approach the rising smoke and enter into a suburban neighborhood. Some of the houses have the sides facing the city blown in, others have collapsed completely. A few dead trees still stand sporadically throughout the area.

Spotting gunshots a few blocks down, I ask Cora, “Cora, tell me what you can see with where the shooting is coming from. Who is fighting who?” She uses her enhanced vision and stares in the direction of the fighting for a few moments.

“Definitely raiders,” She reports. “But I can’t tell if they are Discordia raiders or not. As for who they are fighting...Steel Rangers, or at least ponies with power armor,” Cora says, but pauses for a second. “Wait, that’s a lynx paw. I think they are the rangers from Stable 36! Since they aren’t using a sniper, that has to be Lightning!” Cora declares.

Without skipping a beat, I start trotting towards the fighting. “Let’s go!” I tell the others as I draw my revolver. I charge towards the battle, but turn into the backyard of a house to get off the street. It will be better if the raiders don’t see us coming. I lead us through the yards which are now nothing but dirt and the occasional dead tree or bush. Signs of ponies living here previous are evident from the items scattered about. Toys, patio furniture...bones. Lots of bones.

I thought we had a system in place if an attack happened? Did the warnings not go off? Was it too late? Why were so many outside? A shiver runs down my spine. Did they know they wouldn’t survive and decided to watch the end as it came? I know only a limited number of ponies got a position in a Stable. Are these the ones that didn’t? I didn’t realize it, but I have slowed to a walk. I was so close to being nothing but bones that someone would eventually walk over. If I wasn’t the one in the pod, would Cora have killed even me?

“Ratchet?” Cora says, nudging my side. “What’s up?” She wouldn’t have, I’m sure of it. I made her, after all. My commands would override my orders to oversee the experiment. I shake my head. No sense dwelling on it. Besides, the Rangers need our help.

“I got distracted. Let’s go,” I tell her. She nods and we continue on our way. A few short blocks later and we see the Rangers. They are taking cover behind a house, but there is only seven of them, and I only see one with the lynx paw. I spot Star Paladin Twinkle’s signature red trim and make my way toward her. Just then a sniper shot comes from an attic to my right, but it isn’t aimed at the Rangers, it strikes a raider across the road in the head. That means...Arrow?

One of the Rangers notices us and points a gun at us, but lowers it immediately and turns to Twinkle, who then looks over at us. “Well, look who’s here! Welcome to the party!” She shouts, gesturing for us to come over. My friends and I gallop between the houses and get behind the one the Rangers are using as cover.

“Hey Star Paladin Twinkle, fancy meeting you here. I heard Discordia was active in the area,” I tell her. As I do so, the raiders and Rangers exchange fire. A few explosions go off on the raider side.

“Ha! You’re correct! We’ve been fighting a large group of them for the last few days. Eberron has been quite pleased. There is about thirty of them remaining, give or take a dozen. We’ve got them on the ropes!” Twinkle declares with a cackle.

“Are Elder Lily and the others moving to flank them?” I ask. Twinkle turns around the corner and lets loose a burst of her minigun. Lightning walks over to me as she does so.

“Elder Lily’s dead,” Lightning says simply. “So is everyone else, we’re all that’s left. It’s damn good to see you, Ratchet. You too, Cygnus, Cora.” He nods at each of us in turn. “I’m sure Arrow has already spotted you. No doubt she’s antsy to come say hi. So, who is this?” He asks, gesturing to Shrill.

“She’s a friend. Left Discordia to help us. I’m glad you and Arrow are alright,” I tell him. He nods and inspects Shrill for a moment.

“Normally, I wouldn’t trust someone who switched sides. But if Ratchet trusts you, I trust you. Let’s save the pleasantries for later,” Lightning says, turning back to the others and starts shooting from around the house.

Twinkle turns back to us. “Like Paladin Lightning said, former Elder Lily died. She was the first one to go when we ran into Discordia three days ago. I’m Elder now, I suppose. Though considering it is just my squad and the two Lynx now, the title hardly matters,” She tells me.

“We’ve no Star or Head Paladin anymore. Considering how small we are, it would just cause confusion. Highest rank under me is my squad’s Paladin. Made Lightning a Paladin too though, to keep some sort of command structure,” Twinkle explains. She shrugs. “Anyhow...Keep firing and listen up!” She declares.

“With these reinforcements, we’ll finish off Discordia in no time, so here is the plan. Knight Arrow and I will keep their attention on us here. Meanwhile, Ratchet and her group will flank around to the right and engage the enemy. Try to go a few houses down and loop around,” She tells me. “Similarly, Paladin Cross will lead the Rangers around to flank left. Got that? Paladin Lightning, signal Arrow of her part,” Twinkle orders.

Lightning makes some gestures towards the house Arrow is in with his hooves. I don’t remember exactly what those gestures mean, but it is probably along the lines of keep shooting. He then nods to who I assume is Paladin Cross and then the Rangers charge across the gap to the house on the left while Twinkle stands in the middle of the gap and shoots her miniguns at the raiders.

I stand there stunned for a moment at the sudden activity. “Uh...yea...We should go too,” I mutter, turning and walking to the right side of the house. “Cygnus, you might want to get some armor on. And probably get something explosive. We got a lot of baddies to get rid of,” I tell them.

We move three houses down from where Twinkle is taking their fire. I try to keep us in cover to avoid getting spotted as much as possible and so far we haven’t be shot at. But considering the constant pur of the miniguns, and Twinkle’s laughter, it isn’t surprising they aren’t paying attention to us. Taking cover on the edge of the third house down near the road, I peek around the corner. The house Discordia is taking cover in is blacked from explosives and Twinkle’s stream of fire is shooting into the windows. Inside the house to the left of that one, I see movement in a window. Then gunfire erupts from it, focusing on Twinkle. Some of the raiders must have moved position.

From here I have a fairly unobstructed view of the two houses they are shooting from, since the road curves on this particular stretch. I come up with an idea as I think of Twinkle. “Hey Cora, can you buck down this wall and get inside the house?” I ask her. She looks at the wall, turns, and bucks it. Cracks develop in the wall, and she bucks it again. This time, a chunk of the wall falls inward. She bucks a few more times and makes a big enough hole to enter through.

“Good. Now, get up into the attic and punch a small hole in the roof. Just big enough so you can get your rifle through it,” I tell her. Since she can use the rifle’s optics instead of her visor to see, she doesn’t need a large hole. Meaning, she can shoot them without exposing herself too much. “Once there, start taking out anyone you can. The three of us will cross the street and make our way towards the enemy,” I explain.

“Now then, what gun do you have, Cygnus?” I ask him. He spits the large weapon into his hooves and says, “An ICS-190 grenade launcher. Think of it as a revolver that shoots grenades. Depending upon what we need, I can shoot smoke, incendiary, high explosive, or airburst shells.” Adding, “I wish I would have gotten the schematics for plasma grenades this thing uses.”

“That’ll work fine,” I tell him. Smoke grenades, hu? “Can you shoot a smoke grenade at the houses they are into give us some cover as we cross the street and Cora gets into position?” I ask him. He nods and rotates the gun’s barrel then steps in front of me and bends around the corner. A *thunk* noise comes from the gun as he comes back around the corner.

“Give it a few seconds to disperse the smoke,” Cygnus tells me. After a while, he nods and says, “Alright, should be good now.” I peek out around the corner, and sure enough a large plume of white smoke is obscuring my sight of the houses.

“Let’s go before the smoke dies down,” I say and start across the street with Shrill and Cygnus right behind me. We carefully make our way closer to the cloud of smoke and the houses Discordia is occupying. As we reach the house next door to the closest Discordia occupied house, we take cover since the smoke is getting thin. Once we are fully behind the house, Cora starts shooting.

“Alright, Shrill, do you think you’re up to sneaking into the back of the house they are in? Cygnus and I will hit the side of the house,” I tell her.

She nods. “No problem. I’ll do my best for you, Ratchet,” Shrill says with a smile. She trots around the side of the house and disappears.

“Now then, Cygnus, let’s go knock on the wall of that house, shall we? Hit the wall with an explosive shell,” I tell him.

“You got it!” He replies, turning the corner and shooting a directly at the house. The grenade explodes against it and opens up a generous hole in the wall. I wait for the smoke to clear and see it opens into a kitchen. The wall Cygnus destroyed had a counter top running along it and part of it is still standing. I see a few raiders inside the kitchen staring back out at us.

“Think you can shoot another round in there? Though, hold off on the incendiary. I really don’t want a repeat of that library,” I mutter.

“I’ll use an airburst then,” Cygnus replies. “And you are the one who started all those fires, I just gave you the bullets,” He adds. Cycling the drum of his gun, he shoots another grenade into the kitchen. I watch it go in and hear the raiders shout. What surprises me is that the grenade explodes in midair, sending shrapnel into the raiders.

“Oh, so that is why it is called an air burst,” I mutter. “Ok, let’s get inside,” I say, trotting briskly towards the house. However some raiders on the second floor of the house start shooting at me. “Eeep! Cygnus! Grenade!” I shout, jumping to the side to avoid the shots. Cygnus shoots another grenade through the window, silencing the raiders.

I brush off the dirt from my lab coat and get back to my hooves. “Thank you, Cygnus. Now then, inside before we get caught in the open,” I say, climbing over the countertops and dropping into the kitchen. Cygnus follows moments later.

Once we gets to his hooves, two more raiders rush us from the door. I quickly point my revolver at the closest and shoot three times. And miss all three shots. Cygnus charges the mare I am aiming at and starts to bludgeon her with the grenade launcher. The other raider closes the gap between us and swings a bat at my head. I move my revolver to block it and it slams into the barrel, knocking it from my magic’s grip. Before I can do anything, the raider swings the bat around again, catching me in the side.

It knocks the wind from me and he winds up for another hit. But before it makes contact with me, Cygnus blocks it with his grenade launcher. “I think a different gun would have been more appropriate,” Cygnus mutters. “I can’t shoot this up close,” He adds. “Think you can, lend a hoof?”

I stumble to my hooves and pull out my knife and throw it at the raider. It embeds itself into their head and after a few moments of struggle, he falls to the ground. “Wait, wait, wait!” I stammer. “I can hit things by throwing a knife?”

Cygnus’s gun disappears along with his armor. “I was probably a fluke. Cover me for a moment while I get my gear back. I’m thinking a shotgun this time around,” he mutters.

“Yea, sure,” I tell him, pulling my knife out of the raider’s head and picking up my revolver. “Maybe I should use knives more,” I say. Cygnus just rolls his eyes as he keeps muttering. I watch the door. A moment later, Cygnus’s armor appears.

“Let’s not risk you messing up trying to use knives. Keep doing what you’ve been doing till you can repeat that knife trick,” Cygnus tells me. Then he starts muttering weapon specifications.

Just then another raider comes through the door. “Homerun, Lolipop, you two kill those fu-” He breaks off as he sees us standing over his dead friends. “Shit,” he says, bringing up his rifle. I level my revolver at the same time, but stop shy of pulling the trigger when I see the knife push through his neck. It slides back through and he falls to the ground, revealing a smiling Shrill behind him. She’s spattered with quite a bit of blood.

“This floor is clear,” She sings. “How about we take the next one?” She suggests.

Cygnus’s shotgun appears and he replies, “I agree.” We leave the kitchen and head to the stairs to the second floor. I can hear gunfire and explosions continue outside. Mixed in with it all is the laughter and yells of Twinkle. Cygnus takes point and begins up the stairs with Shrill and I following behind him.

At the top of the stairs, Cygnus fires off a round, killing a nearby raider. Two more come from around a corner and Cygnus puts two more rounds in one of them as Shrill and I shoot at the other. Both raiders go down quick, despite me not actually getting a single hit.

Stepping over the raiders, Cygnus walks into another room but is immediately sent flying back through the doorway, almost smacking right into me. He slumps against the wall and mutters, “A rocket powered sledgehammer. Great.” Cygnus gets to his hooves as an annoyed looking unicorn mare steps through the door with a hammer in her magic. It has a small rocket on the back of it and a switch which I guess triggers the rocket’s ignition.

She winds up and hits Cygnus square in the side, sending him through the wall and flying outside. “I’ll take this one!” He shouts before thudding on the ground. The mare walks over to the hole in the wall and looks down. She leans to her left as a shotgun blast comes back through.

She clicks her tongue, looks at us, then looks at the doorway she came though. “We’ve got company. Two losers still inside. One I threw outside. He’s pissed me off, so I’m going hunting. Be back in five,” She calls back in an irritated tone. The next moment she steps out through the hole and falls to the ground.

“Should we go help him?” Shrill asks with only a hint of concern in her voice.

I’m about to reply, but see a metal apple roll into the room with us. “We’ve got our hooves full! Down! Down!” I quickly shout, pushing her back down the stairs. The two of us get halfway down before the grenade goes off and we fall the rest of the way, landing tangled at the bottom.

“Ugh,” I groan as I shake my head and open my eyes, only to be greeted by Shrill’s hindquarters in my face. She is laying under me with her face buried in my crotch. I sigh in preparation for the inevitable comment.

“Oh ho, Ratchet, if you wanted some action, you only had to tell me,” Shrill says happily. “But I think we are in a bit of a predicament at the moment.” I feel her head move to look at the stairs. “Hasn’t anyone ever told you, it is rude to peep at two ladies enjoying themselves?” She asks. I turn my head to look at the stairs, and see two bucks standing at the top aiming their guns at us. “Jump forward, would you, darling?” Shrill whispers.

“Don’t call me darling!” I shout as I jump forward, getting past the wall that separates the stairs from the rest of the room and preventing the raiders from hitting me. They open fire and I hear the distinct sound of automatic fire as Shrill rolls away from the stairs while drawing her pistol. She blindly fires a few shots at the two, causing them to hesitate in their fire and Shrill rolls onto her hooves, skidding to a halt and firing two more shots at them. I hear the sound of thumping and then I see one of the bucks hit the floor, dead.

As the remaining buck starts shooting again, Shrill leaps to the side and lands next to me. She gives me a smile as she floats the dead buck’s gun over. It looks like an smg. She checks the ammo and then asks, “Ready?”

“Uh, yea. Let’s?” I stammer. Is it really just me who is a shit shot? That just seems unfair. Shrill dashes around the corner and starts shooting up the stairs, killing the raider at the top. His body slumps against the wall as we climb the stairs once again. I can hear shotgun blast and loud impacts outside mixing with each other. Cygnus and that mare must be fighting still. He’s got the advantage, right?

At the top of the stairs, once again someone walks out of one of the doorways. Just how many raiders are up here? Shrill shoots a few rounds at the buck before the gun starts clicking. Then she throws the gun at him and shoots a few rounds at him with her pistol. He goes down before he has a chance. She picks up his rifle and we enter the closest room.

Three raiders are shooting out of the windows facing the street and two more are discussing something. But the two of them stop talking as we walk in and glance at us for a moment. You know, considering the fighting around them these raiders seem pretty lax. Like it doesn’t involve them. They raise their weapons, a knife and a smg. Shrill and I match them and we start trading bullets as the one with the knife charges us.

I take aim at the one with the knife while Shrill skirts around to the left and keeps the attention of the other. Miss, miss, and the mare with the knife gets point blank. I put my gun against her head and pull the trigger, and miss. The mare jerks her head suddenly, avoiding my shot then stabs me in the side, missing the plates in my barding and penetrating through a vulnerable point in the armor.

I yell out in pain for a moment, then grit my teeth and turn Forgiveness at her again, this time I put it against her temple. Just as I pull the trigger, she jerks her head back, leaving the knife in my side and causing me to miss. But the mare is now unarmed so I try to take another shot at her, but she jumps to the left to avoid my shot. I shoot again, and she jumps back to the right, causing my bullet to hit the wall just past Shrill’s head. Shrill shoots me a concerned glance, but then goes back to her opponent.

“Stop moving around!” I shout, pulling her knife from my side and throwing it at her. It hits her right in the center of the neck and her eyes go wide as she raises a hoof to it before falling over. “Ha! Two for two! Fluke my ass Cygnus!” I declare as I quickly reload my revolver as the three who were shooting out the window up until now decide to finally turn around. Shrill finishes off her opponent as the three of them start shooting at us.

I grab the knife I just threw out of the mare’s neck and holster my gun as I dive to the side. Grabbing my own knife in my magic, I throw both of the knives at the closest raider. One catches him in the side, the other in his muzzle. Four for four! However the hits aren’t enough to kill him, just knock the gun out of his mouth. I quickly run over to him to recover the knives when the raider in the middle’s head explodes. It showers us in chunks of skull, brain, and blood. “Damnit Cora...my lab coat is ruined now,” I mutter.

The other raiders are momentarily caught off guard, giving me the chance to close the gap and pull out the knives. I’m about to hit him again when the whole house shakes. We all stumble as the house tilts a bit. What the hell are Cygnus and that mare doing? Shrill and I recover just moments sooner than the raiders and we finish them off. “What was that?” I ask Shrill.

She shrugs. “Not sure. Sounds like something crashed through the wall again, though,” She tells me. We leave the room and finish scouring the second floor, but don’t find anyone else. The house shakes a few more times during our search. The two of us head downstairs. I’m worried about Cygnus, he should have finished up by now.

Once we hit the bottom of the stairs, I can see why the house has been shaking. Huge sections of wall have been knocked away, including interior walls. Drywall, wood, and insulation are strewn everywhere. In the middle of all the destruction is Cygnus, leaning on the sledgehammer over the mare. He is holding a hoof to his side. “Oh, hey you two. Done upstairs?” He asks as we approach. He sounds pained.

“Yea, that’s all of them. Are you alright though? You don’t look so good,” I tell him. He gives me a smile, picking up the hammer with a hoof and laying it across his back, standing on three hooves.

“Pretty sure I have a few broken ribs. She kept knocking me through the walls. Considering how heavy this hammer is, she was quite nimble on her hooves. I couldn’t get a shot on her,” He explains.

“Here, take this then,” I say, floating over a healing potion. I also take out a roll of magical bandages to wrap my stab wound. Cygnus takes the potion and drinks it. Shrill seems busy wrapping a few bullet wounds of her own.

“Thank you,” Cygnus says after finishing the potion. “But it isn’t going to mend the bones. Does help a bit with the internal and external bleeding though,” He says. “Anyhow, I saw the Rangers outside the house next door while I was getting tossed around. I’ve got a plan to help them, if you want a suggestion, Ratchet,” He tells me.

“Of course. What you got?” I ask him. He moves the sledgehammer off his back and rests the head of it against the floor.

“Let’s drop this house onto the other one. The house is already fairly unstable thanks to my fight, so if I take out the rest of the support on that side, it should fall right over onto the other house. Though, you might want to grab anything off the raiders upstairs before I do so. Sound like a plan?” Cygnus asks.

“Yea, that sounds good. We won’t have to risk anymore injury if we just crash a house into them. Ok, Shrill and I will pick over the raiders upstairs. You rest up down here, alright?” I tell him. He nods and sits down, using the hammer as support.

After a few minutes, Shrill and I finish looting. The two of us wait in the back yard as Cygnus uses the sledgehammer to knock out a few more walls and support beams. He walks to the corner closest to us and knocks out the corner with the hammer. The house begins to teeter and Cygnus comes to stand beside us. In a few moments, the house begins to fall towards the other house. The house almost seems to rip in two is it slams into the still occupied home. I can’t hear anything over the sound of the crashing, but I’m sure there is plenty of screaming that gets drowned out.

When the dust settles, the distinction between the houses has been completely blurred. It is hard to tell where the rubble of one ends and the rubble of the other begins. I don’t hear anymore gunfire but instead quite a bit of groaning and swearing. Shrill walks over to the pile of rubble and shoots a few of the raiders still alive within the chaos. Nothing else makes a sound. Are they all dead now?

Lightning and the Rangers come from around the corner of the now destroyed house while Twinkle comes sauntering towards us from over the rubble. “Nicely done!” Twinkle declares. “Dropping a house on then, why didn’t I think of that?” She chuckles. She doesn’t seem to have a single injury, but her armor is a little dinged up. “That’s all of them! Nicely fought! Eberron has had his fill today!” She shouts.

The Rangers all collect around me, with Arrow and Cora arriving a few moments later. “Glad I could be of help,” I tell Twinkle. It looks like they didn’t suffer any more casualties. “Is this all of the Discordia members that are around here?” I ask.

Twinkle nods. “This was the last of them. When we first arrived, they had around a hundred. We slowly chipped away at their numbers till they pushed us back here. The Vanhoover area should be free of any major Discordia threat now,” She informs me.

“That’s good to hear. Why did you all come out here, anyway?” I ask her curiously. Of all the places they could have gone, why Vanhoover?

“Eh. Lily’s idea. She recalled the Vanhoover Contingent’s location, and thought we should group up with them. We found their bunker easily enough, but they refused to let us in. They even threatened to execute us if we didn’t leave,” Twinkle shrugs. “It really disheartened Lily,” She mutters sadly. “A few days later, we stumbled upon Discordia, and that brings us here.”

“I see. So you guys have nowhere to go now? Are you just going to wander?” I ask.

“Yea. Lily didn’t have a plan past meeting up with the Vanhoover Contingent. I’ve been busy with fighting Discordia, so I haven’t had time to think up a direction for us. I’m quite partial to fighting Discordia though, they did kill almost all of us, after all,” Twinkle says. She takes off her helmet and smiles at me. “Say, you once offered us a place at your lab, right? And you want to fight Discordia, right?” She asks. “Why don’t we work together? I’m sure you could use our help. And it would be nice to have a place to call our own again. If that’s alright with you, that is.”

I nod. “Sure, that sounds great. I still don’t have a solid lead on Grimoire though, but I have a group that joined Discordia spying on them. The only reason we are here is that we were searching for more clues,” I tell her.

“Great!” Twinkle declares. “Then, let me return the favor and tell you something neat. When we first encountered Discordia here, it was a small patrol. We took one of them hostage to interrogate them. You know how persuasive Lightning can be,” She says, nodding to him. “Anyhow, the raider had something interesting to say about where Grimoire spends his time. Apparently they overheard Grimoire talking to their leader. They mentioned Neighagra Falls,” She tells me.

“Neighagra?” I ask, raising an eyebrow. I think for a few moments, but I can’t think of anything near there that would be important. It was just a tourist attraction. Dams had been constructed at the two rivers that flowed from the lake at the bottom of the falls to generate hydroelectric power. It was one of the efforts to try and get us off of coal and the Zebras frequently attempted to destroy them. I recall a month before the war ended, they succeeded in destroying the western dam.

“Do you think he has something in one of the dams?” I ask. Twinkle just shrugs.

“The raider just knew about the location. Nothing specific. I don’t think they even knew what or where it is,” Lightning chimes in. “Trust me, he didn’t know.” If Lightning says he didn’t know, then the raider didn’t. Neighagra, hu? I haven’t been there since spring break my sophomore year of college. Perhaps it is time to check it out again.

“Well, if it is where Grimoire hangs his hat, we should at least check it out. Shall we head back to my lab for now? Let you all rest up? Cygnus also needs to get his ribs looked at,” I tell them.

“Sure thing, Ratchet. But there’s just one thing we need to do first,” Twinkle says. “I’ll be damned if I leave our fallen here to rot. Mind helping us recover their bodies? We’ll bury them with everyone else,” She says, sullenly.

“Thanks,” Twinkle replies. “We’ve been fighting for three days and covered quite a bit of ground, so we have a bit of walk ahead of us. Shouldn’t be any fighting, other than a some wildlife. Alright Rangers, let’s move out! Our fallen aren’t going to pick themselves up!”

+15 Melee Weapons
+2 Small Guns **Small Guns Has Reached Maximum Level (You might hit like a truck when you hit, but your accuracy still sucks)
+15 Repair

Quest Updated:
-Savior
Objective Complete: Talk to Gunsmoke
Objective Complete: Investigate the Vanhoover Suburbs
Objective Complete: Help the Rangers of Stable 36.
Quest Completed!

Fallout Equestria: Icicle

by PlagenShiki

Chapter 24 - Thinning the Herd