• Published 12th Jul 2012
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Fallout Equestria - The Code of Honor - FireStorm2247



After losing her stable, a surface-born pegasus, Nova, fights alongside her fellow survivors to make a new life in the Equestrian southeast.

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Chapter 14: Outsider's Touch

Author's Note:

Alrighty then. Took awhile to get through all the real-life stuff that took place over the past couple months, but things are finally settling down. And so, finally, here is the next chapter of FOE: COH. As a warning, this chapter is very slow in terms of progression, as it only covers events in a time period of roughly two to three hours in the story. It is my hope that this will not bother anyone who reads the chapter, and that it will still be enjoyed regardless. At this point, I'm also attempting to start weaving together a couple of unique aspects for this story, as you will find at the end of this chapter. With all of the side stories in this group, it's harder to make your own unique material, so this is one of my first shots at it. And, as a bit of a sidenote, the next chapter will bring up the biggest challenge both to me as a writer and to Nova as a character, and this too is hinted at around the end of this new chapter. Read carefully, and you will see. Again, despite the slow progression of events, I hope this chapter is enjoyed. Carry on, my friends.

Chapter 14: Outsider’s Touch

“Idle hooves tend to get blown off around here. Keep moving.”

“Hey. Don’t fall behind, outsider.”

I felt as one of my guard’s rifles jabbed me in the side, snapping my attention away from the waiting gate up ahead as I matched my pace with the others in the line. Blake and I were at the back as we were marched towards Buckley Air Force Base, with Gunny at the front under watch by a guard of four ponies, double the number of those watching the rest of us. The amber mare who had been giving orders to the others was in the lead of our group, and as my focus returned to our current predicament, I could hear as she and Gunny talked.

“So, who’s this Shimmer that we’re going to go and see?” my friend asked.

“Shimmer is our leader, our Eldest.” the mare answered, looking over her shoulder at him as they walked. “She’s led the people of Buckley Air Force Base for many years, and has lived over twice as long as that. Her age and experience in the wasteland has given her great wisdom, and that’s why we’re taking you to her.”

“Many years?” Gunny asked in return. “How long has this base been inhabited?”

“A long time, outsider.” the mare responded. “Longer than anypony in the outside world might think.”

“Ma’am, are you sure you want to be telling things to these strangers?” one of Gunny’s guards voiced, his eyes narrowing as he looked upon my friend.

“Don’t worry.” the amber mare replied. “I think they know better than to start something.” She was definitely sure of herself… and really, why wouldn’t she be?

“I-I don’t suppose… that there’s any chance we could just leave?” Blossom then voiced meekly, keeping in line behind Gunny and walking close.

“No.” the amber leader curtly answered, facing forward again as she added, “First, our sniper found you on that hill, scouting out the base, and then you all made it past the barrage. You’ve investigated our home, survived our defenses, and now you’ve seen our faces. Orders were that if an outsider survived the artillery, then they were to be brought in. Leaving now isn’t an option you have, and if you try to run, you will be fired on again.” She swung her head back around to look at Blossom once more, eyes set in a firm and warning stare. “And I don’t think you or anypony with you wants to go through that again.”

“Your barrage cut us off when we tried to go back the way we came.” Raemor voiced with a hard look.

“Yeah.” Blossom added nervously. “If you hadn’t fired on us, we would’ve just gone back.”

The leader only looked ahead again, this time for good. “That doesn’t mean the dirt on my hoof. What you outsiders would’ve done isn’t my problem. You’re all here, now. That’s my problem.”

At those words, Blossom only looked away, ears pinned back. I could see the tension in her stride as we neared the gate, tension that was amplified tenfold with Blake. Looking down at him, I could see as he nearly missed an occasional step in his walk, how he shook as he tried to keep up with me… oh Goddesses, he looked utterly miserable… “Blake…” I lowered my head down and nuzzled him along the side of his face, and he looked up at me in return with fearful eyes, eyes that nearly made me shed a tear. I’d never seen Blake so shaken up before, not even during the evacuation of 181, or during our fight in the Boulder Field, the Forward Post, or even in Hopeville… this was new to me, and this kind of fear wasn’t something that I wanted to see, nor was it something that he deserved to deal with… “I’m so sorry…”

However, my little brother, bless his brave heart, shook his head as he tried to work up a good smile. “I’m okay, Nova. I’m not hurt.” he replied. “And… and we’re still together right now. That’s what matters, right?” Looking down at him, I could see a light in his eyes, that childhood spark that the wasteland hadn’t claimed. It was still there even after barely dodging death… death resulting from an experience that I was responsible for… I’d almost killed him by letting him come with me… At that moment, seeing him smile was heartwarming, but at the same time, it sent an icy chill into my heart and mind both, and I could only manage a nod with a smile of my own in reply before looking forward again.

Up ahead, the first squad of Buckley ponies who had confiscated our weapons had already passed through the gate and were heading onto the left-side runway, walking towards the three massive hangers looming deeper within the base. At the gate itself, another assembly of ponies was gathering, splitting into two groups and gathering around the two sheet-metal watchtowers that flanked the entrance. Some of these ponies were armed and armored in the same fashion as our escorts, but the majority were completely lacking in weapons and were unarmored in any form of combat barding. They were currently being kept away from the gate by the guards, but more of them were flocking in from all over… there had to be at least fifty ponies by the gate so far… and I had no doubt that they were coming to see us with their own eyes.

A moment later, and the cracked concrete of the pre-war road merged into the entrance lane of the base. We were marched single-file past the gate, and just as Blake and I cleared it, the amber mare that led our line came to a stop, our escorts following her example and stopping us with them. Right away, I was nudged forward, and my friends and I were gradually herded into a cluster before we were once again surrounded by a ring of the Buckley guardsponies. No longer moving, it was easy for me to hear more chatter from the assembled crowd, the whispers my ears could pick up asking the same questions of how we managed to survive the barrage and why we were being let into their home. Some of the voices that I could hear didn’t sound very friendly either, and as I looked around at the many eyes that were staring upon me with curiosity, I could see more than a couple pairs among them that were glaring suspiciously.

I instinctively pulled Blake closer with a protective foreleg, the young colt likewise uneasy as he looked away from the crowd and down at the ground. “T-they’re all staring…” he nervously mumbled.

“It’ll be okay, Blake.” I whispered back, lowering my head down next to his to try and keep my baby brother calm while intently searching among the crowd… seeing if one of them was suddenly going to make a move. “We’re just here to see their leader. They won’t hurt us.”

“Everypony!” Suddenly, a buck’s voice called through the chatter, cutting the noise down to nearly nothing in a split second, and I snapped my eyes forward. “Please leave this area immediately. Mother Shimmer and Buckley security will deal with this situation. Please, return to your homes and your errands.” The strong voice that quelled the crowd belonged to a lone stallion approaching us from Buckley’s twin runways. He was a stout earth pony, his coat a pale red and his mane and tail a solid, dark green. A suit of blue and black combat armor adorned most of his body, similar to the other combat rigs I had seen already. It lacked the black cloak I had seen on most of the others’ suits, but like the amber mare who brought us in, his armor’s chest plate was adorned with several medals of shiny bronze, copper, and silver, a couple of them even gold. He was highly decorated, and if that wasn’t enough of a sign to indicate a position of leadership, the fact that the two crowds were beginning to disperse in response to the order made it clear that this stallion was important. Still, as the unarmed residents and a majority of the security detail obeyed the order and headed farther into the base, many still passed looks over their shoulders at us, so many that I found myself glaring before the same stallion spoke up again. “Archer reported seven contacts… and yet seven outsiders are here with us now.” the buck said, sighing as he added, “Either they all know how to take care of themselves and each other, or we’ve got some extra work ahead of us on the training field.” I looked back to the newcomer, seeing as he regarded my friends and I with critical brown eyes, his face set into a thoughtful frown.

“Is there something wrong?” the amber mare asked him.

“Mother Shimmer sent me out here to give you some new information. I’ll explain on the way.” the buck answered, nodding towards the runways.

“Let’s keep moving.” the amber mare ordered, to which our escorts quickly nudged us back into line before we begun to head deeper into the base, the entrance gate behind us rattling closed and locking us in. “So what’s going on?” the mare then asked, leading us onto the right-side runway.

“Do you remember that incident two weeks back?” the buck asked back. “That day when Marlena snuck out of the base and headed outside?”

“Yeah… what about it? She came back just a few days afterwards.” the amber mare replied.

“Mother Shimmer believes that Marlena might know one or more of these outsiders. Marlena’s on her way too, so she’ll meet us inside. ” The buck looked over his shoulder at us as we continued down the runway. “You can see that because of this possibility, Mother Shimmer’s got a new interest in meeting this lot.”

The leader mare likewise looked back at us, one eyebrow cocked in surprise. “I thought Marlena escaped on her own?”

The buck, however, shook his head as the two looked forward again. “No. Marlena was rescued.”

We were steered off the pavement of the entry lane and out into the dirt median between the two runways. Up ahead was a single-story structure, much smaller than all of the other buildings on base, that sat nestled in between the two runways. Two unicorn guards were stationed on either side of the steel double-doors that made the building’s entrance, and as we approached, they stepped away from the doors and gave a quick salute before telekinetically opening the entry. “Marlena’s already inside, commander. They’ll be waiting for you in the silo.” one of the guards stated, looking at the pale red buck leading us forward who gave a nod in return. However, just as we were about to enter, I caught sight of something on the wall, something that had been previous blocked by the guard stationed to the left of the doors. It was a sign, a green metal signboard bolted into the stone wall of the building… and though the old white lettering had considerably faded, I could still make out enough of the shapes to see just what exactly this building was.

Buckley AFB Balefire Missile Silo Entrance. Level 5 Authorization Required.

“You have a balefire missile??” I exclaimed, my verbal outburst causing the entire line to halt in surprise and set their eyes upon me.

Grace was the first to respond, as equally shocked as I was. “What??”

“Hey!” I jerked and nearly stumbled as a sharp rap on the back of my head kept me from speaking any other words. “Keep your voice down, outsider!” one of my guards ordered.

“Everypony calm down!” the amber mare spoke up, trotting back along the line as her subordinates came to a quick attention. The mare continued walking until she drew up in front of me, eyes narrowed. “And as for you, outsider, relax.” she said. “If we actually had a genuine balefire missile, the most destructive weapon ever made by ponykind, do you really think we’d be taking a bunch of outsiders right to it?”

“I… oh…” I found myself flushing at my own exclamation.

“No, we don’t have one. Not anymore, anyway.” the amber mare said, turning away with a roll of her eyes. “Now, until Shimmer decides if you can be trusted or not, I’d prefer if you’d stop talking.” I didn’t make any reply, too embarrassed at my mistaken assumption, which was the only response that the amber mare needed to return to the front of the line.

From just inside the silo entrance building, I could see the amber mare’s companion as he waved a hoof to us. “Come on, let’s not keep Mother Shimmer waiting any longer.”

“Move.” My guard’s rifle jabbed me in the flank, forcing me forward as we resumed our march into the building.

The entrance lobby was only a small square reception room, with two half-circle desks inside, one against the left wall, and the other in between two doors. Both of them were currently open, and each bore a small label plaque reading Launch Control. But instead of heading straight, we were ushered right, coming face to face with a reinforced steel bunker door, beside which was a wall-mounted terminal, glowing that familiar monochrome green light. Above the top of the door’s frame, a small security camera, currently active, swiveled over to us with its red light blinking under the circular lens. I could hear the gears of the focus optics working as we waited in the lobby, and only a moment later, a wheel on the center of door begun to spin, releasing what sounded like several heavy locks before the door came open, vertically splitting in half and folding once upon itself before disappearing into either side of the doorframe.

Beyond the door was a long and well-lit hallway of flat concrete, with a high ceiling supported by steel beams, and a wide lane to walk on. The first portion of the tunnel stretched in a moderate downward slope before eventually leveling out further in, and another sign just up ahead indicated that this service tunnel led straight to Buckley’s balefire missile silo. With another command to our escorts, the Buckley commander took the lead once again, and we were ushered into the tunnel in silence. Throughout the passageway, there were no additional chambers or hallways. In fact, this tunnel was absolutely void of almost any object, the exception being the bright light coming from the spaced light bulbs along the ceiling, casting a full and steady glow throughout the entire tunnel. It was then that I realized-

“It’s amazing that you have actual electricity here.” Shore remarked from further ahead, speaking my thoughts aloud.

“Buckley has a few measures of providing electrical power, outsider.” one of Shore’s escorts replied, the mare’s comment brief.

“In the heartland, and especially the Hoof, electrical light sources were a rare luxury.” Raemor recalled composedly, nodding to himself as he looked over another passing light bulb.

“The biggest city in the southeast, Challenger, has to resort to candles and lanterns.” Gracie chimed in. “Even in Hopeville, all we have are our flashlights.”

“So, you bunch are from all sorts of different places out there huh?” the amber mare asked, looking back at us from over her shoulder. “We heard about a town by that name. Last report that came in said it was empty. I guess that means you’re all a bunch of new arrivals in the town.”

“Report?” I asked.

“We know a bit about the region without making contact with any of the settlements or factions that live within it. We have to know what’s going on out there for our own safety.” the amber mare replied, facing forward once again, and thus ending the little conversation that had taken place. But by then, we were approaching the other end of the tunnel, another one of the heavy reinforced doors coming into view. Even before we arrived on the doorstep, the entrance begun to open, the door collapsing and folding into the walls to reveal another chamber beyond - the silo itself.

One by one we entered, stepping out onto a metal balcony. Right away, my attention was drawn to the far wall, and what I thought had been just a normal wall stretched upward… and up, and up, all the way until I was looking at a circular steel ceiling that towered above me, easily five to eight stories high if not more. This was undoubtedly the silo door, and it looked as if it would open into two half-circles - two massive steel slabs that sealed the silo from above, evident by the thin vertical split down the center. Now that I looked, I saw that the entire silo was circular and quite wide, the walls likewise made of steel and spaced with operational fans that spun slowly behind their protective fences. This circular shape made the silo from the top to the base, which was below the catwalk that hugged the silo wall, the same catwalk we now tread upon. It was part of a whole array of connected metal walkways that wove around the silo, stairs leading up to other walkways at higher levels, some of which extended platforms out over the silo, undoubtedly to allow repair teams to reach and maintain the huge balefire rocket that had once been stored here.

“This way.” the commander buck then ordered, steering us left toward a stairway just ahead. Unlike the others that led higher up the silo walls, these stairs led to the very base of the chamber, and as we were herded forward, I could see the floor of the silo over the guardrails. Down below, arranged in two tiers, was a small yet homey living arrangement that spanned most of the steel floor. On the top tier of the silo floor, two unblemished couches and a small table in between them were arranged just outside the bottom of the stairs. Near to those were a pair of tall wooden cabinets sitting one beside the other, both nestled up against the silo wall. Just to the right of the cabinets was a bookshelf complete with two full rows of preserved books, undoubtedly pre-war, and next to it was a writing desk, a number of papers lying strewn around an active terminal, glowing that familiar green monochrome glare. With the desk came a trio of filing cabinets, as well as another lounge composed of two other couches placed together in an ‘L’ formation, along with a separate cushy chair and another table. The bottom tier of the silo floor, connected to the upper level by a short flight of metal stairs, contained a queen-size mattress at its very center, likewise looking remarkably clean and unspoiled; it was even complete with its own blanket and pillow set. Next to one corner of the bed was a nightstand with a metal lantern and a communications radio atop it, along with another book and a small file folder. And sitting against the front of the mattress was a light-blue trunk, closed and secured with a complicated locking mechanism.

All and all, the setup looked to be a very cozy living space… even if it was arranged at the bottom of an empty missile silo. However, what caught my attention on the floor of the silo wasn’t the furniture. There was already a pony down there, but when my eyes fell to the Buckley citizen below, I froze with an involuntary gasp. In my time on the surface, I had once seen zombie ponies when our Stable 181 survivors had found and began to secure Hopeville. Though that had been the only time in which we had to deal with those mindless monsters, I still remembered fighting off a whole horde of the flesh-eating creatures, and I still remembered losing that security mare, her stomach ripped open and her guts strewn about her… those memories came rushing back as my eyes beheld the pony below. Facing the blue trunk, examining the metal lock, was what had once been an earth pony. But almost all of this pony’s hair and skin had fallen off, dead flesh exposed and rotted down to a disgusting dark brown color, clashing with patches of sickly green, red, and yellow. There was hardly a tail left on this pony, and along the back of the pony’s neck, only colorless patches of what was once a mane stayed attached. What was even more bizarre, however, was the fact that this pony’s very body emitted plumes of dark green smoke from literal splits in its flesh, long cracked scars that looked to be slowly burning even as I stared; this pony was, as Lucky Hallion had put it, a ghoul.

Unfortunately, my shock had caught the attention of my escorts as well as the very pony I was looking at. “Hey! Don’t look at her like that!” I felt my guard’s rifle smack me rather hard in the back of the head, making me stagger out of my trance as he added with a growl, “That pony’s our leader, so show some respect, outsider.”

“Please child, it’s quite alright.” an old and grating voice called, bringing my attention back to the ghoul pony below; she was looking up at us. “Bring them here so I might speak with them.”

At her order, we were swiftly guided back on track, and we descended the staircase to the base of the missile silo. As we stepped onto the metal floor, we were ushered into a line by our escorts, the seven of us coming to stand side by side and facing the ghoul as she ascended the stairs from the first tier and approached. Right away, both the commander buck and the amber mare trotted over to stand at her flanks, completely indifferent to the foggy plumes of green haze that emitted from the ghoul’s decayed body. Silence, bristling with tension, lingered between everypony in the silo as the ghoul came to a stop and carefully studied over my friends and I, her bright and nearly glowing green eyes focused with such concentration that I felt as if she was weighing our very souls. Something about those eyes, still full of life despite the crumbling form around them, told me that this ghoul was somepony not to be trifled with. And yet at the same time, there was a glimmer of authentic interest, and even concern, behind them as she studied our group of ‘outsiders’, the newest arrivals to her home. I could see all of this as those eyes fell right upon my own, and for a moment, the two of us stared… only three seconds locked under that gaze, and I surrendered, a slight quake passing through my entire body as that stare lingered on me… Something about the ghoul made my eyes dart between her and the far wall… and eventually, I found myself lowering my eyes to the floor, bowing my head in both fear and respect; I dared not offer any sort of challenge to her, this ghoul who must’ve been Mother Shimmer.

But only after another moment of silence, she finally spoke, saying, “Welcome, outsiders. When I heard Buckley speak, I held high hopes that you would make it to our walls.” When I looked back up, I was surprised to see the ghoul smiling at us, a welcoming, albeit yellow and crooked, gesture of genuine warmth. “This meeting has certainly been a long time coming. I’ve been waiting a good six years for ponies from the wastes to come along and visit.”

In that moment, I found myself transitioning from only minor surprise to complete and utter confusion, and when I looked towards my friends, I found them exchanging glances among each other, undoubtedly sharing the same sentiments. “Begging pardon, but you didn’t exactly roll out a red carpet for us.” Gunny replied first, voice bordering between anger and curiosity. “That, and we were on the verge of leaving before the attack cut off our escape.”

“Yes. If you don’t mind me saying so, you certainly need to work on making a better first impression on us ‘outsiders’.” Gracie added coolly, winning immediate glares from a number of our escorts.

Shimmer, however, only continued to smile, nodding understandingly as she looked between my two friends, taking in their words. “What you faced out there today is one of our greatest forms of protection.” she explained. “Those howitzers of ours keep us sheltered from the outside world, preventing any outsiders who might cause us harm from entering our beloved home and damaging or destroying what we shelter.” Again, Shimmer looked us all over from left to right, and as her eyes settled on me again, she continued, adding, “But when I see all of you, I see something very different from the common judgment my youngers have placed upon those who live outside. I can tell, simply by having these guards with us as I speak to you, that not many of my ponies believe me now. But I think that it was the howitzers, and your surviving the bombardment, that provided the chance to show that there’s something special about the seven of you.”

I couldn’t help but look away again, this time because of the words she spoke, words that I couldn’t quite piece together. According to Shimmer, she had been hoping for an outsider to come to their home… but at the same time, Buckley had been shooting at, and likely blasting to bits, anypony from the wasteland that came into range of its guns… “But… that doesn’t make any sense.” I voiced cautiously. “If you wanted an outsider to come to this place, why would you prevent them from coming by killing them before they could reach the gate?”

“The wasteland is a dangerous place, child. Everypony here knows that through their own experiences, and I know that you all do as well.” Shimmer replied to me, smile fading. “When Buckley was first settled, it suffered many assaults from raiders and soldiers of the wasteland, simply because this base was a one of the many Old World military structures scattered around the ruins of Equestria. Outsiders then believed that they could salvage valuable technology and weaponry from this place, and it was only when we acquired the means to properly defend ourselves that the attacks stopped. Needless to say, my youngers, and I myself, didn’t learn to trust the outside world. We isolated ourselves in response, relied on seclusion, and when the outside witnessed our new strength, they left us in peace for the most part.” Shimmer’s smile returned as she looked at each of us in turn. “We have lived this way for many years and have prospered because of it, but as time went by, I started to think of the outside world again, of how it might benefit us to venture out into the wasteland, to see what there is to see, and I begun to wonder if there were those in the wastes that wouldn’t seek to harm us. Eventually, I decided that only outsiders who would survive our artillery and reach our gates should be worthy to enter.”

“It’s starting to sound like you want something from us, Mother Shimmer.” Shore remarked.

The ghoul nodded at that, replying, “Yes. In the most basic of terms, I want to ask for your help with things. At first, only small things so that my youngers can get used to having a group of outsiders in Buckley. Then, so long as that goes well, perhaps you would be able to help us in bigger ways too. But ultimately, I want the seven of you to serve as an example.”

“An example of what?” Gunny ventured.

“For over sixty-nine years, seclusion has kept us safe, young one.” Shimmer answered him. “So far, we have thrived and grown, protected by powerful weaponry and sharpened skill. But even behind our walls, we have seen the world around us as it’s changed - armies on the march, the return of the Talon Legion, darker skies on the southeastern horizon…” The ghoul paused to let out a wet and ragged sigh, dipping her head slightly. “My youngers think our guns can keep out the world. But I’ve lived in it long enough to know that the outside is always changing. Its unpredictability may even become our undoing, should we not begin to open ourselves up to it. It’s my belief that we need to start letting the world in, only a little at a time, and that not every outsider should just be killed on sight.” She looked back up at us, her smile returning to her as she finished, saying, “Should you chose to help us, the seven of you would be our first step to starting on this path.”

There was no immediate reply from any of us after Shimmer’s speech, and when I looked, I saw as my friends were locked within their own individual thoughts; right away, my mind drifted back to the very recent past. These ponies had a very unique approach to welcoming outsiders, one that I was going to do my best to avoid in the future… and really, for the rest of my life, no matter how long or short. It was the epitome of irony that we would be greeted as potential friends and be asked for help upon meeting the leader of Buckley just after nearly being blown to bits by Old World artillery weapons. And in all honesty, a part of me wanted to tell these ponies to piss off and let us be on our way back to Hopeville where we wouldn’t have to worry about having bombs dropped on us. This stemmed purely from my concern for Blake’s safety, and the fact that my little brother was still shaking, restless where he stood leaning against my left foreleg. Though he had looked to recover to some degree on the way to our meeting, there was no hiding that he was still scared half to death from what he had just gone through.

But again, I was reminded that it technically wasn’t this community’s fault. Blake had either intentionally sugarcoated inner anger, or he was genuinely glad to still be with me, or both. Still, nothing could alter the fact that it was I, his own sister, who had nearly led him to his death. Had I left him in Hopeville and finally put my hoof down towards his diligence to travel with me wherever I went, he wouldn’t have had to walk around the battlefield of corpses or dodge Buckley’s artillery. He’d be at home with his friends, with Melody and Juniper, and he’d be safe behind Hopeville and the trained security ponies that guarded the town from the enemies of the southeast. But now, here he was, a temporary prisoner of a secluded tribe of artillery-slingers, and it was only I could be blamed for it.

Right now though, we had to work with the present situation, and as I thought of my brother, I begun to piece together an idea. “Blake…” I lowered my head down and nudged him on the cheek, catching his attention as I leaned in next to his ear to speak. “These ponies want our help around their home. Do you have anything you want to say about this? I feel it’s only fair that I let you speak your mind about it.”

“But I thought they didn’t like us…” Blake whispered back, looking me in the eyes with a nervous frown. “Why would they try and hurt us and then ask for our help? I know they said that they didn’t trust outsiders and stuff… but I still don’t get it.”

“I know.” I replied with a nod. “It’s… strange to say the least. I really don’t know what to think about it.”

“Their leader seems kind of nice though.” Blake remarked, the both of us casting a glance at the patient ghoul mare, currently speaking to the commander buck as she let us formulate our final decision. “Maybe if we help them, then they’ll be friends with us and not try and hurt us anymore.”

I nodded at Blake’s words; that was a real possibility. “Yes, that’s true… but Blake, if you want to go home, just say so, and we’ll leave.” I offered. “I don’t want to put you through anything that you don’t want to go through.”

“I do kind of want to just go…” he replied, pausing in thought as he looked away again; even before he continued, I could hear the uncertainty behind his words. “But, maybe if they promise not to try and shoot at us again… we could help them a little?”

“I could ask for you… but is that really what you want?”

Blake gave a timid little nod, a small smile taking shape as he answered, “I think that as long as they don’t try and hurt us again… that we should try. I think that’s best.”

“Hey.” I craned my head around at the whisper behind me, seeing Gunny as he leaned in to join our chat. “What do you think?”

“Did you talk to the others?” I asked him, both Blake and I turning around to face him as Shore and Grace came in close to form a tight circle; Raemor and Blossom stepped up to listen in from just behind them.

“Well, we’re kind of stuck between a bunch of decisions.” my friend replied in a hushed voice. “Going home right now is on everypony’s mind, but Blossom, Shore, and Gracie have all come up with good reasons to maybe stay for a bit and see if we can help out around here.”

“What do you have in mind?” I then asked.

“First, Blossom still wants to try and get a chance to look around for her friend, to see if perhaps she made it and is being kept anywhere on base.” Grace explained. “Even though I feel that her friend would’ve been brought to the silo with us if she made it here, I can’t blame her for wanting to try.” I nodded at that, even though my first thoughts on the matter drifted to the artillery outside. If Blossom’s friend hadn’t made it here like she had planned… well, she could’ve escaped… or the obvious opposite could’ve happened instead. “Shore thinks that it’s wise to stay around in order to learn more about this community, to find out just who we’re dealing with and what kind of a benefit or threat they might pose to Hopeville should they be planning on going outside. That’s where I came to agree with the possibility of staying, so that perhaps we could at least get them to warm up to us and thereby avoid any future hostilities.”

“Let’s face it, nopony here wants to have that artillery battery as part of an enemy force.” Gunny added. “As much as I want to get out of here, I think that at least helping them around the base a little will at least ensure that they stay off of us in the future.”

“Yes, and though I doubt they would venture outside too much even after we left, we cannot be too cautious on this one.” Shore remarked.

“I know that Challenger would definitely have their work cut out for them if a couple of howitzers started dropping shells into the city one day. Perhaps making a good impression on this base, or at least showing that we have no intention of provoking a battle, would be a wise course of action.” Raemor likewise observed. “However, leave or stay, I’ll side with the popular vote.”

“So what do you think, Nova?” Gunny asked.

“Well, those are all good reasons, and Blake and I were thinking about staying too, even if only for a couple of hours to try and help out with some little tasks.” I explained. “If nothing else, we can at least show that we’re a neutral party, and we’ll only lose a couple of hours of travel time as a result.”

A general murmur of agreement went around, exempting Blossom who only looked nervously back to Mother Shimmer, the ghoul waiting good-naturedly for our answer. “I guess it’s settled then.” Gunny declared, our discussion ring disbanding as we all fell back into our line. “We’ll stick around for a little while and help in what ways we can.” Shimmer’s smile was immediate at Gunny’s response for the group, though I saw more than a couple of our escorts looking very apprehensive at the proclamation. But before she could make a response, my friend quickly added, “However, we’re planning to move on soon, to head back to our own home. We hope to leave before nightfall.”

“Of course, child.” Shimmer replied. “From now on, you can come and go as you like. How much or how little you help now doesn’t matter to me, but it is my hope that the seven of you will validate my belief, and prove to my youngers that there are ponies out there who can be trusted.”

“We’ll see what we can do, Shimmer.” I assured, giving her my best smile. “And I guess that since we’re staying around for a bit, we should introduce ourselves as well. I’m Nova, and this is my little brother Blake.” Pausing to gesture to each of my friends, I added, “And these are my friends, Gunny, Shore, Gracie, Raemor, and Blossom. We’ll all try and help in what ways we can. We just need to know where to start.”

“Welcome to Buckley, all of you.” Shimmer replied with that same friendly smile. “I’m glad that you arrived here when you did. We’ve recently fallen into a number of problems that my youngers are currently trying to remedy.” she then explained. “Amber Dawn could use help with the bug problem that’s most recently come about, Doc Preston is tending to a number of wounded ponies in his clinic, and if any of you have experience with more complicated Old World technology, Lela and her assistants could use some extra hooves with computer terminal repairs for Buckley’s more advanced systems.” The kindly ghoul chuckled, an unfortunately dry and rough sound, as she added, “Or, if nothing else, you could simply ask Archer to tell you the story of our people when he gives you a tour of the base. That way you might know more about ‘who you’re dealing with’.” I saw as she gave Shore a quick wink before she continued. “I’ll let you all decide where to go and what to do, but before you leave, I have one more thing I wish to discuss, specifically with you, child.” She finished by pointing a hoof right at me.

“With me?… What is it?” I inquired.

“On your way to the silo, I’m sure you heard one of my youngers talking about a Buckley citizen, Marlena, who escaped the perimeter and ventured outside into the wasteland?” she asked, to which I nodded. “After six days outside, she returned to Buckley and told me about how an outsider had saved her life from a group of raiders. Specifically, she mentioned a pegasus who had saved her from a raider explosive, and when Archer reported a pegasus amongst your company after you were first spotted, I begun to wonder if you might’ve been the pony that Marlena had told me about. Do you remember anything that might’ve involved your saving the life of another pony whom you thought was just another wastelander?”

I couldn’t help but cock an eyebrow at this claim, as nothing came to mind regarding me and the liberation of a pony in need. And besides, how could little me, with my slimmer and lighter frame, possibly look like somepony who could make a daring rescue?… Although, as my mental gears begun to turn, I did remember Ivy… though that instance was more along the lines of hearing her out and releasing her before she would’ve been executed at Gunny’s hooves. And in any case, Ivy lived in Hopeville, not here… “I’m sorry, but I can’t think of anything.” I replied with an apologetic shrug.

Shimmer though, only smiled again as she craned her head around to look at the back of the silo. “Perhaps you will remember when you meet Marlena herself.” she replied, then calling, “Marlena. Would you come here for a moment, please?”

I followed Shimmer’s gaze just in time to see as a pony hopped off of another couch set under the catwalk that we had entered the silo in, set on the portion of the silo that I hadn’t seen before. This pony was an earth pony mare, perhaps only slightly larger than me, with a cotton-candy pink coat and a long and bright blue mane and tail, a lighter shade than her dark sapphire eyes. What was most striking about her at first glance was the fact that she was very clean and well-groomed, looking as though she had just gotten out of a long shower and had taken considerable time in making herself presentable. Her coat was virtually spotless, devoid of dust and grime, and both her mane and tail carried with them a soft and beautiful sheen; I felt that a lot of mares out in the wasteland would’ve been awfully jealous of her appearance.

“Is this the pegasus you remember, child?” Mother Shimmer asked, the pink earth pony mare stepping up alongside her, her eyes locked to mine.

Her answer was instantaneous. “That’s her, Mother Shimmer. I swear to Luna that that’s the outsider who saved me.”

Right away, her assertion brought murmurs among the escorts, and there were more than a few that were looking square at me, some with skepticism, and others with open interest. “Are you sure?” Shimmer asked again, only to receive another affirmative nod in response; now I was just confused.

“Um… I’m sorry, but I don’t recall ever seeing you before.” I replied to Marlena. “I’ve never seen a pony like you outside in the wastes.”

“You mean you don’t remember Proudspire?” Marlena asked, taking another step towards me. “Don’t you remember flying out from behind the town wall after seeing me in that field? Don’t you remember the twelve raiders? What about the explosive collar?… Surely you remember something.”

Explosive collar? “Where did I… wait a minute…” my words were cut off by my own thought pattern as I revisited my days in Proudspire. The small town with the big Black Blood problem, it was under constant attack by two camps of raiders seeking to take over the settlement, which had already been close to running low on supplies due to Challenger’s occupation with keeping an eye on the raider presence near Ashton. When we had arrived at the town, I had been assigned as an additional guard on the town wall and, because of my being the only pegasus in town, patrolling the skies over Proudspire. Over time, I had encountered the raiders on a couple of occasions, helping the town guards beat back two raids, one where I remained behind the wall, and the second where I had gone out into the fields around the town. That was when I found a captive of the Black Blood on the run… fitted with an explosive collar… “By the Goddesses, it’s you!” I exclaimed, realization kicking me back to the present. Now, looking at this mare with new eyes, I recognized the pink coat and the blue mane, now cleaned of the dirt and blood that had once darkened and marred the colors; this had been the mare that Flare, Cross, and I has rescued in Proudspire… and she was a resident of Buckley Air Force Base!

“You see, Mother Shimmer?” Marlena asked back to Mother Shimmer with a smile. “I knew it was her!”

“But… you live here??” I asked, to which Marlena turned back to me and nodded. “Why were you outside?”

“Over the past couple of weeks, Mother Shimmer’s been talking a lot about the possibility of contacting the outside world.” the pink mare answered. “But when we didn’t follow up with action, I thought I’d try and take matters into my own hooves so that I could prove her right, … needless to say, it didn’t work out so well… so after you found me and I was healed by the town nurse, I made my escape and headed back to Buckley. I lost all the enthusiasm I had about trying to connect to the outside world when those raiders captured me, but I didn’t forget about Proudspire or you. Here and now, I already think that you and your friends can be trusted.”

Well… there were definitely fewer glares amongst the guards in the silo after hearing Marlena speak. And Mother Shimmer herself - oh did she smile. “I think you’ve already proven me right, child.” the ghoul said to Marlena, placing an old hoof on the mare’s shoulder (which the pink mare didn’t seem to mind at all). “Thank you.”

With that, Marlena backed away, giving me another smile before Shimmer returned her eyes forward and approached me. “And thank you, outsider, for helping Marlena come back to us alive. I have a very good feeling about you and your companions, and I hope that through your future actions, you will come to show my youngers your full potential.”

“You’re welcome.” I replied to the ghoul with a smile. “We’ll all do our best.”

Nodding in approval of my words, Shimmer looked over my friends again, saying, “When you return to the surface, Archer will be waiting for you and will show you around the base’s primary structures so that you can know the layout and help in whatever way you see fit. Depending on who helps with what tasks, your weapons and equipment will be returned to you, and should you need to eat, I’ll send the word out to my youngers that our mess hall is open to you and your friends. For helping Marlena, you’ve earned that much at least.”

“Oh, and please, Mother Shimmer,” Marlena spoke out, trotting back up to the leader and looking between us. “allow the spa to be open to them as well. It’s the least I can do to repay this pegasus and her friends for helping me live to see another day.”

Wait… spa?? “Did you say a spa? As in an actual, legitimate spa?” I asked, cautious as if my ears might have deceived me.

Marlena nodded enthusiastically. “Why yes. Before the bombs fell, Buckley had its own recreational building for the combat pegasi and other base personnel that were stationed here. When we settled the base, my parents reworked some of the building’s facilities and made their own spa. Of course, while it might not measure up to some of the grand pre-war resorts of the Old World cities like Manehattan, it’s complete with mud baths, massage tables, steam rooms, the works. Right now I run the spa with my sister, Gisela, and should you stop by, I’d be more than happy to let you and your friends make use of it. It even has regular shower rooms too, just incase the stallions in your company want to avoid hooficures and such.” she explained, giggling a little at the end of her sentence.

“I don’t see a problem with that.” Shimmer responded with a light laugh of her own. “But since it is your facility, I’ll leave the decision up to you, child.”

Oh… my… Goddesses… if I hadn’t been in the company of the Buckley AFB leadership, I would’ve let out the happiest little squeal of delight. Finding a spa was one of the last things… really the last thing I expected to find on the surface. Stable 181 had been outfitted with its own steam rooms, built in the living quarters for the residents to relax and unwind whenever they wished, and I remembered how refreshed I always felt after just a few minutes of lounging within the warm embrace of the hovering clouds of warm vapor. Unfortunately, my last visit to one of those rooms had been several days before evacuating the Stable, and knowing now that one existed out here, no matter how grand or small, added some extra drive to my intentions. But despite this most exciting news, I managed to keep myself contained, simply replying, “Thank you. I’d definitely be interested in visiting once I’ve helped around the base a bit.”

“Alright then.” Shimmer nodded. “Remember outsiders, I’m praying that you will prove yourselves to my people. Do well.” The ghoul leader paused long enough to crane her head around, catching the attention of the amber mare before saying, “Amber Dawn, please lead them back out to the runway. Archer will take them off of your hooves once you do.”

“Yes, Mother Shimmer.” Dawn replied, snapping a quick salute before trotting away to the stairs. “Alright everypony, back to your stations. I’ll handle things from here.” she ordered, her guards then quickly preparing themselves to move as she turned and looked back to us. “Come with me, outsiders. I’ll see you out to the runway.”

Without any further chatter, the seven of us reformed our line and followed, Blake and I taking the lead as we returned back up the stairs and onto the silo catwalk. The amber mare, Amber Dawn, led us back along the silo and into the service tunnel within which we had entered, the guards once escorting us into the base now trotting briskly past us without a second glance. But as we neared the end of the tunnel, I felt a nudge on my left side, and I turned to see Gracie as she drew up beside me. “What do you think of this place, Nova?” she whispered into my ear.

“To be honest… I think it’s full of surprises.” I replied. “I mean, first we find the base to be protected by howitzers. Howitzers. Then we come in and find an empty balefire missile silo, and after that, I find out that a pony I helped rescue outside of Proudspire is actually a citizen of this base who, according to what Shimmer’s been saying about isolation from the outside world, wasn’t supposed to be outside at all.” Gracie nodded at that as she listened, and I continued with, “I don’t know about you, but that feels like a lot of surprises to be taking in one serving.”

“I know how you feel.” Grace replied. “It makes me wonder just what else might be hidden here.”

“Just don’t get any ideas, outsider.” Dawn suddenly spoke, snapping my eyes forward and seeing as she stared back at us while she walked. “You heard Mother Shimmer’s orders. You’re all free to move around Buckley, and artillery crews will be instructed not to fire on you so long as you stay true to your word. These are special privileges that have been given to you, so don’t abuse them by doing something stupid.”

“Of course not.” Grace insisted in reply. “You simply caught us off guard is all, and on more than one occasion I might add.”

“That’s fine.” Dawn responded, facing forward again. “But I’m just warning you now so that we can avoid any trouble later. Besides, apparently your pegasus friend there saved Marlena, whose spa is very much appreciated and enjoyed by the community. You’ve already done us a service, so it’d be a shame to find out that the lot of you were just a bunch of scumbags to begin with.”

“Do you really think we’d be trying anything with a child in our company?” I asked, making no attempt to hide my agitation at Dawn’s increasingly unfriendly vocabulary.

“Maybe, maybe not.” she answered. “What I do know, however, is that whoever among you decided to bring a foal along for whatever you were doing out there isn’t the brightest outsider on the planet. I may not have been out in the wasteland much in my lifetime, but I know just how dangerous it can be with everything we’ve had to fight off and keep away from our gates.”

“I go where my sister goes!” Blake protested beside me. “It was my choice, so don’t call my big sister stupid!”

To this, Dawn looked back again, meeting Blake’s opposing stare with uninterested eyes. “Right, well maybe next time you’d follow your big sister into some radioactive ruins, or a den of feral ghouls. I’m sure you’d have a lot of fun then, too.”

Like hell he’d do any such thing!

“Hey!” I snapped, the amber mare instantly about-facing to glare back at me. “If you want to fire off that smart-ass mouth of yours, you talk to me, and only me. You leave my little brother alone.”

In response to my warning, Dawn stalked toward me, looking like she wanted nothing less than to throw a few punches my way. But as I got ready to meet that challenge, I lost sight of her as a mass of brick red stepped between us. “Hey, hey, let’s simmer down here.” Gunny interceded, staring me firmly in the eyes as I felt two hooves quickly fall upon my back to keep me in place; Shore and Grace stepped into my vision, both looking at me with admonishing eyes and shaking their heads. “We’re here to try and help, not start fights with each other. Let’s all take it easy so we can focus on what needs to be done.” ‘She started it…’, I thought to myself, about to voice this when Gunny, allowing no room for argument, turned to Dawn and immediately asked, “Now, Mother Shimmer was talking about a bug problem. What’s the details of that, and is there a way that we can help out?”

For a moment, tense silence lingered, but then Gunny stepped out of the way, and I saw Dawn already continuing down the hall towards the nearing exit. As the seven of us returned to following her out, she replied, “Since we’re almost outside, I’ll give you the short version of the story. Buckley’s primary power went out just yesterday, and we found out that giant sand hornets tunneled into the generator building and set up a nest. Before then, we’d occasionally seen them in small groups around the fields to the north of the base, but they’ve never established nests in the area… until now.”

“Giant sand hornets?” Gunny asked dubiously.

“One of the many mutated creatures out in the wasteland that are the result of radiation and taint.” Dawn explained with a nod. “Our scout informed us of multiple nests closer to the outskirts of Marefax, and my guess is that they’ve been expanding their territory from the north. Either way, this group of bastards decided that Buckley would serve as a good home for themselves. I led a team into the generator building last night to exterminate the hive, but we didn’t realize how much of a threat those bugs really were. We lost one of our team, and three more were severely wounded.”

“What makes these sand hornets so dangerous?” Shore then inquired.

“Their stingers.” Dawn answered. “They go deep as a combat knife if you get stabbed by one, and to top it off, their sting is extremely toxic, causing severe nausea, muscle weakness, dizzy spells, all of which are almost instantaneous. Basically, anypony who gets stung has to be carried to the clinic, or has to crawl there on their own. Now, combine their sting with their size, speed, their ability to burrow underground, and the fact that they don’t mind taking ponies for food, and you’ve got a terrible but effective bunch of damned monsters. And if we don’t get rid of them soon, they’ll be springing up right under our hooves in a few weeks at the latest. Now you can see the seriousness of this problem.”

Sweet Celestia… I hadn’t expected anything like that.

“And what are you doing about it now?” Raemor asked.

“I’m putting together a more heavily armed and armored team to make another go at getting rid of the problem.” Dawn responded, passing by the tunnel exit and stepping out into the lobby of the silo building. “Archer will be joining the team as well while his apprentices take over watch duty, so after this little tour he’s taking you through, any of you who want to help us can go with him. Personally, I think it’s more than outsiders can deal with, but I won’t stop you from helping should you choose.” As the rest of us filed into the silo building, Dawn stopped just outside the open doors leading outside, turning to face us as she added, “And one more thing, guards will be waiting outside the generator building with your equipment. If you decide to help clear out the bugs, your gear will be returned to you. For the rest, your stuff will still be under lockdown until Mother Shimmer says otherwise. Either way, help or not, toss the decision around in your heads a little and work things out while you’re walking around the base. If any of you come along for the ride, I’ll see you inside.” Without a farewell, Dawn turned and trotted back outside, and I heard as she briefly spoke again, saying, “They’re all yours, Archer. Don’t take too long, and remember what buildings are restricted to them. Until Mother Shimmer fully trusts the outsiders, those buildings stay off-limits. You’re not to explain what they are or what they hold inside. Understood?”

“Understood, ma’am. See you at the generator room.” a baritone voice replied, and as we headed for the exit, the same male called, “Let’s go, outsiders. There’s still work that needs doing.” At the stallion’s request, the seven of us trotted out of the building and back outside, forming into a loose cluster as the stallion called us over one more time, and I turned to face the source of the voice… freezing in wide-eyed shock…

Before us, waiting for us by the corner of the silo building, was a steel-blue stallion with a pure night-black mane and tail, and deep hazel eyes. He was currently garbed neck to hoof in a light set of Buckley’s blue combat armor, with some kind of small portable radio hooked into the chest plate. His armor was worn under a custom battle saddle, equipped with what looked to be two .308 sniper rifles with their scopes removed, and on his back, secured to the saddle’s main strap, rested an even larger scoped rifle, this one very distinguishable as a high caliber sniper rifle. But just above his saddle weapons, folded against his sides… were feathered wings…

He was a pegasus…… and I thought I had seen the last of Buckley’s surprises…

“I know you’re all from the outside, but word from Mother Shimmer is that one or more of you helped Marlena home. That’s already won my attention, so welcome to Buckley Air Force Base.” the pegasus spoke. “I’m Archer, and since you lot have supposedly taken a little interest in helping out around here, my orders are for me to show you the base’s key buildings so you can get a layout of the area.”

“We hope to give what help we can before we return to our own home.” I heard Grace explain. “Hopefully our efforts will at least show that we’re a neutral party.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Archer replied with a short nod. “Follow me, and I’ll show you around.” The pegasus then turned away and walked out towards the left-side runway, motioning for us to follow his lead; my eyes trailed his every step and kept my hooves locked to the ground.

Archer was the first pegasus I had seen outside of Stable 181, a pony I really hadn’t expected to see out here since hearing about what happened to the Enclave from Duke back in Challenger. Of course, I did remember how Auburn had mentioned seeing another pegasus once, having even gone to the point of describing her attraction to him before he had left Challenger. ‘Something about stallion fliers’ was what she had said… oh yes, I may have been a pegasus myself, but now I knew exactly how she felt… Archer was, from what I had seen of him in these first few seconds… very appealing… suddenly so, too. What was the little expression that Gracie had occasionally teased me with in the Stable?… Eye-candy?… Yeah, that was definitely the one. Archer was a sight to behold, even being fully equipped, armored up, and armed to the teeth with three powerful rifles. He had a plain yet handsome face, strong figure and composure, and his eyes… one look at them, and I remembered their hazel shade like the clearest mirror. Yet even during my years in Stable 181, I hardly ever eyed a buck like I was doing now, what with me always being in the Hall of Records and reading up on my textbooks for classes. And upon stepping outside, this hadn’t changed in the slightest, as I was focused on the task of settling Hopeville, helping Captain Saber, and more importantly, keeping my little brother alive and healthy. Of course, Cross had taken his own interest in me back in Proudspire, and because he was always trying to do right, albeit being a little… well, whacky in battle, I had started to take some interest in him as well.

But now… well, talk about a wake up call-

“Wake up call, Nova…” Shore voiced, his puzzled face suddenly blocking the good-looking pegasus from view and snapping me back to the modern world. “Are you coming with us, friend?”

Uh-oh… my friends getting confused? I needed a witty response, one I could use at a moment’s notice to get me out of a potentially embarrassing situation… “…What?…” …Oh, yeah that was a good one, a real gem…

“Nova, your acting kinda funny.” Blake quietly piped up beside me.

I looked down at my little brother where he stood next to me, seeing as he cocked a confused eyebrow, waiting for an explanation. “What? Am I funny?” I asked, looking back to Shore… and finding that the others, including Archer, were all likewise looking towards me with varying levels of puzzlement. Sweet Luna, was it getting hot in here… in the… outdoors?…

“Are you okay?” Blake asked, prodding my right foreleg with a hoof. “You’re face is kind of red. Maybe you should lay down somewhere?”

“I’m fine, Blake. I’m fine.” I quickly assured, shaking out my wings and snapping them back to my sides as I recollected myself. “So, let’s get on with this tour thing.” I added after a breath, walking forward towards the front of the group and giving my friends a big smile, deliberately overlooking their combined befuddlement. “Shall we go?” I asked.

Whether Archer had noticed my previous state or not, the pegasus simply nodded and cleared his throat before facing forward. “Alright.” he began, pointing a hoof towards the nearest structures. “Let’s head to these two buildings here. We’ll end at the generator building at the other end of the base.”

And so, with that little moment of inelegance solidly stamped into my life’s storybook, we finally got down to business as Archer led us out onto the runway and towards the first buildings of our tour. Now that we were beginning our first task, my thoughts began to pull themselves back together, and as I looked towards the three massive hangers, I asked the first question to the pegasus buck. “So, what’s the story of this base?”

Momentarily, he looked back at me, asking in turn, “In the wartime era?” At my nod, he faced forward again, saying, “Before and during the war, Buckley served primarily as a training base for combat pegasi and pegasus pilots. According to records stored here, they trained new air force recruits in aerial tactics, combat maneuvers, and vehicle operations for a total of eight weeks before sending them off to various battlefields across the war zone. From time to time, it also acted as a shelter for airborne couriers and a repair station for vertibucks and military cargo convoys. It’s even got a kill record for intercepting zebra reconnaissance craft with its own small array of anti-air weapons. But perhaps its most important purpose during the war was that it was also one of Equestria’s several ballistic launch sites before the bombs fell. You all remember the silo.” As he came to a halt, myself and the others following suit, I briefly remembered the wreckage outside of the Southeast Regional News Radio Station, how it had been a zebra aircraft; it had been one of Buckley’s kills. “This bigger building here served two purposes during the war. The tower was the air traffic control station for military aircraft and combat pegasi going in and out of the base, and the rest of it coordinated the base’s radar system and personal defense grid. Today, it serves the same function, aside from that tower that acts as our sniper nest. You’ll find me up in that tower during the majority of the day, and you’ll find our machine expert, Tech Sergeant Lela, down in the building itself should any of you want to take a swing at fixing some advanced pre-war technology.” Archer then nodded towards the second building to the right, a smaller structure nestled in between the ATC building and the first hanger.

“So Buckley has its own defense network to intercept any threats coming in from the air? Intriguing.” Shore spoke with a smile. “But what exactly is the problem with this network now?”

“I’m sure you were told about the sand wasp problem.” Archer remarked. “When the buggers tunneled into the generator room, the power failure damaged the defense array’s mainframe, as well as some of the secondary terminals, and shut down the turrets that make up the grid. Lela’s working on repairing the damaged components of those terminals so that we can bring the array back online.”

“Ah, I see.” Shore replied enthusiastically. “I happen to be rather familiar with electronics. Perhaps I might be able to provide some assistance with repairing some of those terminals.”

Archer turned at that, looking over my mechanically apt friend before saying, “At first glance I wouldn’t have believed you, but unless that armor of yours is something you scavenged out there in the wasteland, I’d say that your background as Stable folk gives validity to your claim.”

“I guess it’s no secret.” Gunny remarked. “Two of us aren’t from the Stable,” he explained, gesturing to Raemor and Blossom. “but the rest of us are. We came outside only recently too.”

Archer cocked an eyebrow. “So, one eighty-one, huh? Not a number on one of those gear-shaped doors I’ve seen before.”

“So you know about the Stables?” I asked curiously.

To that, Archer’s eyes fell on me and he gave me a small smile. “Everypony who lives on this base came from a Stable or descended from somepony who lived in one, outsider.” he said, my eyes going wider once again. “The blue armor you see everypony on the guard force wearing? That’s modified Stable-Tec standard-issue security armor. One of Stable-Tec’s Stables serves as the very foundation of the story of Buckley today.”

“Wow… and what is that story?” I asked.

“Follow me.” Archer nodded towards the runway, continuing forward as the rest of us fell in behind him. “Buckley’s ponies lived in one of the Stables for roughly one hundred years before settling here. That Stable was numbered one ninety-two, located due southeast of here.” he began as we walked. “Stable one ninety-two sheltered select members from the town of Ashton and the city of Marefax. But more specifically, it was designed under the promise to preserve musical talent after the bombs fell.”

My ears perked up sharply at those words. “Musical talent?” I asked, a smile quickly spreading on my face.

“That’s right. Sound engineers, DJs, instrumental and vocal musicians. Any and all music-makers from Marefax and Ashton, both amateur and professional, were chosen by Stable-Tec to bring their skills to the shelter so that they could survive the bombs.” Archer explained. “Of course, when you hear it at first, it’s an appealing proposition, and it attracted a good number of ponies from the southeastern region and even beyond that. The Stable had roughly five hundred residents when the door closed, a good three-fourths of them carrying their own instrument and their own musical backgrounds. Unfortunately, what Stable-Tec failed to mention was that the installation served as one of the corporation’s several “experiment” Stables. This one was geared towards making and testing white noise generators that implanted hidden messages into the brains of the residents.”

Experiment… the smile on my face and the questions in my mind faded away at that, as I remembered Stable-Tec planning some sort of project within our own Stable. Though I never knew exactly what kind of experiment was intended for 181, I knew from Crystal Sunset and some of my old classes that the corporation’s project, whatever it was, had been taken down by the Golden Fire family upon their capture of the installation. Apparently, 192’s own experiment had become active.

“What happened with that?” Gunny asked as we continued towards the first hanger.

“For a long time, the experiment remained mostly dormant, only undergoing brief periods of activity that didn’t cause much harm.” Archer answered him. “Music-making was the focus of everypony in the Stable in its early and middle years, whether it be electronic, orchestral, sacred, anything like that. After ninety-some-odd years though, the experiment took off full speed, and the Stable fell apart in only one year.” Here, he paused as he came to a stop beside a wide concrete lane that branched off of the runway, leading to the first hanger. “The experiment was designed as part of a testing ground for the development of a generation of ‘new soldiers’. This was done by exposing residents to subconscious messages from these white noise generators, which the Overmare hoped to use to control the test subjects hypnotically. Eventually, the residents came to find out that the ultimate goal was to create an army of completely obedient super soldiers that would fight far more viciously than normal pony troopers, and kill on command of their leader. I guess at first, nopony really took notice of the effects, but over time, some of the residents begun to show extreme aggression and homicidal tendencies, leading to riots and murders. In the final months of one-ninety-two’s existence, half the Stable’s population was insane and went about trying to kill off the rest. The Overmare lost control of the situation and ended up being killed herself, by one of her test subjects no less. As a result, the rest of the population that was still alive and sane quickly banded together, packed up their essentials, and fled the Stable. And then, after a couple of days of wandering, Buckley was found and settled.”

“That’s terrible.” Grace voiced behind me, and I quickly nodded my agreement with her. “That they would turn a Stable first dedicated to preserving music into a military experiment…”

Archer nodded along with me. “It was a rough few months when that experiment was activated, and it was worse on the surface. Raider gangs and wild animals were encountered frequently before Buckley was discovered, and there was some additional casualties to go along with what came from that experiment. But Buckley turned out to be the perfect home in this wasteland.” With that, he turned to the first hanger and gestured a hoof to it. “This hanger here is the munitions storage.” he explained. “Should you get on Mother Shimmer’s good side, she might let you have access to some of the spare ordnance we have lying around. And take my word for it,” he added with a little smirk. “there’s some pretty nifty toys in there.”

At his motion, we continued along the runway, and even before ten steps, another question came up. “So your people came from a Stable and settled the base.” Gunny said. “Obviously, it must’ve been empty when you found it, or nearly so. But I’m curious as to what howitzers are doing on an air force base? As I recall, those belonged out on the battlefield.”

“Good eye.” Archer remarked as we walked. “The howitzers we have weren’t on base when it was found. In fact, the only things that were here were feral pegasi ghouls and what was left of a radiation field. The base was hit with some kind of radiation bomb or missile, or something like that, because the base’s buildings were largely intact, resembling no damage that would’ve come from a balefire blast.”

“But why come to a base that was radioactive?” Grace inquired.

“Well, firstly, the base was uninhabited by raiders, who avoided the place by habit because of the radiation and the feral ghouls. The geiger counters on the Stable pipbucks, however, indicated that the base was only lightly irradiated, even to the point where some areas were free of it, such as the service tunnels and chambers under the base itself.” Archer answered. “The ghouls were killed off upon arrival, and over the next few years, the radiation lifted away entirely, and the whole base became safe to live in. It was after that that the howitzers we have now were found, discovered in a massive weapons depot to the north called Fort Volker. Mother Shimmer led us there, having already known of its location, and it was the discovery of that Old World military installation that ultimately secured our place here. After we dragged the guns and their ammo back to base, the outsiders became aware of the firepower we possessed, and after a few demonstration of force, we were left in peace. Since then, Buckley’s thrived under the protection of our weapons, our own training, and of course, Mother Shimmer’s leadership.”

Now, we were coming up to the second of the three massive hangers, and as we continued by, Archer gestured to the building with his left wing, saying, “If you’ll look here, this hanger is where our mess hall is located. As I understand it, the mess hall is open to you, so go here if you need something to eat or drink. We’ve got plenty of food and water, so as far as I’m concerned, help yourselves to whatever you need.”

“What about that building there?” I heard Raemor ask, and when I looked back around at him, he was gesturing to our right, towards a much smaller building nestled in between the base’s twin runways.

“That’s the entrance bunker to Buckley’s underground systems, apart from the silo.” Archer answered. “Buckley is entirely self-reliant because the base’s water talisman survived the radiation and still functions to its full capacity. It had it’s own underground apple orchard during the war, but that did not survive. After a time, the residents of one-ninety-two went back to the Stable and transplanted it’s own garden into Buckley’s old one, bringing it back to life and giving us a steady source of food and medicinal herbs. They’re the sole reason as to how we’ve managed to live as an isolated community for so long. That, and we still have Stable one-ninety-two’s own water talisman as a backup, just incase the original one fails.”

“That’s incredibly fortunate.” Raemor remarked.

“Yes. And the truth is, there was a lot of luck that played into settling Buckley and building up the settlement.” Archer replied. “It took over four months to find the howitzers and our weapons stockpile, bring everything from Fort Volker back, and bring the vital equipment out of Stable one-ninety-two and integrate it into Buckley’s old systems. Throughout that time, there were frequent attacks by raider bands and other forces that were trying to seize the tech we had. There were times when the base nearly fell, but it still stood, and that’s where it is today. It’s a thriving community, just over eight hundred strong now, and we’ve only continued to grow. And to be honest, I think an interesting new chapter in Buckley’s history is going to take shape with you outsiders on board.”

Wow… this place, to put it simply, was one hell of a settlement. At first glance, I had only seen Buckley Air Force Base as an abandoned shell of what was once an Old World military facility. My intention had been nothing more than to enter the base, explore the buildings, and find any useful items to bring to Hopeville to aid in its development and protection. Now, I was standing on soil that belonged to former Stable dwellers, just like us, just like Hopeville, who had gone through their own trials and efforts to build a new home after their first was taken from them by a failed Stable-Tec experiment. This community had banded together, pooled their assets and their strengths, and had found and built everything they needed to live in peace and prosperity. They had discovered tremendous firepower and utilized the tools at their disposal that included their Stable’s advanced technology, as well as Buckley’s own resources, to create what was practically a fortress, a Stable on the surface. It was akin to a smaller version of Challenger, and even though Challenger itself was a city in its own right, and its citizens lived in safety and comfort, the ponies of Buckley had powerful and reliable Old World technology at their disposal, and their effective use of it made them, in my opinion, a powerful faction in the southeast, perhaps equal in strength, or nearly so, to Challenger itself.

“Excuse me, um, Archer?” Blossom’s timid voice suddenly asked from just behind me.

“Yes, outsider?”

“Before we arrived… one of my friends was heading this way, and she might’ve come into your territory.” Blossom explained as the pegasus’ eyes met hers. “Did… did any other outsiders try and enter the base just before we came here?”

Archer, however, shook his head. “No, I’m afraid not.” he replied. “The last group of outsiders that tried to breach the perimeter were a couple of raiders, and they were wiped out. That happened four days ago.” I craned my head around to look back at my newest companion, seeing as she only lowered her head to stare at the cracked pavement beneath our hooves. “Sorry, outsider.” Archer added up ahead, none too sympathetic.

“Hey, maybe she kept moving.” I whispered back to the violet mare, trying to offer some encouragement to ease her worry. “She could be out somewhere on that highway… you never know.” But this still won no answer from her, nor even any eye contact, and despite my wanting to try and comfort her in one way or another, I knew it best not to linger on the subject. I let her be, letting her gather her thoughts at her own pace; she’d speak when she was ready.

When I looked up ahead again, I saw as Archer paused in his walk and briefly gestured to the third and final hanger. “This hanger serves as a part of Buckley’s living quarters. The clinic is inside this hanger as well, so if one of you has any medical training, Doc Preston might be interested in recruiting your help. He’s an old coot and a bit of a grump sometimes, but he’s a damn good doctor, and he cares about his patients.”

“I could certainly provide some assistance.” Grace chimed in. “I was our Stable’s chief physician before we came to the surface, so if I help out anywhere, this will be the place.”

“Seeing as how your group and Buckley have it in common, I find myself a little curious about your Stable.” Archer replied, craning his head around to look back at us. “Perhaps if you all stay around a little while, I might be able to ask you all some questions about your old home?”

“Sure… I don’t see why not.” I answered with a smile, hopefully one that didn’t look too bashful. “I’d be happy to answer some questions for you, if you want.”

Archer gave a small smile back at me. “Thanks. Right now, of course, we’ve got some work that needs doing. But if there’s time, I’ll hold you to that offer.” With that, he turned to the right and trotted along, just before I found myself quickly batting my eyelashes; oh, he could ask me all the questions he wanted to. “Let’s keep going, then.” the pegasus buck added. “We’ll cut across the runways and head to the generator building, and then I’ll turn you all loose to help in what ways you want.”

I snapped myself back to focus as our group got moving again, and I fell in behind Gunny and Grace as we continued along, heading into the dirt median between the twin runways before stepping out onto the second airstrip. Two buildings were in front of us now, one of them a taller box-like building to the left, and the second a longer and more rectangular structure. The first of these was currently under guard, as I could identify four of Buckley’s blue-armored soldiers patrolling the perimeter, as well as two more standing still as statues by the large double-doors. “Archer, what’s that building there?” I asked. “The one that’s under guard?”

“That building’s off-limits to you.” he quickly replied, looking back at me with all possible seriousness, an obvious warning in his eyes. “The same goes for the isolated building in the southeast corner, and the farthest southwest structure. And I can’t tell you anything about them either. If anypony shows you what’s in any of those buildings, it’ll be Mother Shimmer. But right now, stay away from them.”

“O-oh, o-okay…”

“I’m just making sure you know to stay away, at least until you can be fully trusted.” Archer added, a little more sensitively, as he faced forward again. “And that won’t be an easy thing, outsider.” Turning away from the restricted building, I found myself looking over the rectangular structure nearby, where a whole cluster of Buckley ponies had gathered near its entrance. Among them, I identified the cheeky amber mare from earlier, standing still as a unicorn guard fitted a twin assault rifle battle saddle around her body. Everypony else within the group was likewise gearing up with basic weapons, largely precision and assault rifles, along with a number of shotgun saddles. A select few of the group, only three earth ponies that I could see, were equipped with the only heavy weapons in the arsenal - bulky, long-barreled, steel-grey weapons with what looked to be some kind of liquid tank secured to a heavy battle saddle. There were over a dozen guards assembled here, all outfitted with bulkier plated variants of the Buckley security armor I had seen before. But the gear that was most striking was a piece of equipment that I instantly recognized; each pony of the group was equipped with their own pipbuck. “This is the last building I’ll be showing you, and it’s where our biggest problem lies right now.” Archer explained as we approached. “This is Buckley’s generator building which houses the pair of spark generators that make the base’s primary power source. And this is where the tour ends, outsiders.”

“We’re just about ready to head in, Archer.” I heard the familiar voice of Amber Dawn call. “Have any of the outsiders decided to come along with you?”

“Just a second, ma’am.” Archer called across the runway in response, then looking back at us once again as we came to a stop. “Alright outsiders, this is where you figure out who of you is coming with us down into the generator building. I won’t feed you any bullshit, this isn’t going to be a cakewalk. Those hornets down there are deadly, and we’ve already had one casualty down there. So if none of you come along, I won’t hold it against you. Go ahead and figure it out, and then whoever comes along, just meet me there.”

Gunny gave him our group’s confirmation, and with that, Archer was trotting away to join his fellow guards, leaving us to make our final decisions. “Well, if any of us go, only a couple of us should do so.” Gunny voiced, turning around to look over the whole of our group. “This is some dangerous stuff, so I’m thinking the majority of us should stay topside. Opinions?”

“I’d be much more effective going to the clinic and helping there, considering both where my skills lie and the fact that the only weapon I possess is a revolver.” Grace replied as our group closed into a circle. “But do any of us have to go? I mean, mutated creatures… that’s where I draw the line.”

“I agree.” Shore put in. “Fighting against raiders is one thing… but predatory wasteland creatures that feed on ponies? I think it would be best for all of us if we stayed outside and helped in other ways.”

“We should go and help.” I countered, looking between my two friends. “At least one or two of us. Besides, these Buckley ponies look pretty organized and well-trained, so we’ll have very effective backup so long as we follow their instructions.”

“But take into account that we’ve never even seen wasteland wildlife before.” Shore argued. “We don’t know what those insects might be capable of.”

“I’ve seen and battled against a fair share of the products of taint.” Raemor spoke up. “Each one is deadly in its own way, whether they be manticores, bloodwings, hellhounds. If these ponies are struggling to contain this incident, then whatever is down there is nothing easy to beat. Don’t be eager to just rush in there to prove your trust to this community. There are other ways.”

“But still, if for no other reason, then we should at least see what kind of creature this is and just what kind of threat it can be.” I replied. “You know, the whole ‘the more we know about our environment the better’?”

“I just don’t think it’s the best idea, Nova. You could really get hurt if you go.” Grace voiced concernedly.

“I think it would be beneficial in the long run to help here, if not for this, then for Hopeville. It’s something else we can bring back to Saber when we go home.” I argued. ‘Besides, it wouldn’t be the first time I made a stupid choice.’ I silently added to myself, turning and looking into my little brother’s very apprehensive eyes; no… it definitely wouldn’t be the first time. “Blake, I’m going to go and help these ponies with their bug problem.” I explained, lowering myself down to meet him at eye level. “I want you to go with Gracie while I’m gone, okay? Can you do that for me?”

“But I don’t want you to go…” he answered anxiously, instantly throwing his forelegs around my neck in a tight embrace. “I don’t want to be alone in this place…”

“Hey, you’re not going to be alone.” I answered, hugging him tight against me in return. “Only a couple of us are going, so the rest of the group will be there to look after you.” Before Blake could form a protest to this, I quickly added, “And don’t worry about me. I’m a tough big sister.”

The colt released me, taking a step back as I raised myself to my full height. “Just… please don’t get hurt… and be back soon...”

I gave him my best assuring smile. “Don’t you worry about it little brother. I’ll be right back and smiling at you again before you know it.”

“Well, if you’re going, then I’m coming with you to provide fire support.” Gunny suddenly spoke, coming around from his old place in the circle to join me. “And you’re not getting out of that. Besides, it looks like that bunch of Buckley guards doesn’t have much that’s bigger than an assault rifle, so I figure a little machinegun magic might be of some use to them.”

“Then I think just the two of us going should be all that’s really needed.” I declared with a nod. “That is, unless somepony else wants to come with us?”

“I’ll help you.” Blossom spoke up, looking back at me with a faint smile. “If you’d like, that is. I just don’t know where else I’d be able to help this community. I’m not really medically or technologically capable.”

“Sure, if you’re okay with fighting dangerous creatures.” I replied hesitantly.

“I think I can handle a few bugs.” Blossom assured.

“Then I guess it’s settled.” Gunny voiced after. “Blossom, Nova, and I will help here, Grace and Blake will be at the clinic, Shore will be in the ATC building… and Raemor…”

“I think I’ll explore around the base itself, see what’s in the buildings that they’ve allowed us to enter.” the old buck offered. “They might be open to trade for some of the broken down weapon parts and other items we took from the raiders at the radio station, or perhaps I might be able to speak with Mother Shimmer again.”

“Alright. We can all meet in the mess hall hanger later today, and then hopefully we can head on home.” I replied with a nod. “But I think we’ve already waited long enough. Let’s get going, shall we?”

“Just please do be careful Nova, for me and especially for your little brother.” Grace spoke as our group begun to split. “I don’t want to see you being carted into the clinic while I’m there…”

I gave her a wink and smile as I started towards the generator building. “Don’t worry, Gracie. You won’t.”

*** *** ***

“I want controlled fire in there, especially on the lower level, so remember your training.” Amber Dawn spoke as we waited outside of the generator building entrance. “Those generators aren’t bulletproof, so no spray and pray, and no panic-fire. And remember, it’s important to stay with your teams and keep close when you move, because if you stray too far apart or go off on your own, one of those suckers will get you. Keep your S.A.T.S. ready at all times, keep your eyes on those E.F.S. compasses, and lastly, don’t underestimate these creatures. We’ve already lost Holly, and I do not want to lose anypony else down there.” Once more, I checked over my saddle. I had little doubt that Blue Fire’s Torch would be staying on my back, especially with roughly half of the building apparently being composed of offices, chambers, and catwalks; this information was according to both Amber Dawn and Commander Tracer, newly introduced as the red-coated and green-maned commander buck we had seen upon our arrival as captives. My saddle weapons, on the other hoof, were locked and loaded, having been left unaltered during their confiscation. Gunny was likewise reequipped with all of his weaponry, returning to much better spirits as a result of the familiar weight on his armor, and Raemor had been given my saddlebags which held the disassembled weaponry we had taken from the dead Black Blood in the radio station. Blossom was with us as well, checking over her lever-action repeater as the Buckley commanders spoke their orders.

“There are three sectors we need to secure.” Tracer explained, standing beside Dawn. “I’ll be leading team one to the back entrance of the facility and into the network of service tunnels that run underground and into the lower level. Team two will be led by Amber Dawn who will secure the upper floor’s offices and catwalks, and Archer will be in command of the third team which will secure the generators. Each team will have one flamer whose objective is to torch all of the hornet eggs as you move from room to room. Once the facility is cleared, we’ll be sending in a separate team to look over the generators and turn the power back on.” As it was, Gunny, Blossom, and I were kept together and assigned to Archer’s supervision. Including the four of us, our team consisted of seven members, with the other three including two rifleponies and our team’s assigned flamer. “Electricity is what makes Buckley go round, mares and gentlecolts.” Tracer added, turning to face towards the corner of the building and arming his shotgun saddle. “Let’s get it back and kick these bastards back to hell where they belong. Team one, on me. Let’s go.”

With that, the commander and his team of six galloped away and swiftly disappeared around the building corner, and just after, Amber Dawn gave her order to move. “My team will take point until we split up, Archer.” she explained, the pegasus buck giving a nod in return as he turned the safety of his battle saddle off.

“Hold on, sergeant…” one of the Buckley guards suddenly spoke up, and I looked to see a buck from her team standing with his ear against the primary entrance to the facility. “I think one of them is in the lobby. I can hear something scratching around in there.”

“Damn bugs… Ricochet, toss me a stun grenade.” Dawn ordered, turning to face one of the rifleponies of Archer’s team, a yellow earth pony stallion with an orange and black mane, who swiftly complied with the demand. He snagged one of the grenades from his armor’s chest plate, and with a flick of his head, sent it for Dawn, who in turn caught it with ease.

“Everypony back away from the door.” Archer then ordered, trotting up to stand by Dawn at the entrance as she prepped the grenade. “I’ll open the door for you, ma’am. On three?” At Dawn’s nod, he counted off as the guards gave the entrance a wide berth, Gunny, Blossom, and I following their example. “Three… two… one…” In one quick movement, Archer pivoted on his forehooves and planted a strong kick into the door, sending it swinging around and crashing into the wall, and just as fast, he leapt out of the way as Dawn sent the grenade hurling into the room before she too dove away. With the door open, my ears perked at the sudden presence of a rather alarming deep buzzing sound, which only ceased as the flash grenade went off into the entrance lobby. In swift response, Archer sprang forward and landed before the entrance, and his twin .308 rifle saddle roared off its first shot with an ear-piercing crack of sound. Then he fired again as he glared ahead into the building, and I heard a liquid splatter from inside the lobby. “Got him!” Archer declared, stepping away from the entrance and giving a nod. “Lobby’s clear.”

“My team, let’s go!” Dawn ordered, trotting into the room with her saddle primed, and five others following her inside with weapons at the ready.

Then, as the last of them disappeared, Archer gave a nod to us. “Let’s move, everypony. Inside.”

Archer then took the lead, the earth pony Ricochet following close, and the other two Buckley ponies heading in right behind him. Then my friends and I were moving, Gunny stepping ahead of me as he drew his riot shotgun, and Blossom staying close behind me. Upon stepping inside, I beheld a small and largely vacant lobby room, only adorned with a few old metal filing cabinets along its right wall, and a pair of small tables against the far side of the room. But upon seeing those, my peripheral vision caught sight of a motionless mass on the floor, something that everypony intentionally avoided stepping near. In a pool of thick green blood and gore lay what had once been some kind of winged insect-like creature. It was perhaps just a little smaller than a full-grown pony, and had four dark crimson-colored wings that clashed ominously with the murky red-orange color of its middle and upper body and the solid black that coated its lower body, including the long and curved dagger-like stinger at its very end. The creature’s six long legs were curled over itself where it lay on its back, nearly hiding the large hole torn into its body by Archer’s rifles, and I noticed lastly that this creature’s head, whatever it had looked like, was gone completely, having been blown clean off by the pegasus buck’s deadly accuracy; this creature was one of the sand hornets.

“Goddesses… that’s disgusting…” Blossom remarked quietly from behind me.

“Yeah.” Dawn replied quietly, giving the deceased insect a solid kick as she walked by. “And this one’s only one of the young hornets. The adults are easily two times this size if not larger.”

“… Really?” I asked nervously.

“Yes. That’s why you need to keep your eyes peeled.” Dawn answered, trotting up to the lobby’s one open doorway and peering out into the empty hallway beyond. “Looks clear up ahead.” she observed, briefly craning her head around to look over the others as she added, “The lobby is our fallback point. If anypony gets stung, this is where you’ll retreat before you leave the building and go straight to the clinic. Doc Preston is already working on some kind of anti-venom compound, so get there as quick as you can and get a dose of that.”

“Understood.”

“Let’s get going then. We’ve got some bugs to squash.” Amber Dawn took the lead, her team falling in behind her in a tight single-file line with weapons and saddles at the ready. Archer then fell in behind the last pony of Dawn’s team, and I followed with the formation, keeping quiet and light on my step.

Beyond the hallway was what looked to be another office area with spaced cabinets and tables. This room was declared clear as Dawn entered, but even then, I saw red markers on my E.F.S. compass, two of them that were rapidly skittering back and forth across the display. But then, just before Archer entered the office, my ears perked at the sound of buzzing wings nearby, and everypony froze in place.

“They’ve got keen senses.” I whispered to Gunny as he crouched beside me. “Hearing, at least.” He only gave a nod as he stared intently forward.

Up ahead, Dawn gave a nod and slowly continued her advance with her team following her up to the next open doorframe, this one leading to the first of the generator facility’s iron catwalks; it was completely out in the open, hanging above what I assumed to be the ground floor. As Archer entered, he took a left, motioning for his teammates to follow, and as I hooked around behind Ricochet, I saw another entrance leading to a third office. The bridging hall between them held a sign suspended on thin chains, reading, Lower Level Access: Authorized Base Engineers Only.

This was where the two teams were splitting, and not a word was exchanged as Archer led us up to the entrance of the third office. But just as he was about to enter, I backstepped with a gasp as another one of the sand hornets scurried into view. This one was larger than the first that Archer had killed, perhaps a little larger than Gunny was, and this one had instantly spotted us, it’s ugly head rearing to stare right at us. Just as it beat its wings, lifting into the air with a deep and angry buzzing, Archer shouted the command to fire, and both he and the unnamed riflepony next to him opened up. The hornet jerked in the air, flipping spastically as one of its six legs came clean off before the bug righted itself in the air. Then, with great speed it charged forward to attack, and I only screamed and hastily backed away in unison with Blossom as that disgusting buzzing filled my ears. But quickly, Archer snapped out his wings and lifted up into the air, matching the altitude of the insect before his saddle rifles roared again, this shot drilling into the beast’s torso and knocking it back into the office. Then Gunny pushed through the group and was after it as the insect jerked and twitched, trying to regain its footing in its injured state, and with one shotgun shell he finished the job, taking the hornet’s head off in a messy splash of bug goop. Now there was one more dead, but at the same time, the entire facility came alive with the buzzing of the sand hornets.

“Hey!” Archer suddenly snapped in a fierce whisper, and I saw him land before approaching me as I fought to calm my breathing. “If you want to help us kill these things, then you’ve got to keep your head on straight, outsider.” he warned with a glare that I found myself cringing away from. “Do you got that?”

“I-I’m sorry, Archer.” I shakily replied. “I’ve just, I’ve just never seen… something like that before.”

“Neither have most of us on this mission.” Archer retorted, his glare easing up as he added, “Look, you saved Marlena’s life out in the wasteland, so I’m willing to bet that you can handle yourself. Now can you keep yourself together?” I only swallowed and nodded my reply as my breathing begun to steady, and I righted myself to a more secure standing posture as I pushed past the cloud of my previous panic.

Archer in turn gave an approving nod, but only turned around in time to see as yet another sand hornet of similar size to the second came flying into the office from it’s entrance at the far corner of the room. Gunny was on it in a heartbeat, swapping his riot shotgun for the All-Equestrian and strafing the insect’s lower body with a hail of bullets. But whether these things felt pain or not, this one flew right past him, completely ignoring its plentiful wounds and launching itself straight for Ricochet. The yellow stallion was quick to respond, bringing his two markspony carbines to bear and firing three pairs of shots, staggering the hornet and halting its rapid advance. And then the other riflepony made his move, the grey-coated, orange-maned unicorn levitating up a bolt-action rifle and firing a single powerful shot into the beast, sending it against the wall and onto the floor where it remained still.

“Good work.” Archer complimented as he trotted back to the head of our group and advancing into the office. “There’s an egg cluster here, a small one in the far corner opposite the entrance.” he announced as Ricochet and the grey unicorn stopped next to him. “Torch it, Butch.”

“Nova, Blossom, get back.” Gunny spoke, motioning for us to join him where he stood at the opposite end of the room.

The two of us hurriedly trotted over to him, and I turned to see our team’s designated flamer, a big tan-colored earth pony with a brown mane, approach a pile of slimy grey orbs, the egg clutch. “Everypony take a big step back.” he warned, biting on the firing bit of his heavy saddle and arming the flamethrower’s gas valve. Then, with a tremendous roar, a wave of orange fire rushed out from the weapon and bathed the egg cluster in a roaring inferno, splashing the wall and forcing Archer and the rifleponies to back further away. Even Gunny shielded his eyes from the glare, Blossom and I following his example as the flames continued to erupt from the weapon. Then, after a few seconds, Butch released the trigger and the blaze ceased. Already, the egg clutch was melting away into a burning pile of black slag, and Butch himself gave a little chuckle as he turned his saddle’s safety on. “Ooh, toasty.”

“Let’s keep going.” Archer then ordered, pausing briefly as gunshots echoed deeper into the facility. “Looks like the other teams have engaged too. With any luck, we’ll be able to surround the hive and plow through however many are down there.” As he begun down the set of stairs in the entranceway, he added, “We’ll be coming up on the generators soon. This is bound to be where the majority of these bastards are too, so stay alert.” One by one, we descended the flight of stairs, eventually emerging onto the concrete floor of a wide and open chamber that was the generator’s building’s lower level. Instantly drawing my attention was a series of muzzle flashes high above on the catwalks, Amber Dawn and her team keeping back an even larger sand hornet, easily three times my size, that attempted to attack the catwalk from the air. On the ground floor, two of the smaller sand hornets were directly ahead of us as they searched for intruders into their nest, hovering just above the floor as their wings beat that ominous deep buzzing sound. There was no sneaking up on them, as they turned to find us just as Blossom, the last in our line, stepped onto the floor.

“Fire! Fire!” At Archer’s command, the Buckley ponies split off into two pairs of two to meet the hornets as they flew in from opposing directions. Archer clipped the first with another shot from his saddle rifles, tearing off two of the creature’s thin legs and sending it to the ground where it skittered along the floor. Ricochet was already after the second one, his carbines drilling bullets into the bug’s midsection with precision. But as the Buckley ponies engaged the first two, another sand hornet came darting around from behind a large military shipping container; this hornet was massive, easily half the size of the entire container it hid behind!

“Nova, another one up ahead! Take it out!” Gunny shouted through the noise of the gunfire, taking aim with his LMG and firing off another barrage of bullets. As Gunny engaged, I steadied myself and took my saddle’s firing bit in my teeth, then slipping into the embrace of S.A.T.S.. The huge hornet was coming straight for Ricochet and the flamethrower pony even as Gunny shredded it with the All-Equestrian. It was so close now that it would be upon them in less than a second… but then I got an idea, quickly locking in my next two attacks and executing the spell; both Cross’s rifle and my carbine spit out their first shots, striking the mark I targeted.

Without its left wings, the hornet toppled to the floor and landed on its back, its legs kicking wildly in the air and giving the flamer buck enough time to wheel about and douse the giant menace with a healthy dose of orange fire. Even as we got a brief break in the fighting, the gunfire from the catwalks, as well as additional fire further into the facility, echoed around the chamber with enough sound to recreate a firefight on the surface. Up above, Dawn and her team had killed off the bigger hornet to have it be replaced by three more smaller ones which they were fighting to evade and shoot at the same time.

“Let’s go!” Archer called. “There’s more up ahead, and we can’t stop until they’re all dead!”

The team quickly regrouped into a loose cluster, Archer once again taking the lead as we advanced further into the facility. Just ahead, the big military container revealed an expansion of the chamber that branched to the left, towards which we advanced while hugging the side of the storage crate. Another trio of the big metal containers lay stacked together in the far corner, and a sort of platform elevator sat dormant beside them. Around it was a whole mass of eggs, currently under guard by two larger hornets as well as a smaller one hovering a ways away, and as we emerged around the corner, the group of insects charged, barreling straight towards us as a single pissed-off mass.

“Shoot for the wings!” I shouted, taking sight of my next target before firing another pair of shots at the smaller hornet, staggering the bug long enough for Ricochet to finish it off with his carbines. The other two larger hornets immediately came under fire from the three Buckley ponies, Butch now using a 10mm SMG in place of his flamer. But as the three hornets were dispatched, I took a quick look back behind me to check on Blossom and Gunny. The both of them had fallen out of the group, and were standing close together as they were likewise engaged, already having killed two others and now gunning down a third hornet that had flown in from behind us. But those three weren’t the only ones that had come from that way, as while my two friends had caught the attention of the third hornet, another larger fourth had flown straight past them and their fire; this one was coming straight for me!

I had only just registered the creature’s presence before I suddenly found myself face to face with it, the giant killer landing right in front of me; it legitimately stood twice my height! Then, it’s lower body arched up and forward as the hornet crouched, jabbing its stinger over its head and straight for my chest. With a cry of alarm, I only barely ducked in time, belly to the floor as the dagger-like stinger stabbing right over me and into the container behind me, sending up a streak of sparks where the stinger scraped along the steel. Even as I fought to right myself from the quick evasive maneuver, the hornet geared up for another attempt to put a hole in me, springing into the air and coming to face me a second time. With my ears full of the creepy deep buzzing of the beast’s wings, I half-leapt and half-stumbled out of the way as the hornet jabbed at me again, and I toppled onto my side as I lost my balance in the attempted escape.

I quickly rolled onto my back to keep my eyes on the hornet, which was already nearly on top of me, and before I could reach for my sidearm, I had to roll away as its stinger punched into the concrete where my torso had been. Despite my dodge, the hornet was persistent in following my every move, hovering in so close to me that its hanging legs nearly brushed against me. One more roll, and the hornet stabbed into the concrete once again, the strike so close that I felt the skin of the bug’s body touch against my side. But as I rolled onto my back, the hornet swiftly hovering in over me for another stab, the killer insect jerked as it was peppered with bullets, and as it whirled around to face its newest attackers, launching itself forward, a rifle shot rang out and stopped the hornet cold, sending it falling to the floor where it finally died.

As I fought with the pounding in my chest and the adrenaline coursing through me, I saw Gunny, Blossom, and even Archer, all facing towards me with their weapons still pointing at the most recently killed member of the hornet hive. Then, Gunny was the first to gallop over to me, skidding to a halt as he looked over me concernedly. “Are you okay?? Did you get stung??”

“I’m fine… I’m fine.” I assured with as much courage as I could muster, rolling over onto my belly before shakily forcing myself to a stand.

“Are you sure?” Blossom asked tensely as she joined us. “That thing was on top of you the whole time.”

“I know… but I’m fine, I-.”

“AAAGH!”

A sudden wail of pain cut through the noise of the gunfire, and my words were cut off as the three of us snapped our eyes and weapons to the source. Behind Archer, the other Buckley ponies of our team were still engaged, and I saw two smaller hornets in their midst, one of which ripped its stinger out from Butch’s side and quickly backflapped away, evading retaliatory fire from Ricochet. But before it could come charging back for another attack, Archer scored a hit on it’s right wings, sending the creature reeling onto the floor before Ricochet finished it off, the grey unicorn killing the second with a well-placed rifle shot just shortly after.

I raced back to regroup with the others, arriving as Butch was helped out of his heavy saddle. “Ugh, the fucker got me good…” he spoke through clenched teeth, breathing heavily as Ricochet dragged the flamethrower away. “I can feel… that venom’s already working.” the flamer buck added, his voice already fading in intensity before he suddenly let out a series of grating coughs. “Damn it… there’s still… more of them…”

“We’ve gotten a lot of them already, Butch, so don’t worry about not doing your part. Right now, you need to get back to the clinic, and quick.” Archer remarked, turning quickly to Ricochet and adding, “Get him out of here and over to the clinic as fast as you can. He needs a dose of that anti-venom as soon as possible.”

“I got him, amigo.” the yellow earth pony replied, already taking up a position at Butch’s side; the flamer buck already looked wobbly on his hooves. “Just make sure none of them follow us out, alright?”

Archer gave a nod. “We’ve got you covered. Just go.”

Without further delay, Ricochet led the incapacitated Butch away from the scattered corpses of the hornets and back towards the stairs, and I heard as the flamer pony gave another series of coughs that was proceeded by the sound of vomiting, making me wince; Goddesses, these buggers were nasty bastards.

“There’s not as much gunfire.” Gunny remarked then, and I looked ahead to see the area near the platform elevator, completely clear of any more hornets.

“E.F.S. still says there’s a few more, so stay ready.” Archer replied, trotting ahead and advancing towards the elevator. “Bolt, I need you on that flamer.” he called. “There’s a lot of eggs over here.”

“I got it. Keep me covered while I bake these thing.” the grey unicorn answered, already trotting over with the heavy flamer, saddle and all, wrapped in his telekinetic grasp.

The rest of us joined the two Buckley ponies by the elevator as Bolt armed the gas valve, and I got a look at several pony-sized piles of the slimy grey hornet eggs all laying along the three-sided wall that surrounded the lift; there were at least ten eggs per pile. “Goddesses, there’s so many…” I couldn’t help but observe.

“Yeah. If all of these had hatched…” Gunny added.

“Don’t worry, outsiders. They won’t.” Bolt interrupted as he took aim. “Keep clear.”

“Outsiders, help me keep watch for any more while Bolt gets rid of these eggs.” Archer ordered, nodding for us to join him by the stack of containers.

Obliging, the three of us took up defensive positions side by side, scanning the surrounding area as Bolt ignited the flamer and got to work. Aside from the roar of the heavy weapon, there was only the occasional blast of gunfire coming from above as well as farther into the facility. And all around us were the corpses of what had once been a massive hive of deadly mutated hornets. It was hard not to imagine what would’ve become of Buckley had they let this outbreak go. If the hive had expanded and all of the eggs had hatched, and the offspring developed into grown hornets, many more ponies above would’ve gotten hurt and possibly killed. Also considering the fact that these hornets had laid dozens of eggs, Buckley may have very well become overrun in time, and that would’ve easily started causing problems for the rest of the southeast region; I didn’t dare to think about what might’ve happened if these creatures had arrived on Hopeville’s doorstep.

“Those eggs are done for.” Bolt suddenly spoke up, trotting up alongside us as he secured the heavy saddle around his torso. “Let’s press on.”

“The generators are just ahead.” Archer explained as he nodded for us to move. “Hopefully they weren’t damaged.”

Leaving the elevator, we continued deeper into the facility, passing by the stack of storage crates and coming up upon a divider wall. It spanned half of the width of the chamber, sporting several support beams that held the catwalks and offices above in place. But then, passing by the wall, we came upon our primary objective. Two large steel boxes upon a stone platform, all of which was secured to the far wall, made Buckley Air Force Base’s twin spark generators, the installation’s primary electrical power source. Currently, mounted atop the generators, two orange lights were spinning in a slow circle, some sort of warning signal. The generators themselves looked to be intact, as far as one hundred and seventy-five year old machinery went, but all around them were even more hornet eggs, piles of them lined side by side along the walls and even up against the generators themselves. But what was more disgusting was that a few of these eggs had already hatched, and in their place was an equal number of white worm-like… well… things… wiggling and writhing about on the floor, some of them still half trapped in their own eggshells.

“Ew… what are those things?” Blossom asked as we approached, grimacing in disgust.

“Well, if I had to make a guess,” Archer answered, stopping before an egg pile to examine one of the worms. “I’d say that these are what sand hornets are before they become flying terrors… Yeah, that is pretty nasty.”

“Then we might as well get rid of them, too.” Bolt remarked, once again arming the gas valve and taking aim at the first clump of eggs.

But before he ignited the flamer, Archer quickly placed a hoof on Bolt’s side, getting him to lower the weapon. “No, we can’t use that here. The fire might damage the generators.” the pegasus warned, staring intently towards the intruding mass of eggs. “We’ll have to move them first before they can be destroyed… but we at least know that the generators aren’t damaged. Let’s help the other teams take out the rest of the hornets that can fly and fight, and then we’ll get back to this issue.”

On cue, the buzzing sound of hornet wings grew louder in my ears, and I looked away from the generators to find two more on fast approach from the unexplored area of the facility. “Watch out!” I swung around and brought my saddle to bear before slipping once again into S.A.T.S.. Two programmed shots to the left wings of the closest target, and I executed the spell, the first shot missing before the second struck home. My hit halted the hornet’s speed entirely, sending it crashing to the floor as Gunny opened up with his LMG on the second one. His barrage crippled it, sending it to the floor along with its friend and allowing Archer to finish it off with his saddle rifles, while Blossom scored the killing hit on the other with her repeater.

More gunshots echoed further in as the two bugs went down, sounding much closer than they had before, and just ahead, another smaller hornet emerged from behind a second divider wall. But just as I made my move to engage, the creature was mowed down from fire on its left flank, and as the hornet keeled over in its own guts, a unicorn pony emerged to face us with assault rifle aimed and ready. His armor was spattered all over with the green gore of hornets, and with a tremendous sigh of relief, he simply let his weapon clatter to the floor before plopping down on his haunches.

“Hey, are you alright?” Archer called, leading us over to the tired unicorn.

“Yeah… we’re fine.” the buck answered, nodding to his left as he caught his breath.

“The service tunnels were filled with the damn things.” Commander Tracer explained, emerging from an entrance to the right that led to the first of the facility’s tunnels. There was a whole mess of dead hornets inside, and the commander was likewise coated with a fair share of bug gore. “The service tunnels were where they had burrowed in and set themselves up before taking over the rest of the building.”

“What happened to the rest of your team, sir?” Archer asked.

“Four of them were stung in the fighting and had to retreat to the clinic.” Tracer answered. “Our flamer’s in there taking care of all the eggs inside the tunnels, and once he’s done, we’ll be grabbing some c-four charges to drop into the tunnel they made. We’ve got to reseal it and hope they don’t try and tunnel in again.” Trotting past us, the commander stopped to look over the generators themselves, giving a nod of approval as he added, “The generators still look to be intact… we’ll have to move these eggs before we can get rid of them, but all in all, I’d say this little mission was a success. Good work on securing the generators, Archer.”

“Thank you, sir.” Archer replied with a dip of his head. “But I’d like to just point out that the outsiders also pulled their own weight during the fighting. To be honest, I’m pretty impressed with what I’ve seen of them in here. They can definitely handle themselves, to say the least, and they were all true to their word. They were a big help to my team.”

At that, the commander turned to face the three of us where we stood, looking over each of us in turn. “That right?…… I’ve always trusted Mother Shimmer’s judgment when it came to the security of this base.” he said, slowly nodding. “Maybe she was right about the lot of you, because to be honest, I didn’t expect anypony in your party to help us here. These bugs are mean bastards, but you still volunteered and you helped Archer get to the generators.”

“Well, it certainly wasn’t fun… especially when I was on my back and being chased around by one of those things.” I remarked with a little laugh. “They’re real ugly up close.”

“Believe me, outsider, I know.” Tracer replied with a smirk.

“Hey!” a female voice suddenly called from the catwalks above, and we all looked in unison to see Amber Dawn, along with her team, looking down over us. “We’re all clear up here. How are things on the ground floor?”

“We’re clear here too.” Tracer called back. “The generator building’s secure.”

“Thank Celestia.” Dawn huffed with a smile, her team of five letting out a collective cheer behind her. “Now let’s get the gear heads in here so they can get the power going.”

“Dawn, when you go out there, get a couple of guards together with some plastic explosives and bring them to the service tunnels.” Tracer ordered. “The burrow that the hornets dug to get inside is in there, and we need to seal it again. I want you to take charge of that and see to it that it’s taken care of.”

“Yes, commander.” she replied with a nod. “Come on everypony, let’s tell the others the good news.”

“We need to head back out for a moment as well. Mother Shimmer is likely already waiting for us.” Tracer then spoke to us, motioning for us to follow him towards the stairs. “And I’m sure that she’s looking forward to hearing what we have to say about you, outsiders.”

“You all did pretty good.” Archer chimed in, trotting up next to me. “Thanks for your help in here.”

“It was… quite an unexpected adventure.” I remarked, to which Archer gave a small smile.

“Didn’t expect to see any wasteland critters?” he asked, looking me in the eye as he added, “Well, we all go through it at one point or another. It’s better that you found these for your first time and not a hellhound… and before you ask, it’s better that you don’t know.” Oh… okay… “But, by the way,” he added, leaning in to speak a little quieter to me. “good job keeping yourself together down here. I had a feeling you could do it.”

“Oh… uh, you’re welcome… I-I mean, thank you… heh, thanks…” Isn’t is amazing how quickly one can find herself blushing again, especially when an attractive buck of the same species leans in to compliment her?…… Because that was definitely me at the moment.

“You’re the one that deserves the thanks, you and your friends.” Archer replied with a chuckle “You did a lot more than most everypony was expecting, and that’s definitely putting you on the right track.”

With Commander Tracer in the lead, we headed back up the stairs and across the offices, retracing our steps back to the entrance lobby. The lobby door leading outside was already open, and I could hear several voices outside in a mash of activity. Once we emerged, I saw that some sort of improvised clinic had been assembled just outside the entrance, with eight open bedrolls having been laid out in two neat rows. Five of them were occupied, all of the ponies having been stung by a sand hornet currently recovering from the toxic venom and the wound that came with it. Tending to the four patients was none other than Grace, currently helping Butch drink down a clear elixir in a round flask, the anti-venom. Nearby, a white unicorn stallion with a black and grey mane was putting away an empty healing potion bottle in his saddlebags, adjusting his glasses before turning and trotting up to Grace. “How is he, outsider?”

“This dose should suppress the poison that came from the barb left in the wound.” she replied. “I wish I had known earlier that those hornets had left a part of their stinger in the victim to keep the venom flowing.”

“I had not known about that either, and I’m glad that you caught it.” the white unicorn replied. “It certainly explained why the first sting victims weren’t recovering overnight. Thank you for storing the barbs away. I will be analyzing them so that I can understand more about these creatures, just incase we should encounter them again.”

“That sounds like a good idea, Doctor Preston. I’m glad I could help.” Grace said with a smile, lifting away the now empty anti-venom vial and setting it aside. “And that’s the last dose of the anti-venom we should need to administer. Now these four just have to rest.”

“And I want them to rest for two days in the clinic, not just one.” Preston added, looking over to a female unicorn in doctor fatigues, the assistant proceeding to write down Preston’s orders on a clipboard. “While the venom has stopped, I’ve already seen that it has a crippling sort of effect on ponies, leaving the muscles in a weakened state for a fair time after the initial sting. They should recover on their own, but I still want them under surveillance to check for side effects.”

“We’ll get them back to the clinic, Doctor.” the assistant then spoke, levitating the clipboard to her saddlepacks.

“Thank you.” Preston replied with a nod, spotting us as he faced forward before giving Grace a nudge with his hoof. “It seems your friends have returned, outsider.”

“Hey, Gracie.” I called with a wave, my friend snapping her eyes to me at the sound of my voice.

“Oh, thank Luna you’re all back. I was worried when injured ponies started coming out of the generator building.” she explained, trotting first up to Gunny and giving him a quick hug before doing the same for me. “They were practically puking their guts out when they came outside. Any longer, and I’m not sure they would’ve survived, hence the reason why Doctor Preston decided to move some of his medical supplies out to the entrance.”

“Good thinking.” Gunny remarked with a nod. “My guess is that things are going smoothly for you out here?”

“Yes, actually.” Grace answered. “I think I’ve just about finished with my part of this whole ordeal.”

“Hey, where’s Blake?” I asked, looking around and not seeing him amidst the ponies outside the entrance, that was until I suddenly felt something hugging my foreleg.

“Right here, big sister.” the colt in question piped up, staring up at me with a smile of happy relief.

“Oh, hi there.” I replied with a giggle, reaching down to nuzzle his forehead. “See? I told you I’d be okay.”

“I’m just glad your safe and not hurt.” he replied, reaching up to hug my neck and pulling me into a tight embrace that I gladly accepted.

“Mother Shimmer!”

I looked up to find both Tracer and Archer trotting away from the generator facility and out towards the runway, heading straight to where four ponies were approaching across from the ATC tower. Though I couldn’t hear what they were saying as the two officers stepped up to the group, I recognized Mother Shimmer among them, with Raemor standing beside her, along with two unicorn guards, both telekinetically carrying light machineguns for Shimmer’s protection. And after a long moment of discussion, the group begun to make their way towards the generator building.

“Hey guys, I think Mother Shimmer’s coming to talk to us.” I observed, Blake releasing me as I stood to my full height.

“Already?” Gunny remarked with a chuckle. “That was quick.”

“I hope she’ll let us have the rest of our things back now.” Grace added, stepping up by my right side as we waited. “It’s not a good feeling getting a new weapon and having it taken away before you can use it.”

“Ah, then I guess Shore and I are rubbing off on you a bit.” Gunny observed, smirking as he looked at our medical friend.

“Shhh.” came Grace’s reply, the three of us sharing a round of laughter. “I still don’t like guns… but regardless, it wasn’t a nice feeling.”

Gunny only rolled his eyes before looking ahead, that grin still pasted to his face; it was a smirk that I couldn’t help but share with him. “Okay, sure.”

“Well done, outsiders.”

We faced forward at the familiar raspy voice of Mother Shimmer, seeing as she approached us with Tracer, Archer, and her two guards, Raemor departing from the group to join me by my left side. “Thank you.” I replied with a dip of my head, Gunny and Grace doing the same.

“No, child. Thank you.” she said with a big smile. “You and your friends have done well to earn the trust of my people. Just a moment ago, I had visited our ATC tower, and your friend Shore has certainly proven to Tech Sergeant Lela that he knows his way around computers, both in repairs and reprogramming. He has helped her tremendously in restoring our defense array terminals, and now, as I have just heard from Tracer and Archer, the generators are secure, and the hornets’ nest has been destroyed. Once the engineers have completed all of the necessary repairs, Buckley’s electrical power will be restored, and everypony will be a lot happier. For your help in achieving this outcome, I, and Buckley, thank you.”

“We’re glad to have helped.” I responded with a small smile. “But, to be honest, I’m sure that you’re ponies could have easily done this without us.”

“And many will say this.” Shimmer agreed with a nod. “But they will also come to know that because of your actions, you, as outsiders, are ponies that can be trusted, accepted, and welcomed as friends to Buckley. And this, in turn, will begin to give all of us the courage to open ourselves up to the outside world. It is my hope that we will soon be able to end the seclusion that we have lived by for so long.”

“What will you do now that Buckley’s systems are being restored?” Grace asked curiously.

“That is actually something I wished to discuss with you.” Shimmer answered, looking my way as she added, “You have helped my youngers in a number of ways already, and I am firm in my belief that your intentions here are true. I believe that now, I can trust you enough to show you Buckley’s greatest treasure. Should you have the time, I would like for you all to come and walk with me.”

Oh…

I glanced back over to Grace, Blossom, and Gunny, finding the three of them looking back at me with varying levels of curiosity and hesitation. We had only been on base for a short duration, perhaps no more than two or three hours, and we had already been witness to Buckley’s powerful weapons and technology. But aside from this, the fact that Mother Shimmer was so quick to trust us caught me off guard… it made me wonder just how much help Shimmer was seeking from the outside world in order to help her people and their home.

“You’ve already got all of this technology on your side.” Gunny remarked, facing Mother Shimmer again. “Are you saying you’ve got something even more advanced than anti-air turrets and howitzers?”

To this, Shimmer only chuckled. “Child, there are other things in this world that are far more valuable and powerful than the weapons of our predecessors, believe it or not.” she remarked with that same warm smile. “Please, come and walk with me, outsiders.”

She gave a nod, motioning to her right for us to follow her along the front of the generator building. With Blake sticking beside me, and my friends forming a shapeless cluster around me, we followed Shimmer, Tracer, Archer, and the two guards past the generator building and back towards the entrance of the base. We followed a straight path, parallel to the runways, and as we walked, I took in the sight of the rest of the base that I had not seen on Archer’s tour. Just past the generator building, facing the east, was one of Buckley’s howitzers, a massive cannon sitting upon a heavy steel frame that was connected to two thick tires. The entire gun was supported and level with two steel support bars that jutted back from the sides just behind the wheels, creating an overall triangle-like shape that kept the gun firmly on the ground. It’s firing components were separated from the barrel and cradle by a single plate, a blast shield, and it was operated by a crew of six unicorns, all staring eastward with their gun; it was an eye-catching and very lethal piece of equipment, the largest mobile gun I had ever seen.

Further along the base’s east side, we came across the recreational building, the spa which Marlena had opened to us, and the place that I was still very interested in making a visit to before we left. Past the spa, a massive sprawl of reinforced metal shacks, old military tents, and Buckley’s original barracks buildings stretched east from the runway all the way to the fence that separated Buckley from the outside. The collection of residences spanned a wide enough area that gave it the right to be a town all on its own, and as we walked by, there were at least a hundred ponies going from house to house as they completed their various errands. Even more shacks were spread along the fence, bridging the first residential district with a second, equally large, collection of shacks and tents. All of these surrounded another howitzer and its crew, as well as the large closed doors of the balefire missile silo - Shimmer’s residence. There had to be between two and three hundred homes in total, and with two to three ponies living in each one, Buckley’s claim of its eight-hundred-plus population was perfectly valid.

Now there was only one building left on the base’s east side, and it was Buckley’s largest structure, isolated and nestled into the southeast corner. As we drew closer, I could see multiple sets of double-doors, and pacing back and forth along the front of the building in their patrol were three guards, all of whom came alert as they spotted us. “Mother Shimmer, are the outsiders allowed to enter?” one of them called, carbine ready to fire in his telekinetic grasp.

“Yes, child. I’ve given them my permission.” Shimmer kindly replied. “You and your team can take a break from your shift if you like.”

“Oh. Yes ma’am.” The guard turned and gave a curt nod to the others before the three of them trotted away towards the hangers.

“Outsiders,” Shimmer began after the guards’ departure, stepping up to one of the sets of doors. “when you first arrived and were brought into the silo, I had spoken of our reasons for isolating ourselves from the rest of the world.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “Yes…”

“One of those reasons was to prevent anypony from the outside who might cause us harm from damaging what we shelter.” the ghoul continued, pushing one of the doors inward and giving us a smile. “Inside this building, you’ll find what it is that we protect. Come with me.”

The two guards followed after Shimmer first, opening two other doors and holding them for the rest of us. One by one, we entered, stepping hoof into a wide lobby space with a carpeted floor, an entirely clean and thin carpet of solid red fabric that covered the entire level from corner to corner. The room was supported by three circular steel pillars, all of which were unblemished and painted over in a solid coat of white, the same color that adorned the entirety of the walls, and even the ceiling. Around the entire lobby, attached at even intervals along all four walls, were ornate glass light fixtures, the bulbs inside each casting the entire room in a soft golden glow. At the left and right sides of the room, two staircases curved up and away to the building’s second floor, and directly ahead, another set of windowless double-doors were closed; Shimmer was leading us to them.

“Wow… this is pretty.” Grace commented, looking back and forth along the walls.

“What is this place?” Gunny asked.

“A haven, child.” Mother Shimmer answered, looking back at us with a smile as she approached the doors. “A shelter for one of the only Old World gifts that had remained untainted and undamaged by the politics and conflicts of wartime Equestria. It is one of the few things that can serve to remind us that Equestria, long ago, still held on to a part of its pre-war self, its innovations and its virtues, amidst the cloud of war.” She stopped in front of the doors, leaning forward to press an ear against them before giving a throaty chuckle. “It sounds like Saharra and her group are inside at the moment. We’ll try not to disturb them, but if we open the door quietly, we should be able to listen to them.”

As she nodded for us to join her, I only slowly advanced, taking in her words in my stride. The way she spoke of this building made it entirely obvious that whatever was here was highly valued in Buckley, perhaps even more than their impressive firepower and technology. I knew that both Hopeville and Challenger both relied heavily on their own weapons stockpiles, making them among their most valuable assets. But there was great meaning behind Mother Shimmer’s words, especially in the way she described this ‘gift’s’ relation to the old Equestria, the nation of our predecessors, and this made me very curious. But then, Shimmer pushed open one of the double-doors, and I was taken by surprise as my ears picked up a… peculiar noise. It was a sort of humming sound, a sustained pitch that emerged from the chamber beyond and drifted into the lobby, soft and soothing against my ears. And then, rising into existence came another color of sound, a slow and lyrical melody that was consonant against the drone, playing in a short phrase before falling silent and allowing the drone to sound alone once again. Then, as Shimmer entered, her guards following her, the same melody returned, drawing out the length of the last pitches of the phrase before a third new sound emerged, two different voices moving in shockingly beautiful harmony as the original melodic voice sustained the ending pitch of its phrase. Then all except for the drone went quiet, a brief pause before the harmonic movement returned again, extending its phrase before the original melody once again emerged from the silence. It briefly alternated with the harmonic movement, more sounds adding their own part to it before all of the voices eventually joined to play the melody together.

This was music…

The song continued as I found myself trotting forward, eager to step through the entrance and find the source of the sounds I was hearing. Shimmer’s guards still entered after her, and Tracer followed next, but then I was quickly worming my way through the door, and I almost stumbled into the next room, only saving myself a fall to the floor by stopping in absolute awe. Before me, all around me, was a massive chamber blanketed in darkness, a high ceiling and four walls making a wide open space. At the back of this space, the only part of the entire chamber that was illuminated, sat a grand stage painted in white, and atop it, an assembly of roughly forty ponies were arranged into an ensemble. Two groups, consisting largely of earth ponies, were positioned at the left and right sides of the large stage, and each member was currently playing his or her own string instrument, the front row of both sides playing genuine violins and violas, and the middle and back rows playing cellos and the larger stand-up contrabasses. Behind the left-side group, sitting on a raised pedestal, was a single unicorn buck behind a massive drum set, with a huge array of drums and different sized cymbals, along with other percussive instruments. And behind the right-side group of string players, likewise placed on their own pedestal, was an upright piano and a harp, two unicorn mares standing with them. And front and center on the stage was a single unicorn mare, brick-red in color with a cerulean mane and tail, who was levitating her own violin beside her, the bow sliding slowly and gracefully across the strings as she herself closed her eyes, taking in the beautiful sound she was helping to make.

But even as I tried to take in the sight, more ponies begun to emerge into the setup. Walking in a single-file line towards the front of the stage were five earth pony mares, all of them without their own instruments, and, as if responding to their approach, the strings begun to rise in volume, the cymbals giving a rolling buildup of sound, before all of the instruments faded to a quiet drone. And it was then that a voice cut through, and I saw as the leading mare of the line of new arrivals begun to sing in a beautiful and rich voice, pure, that sang a short melody on syllables, joined by the piano and a portion of the strings with a cymbal roll, before she walked gracefully along the front of the stage, making room for her followers. The five of them spread out along the stage as another one of the mares took up the first singer’s melody, the same instruments likewise accompanying her. After the second repeat, all five of them sung together as they took up their positions, the instruments growing steadily stronger in their projection, and the singers sung a second phrase in the same syllables as they stopped and faced towards us. Then, at the end of their last phrase, the entire ensemble fell silent as the solo violinist stepped back, the drone returning along with a quick entrance from the harp before the five vocalists standing at the head of the ensemble begun to sing in lyrics.

“High is the moon tonight.” the first mare sang, a second repeating the same music of the melody with syllables.

“Hiding it’s guiding light high.” the third mare of the five sang after.

“Heaven and earth do sleep, still in the dark so deep, I will the darkness sweep.” the second mare sang, the first taking up the melody in syllables, three of them then joining together in a vocal crescendo.

At its peak, the fourth mare of the group sang her own phrase. “I will the moon to flight, I will the heavens bright, I will the earth delight.”

I had to look away…

“Tell me my eyes don’t deceive me.” I muttered, finding Mother Shimmer standing beside me, smiling her big smile.

“They most certainly don’t child.” the ghoul replied. “This is Buckley’s concert hall, and all the music performed within it makes our greatest treasure. Music has been with the ponies of Buckley for one hundred and seventy-five years, ever since Stable one ninety-two. And ever since it was nearly lost when Stable-Tec’s experiment failed, we have guarded it and kept it alive. Within this building are one of Buckley’s three music libraries along with the vast majority of its musical instruments.”

“Three?” I asked, a nearly inaudible question.

“Yes.” Shimmer answered with a nod. “There is also a club for all electronic music, and our church for all sacred music, songs sung in praise to Celestia and Luna. While we defend ourselves with weapons and technology, music is our culture, our great prize and gift. And it is around our music that we are planning our first steps towards going outside.”

“This… this is amazing.” I spoke, breathless as I looked back to the stage and its ensemble. They had stopped singing, but a single stallion standing before the stage, perhaps this ensemble’s director, was speaking with the group of five singers as the instrumentalists adjusted the sheet music on their stands. But even as the ensemble transitioned, I caught another glimpse of the dark red unicorn mare, the solo violinist in the previous song - she was looking right back at me, eyes set in a cautious but curious stare that she only diverted when the director called her attention, completely oblivious to our presence as they rehearsed.

“I’m glad you think so, child.” Shimmer replied with a chuckle, giving a nod towards the exit, to which I only hesitantly followed; Goddesses, what else were they going to play?? I wanted to listen and watch!!

As the last of us left the concert hall, Shimmer’s guards closed the doors behind us as we assembled again in the lobby. “As of now, you are all free to explore these buildings, listen to ensembles as they rehearse, worship, or simply play music for the joy of it.” Shimmer declared. “I give you this because you all have justified my trust, and should you stay longer, I believe I’ve found a way for you to show your value to Buckley in full.”

“What do you mean by that?” I asked her.

“Word is already spreading across the base of your efforts to help us, child. And I think that my youngers will soon come to accept having you in our home as guests.” she explained, smiling as she added, “If you wish to, there is one more task that we would welcome your assistance with, a task that will be our first step to integrating ourselves into the southeast.”

“And what exactly is it that you’re planning to do?” Gunny inquired.

Turning to him, Shimmer kept her smile as she answered, “Effective tomorrow, we are making an expedition to the Old World city of Marefax.”



Footnote: 50% to level up.