Fallout Equestria: The Light Within

by FireOfTheNorth

Chapter 62: Secrets

Chapter Sixty-Two: Secrets

After the destruction of the PRS force at Stable 85, my friends and I returned to Capital City with news that a new settlement was soon to be admitted to the North Equestrian Alliance. By this point, fighting had broken out between the NEA and the PRS, and fortunately it didn’t turn out to be our fault. Our attack on the PRS forces at Stable 85 had been just barely preceded by a clash between Defenders in the northern forest with PRS scouts. Now there were skirmishes going on throughout Vanhoover as the militias of the NEA’s Vanhoover settlements and the Ponies’ Republic of Stalliongrad Expeditionary Force tried to coordinate their actions and counter their opposition; thankfully, no full-scale battles or attacks on settlements had taken place yet.

Naturally, my friends and I headed out to help wherever we could, taking advantage of the speed of the Clinic and the streets the NEA had newly cleared to hop around the city, defending wherever necessary. Whenever possible, we also sought to stop the PRS from setting up more bases. Outposts throughout Vanhoover seemed to indicate that the PRS planned to stay long-term, and looking at a map of the city painted a grimmer picture. The camp of the PRSEF today was vulnerable to attack, mostly relying on numbers, professionalism, and superior equipment in order to deter assault. The way they were setting up outposts, however, seemed to hint at a plan to build a more permanent base of operations right in the heart of Vanhoover.

Four days after the fighting started, when we were back in Capital City to resupply, I was summoned by the Alliance Council, as the delegates of the North Equestrian Alliance had dubbed themselves in order to sound more impressive. I thought I knew what they wanted to talk to me about, until I was told that I was to meet with them alone. There was no reason that my friends, who were also at Stable 85, shouldn’t have been included in talks about the new settlement, but I went alone as asked. It occurred to me as I trotted down the hall of the MAS Hub that maybe I was to be dressed down for imposing extra conditions on Stable 85 in order for them to join, and the delegates didn’t want to do so with the public watching in order to spare my reputation.

“… cannot send more troops at this time,” Victory Sign, the Old Guard’s delegate, was saying as I trotted into the council chambers, “Do not forget, we have been fighting the PRS for years, and this is just the kind of trick they’d pull, drawing our attention here just to snap up all of Stalliongrad.”

“Ah, Doc, we will be with you in a moment,” Maneframe, Neon’s delegate, said as he noticed my presence.

“This can wait,” Major Scepter of the Strip said before anypony could continue the discussion, “We have more important matters to discuss. I move that we table this discussion until later.”

Maneframe didn’t look pleased, but at least it hadn’t been Sediment, his twin from the County of Rain, who’d contradicted him. If it were, he probably would have objected, but he voted along with the other delegates to continue their discussion after they’d spoken with me. It sounded like the Vanhoover ponies were calling for the Stalliongrad settlements to send troops to help here, but without knowing the details, I didn’t want to propose any way to help.

“Doc,” Major Scepter addressed me, though the disparaging way in which she said my name made me uneasy, “When you returned from Sat-Con, you told us that Lord Lamplight was dead.”

“Yes, he is dead,” I said after a moment of silence, when I realized that she wanted a response from me.

As far as I was concerned, Lord Lamplight had died when he’d erased his memories and had his body taken to Stable 85, ready to be reborn as me. He could also be said to have finally died at Sat-Con after the assault, as the alicorns hadn’t been kind to Paladin, the supercomputer with the imprint of his mind.

“A few days ago, a squad of Defenders captured Clear Rivers, Lord Lamplight’s lieutenant,” Major Specter said as she frowned at me, “Hoping to learn if any NLC settlements remained, we questioned him. He had a very different tale to tell. He said that you are Lord Lamplight.”

“I see,” I said, “Well, that’s going to take a lot of explaining.”

And so it did. I explained everything that I’d learned about Lord Lamplight through his memory orbs, and offered them to the delegates to watch them themselves. I told them how I’d awoken in Stable 85 with no memories. I told them everything I could to convince them, as I’d convinced myself, that I had once been Lord Lamplight, but that he and I were now completely separate ponies.

“Sweet Celestia,” Aze swore when I’d finished my testimonial, “I didn’t want to believe it, but you had me fooled all this time. To think that I had you captive on suspicion of working with Mr. Bucke. If only I’d known the truth!”

“It seems that you’ve just incriminated yourself as Lord Lamplight in great detail,” Regulator Boon said gravely.

“I was once, but not anymore,” I said, “Experience the memory orbs and—”

“And what?” Major Scepter demanded, “What good would it do us to take something from your hoof as evidence to exonerate you?”

“Hold on now,” Meridian objected, “If he had truly lost his memory, and never recovered more than what was in these memory orbs, then it is fair to say that Doc is a completely different pony from Lord Lamplight.”

“That’s right!” Sediment said, shocking his brother, who’d also been nodding in agreement with Meridian, “We can’t hold him responsible for Lord Lamplight’s crimes or the crimes of the NLC perpetrated after he became Doc!”

“Maybe,” Scepter said, sounding unconvinced, “But in any case, can we trust him?”

“I am not Lord Lamplight!” I objected, “You know me. I’m Doc, the Wasteland Doctor, if you prefer. I helped build the North Equestrian Alliance to stand against Lord Lamplight’s Northern Lights Coalition.”

“Exactly,” Scepter said, “And why would you do such a thing? Because the NLC couldn’t conquer our settlements and you couldn’t stand to let such ripe fruit remain outside your control? Because the NLC had been taken over by Clear Rivers and Paladin—yes, we know everything—in your absence? We know you returned to Sat-Con, the NLC’s headquarters, before pushing the formation of the NEA. You created one alliance, and it got out of your control, so you created a second in order to destroy it. Is that what the North Equestrian Alliance is? Is it just the Northern Lights Coalition, part two!”

This was worse than I thought, and my estimation of how bad the situation had become was redone with every word that Major Scepter piled on. Could this secret that I hadn’t even kept deliberately lead to the unraveling of the North Equestrian Alliance? I’d been so involved in creating it that now ponies who knew of my past were beginning to question its very existence! Would the whole alliance crumble, now, on the verge of war with the Ponies’ Republic of Stalliongrad? That couldn’t be allowed. The north Equestrian Wasteland couldn’t descend back into the isolation of and squabbles between settlements that had let the raiders pick up the pieces and had led to the threat of the Northern Lights Coalition in that first place. But what could I do? What could I say?

“None of that is true,” I said wearily, “I do not know how to convince you of that. I am not Lord Lamplight, and the North Equestrian Alliance is not the Northern Lights Coalition. Please don’t throw away all the good that has come of this alliance just because of me. If you’re afraid of me trying to seize power, then I’ll stay away from leadership in the alliance. I’ll do whatever is necessary.”

“To let you go off and create a third alliance? I don’t think so,” Aze said cruelly, still believing that I’d fooled him so long ago when I hadn’t even known the extent of the NLC, and hating me for it, “No, we’ll need to keep you close, so you can prove your loyalty to the North Equestrian Alliance.”

“Okay,” I said, “If that’s what it takes.” Unspoken at the end of Aze’s words had been ‘not the North Equestrian Alliance’s loyalty to you.’

“Does that satisfy you?” Maneframe asked angrily of the other delegates.

Looking up, I noticed that the room had split. Boon, Scepter, Aze, Fire Opal, and Victory Sign looked on me with disdain while Screech, Weathervane, Maneframe, Sediment, and Meridian looked favorably on me, with understanding of how things had changed. Chill Berth looked undecided. A split in the alliance, and all on my account. I prayed silently to the Goddesses that I would not be the cause of the downfall of the alliance and the return of the Wasteland I’d emerged into from the Stable. Then, realizing the selfishness in that request, I prayed simply that the alliance wouldn’t break apart, whether I was the cause or not.

“It is sufficient for now,” Major Scepter answered Maneframe’s demand.

“I don’t like waiting,” Aze said, “I want some proof. Is the Ministry of Awesome Hub still uncracked?”

“The Steel Rangers are starting to take notice, so we’ve paused attempts for the moment. We’ve lost several teams of Defenders trying to enter,” Major Scepter reported dubiously.

“Why don’t we see if the Wasteland Doctor can do what they were unable to?” Aze asked.

“What is this?” I asked.

Given what I knew already, I had a good idea what they were talking about, but not why they wanted into the MAw Hub. Usually the rule with Ministry hubs was not to enter them, unless you were in the mood to get assaulted by Wartime technology. This was one of the rules of the Wasteland I had a bad habit of breaking, as the very building we were in at this moment would attest, and it had been the second Ministry hub I’d broken into. There were plenty of secrets about Equestria before the megaspells had fallen to be found in Ministry hubs, but I didn’t think that was what the Alliance Council was after. What I did know was that this was a suicide mission, or at least was seen as one by the council. Well, I’d gotten out of tough scrapes before; I was nothing if not a very fortunate pony.

“As you’re aware, the Ponies’ Republic of Stalliongrad is going to be a tough opponent to face,” Scepter explained, “While digging through the MAS Hub here, we found some information pointing to a weapon that was developed in this building. A lightning-caster, something that would wreak havoc on the PRS forces if it comes to open battle, especially among their power armored soldiers. While our power armor numbers are greater than ever after the battles with the NLC, we are still at a deficit compared to the PRS. This could help turn that imbalance to our advantage.”

“So, you want me to break into the Vanhoover headquarters of Equestria’s Wartime black ops Ministry and steal a weapon?” I asked.

“Will you?” Regulator Boon asked.

“I’ll leave in the morning,” I told the Alliance Council.

Hopefully, I would return from this mission and they’d be convinced that I wasn’t a traitor to the alliance. Or, if I died, that it would still convince them of that. If I died, though, I wouldn’t be a potential threat anymore, and that was probably the outcome for which some of them were hoping. Even if I survived, I had the feeling this wouldn’t be the last I heard about their suspicions.

***

The next morning, as promised, my friends and I set out from Capital City in the Clinic. The Vanhoover Ministry of Awesome Hub was far to the southwest, beyond what had previously been Black Skull territory but was now firmly under the control of the Vanhoover Steel Rangers. We spotted a few on our drive, but they were distant enough that even if they had spotted us, they didn’t pursue. I had to assume that some had spotted the Clinic rumbling across the Wasteland, though, and that would throw a wrench in our plans. If the Steel Rangers knew that we were around, they might come after us, either because they wanted Shining Armor’s power armor back or they suspected that we were here to raid the MAw Hub for Wartime technology. If what the Alliance Council had said was true (and I had no reason to believe it wasn’t), the Steel Rangers were already beginning to suspect them of trying to obtain tech that they considered their own. It wouldn’t be a huge leap for them to suspect us of doing the same thing, especially if they knew how involved I was with the North Equestrian Alliance. We would have to hurry within the hub or risk having the Steel Rangers waiting for us when we emerged.

The MAw Hub was built on an island that jutted from the radioactive ocean a short distance from the end of a long peninsula. A sturdy bridge spanned the gap, but we were only able to drive the Clinic onto it a bit. Two lanes for vehicles had once flanked a pedestrian walkway in the center, but now only the walkway was passable. On the Last Day, most likely, in order to keep the secrets here safe, the vehicle lanes had been destroyed. Detonators had dropped the concrete and metal into the sea while keeping the center path intact. This path wouldn’t be a problem, as it was so narrow that only two ponies could walk side by side on it. It would be easy to defend against any force that was so constrained while also leaving an escape route in case of emergency.

We left the Clinic and trotted down the walkway single file, keeping our eyes peeled in case of ambush. There had been defense turrets in the bridge’s superstructure once, but they’d all been knocked out, likely for many years. They were not what had killed the teams of Defenders who’d come here. There were quite a few skeletons underhoof, with indications on some of them that they’d died from the turrets, but they had the same look as skeletons who’d died when the megaspell had struck Vanhoover. There wasn’t much left of them after 150 years; many had been handled roughly and had whatever they’d been wearing stripped off. A few were still wearing badly damaged military police barding with the Ministry of Morale’s symbol on the chest and flanks. What had the MoM been doing here on the Last Day?

Halfway across the bridge, we passed through a crackling field of energy that had been invisible from the shore. A little way on, there was a fresher corpse on the bridge: a very badly burned griffin, perhaps one from Tartarus who’d accompanied the Defenders. I suspected she’d tried to fly through the energy shield without knowing it was there and had been cooked alive. A nasty way to go, and it made me wonder what secrets besides prototype weapons were kept here that would require such security.

At the far end of the bridge was a parking lot for chariots and auto-carriages, though the majority of the space was taken up by MoM armored vehicles. They were clustered around the main entrance to the facility, which had been locked down with armored shutters, but these were blown open. I ventured a peek inside, and beheld a large room with the statue of a pegasus in flight in the center. All the lights were dead, but the Defenders who’d preceded us here had left lanterns powered by microspark cells along the floor, creating a trail through the darkness. They’d made it this far, at least, so it was probably safe to enter.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this place,” Rare Sparks said as we trotted through the darkened corridors, stepping around dead MoM and MAw employees, and I had to agree with her assertion.

Wandering into any Ministry hub was sure to bring up terrible secrets about the past or life-threatening danger, and sometimes both. With both the Ministry of Morale and Ministry of Awesome here, I was doubly sure we’d turn up some more of the old world’s dirty laundry. Also, taken with the fact that multiple teams of Defenders, the best mercenaries in Vanhoover, had entered the facility never to return, I was certain that there would be danger here. Just in case the MAw tried to pull the same trick as the MoM and use hallucinogenic gas, I’d provided Sage with the gas mask I’d kept from our adventure in the MoM Hub; Rare’s and my power armor would do the job for us, and Zherana didn’t need to breathe. I was sure there’d be more than just hallucinogenic gas, though.

We came across the first group of Defenders fairly quickly just by following the lanterns they’d placed. Some were piles of glowing ash, and others had been severely scorched. The culprits were nearby—larger than normal sentry bots with powerful magical energy weapons mounted on them, as well as empty missile pods. The bits and pieces of MoM agents we’d find later would testify to where the missiles had gone. The sentry bots were both destroyed, probably by the next group of Defenders, who’d continued the line of lanterns deeper into the MAw Hub.

Before we went any deeper, I wanted to make sure that we were following the right path. We turned aside to break into a promising office labeled Sector Administrator. The sliding door was sturdily sealed, but between Rare and I, we were able to force it open using our power armor. A magical energy turret started firing on us from the ceiling as soon as the door was opened, so I used SATS while it was cooling down between bursts and blasted it with my magical energy rifle. Sad chimes and beeps sounded as it went offline, sparks shooting out of the busted carapace. Carefully, I set a hoof into the room and looked up. As I’d suspected, there was a second magical energy turret directly above the door to catch intruders from behind, in a configuration I hadn’t seen before but suspected would emit a blast similar to a shotgun. I took it out with a couple bursts from my rifle before it could fire a single shot.

As well as posters with slogans like Wipe the Stripes and Bash the Barbarians, there were several filing cabinets and a desk with three terminals. I pushed the chair away from the desk and got to work hacking into the center terminal. It was difficult to get in, but not impossible, and I was feeling pretty good until I saw that I had only managed to get access to what the particular pony who’d once inhabited this office was allowed to see. So, I went to work hacking into the maneframes themselves to get more information. I had an advantage from already being logged in as a legitimate user, but it was still some of the toughest security I’d ever faced. Eventually, though, I managed to do it and gained access to the entirety of the MAw Hub’s database.

While the weapon we were searched for was called in common speech and any unofficial capacity a “lightning-caster,” it had a special Ministry project designation (two, actually: one from the MAS and one from the MAw), and I had to sort through the files until I found a likely candidate. Under IMWP-607#351#776/68PH0G55C Directed Electromagnetic Discharge Weapon System 0.1.13, I found links to everything I could ever want to know about the lightning-caster. There were schematics and project updates, as well as notes and a record of when and where the lightning-caster was moved throughout the MAw Hub. I selected the last of these options and scrolled through the log. It had been removed from Armory 3 on the Last Day by a pony named Bric-a-Brac, though there was no record of where they’d taken it.

Luckily, I was able to search for an employee’s location (or the location of their ID badge, at least). The MAw Hub was arranged like a wheel with a thick rim connected to a hub in the center by six spokes. According to the employee search, Bric-a-Brac was located in the hub, close to the spoke we were nearest to. We had to go deeper into the Ministry hub, but at least it was a nearly straight shot to our destination.

We returned to the hallway and followed the lanterns left by the second team of Defenders, which led off in the direction we needed to go. Either they too had some inkling of where the lightning-caster was located, or they had just gotten lucky. We encountered the body of only one more Defender while still within the outer ring of the MAw Hub, shot by turrets that their comrades had taken out. When we reached the corridor that led down a spoke toward the hub, though, the lanterns went in two directions. It seemed the second team had gone one way and the third another. We followed the path that led directly toward the hub, a relatively narrow passageway, until the lanterns came to an abrupt halt.

Defenders lay scattered on the floor, or it would be more accurate to say that pieces of Defenders lay scattered on the floor. They’d all been cut into two or three pieces, and incredibly cleanly at that. Flesh, bone, and combat armor were all sliced evenly, certainly the work of magic rather than some physical blade. Noticing the end of a rifle’s barrel lying among the blood and body parts and not seeing any rifle for it to match, I levitated a bottle of Sparkle~Cola out into the passageway. Nothing happened until it was nearing the edge of the range I could reliably levitate it, when several energy fields suddenly sprung up down the length of the corridor, slicing the bottle in two. I dropped it in alarm, but before it shattered, I was certain that both the glass and metal cap had been sliced cleanly by the energy field.

Sage levitated a bottle of her own out into the hallway, but she also projected a shield around it. When the energy fields sprung into being, the bottle remained untouched. She levitated it back to us and examined it to be sure it was undamaged before stepping out herself into the corridor. When the energy fields sprung up again, they didn’t slice through her flesh, as I feared, but were held back by her shields. Shielding a bottle was entirely different from protecting an entire pony, so she couldn’t defend herself from all angles at once. Slowly she advanced down the corridor, checking with cans of beans and a second smaller shield which direction each energy shield sprang from. She made it through mostly unscathed, though one field did manage to slice off the tip of her tail when they were closely spaced and she couldn’t protect the number of shields necessary to totally protect herself. On the other side of the deadly corridor, she fiddled with the control panel and managed to shut the traps off. I still checked with a Sparkle~Cola bottle before continuing across. On the other side of the deadly corridor, she fiddled with the control panel and managed to power down the fields. I still checked with a Sparkle~Cola bottle before continuing across.

We hadn’t made it very far before we came upon the next obstacle. Thankfully, it wasn’t of the kind that would kill us instantly. The Ministry of Awesome had been founded by a pegasus and many of its employees were pegasi, so this wouldn’t have been an obstacle to them, but the floor was gone. In its place were fluffy clouds that none of our party could walk on without falling through. Zherana bent down and stuck her head through to confirm that beneath the clouds was empty space that extended down Celestia-knows how far. We could’ve turned back to seek another spoke, but I doubted the others would be different.

Once again, it was Sage to the rescue. With her magical shields, she was able to carry us across the gap, one quadruped at a time. Even Rare and I were able to make it across this way in our power armor, so long as we didn’t move around too much.

The rest of the way to the center of MAw Hub was pretty typical, as far as Ministry defenses went. There were turrets both magical and mundane, including some that launched grenades like Rare’s power armor. There were robots with missile launchers and magical energy miniguns. Fortunately for us, many of these defenses had been dealt with by the MoM operatives who’d been here before us. As we trotted through yet another scene of ponies who’d killed each other, nearing the location of Bric-a-Brac, I noticed a small recorder sitting on the floor. It was embossed with the Ministry of Morale’s symbol and seemed to have taken some damage in the fighting. Curious, I set it up to play both recordings stored on it.

“Operative Resolute’s Log: Twenty-Third of Fading Light, 0428 Hours. Operation Signal Break will commence in two minutes,” the cold voice of Resolute emanated from the recorder’s small speaker, “All our investigation has followed the shipments from the zebra empire here. The Ministry Mare has decided that not even the Ministry of Awesome should be allowed to keep secrets from the Ministry of Morale. We will seize the Ministry of Awesome Hub here in Vanhoover as a preemptory strike to cripple the Ministry across Equestria in follow-up raids. I will be leading this assault and will seize and document all assets. Ministry of Awesome personnel to be considered incredibly hostile and shot on sight. End of recording.”

One Ministry attacking another, and on the Last Day of all days. Equestria was about to be consumed in megaspell fire, but the Ministry of Morale was attacking fellow Equestrians. The next recording clicked on.

“Update to log: 1022 Hours. The Ministry of Awesome personnel are putting up a stiffer resistance than expected; we’ve taken significant casualties. We are nearing our objective. I see now why the Ministry Mare was so insistent on capturing the Vanhoover Hub first. The Ministry of Awesome has a zebra megaspell, perhaps more than one. These traitors cannot be tolerated. I’ve given the order to seize and execute Ministry of Awesome personnel wherever they can be found in Vanhoover but have received no reply. We will continue to press on and recover the megaspells before they can be deton—”

The voice was cut off by the sound of magical energy rifle fire, followed by a screech, a crackling, and finally silence. I looked around at the corpses on the floor, but none of them looked like the Resolute I’d seen in his and Midnight Aurora’s photos, or Shining Armor’s, or the memory orb when he’d shot me, and there were no piles of ash nearby. Had he survived and forgotten the recorder or died further in? I supposed time would tell. Not that I would be broken up if I never found out what had happened to him. From everything I’d seen, Shining Armor’s son-in-law and the father of the leader of the alicorns at Sat-Con was not a pleasant pony.

“Found it!” Rare Sparks exclaimed down the hallway and she galloped ahead, the hooves of her Steel Ranger armor loud on the floor.

Tucking the recorder in my saddlebags, I followed after her, as did Sage and Zherana. I quickly spotted what had evoked her explanation: the lightning-caster lying on the ground near the corpse of the pegasus I assumed was Bric-a-Brac. There was something odd, though. Rare Sparks was frozen mid-canter, unmoving.

“Rare!” I yelled, and galloped after her to see what was wrong.

***

I stumbled forward slightly, though there was nothing to trip on that I could see, and I looked over at Rare. She too was recovering from a stumble, though there was nothing to trip her up either.

***

Rare Sparks was also looking at me in confusion now as I nearly stumbled again and took another step forward.

***

I stumbled a third time, and Rare Sparks was suddenly gone, vanished!

***

I tripped again, but this time I was unable to regain my balance, because Rare was holding onto my hindquarters. With her iron grip, she pulled me backwards and we crashed to the floor.

“What happened?” I asked in confusion as Sage ran up to me.

“Thank Luna!” she proclaimed as she threw her forelegs around my armored neck, “It took forever to get the two of you out of that! You and Rare were both frozen in time.”

“Frozen in time?” I asked, looking back and forth between Sage and Rare, who shrugged as if to say that it was as good an answer as any.

“Yes, the center of this facility is surrounded by a bubble of frozen time,” Sage explained, “The control room was outside of it, thank the Goddesses, so I was able to shrink the bubble. Still, your momentum kept carrying you back into it, so we had to time things just right to pull you back out.”

As bizarre as it was, it made sense in context. In my excitement to get the lightning-caster and get out of here, I hadn’t noticed how strange it was that Bric-a-Brac’s corpse still looked fresh, not skeletonized like the rest of those who’d died in the MoM raid. Apparently it was outside the bubble now, and Zherana trotted over and retrieved the lightning-caster.

“That’s quite a trap,” I commented, finding it strange that something so powerful would be used just to stop intruders.

“Oh, it’s not. You should see the control room,” Sage said hurriedly as she released me.

Following Sage and Zherana, we headed to the control room a few floors up. There were tons of control panels and terminals, many with dire-looking error warnings, arranged around a room that had a wall of windows angled downward. A green-yellow glow was coming through the windows, and I trotted up to them to get a better look at what they were for observing. There was a huge open room down below, and I had to do a double-take when I saw what was in the center of it. There was a zebra megaspell like the one that had crashed in Burnside down below, frozen in the midst of detonation. Balefire was surging outward, throwing away and vaporizing the frame that had been around it and contained it. Catwalks and metal flights of stairs crisscrossed the room, and many of them had ponies in the midst of shooting each other on them. Through my binoculars, I could spot Resolute down below, hurling a metal apple at a group of MAw operatives near the megaspell detonation. So, he hadn’t died, though he’d come extremely close.

“One of the MAw employees had the idea of extending the frozen bubble outward,” Sage explained, gesturing to a skeleton seated in an office chair, “They were running tests on containing a megaspell when the MoM began their raid.”

“Warning. Temporal Stasis Field is collapsing. Radius is currently at 1000% of baseline,” a mare’s voice announced over the speaker system in an unconcerned manner.

“Yeah, there is that,” Sage said, “We should get out of here now.”

Her tone told me there was no time to sit around and ask more questions, but she explained on the way as we retraced our steps.

“In order to free you two, we had to cause the field to decay, and there was no way to reverse the process. Once it drops to 60% of baseline radius, the megaspell is going to start to break free, and after that it’ll just get worse.”

Back we went, through the central hub and to the spoke that would take us to the outer ring. It was a struggle not to move as Sage transported us across the gap of clouds as the speakers overhead counted down and announced the collapse of the temporal stasis field at every change by 100%. Sage had also used a lot of her energy in transporting us across in the first place, and her shields were smaller and moved more slowly this time. Still, we made it across, which was the important thing.

We galloped through the corridor back down the killing hallway and over the bodies of Defenders that had been sliced up. We were nearly through when the lights suddenly came on and the energy fields sprang to life. They’d reactivated. Rare Sparks barely got a scream out before she was sliced in three.

“Rare!” I yelled, running back at her as the energy fields deactivated.

They’d cut right through armor and flesh like they were nothing. She was lying on the ground in several parts, injured so badly that no healing or regenerative potion would ever save her. Really, it was a mercy she’d died so quickly. Zherana grabbed my tail and managed to pull me back a spit second before the energy fields came back on and would have sliced my muzzle off. Still, I strained to go to my friend.

“I know!” Sage said as she jumped in front of me and stared me down, tears in her own eyes, “But we have to go!”

“Warning. Temporal Stasis Field collapsing. Radius is currently at 200% of baseline,” the speakers overhead said, snapping me out of my overwhelming urge to rush to Rare.

Regretfully and painfully, I turned around, and we continued our flight out of the MAw Hub. We ran back past the first group of dead Defenders and through the darkened lobby with the statue of Rainbow Dash. We galloped across the bridge as fast as our legs would carry us. We piled into the Clinic and took off, pushing the motor to the limit. I stripped off my power armor as fast as I could, glancing morosely at the rack that Rare Sparks would never use again, and climbed up into the cab of the truck with Sage and Zherana. I closed my eyes as the megaspell went off and opened them again after the Clinic finished shaking from the shockwave. In the rearview mirror, I could see an ugly green cloud rising to the sky, marking where the MAw Hub had been … and marking where Rare Sparks had died.

[Max Level Reached]
New Quest: Lightning and Thunder – Return the lightning-caster to the Alliance Council.