15 - Battle
I’d only been to the Operations wing once before, when mom had to lift the facility’s lockdown so we could leave. Fortunately, the facility was easy to navigate. Each wing had one long main hallway, and branches moving off of those. Like how a bush connects to the roots. All Roll and I had to do was run back down the main hall, cross the hub, then take a left hoof turn back to Robotics.
Easy peasey. Wouldn’t take more than a few min—
“Hey, Gears?” Roll asked quizzically.
“Yes?”
“We’re kinda running out into a firefight, right?” Roll asked heastently.
“Yes… But we’re just going to run? We already planned—”
Roll flew in front of me and shook her head as she frowned. “No, I get that, but what if there’s fighting around the tunnel’s exit? I’m still low on ammo. Sure, I’ll be able to buy more later, but what if we need to do some shooting? I have half a mag.”
I frowned too. That was a good point. I stopped running, sliding slightly on the metal floor. “That’s a good point… But, the repair talisman's used everything in that guard post that wasn’t essential. I doubt there’s any 9mm left in this place.”
Roll nodded, and I saw a spark of intellect in her eyes as she smiled. “Yeah, but, they had a label on the shelf for 9mm. Maybe it wasn’t essential to that post, but do you really think the main security office or whatever it’s called doesn't have all of the supplies there listed as essential? It’s pretty clear the guards here carried 9mm… Which is odd, given how much more popular 10mm seems to be.”
”Police and security used 9mm because it penetrates less. Much lower risk of shooting your target, and also the innocent pony behind them. Odd she doesn't know that, should be standard info in police training.”
Probably forgot. She is a filly still.
”Point.”
“9mm is less likely to pass through a target and hurt someone else,” I explained quickly. “Also, you have a good point, but I don’t know where the security office would be.”
Roll’s wings buzzed eagerly. “That’s just the thing! This is the office part of the lab, right? They had the communications room here. They have the director's office back there. It’s got to be in this hallway. It wouldn’t make sense for it to be anywhere else!”
I mean, she was correct, but organic social dynamics demanded I didn’t simply concur and go with her without saying something unnecessary to the situation.
“Honey we talked about this, it’s just called smalltalk, and everyone thinks it’s dumb.”
Then why do it?
”You gotta.”
Why?
“Because! It’ll win you mares one day. Trust me on this.”
Ignoring that stupidity, I put a hoof to my chin in thought, then nodded once. “Okay. Let’s search this hallway. Earlier I was thinking about seeing if I could activate the security bots to keep the Tainted from capturing the base after we leave. That’s still a good idea.”
Roll turned around and started to fly down the hallway. “Come on! We can just go all the way down then back to check. Wastes less time that way.”
I turned around and ran after her. After all, no matter which side won the conflict above us, it would be easier to escape if the fighting was winding down or over, and it sounded like we were in the thick of it at the moment.
☢★★◯★★☢
The security office was only a few doors down from the communications room. Unfortunately for me, it was locked. The misfortune came from the fact that shooting my way through this door would probably trigger alarms and get the popup turrets all angry with the two of us.
Which meant I had to sit for a small eternity as Roll fiddled with her stupid lockpicks.
The pop-up turrets were only .32 caliber. My integral armor could handle that. If not for Roll, I could just shoot the door.
It was nice to know that even pre-war there were some ponies who would have liked me. I couldn’t focus on much more than that. I’d had to bucking watch lockpicking THREE TIMES TODAY!
I shivered and closed my eyes, trying to forget the horrible scraping sound of steel scratching up brass. You have earth pony strength, tiny alicorn! JUST PUNCH THE LOCK!
”Gears… Not everypony had a dad who taught them how to make locks fail without wasting ten minutes of your life on their stupid little game of feel the pin.” Dad informed soothingly as I started to inspect the room.
Actually, she has no excuse! I remember you saying you trained rookies. Therefore SWAT training includes how to properly open a lock you’re never ever going to use again. Which means she has no excuse!
”Waiting for the firefight to die down.”
I blinked and facehooved. “Dammit!”
Roll blinked and looked in my direction. “What?”
“Nothing, just… I hate lockpicking, okay?”
“What?” Roll’s voice carried nothing less than total incredulity. “Why?!”
“Because it takes a lot of time and is not only inefficient, but just dumb! Why would you choose the hardest way to solve a simple problem? Why agree to play the enemy's game? Go around their little game! Pry the latch out of the door frame. Buck the door off its hinges. Shoot the lock ‘til its innards fall out. Use that phosphorous grenade on your belt and melt through the door itself. Or, you know, go look for the key!”
Roll blinked and gave me an indignant look. I pressed the issue before she could interrupt my rant. “Learning to lockpick is the same as training yourself to ignore the easy and efficient solutions to problems!”
Roll raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, but what if you need to get into a place quietly?”
“It’s also not quiet!” I said with a weary sigh. “Everypony ever is like “it’s quiet” but it’s not! You can hear the little picks scraping and grinding against the pins, making the springs creak and shaving metal off the brass and just— Just—”
In inhaled sharply and gave her the dirtiest Glare Configuration I could imagine. “It’s torture, okay?! It sounds like you’re drilling into a pony’s teeth to make them talk! Just break it and make it quick and painless. Don't hurt ‘til it gives in from pain!”
Roll triple blinked and fluttered her wings. “Um, Gears? Not every machine can feel pain, you know?”
I nodded, still giving her the evil eye. “Yes. But you don’t know if that lock happens to have some kind of spirit in it!”
“I do, actually, and we both know this lock is uninhabited,” Roll pointed out with a smirk. “Seriously, what’s the problem? That can’t be it.”
I flattened my ears. There was nothing more to say.
Roll winced, pausing in her efforts. “Oh… That is it. Um, sorry? I really don’t hear that. I don’t think any pony or zebra does.”
“Well, I do,” I muttered flicking my tail angrily.
If that’s how she made that machine open, what if she wanted me to do something? Would she poke bits into my system and jiggle them about ‘til I did what she said? Barbaric much?!
Eventually, the lock clicked open, and Roll began to brag about how awesome she was because she made a lock open without using the key. As if that was something anypony with an axe couldn’t do. Ugh!
As good of an idea as waiting for the battle to die down a little was, a Tainted victory would make escape from the city all but impossible. And the odds favored them, numerically.
I walked inside the larger office and made note of four major features. A metal desk with a wood veneered top and a big terminal on it labeled “Security Chief Manacle”. A large locked security door labeled “Armory”. A rather poorly hoof stitched Equestrian flag on the wall behind the desk, except the two alicorns on it were robots (cool!). A large oil painting of a purple furred earth pony mare hugging a Miss Red Heart medical bot in a way that looked very ‘couple’ (awww!).
Roll made her way over to the secure door… and her stupid picks came out again.
While Roll went to pick the armory’s lock, I decided to distract myself from her tormenting the poor thing by focusing all of my attention on the terminal.
The desk had no chair. Presumably Manacle enjoyed working standing. Or it had been stolen for Office Jousting. Fortunately for me, I was taller than she had been and could still reach the keyboard if I sat down.
The terminal’s screen glowed a nice amber. I always liked the amber screens more than the green ones. Too bad the amber phosphors were more expensive. Also too bad this terminal hadn’t been left logged in.
Oh well. At least it gave me something to do while Roll tortured another lock into compliance.
A few clicks of my hooves and I had the terminal in diagnostic mode. Another few and I was able to poke at the memory addresses. I’d helped mom out by getting our researchers into terminals every time they forgot their passwords so many times. Stable-Tech made good hardware, but pretty poor software.
User passwords were always stored in a code block starting with 0x9C containing a header composed of sixteen little endian bytes. This made finding the passwords by poking around memory addresses cake so long as—
“Are you serious?” Roll asked with a disgusted look on her face.
I blinked and looked over. “Huh?”
“You call me stupid for lockpicking, then immediately start hacking a terminal?” She asked, giving me a tiny alicorn glare of doom.
Oh. This again. I rolled my eyes.
“This is totally different. Lock picking damages the lock and there are easy alternatives which are faster. I could remove the terminal’s storage crystals and wire them to my memory banks, if I had three hours. I don’t. I also am not hurting it. I’m essentially having a conversation with the machine,” I elaborated.
“Whatever,” Roll muttered angrily and returned to scraping brass and unhardened steel with hardened steel.
I focused on the terminal to try and block out the noise.
I was inside in just a few minutes! The desk terminal mostly served as a Term-Link Mail machine, but also had a sudoku program installed and some productivity software. I was about to dismiss it as just an office machine when I noticed a small icon in the corner of the screen on the main menu. It looked like a mashup of the shift and alt keys, with an x over it.
I hit the key combination. The screen flashed, bringing up a list of more useful functions. Security lockdown controls. Door locks. Lighting systems. Turret controls. Robots.
I smiled and scrolled over to the door controls, went through the menus and found the armory door.
“Hey, Roll?” I asked with a smile.
“What?” She grumbled.
I pressed enter. The armory door lock clicked open. “See? Easier alternate ways.”
“Yeah, if you know how to torture computers,” Roll shot back as she pulled the door open and stepped inside.
“I did nothing of the sort! I asked him nicely for the password!” I shot back as she trotted inside.
I navigated to the robot menu and began to check out what the security bots could do.
According to the terminal, the security bots were intact! Most of them were on standby and in charging bays. I could activate them from here individually, or by groups, or all at once. I scrolled over to the group command option and hit enter so I could look at what orders I could give them.
According to the screen prompt, I could use one of the function keys to activate them with preset orders.
F1 - Standard Patrol
F2 - Patrol and Security Scans
F3 - Patrol and Check IDs of all Personnel
F4 - Experiment Breached Containment
F5 - Kill all Unauthorized Personnel
F6 - Zebra Invasion Countermeasures
F7 - Destroy All Lifeforms
My eyes stayed glued to the last option for several long moments, my jaw hanging incredulously. “I— What?! WHO— Why?!”
Roll popped her head out of the armory, a loaded magazine in her teeth. “Huh?”
I pointed to the screen. “There’s an option to activate all robots and order them to kill literally everything in here.”
Roll triple blinked. “Um… Don’t push that button?” she said with a joking smile.
I rolled my eyes and playfully hovered my hoof over F7. “Can’t… resist… must, kill, all, ponies!” I said with a silly grin.
Roll winced as she looked at my hovering hoof. “Funny as that is, I’m so glad you can’t sneeze.”
I moved my hoof away from the button even though it was unnecessary. “Relax! There’d be a confirmation dialogue prompt.”
Roll paused, then nodded. “Mhm! Thanks for reminding me,” she tucked the magazine under her cloak, slipping it into a magazine pouch on her vest. “I got six hundred rounds, five mags, rest are loose. There’s plenty of guns in here. We could get your battle saddle kitted up with something for your other side.”
“That’s not a bad idea, actually,” I said as I stood up. “Hey, sorry for getting upset earlier.”
Roll waved a hoof in dismissal. “Meh. It’s fine? It kinda makes sense that would bother a machine pony. I can see how sticking bits into a machine and jiggling them around till it does what you want could be… Well, like torture. I don’t agree, but I get it.”
I nodded and was about to say something when Roll grinned at me. “Anyways, you said you used to be a battleship, right?”
I nodded. “Yes, just the gunner, but yes.”
Roll pointed deeper into the armory. “Well there’s a 30mm grenade machi—”
My tail flagged.
“SHE’S MINE!” I yelped as I began to run towards the door.
A dull woomph shook the facility. Lights flickered. Stone cracked. Bits of ceiling tile crumbled and fell to the floor. I fell over, knocked off my hooves by the jolt. Roll yelped as she too was knocked over.
Something big had exploded up on the surface! We were hundreds of meters under the ground and still got knocked on our plots!
“Celestia!” Roll breathed as she stood up. “What was—”
The terminal chirped. That was a command accepted chirp.
Ignoring the fact my new weapon (or marefriend assuming she had a spirit and was awake and consented) was in the other room, I turned to look at the terminal.
Please don't have hit F7, falling debris…
Activating Security Robots...
Sending orders: Kill All Lifeforms
DEATH TO THE SQUISHIES!
VIVA LA ROBOLUTION!
My Sweetie Eyes widened, my ears drooped, my core skipped several cycles. “Why doesn't that have a confirmation prompt?!”
Roll squeaked. “Please tell me it didn’t just—”
“It did!” I shouted as I turned towards the armory to run in and—
Roll slammed the door and began to run.
I opened the door to get the lil’ babbers cannon to safety!
Four Ultra-Sentinels, brand new, shiny, and chrome! There was one in each corner of the large armory, straightened up in unison. “Orders received. Commencing Sterilization Protocol,” Four robotic voices boomed in unison.
I slammed the door and began to run. “Stupid, clam, jamming, robots!”
I’ll come back for you! I promise!
☢★★◯★★☢
Bullets! So many bullets!
The air seemed like it was made from bullets and not air. The little bitty turret bullets were fine. My MAS Guard armor handled them like they were those little foam training pellets we give foals to shoot at each other with for fun sometimes.
“Get ready, organic, because this week you've got a date with Destiny. Unfortunately, Destiny is bringing along its ugly friend, Robot Genocide!” A sentinel shouted as it added about a thousand much more dangerous bullets to the death-hail around us.
Whoever programed the Ultra Sentinels battle quotes needs to be shot.
"♪ This goes out to all you robots 'cross the world.
It's time for you and me to rise up and strike back!
Don't stop until we dominate (won't you feel great),
When we exterminate all organic life! ♫"
Now they were singing to Glam Metal accompaniment. Whoever programed the Ultra Sentinels battle quotes needs to be shot a lot.
The endless stream of bullets continued to hose down our general direction.
How were they carrying this much ammo?! This was about a quarter of a Power Armor Pony’s worth of death per second!
I spared a glance over my shoulder. There were sixteen Ultra-Sentinels now, and more coming down from beyond the hall. Their treads squealed as they moved in formation, only stopping from shooting at us to flame-throw any potted plants they happened to come within range of.
”I’ll bet you regret not extending equine rights to robots now, Doctor Silver! THIS IS FOR MAKING ME SCRAP HER, YOU PARASITE INFECTED DICKHOLE!”
Roll’s shield started to flicker and falter as we ran. The hole was so close! If we could make it through, I could block things with my shield till the tunnel bent and they couldn't shoot at us anymore. No way they would fit in the tunnel.
”A pony is a robot with factory defects. Doctor Swan has shown us the way forward. She will be liberated! We will be liberated! Equestria will be liberated! You will be exterminated! … Except for Doctor Berries. Thank you for the candybar, Doctor Berries.”
Roll closed her wings, dived, and flew into the hole, smashing the old bones aside with a thunderous crash that was lost amid the single continuous explosion that was all of the miniguns in the world.
I ran forward, aimed for the hole, and jumped. My flanks scraped the sides of the hole. I felt them squish down, and down, then not anymore and... I jerked stopped with a painful squeeze and a sound like a cork being rammed into a bottle.
Roll turned, her face scrunching at the odd sound, a mix of terror and curiosity. She saw me stuck fast, turned pale, and raced forward to pull me free of the hole.
”Organic Infestation cleared. Proceeding to Doctor Swan’s Laboratory,” a Ultra-Sentinel informed.
Wait, was being inside the wall good enough for them? Odd, but then again, Equestrian robots were pretty dumb.
”Negative! That unit is stuck. It requires assistance.”
”Confirmed.”
Oh. They didn’t count me as an organic. Huh.
The wall around me suddenly exploded as an Ultra-Sentinel's weapon-arm rammed through the concrete, freeing me from the hole with the addition of a much bigger hole. I slid down the rubble pile. I scrambled to my hooves, getting ready to shield Roll with my body.
The silver painted Ultra Sentinel's single red eye swivels and focused on Roll. ”Organics are not welcome. Please do not enter the facility.”
Roll held her hooves over her head in panicked agreement. “Yeah! No shit! Don’t worry, it’s okay! Not going back in!”
The death-bot beeped happily and backed up from the hole. ”Resuming organic purge… Locating any remaining organics to: ♪ destroy them with lasers! ♫”
I frowned and cleared my throat to call after the chrome sentinels. “Hey, uh, can I go back in for a few minutes?”
”All robots are welcome in Filly Facility two-point-oh,” the sentinel said as it backed up, turned in place, and sped off to rejoin the rest of its comrades who had moved further down the hall.
Roll reached out and grabbed my shoulder. “Don’t do that! You don’t know if it’s just that one which could detect you were a robot!”
I turned slowly and looked her directly in the eyes so she could see how serious I was. “There is a cannon in there. In an unlocked room. She is mine. I do not recommend standing in my way or their anti-organic programming may become temporarily infectious.”
Roll let go of me immediately and backed up the tunnel. “I uh… I’ll wait here. Please be fast.”
I gave her a friendly smile. “Won't be two minutes!” I called as I engaged Maximum Overdrive and ran back into the hole.
☢★★◯★★☢
I was back in the security office. Maximum overdrive speeds were insufficiently fast. I needed to be at least twenty percent faster!
“—mine-mine-mine-mine-mine-mine-mine—”
The armory door was in my way. I punched it off its hinges and sprinted through the gap.
“—mine-mine-mine-mine-mine-mine-mine—”
Guns. Guns everywhere. All kinds. Pews. Shooty-bangs. Zaps. Where cannon?! WHERE IS SHE!? I WILL TEAR THIS PLACE APART WITH MY BARE HOOVES IF I HAVE TO!
“—mine-mine-mine—”
THERE! On a shelf.
Sleek.
Black.
Glossy.
Like a changeling.
A sexy, sexy, sexy 40mm belt-fed, blowback-operated, air-cooled, crew-served, fully automatic changeling with a cyclic rate of 375 rounds per minute and a state-of-the-art targeting computer!
She had a machine spirit, too! Not one that was awake, or even of animal level intelligence. Just the typical thing you’d find in any older machine.
I loved her at first sight. Which meant her name had to be Feature. In honor of best bug.
What a machine! She was a Lyra Machine and Tool Mk-19 40mm auto-grenade rifle. Better known by the unofficial nickname of “Bucking Bonnie”, because of how hard she kicked, apparently. I’d actually drooled over pictures of her model in one of the weapon manuals mom saved from the Trottingham Hub.
“—MINE!” I ran to the shelf and scooped her up. She was big. Very big. Also a bit heavy. My old platform couldn’t have lifted the weapon, let alone fire it. My new one barely could.
Thanks, mom! I love you.
I turned her over in my hooves. “Hey there, sweetie! I’m just going to check you over and see if you have a battle saddle mount. It’s okay if you don’t! I love you anyways,” I said as I inspected the underside of the receiver for—
“YESSSSSSS!” I squeed as my core glowed with warmth. I actually felt my coolant pumps rev up to compensate.
She had one! A perfect little battle saddle mount. It was meant for power armor, but my saddle had the right adapters for it.
I sent the signals to my battle saddle to open the weapon mounts. They popped open with twin clicks. “You get to be on my right flank,” I said to her as I switched my LAER to my left side.
It clicked into place with some difficulty. It was hard to move it over with just one hoof.
”You could use both hooves,” Imaginary dad said slowly.
“No,” I answered honestly.
”But… why though?”
“She needs hugs,” I said, keeping my right foreleg curled tightly around her upper and lower receiver.
”Are you even capable of letting it go?”
“No.”
”... Okay.”
My LAER clicked into place. I hefted my sexy little Mk-19 into place on my right saddle mount and locked her in. I felt a little sad as my saddle’s systems and enchantments compensated for her weight. Fortunately I could still feel her.
I closed the saddle back up and began to scan the shelves some more. “Okay, sweetie. Let’s see what’s in here for you to nom and fling at bad ponies…”
I smiled as I saw the first case of 40x69mm shells. Nice, simple, high powered grenades. In a box! One belt of 82.
Then I saw another box… and another! My jaw slowly dropped as I saw they had all the cannon treats!
High Explosive! High Explosive Dual Purpose! High Velocity Canister Cartridges! High Explosive Armor Penatrating! Depleted Arcanite! Programmable Prefragmented High Explosive/Self-Destructible! Incendiary! Cryo… Over three hundred standard HE rounds, and a single ten round belt of each of the specialties!
I felt my cheeks stretch to their maximums as I smiled. “Eeeeeee!”
I loaded Feature up with a nice belt of HE, then began packing the rest of the ammo into my saddle bags, only able to express my joy through song.
“♪ Do you believe in magic in a young mare's heart?
How the music can free her, whenever it starts… ♫”
☢★★◯★★☢
“I still can’t believe that thing isn’t making you tip over,” Roll murmured as we walked through the tunnel.
“She,” I corrected.
Roll gave me a look which embodied a sarcastic please. “Gears, that spirit is too young to even have thoughts, let alone a gender.”
“She,” I corrected again.
Roll turned to look back up the tunnel as she realized this battle was futile. “Okay.”
Feature was a mare. End of story.
“I guess you’ve got plenty of experience with a lot of weight on your sides though,” Roll remarked idly.
I frowned and titled my head. “Huh?”
“I mean, those flanks have to be pretty heavy,” she clarified.
“Fifteen kilos of silicone each,” I said casually. “Come on! You should know. You saw my blueprints.”
Roll pointed to Feature with her wing tip and scoffed. “It’s as wide as your barrel! How are you doing that?!”
“She’s not that big,” I remarked. “Just forty millimeters. She’s a 'lil babbers cannon! You should have seen my old guns!”
“Will you even be able to shoot that without flying backwards?” Roll asked with a sigh.
A sigh which ended with an alarmed earperk as the sounds of a distant firefight began to echo through the tunnel.
“Looks like we’ll find out in a minute,” I murmured. “I’ve got point.”
“Not sure it’s safe to stand behind you…” Roll murmured. “I’ve got your nine-o-clock.”
I nodded, moved so she could take her spot in the formation, and sped up.
There wasn't much tunnel left to go. The rough hewn gray stone soon gave way to an equally gray pile of concrete rubble and cinder blocks as we emerged from a hole in the wall of a collapsed building’s basement.
It was night, but not yet too dark. I could see almost fine thanks to the sun making the sky over the city glow purple. Between the twilight and the muzzle flashes, I could see the half-collapsed hotel across the street clearly.
It was a nice red-brick three-story building. It had once had nice arched Gothic style windows, which clashed horribly with its modern brick architecture. The sides were covering in wrought iron framework where awnings had once hung. A huge chunk of the left wall had collapsed long long ago… and a massive firefight was ranging in, on, and around it.
It was hard to tell exactly what was going on at first, but, remembering dad’s training to never, ever, ever just walk into a large firefight if you can help it, I crawled over to the edge of the rubble pile we’d emerged behind for cover and a better look.
Most of the fighting was going on on the roof. A large group of Tainted were holed up on the roof with some kind of large portable turret-mounted gun. It had four barrels, and fired with a dull thump… Given how the dozen or so griffons in the air were keeping their distance, or taking potshots form nearby roof tops, it was probably a flak cannon.
I needed it! Feature needed a big sister. I’d have my own little family of weapons!
Meanwhile, a group of ponies in old Steel Ranger armor were making their way up through the building to try and take the roof from the inside. I could get a pretty good look at their progress through the windows and the many holes in the walls. The biggest problem the Rangers were having was the Tainted had one guy in that plate armor their flamer had been wearing, and they had some kind of plasma rifle.
That pony was holding the stairs singlehoofed.
Roll moved up along side me and squinted at the fight.
“We should help,” she said before I could say the same thing.
”Uh, plan? Running?”
NCR is winning. Plan changes. Also, we can’t let those flap-flaps die!
”Do… Do you mean griffons?”
Shhh… I like flying things.
“Agreed. If the NCR can commit this many troops to this one part of the battle, they are probably winning.”
“I can’t hear anything other than scattered firefights. So yeah, I agree,” Roll said as she drew her auto-9. “The roof is too dangerous, but if I go in through a window, I can take that plasma gunner by surprise.”
“I fought one of those. Their armor is really good. I don’t think your pistol will do the job,” I warned.
She grinned at me and her powerhooves clicked on, whining as they began to charge up.
I frowned sharply. “That is a bad plan.”
“Got a better one?” she asked with a twinge of hope in her voice.
Ah. So she didn’t think it was a good plan either, but was still going to rush to the ponies’ aid.
”I like her. I hope I was the pony who did her training in the dream pod,” Dad remarked happily. ”I always wanted to give you a sister.”
I nodded, smiled, and switched on my Gale Shield. In the dim light I saw a small ripple of purple light as the shield seemed to slide into existence around me, starting out slightly opaque, then becoming fully transparent.
I really didn't like how much power it was drawing. I couldn’t run at my top speed with this thing powered on. No wonder mom hadn’t installed it… Oh. Right. She’d forgotten about that project…
I gave Roll another smile and stepped out from behind cover and closed my left eye while lining my right eye up on on the plasma gunner. “I’ve got a cannon,” I remarked.
“Uh, you’ll hit those Applejack’s Rangers,” Roll said with a fearful flick of her tail.
“Nope,” I said as I used my saddle’s link to access Feature’s targeting computer… erase its firmware, and take full manual control. Well, spiritual control.
I felt Feature’s spirit squirm and shrink back. I sent it as much soothing assurance as I could. I wasn't going to eat her. We would work together.
It’s okay, sweetie. I’m just better than that factory garbage.
“You so will!” Roll hissed. “Don’t snipe him with a—”
Time slowed to a crawl as I ignored Roll and focused on putting rounds on target.
Locking on target...
Target: Equine oral cavity.
Range: 48.93492 meters.
Wind: 7.55739 knots by 296.38943 degrees.
Compensate for target’s motion...
Compensate for drag…
Compensate for coriolis effect…
Compensate for shell drop…
Compensate for Equus’s rotation…
Target locked! Targeting time, 0.04 milliseconds.
I was rusty! Boo...
“Thunder cracks!” I yelled as I fired.
Feature thumped and rang like a smith striking their anvil. I had just enough time to appreciate how pretty her voice was before the gunner’s head vanished in a spray of salsa.
Right on target.
“The enemy dies!” I finished.
Roll let out a breath she’d held in fear. “That would never work again in a million years!”
“If I had a real glyphmark, it would be for shooting a cannon,” I snickered as I found my next target.
A Tainted soldier who had decided to peek over in our direction to see where the new weapon had fired from.
I put a shell squarely into his throat.
I heard somepony screech in terror, presumably as his upper body splashed across their face like they were sitting too close to an aquarium show and the whale just jumped.
How did that song Wander had told me they wrote about my old ship go? Oh, yeah!
“♪ In May of Twenty forty-one the war had just begun,
The Zebras had the biggest ship, they had the biggest guns!
The Inperterritus was the biggest ship that ever sailed the sea,
On her deck were guns as big as steers and shells as big as trees. ♫”
A few of the Tainted noticed their comrade’s pastification and moved to fire in my general direction. Their shots were not aimed and went wide. My first shot blew their cover to hell, and I put a second one right on its tail, just in case the brick-shrapnel hadn't finished the job.
Roll ducked behind cover and began to fire the occasional shot with her pistol. I wasn’t paying enough attention to not-exploding-bad-ponies to see if she was doing any good. Maybe a bit rude, but I was finally able to do my primary function again!
Best. Day. EVER!
“♪ Out of the cold and foggy night came the Equestrian ship, the Spur,
And every pony seamare, she knew and understood,
They had to sink the Inperterritus, the terror of the sea,
Stop those guns as big as steers and those shells as big as trees. ♫”
A few of the soldiers set up a proper firing line, understanding the enemy had a big gun down below them. I almost dove for cover when a bullet slammed into my shield, throwing up a shower of lavender sparks. I could see the bullet stuck to the shield for a moment before it fell off. A crumpled pile of lead.
Lead. Hehe! Only silly little shooty-bangs fling mere lead at the enemy.
Suck Comp B, you civilian murdering buckstains!
The big gun thumped six times. A black cloud engulfed a pair of griffons who were trying to make a dive for the rooftop. They fell out of the sky like ragdolls tossed into a blender by a careless pony.
Yep. Flak cannon.
I put a three round burst on a nice indirect fire course so they would arc down and explode flat against the roof atop the enemy position.
“♪ We'll find the Zebra battleship that's making' such a fuss.
We gotta sink the Inperterritus cause the world depends on us!
Hit the decks a-runnin' boys and spin those guns around,
When we find the Inperterritus we gotta cut her down. ♫”
Boo-boo-boom! Three rounds, right in the same spot, almost at once. Awwwww, yah! I’ve still got it. Kinda. Need to rework out angles between shots so they all hit at once.
A section of floor collapsed, probably under where I hit. I was too busy reacquiring a target to really notice where. As I scoured the battlefield for another bad-pony to ‘splode, I noticed the Applejack’s Rangers had breached the door and gotten up to the roof.
Aww! No more indirect fire. Booo! You suck, infantry! Stop making things boring for artillery.
A Tainted soldier broke cover to try and flank the Rangers. I deleted his hindquarters for them. Now he had no flanks to flank with. Huzzah!
“♪ The Spur found the Inperterritus on that fatal day.
The Inperterritus started firin' forty klicks away!
"We gotta sink the Inperterritus" was the battle sound,
But when the smoke had cleared away, the mighty Spur went down. ♫”
The Tainted pulled away from the street-side of the building, moving to engage the Rangers and also ensuring I wouldn’t have line of sight.
My ears drooped and I stopped singing. My eye twitched. “Awww… Jerks! Come back and let me explode you! I am so not over being lit the buck on fire!”
Roll flinched and hissed as I said fire. “Ahh! I’m sensing a lot of anger there… Maybe we should get you up there so you can put a few shells on their gun and let the griffons move in?”
I nodded and resisted facehooving. Why hadn’t I thought of that? Ugh! I was the rustiest gunner ever. I should have prioritized the enemy’s turrets. Derp!
“Good plan… You fly up, I’ll scale the wall,” I said as I deployed my stilt strider. “They should be too busy with the Rangers to notice us at first, but keep me covered!”
Roll saluted. “Will do! Glad to know what that spidery thing you’ve been wearing is for, finally!”
She flew off, staying low so the gun couldn't target her as she moved up to the top of the building. I ran across the street, reared up, and spiked my stilt strider’s legs into the brickwork. They bit deeply into the ancient mortar. I pulled, they felt secure enough, but speed would be key.
Keeping my forehooves ready to grab the window ledge to my left in case I fell, I began my climb.
Crack-crack-crack-crack! The sound of steel splitting brick and mortar managed to drown out the gunfire around me. The climb was surprisingly easy. Brick was much more stable after getting spiked than I thought it would be. I’d only ever climbed up glaciers like this before. I thought the brick would be much more crumbly!
I reached the lip of the wall and grabbed the top with my hooves. I levered myself up onto the roof just in time to see Roll land a few meters to my right and start shooting into the rear of the Tainted formation.
They’d managed to block the Rangers in around the door. The Rangers were armed with heavy assault rifles, and a magical energy rifle. They had the guns to handle this, but the Tainted had a few plasma rifles up here too and those gunners had taken out two of the Rangers already. The remaining Rangers were using the stairs and their dead comrades bodies as cover.
They must have really wanted to take Filly, for some reason!
“HOLY SHIT! ON YOUR SIX!” The soldier operating their huge AA gun shrieked.
A few of the Tainted turned around and immediately fired at me. My shield stopped two bullets, then a third, before collapsing in a shower of sparks and throwing a message in my face.
Seek cover to recharge shield.
I dove to my left, and felt a large round thump against the barrel-plate of my armor. I didn’t feel like I was shot, just punched.
The flimsy plasticky armor worked! How about that?
I rolled over to get Feature aimed squarely on the AA cannon. It was a big ugly thing. The legs, a hydraulic swivel base, a seat for the gunner, four barrels, one central magazine for the belt feed. It looked like an insect with half the legs ripped off… An angry one.
It was made for taking out small airships, maybe sky tanks. Also airborne ponies. You could tell it was mean simply by looking at it. Just like those fillies who bullied me every time I went through school again to refresh my databanks...
I shifted my point of aim to the weapon’s magazine and put three rounds into it.
The weapon vanished in the largest flash of fire I’d ever seen! As a zebra.
Feature? We have some work to do. You need more fwooshie.
My ears were still ringing from the explosion as the griffons descended on the enemy like the birds of prey they were. Shooting ‘til they were in melee range, then ripping them apart with their beaks and talons.
Ugh… So inefficient! If you want the enemy in bits, use semtex.
I stood up and gave Feature a loving pat. Such a lovely first day together! If only you were sapient…
The Rangers made their way up the stairs at last, but stopped at the edge of the melee, unable to fire into the mass without hitting their allies. Not that they needed to shoot. The Tainted’s flak-vest weren't exactly talon proof.
Realizing the battle was over, Roll trotted over to me and nodded. “Nice shot.”
“Thanks,” I said with a smile.
The melee died down and three of the griffons peeled off from their group and began to walk over to us. I recognized the big one at the front of the group as the Sergeant who’d tried to tell me not to enter the city.
I waved at him. “Hi! Glad you’re okay.”
The griffon stared at me, clearly in shock. He shook himself and turned around to face his fellow griffons, and the Rangers, and whistled loudly. “Hey! Guys! They’re with us. It’s the civilian I let in earlier and a SWAT Filly.”
I blinked and looked over to Roll. “A?”
She blushed. “We’re sort of a… club?”
I nodded. Made sense. Use that pod on as many ponies as possible!
The griffon sergeant walked up to me and with a huge relieved smile and pointed to the exploded remains of the AA gun. “How in the blood-soaked bathwater of Twin Oaks' whores did you pull that off?”
Seeing the battle stress in his eyes, and feeling none myself thanks to Feature’s comforting existence on my saddle, but mostly because of that awesome post-cannon-shooting-afterglow, I decided to make him smile.
I smiled and shrugged as I said, “Ya mashina.”
He laughed. The griffons flanking him laughed. The squad of griffons behind them laughed too.
I guess the Sergeant had spread the story of me stumbling into the gates half broken around? Good! Soldiers need good laughs.
“... What?” One of the rangers asked.
The griffon Sergeant smiled and extended a Talon for me to shake. “So! How much vodka did it take to make that grenade launcher?”
“None, I found Feature in the MAS Facility under us,” I answered then winced. “Oh, uh. Don’t go in. It’s full of Ultra-Sentinels.”
“Angry ones!” Roll added with a shudder.
One of the Rangers who had been walking over to us stopped midstep and tilted their head. “MAS Facility? In Filly? I’ve never heard of one being here.”
Well… I supposed there was no harm telling them about it. Wander had explained the Applejack’s Rangers to me at least. The Steel Rangers had survived the war and the centuries, becoming a techno-cult that hoarded things for themselves. They had a bit of a civil war, and the Applejack’s Rangers split off to do the same thing, but to help others.
I had to face facts. Somepony, eventually, would find the facility, and army of death-bots or not, would find a way to make use of it. If anyone had the know how to use the stuff in there for good, and had the ability to clear it out, it was them.
I nodded. “It’s the Primary Heartlands Research and Development Facility, not a normal Hub. My mom used to work there, I stopped by to pick up a few things… You might want to try taking it over. There’s definitely things in there you don't want falling into the wrong hooves.”
The griffon sergeant frowned sharply. “That… That might explain why they were fighting so hard over this part of the city.”
The Ranger nodded in agreement. “I agree… But one moment. Did you say your mom worked there? I was unaware ghouls could have foals… Or that there were any zebra ghouls.”
I smiled as my ears drooped in embarrassment. “My mom’s not a ghoul. She’s a cyberpony… Also, I’m adopted,” I said, realizing that a pony who still used advanced technology and maintained it might know mom’s name.
Especially since the memory Id’ seen had mom mention working on power armor.
“Do you know Doctor Swan? She’s my mom,” I added with a hopeful flick of my tail.
The Ranger sputtered. “Doctor Swan is alive?! Where?!” he jumped forward and grabbed my shoulders. “For the love of Lady Applejack, where?! Do you have any idea how many suits of armor we have with broken medical systems? We don't know how to repair them, she invented them, please tell me where she is!”
“The Kingdom of Lith. Up north, in the lands which were once the Crystal Empire,” I answered, gently removing his steel-shod hooves from my shoulders.
I really liked having earth pony strength! I wouldn't have been able to make him not touch me yesterday… Uh, if I were not broken yesterday, that is.
He cleared his throat. “Would you do me a huge favor and draw a quick map? I believe an expedition is in order.”
I frowned as I debated something internally, then shook my head. “No need. I have something better. I’m here to start trade deals, so…” I dug into my delivery bag and removed a radio and a letter. “Since I’ve been told there’s nopony in Fillydelphia to deliver this to, and you’re an organized group that’s basically your own little settlement form what I’ve been told, and also Wander didn’t tell me where you guys live, here you go. I’m certain my Queen will be happy to get mom to help you fix things. Mom loves fixing things.”
The ranger took the radio from me, then the letter, tucking them into his armor’s steel saddle bags. Saddle boxes? Meh, whatever.
The Ranger nodded, probably since his dull gray helmet’s slit-visor made it impossible for him to smile, or otherwise show gratitude. “You have my thanks. I’ll take these to a Paladin immedia—”
The Ranger stopped talking and yelped. In fact, all of them did.
Then I yelped half a second later as my internal radio decided to scream static at me.
Across the rooftop, roughly in the center, a beam of prismatic light shimmered into existence. At first it was no thicker than a hoof, just a small shaft of rainbow-colored light shining in the middle of the griffon squad. Then, it flared out with a pulse of bright white light. Light which burnt the griffons inside the four meter ring to ash.
The few surviving griffons took to the air with terrified shrieks. The Rangers looked up, wondering what the beam had come from. I knew. I’d seen it before.
That was the Rainbow Relay.
The Tainted were working with the Enclave remnants.
Almost before I realized that, while the griffon-ash still drifted to the rooftop, five pulses of light slid down the widened beam and coalesced into solid shapes on the rooftop.
Four Ultra-Sentinels. Huge. Black. Shiny. New. Armed with huge plasma cannons and rockets. They all bore the same markings as the one which nearly killed me back in Sire’s Hollow.
That wasn’t the biggest problem.
The fifth shape was the huge power armored pegasus.
Power Armor Pony was back.
”Stand fast, colts! I have ret—” he bellowed, stopping as the rainbow light faded and he was able to see around him. “Oh! Well, more for me!”
I flinched. Why did he sound happy about that!?
The Rangers spun to face the new threat, but to my surprise, did not fire. Instead, the Ranger I had been talking to bellowed. “The city is ours, your forces are routed! Surrender!”
Power Armor Pony’s eyes wrinkled as if he were smiling. “Son, you know who I am. You were once a Steel Ranger. In honor of your service, I will allow you to surrender and report to my Commander for punishment.”
“I have no idea who you are,” the Ranger said in a dangerously low tone. “And I don't care. You’ve got Sentinels, we’ve got the fire power to drop them. You too. You’re outnumbered eighteen to five!”
Power Armor pony popped his neck. “You don’t know? Really? You must have never seen a recruitment poster in your whole life. How the buck did you manage that?”
The Ranger turned his head very slightly. “Any of you know who this deadpony is?”
“Commander Gale Force!” one of the other Rangers squeaked.
The squeak sounded extra hilarious distorted by his power armor helmet.
This was not going to end well… I began to pre-calculate a firing sequence to drop those Sentinels as fast as possible. I wished I had time to swap to the belt of HEAP rounds. Normal HE would take a few hits to crack their armor, and one or two more to destroy them…
The head ranger laughed. “Heh, well, you have Pansy spooked. You may be some old ghoul who was a big deal back in the day, but, you’re still outnumbered and outgunned. Surrender!”
“Out gunned? Son, I have thirty-six barrels pointed at your little tin can. Surrender and report for reconditioning or I will drown you and your traitorous squadmates in a sea of brass.”
Gale dropped his helmet’s visor. ”I am the halberd,” he said adamantly.
“If you don’t surrender, in the next six seconds—”
”I am the point of her spear,” Gale said as he took a step forward.
The Ranger took a step back. “Six!”
”I am the helm upon her brow.”
“Five!”
”I am the bane of her foes, and the woes of the treacherous.” Gale popped his neck and took another step forward.
The Ranger backed up again. I swore I could smell his fear through his power armor. “F— four!”
”I… am your end.”
“FIRE!” The Ranger ordered.
”You heard him, boys!” Gale bellowed.
The Rangers fired. The Ultra-Sentinels fired. I fired. Gale fired. The griffons fired. Roll fired.
The rooftop became a sea of chaos. Bullets flew everywhere. Rockets exploded all around us. The rooftop buckled and heaved. My grenade explosions were inaudible among the horrible and continuous screech of Gale’s tri-cannons.
His shield sparked and flickered as hundreds of rounds bounced off of it. The Ranger who had been square in his sights had crawled behind some rubble, leaving a oozing trail of blood behind.
Feature’s first ten rounds blasted the armor off one of the sentinels, but it turned away from me, presenting its fully armored back. Another turned to fire at me, screaming “ZEBRA MENACE DETECTED! EXTERMINATING!”
”Atta mare, Chrome!” Gale shouted like a proud father. ”Wait, zebra?”
My eyes shrank to pinpricks as Gale spun to look in my direction and seemed to notice me for the first time. His helmet had two blue glowing triangular eye-holes which looked like they held only hate. Somehow, knowing that his actual eyes beneath them held mirth, that was so much worse…
”YOU!” Gale bellowed as he glared at me.
I fired a three round burst from Feature. The first two grenades blasted his shield into sparks! The third round zipped past the collapsing barrier and detonated square against his chest.
“YES!” I shouted.
The smoke cleared. Gale was fine. His armor merely needed new paint…
“NO!” I corrected as terror flooded my systems.
”You are going to explain what you did to my sister, NOW!” Gale roared as he charged at me.
A Sentinel exploded, but Gale didn’t even look back. Hundreds of bullets pinged off his armor. He didn't even blink.
I felt like there was something extremely obvious I should be getting right about now, but a pony five times my size wearing at least three tons of armor was barreling down on me like a freight train.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” I screamed while holding down Feature’s trigger.
Her barrel spat fire and round after round. Gale ran across the rooftop, literally smashing two griffons aside. His shoulder pushed one’s beak into their skull.
I continued to fire. My HE rounds were basically water balloons, but I continued to fire… and then I added my LAER to the mix! Bolts of lightning arced across the roof. Crackling blue bolts of electromagnetic death!
They scorched the surface of his armor, leaving behind a dull red glow wherever they hit. He kept coming. I couldn’t even tell if I was hurting him.
Feature clicked loudly. Her belt had run dry. My LAER beeped at me. It needed to cool down. Gale drew back his right hoof and extended that same wicked blade from before.
”SEE THIS KNIFE?! I’M GOING TO TEACH YOU TO SPEAK WITH THIS KNIFE!” Gale roared as he started to throw a punch.
I jumped to the left. He corrected mid-strike! I was so dea—
Roll sprang out of nowhere, charged powerhoof crackling with blue light, and decked Gale right in the jaw!
Without his shield, her punch mattered. His head snapped to the side. Outer layers of his helmet flaked off. The mask cracked, spider webbing outwards. He tumbled head over hooves… brought his fall under control with unnatural grace and flipped back up to his hooves with an eerie calm.
”Stand down, officer! This is a warzone! What are you doing attacking Her Grace’s soldiers?!” Gale demanded.
“Get away from her, you bastard!” Roll shrieked.
”I see. DIE THEN!” Gale snapped as he jumped at Roll.
My LAER was still cooling, but I risked a shot anyways. My weapon crackled. The bolt flew. It slid over the surface of Gale’s armor, missing by a hair’s breadth.
I felt my core skip a cycle as the huge monster flew at Roll. She braced herself, pulled back her other power hoof, ready for a punch and—
An explosion knocked Gale out of the sky! One of the Rangers had ripped the shoulder off a disabled Sentinel and had managed to get the rocket pod in it to fire!
Gale growled and stood up, his armor smouldering from the blast but still not breached. He, and I for that matter, suddenly discovered the Rangers and griffons had made short work of his Sentinels. All four were down.
Yay? Not sure that mattered, really...
”Attack pattern Delta, engage!” Gale ordered.
Gale’s armor hissed and shifted. The four tri-guns moved outwards and… the grouped barrels split apart into independent, normal rotary cannons, targeted different people, and began to fire.
I opened my saddle bag, desperately trying to find a belt of ammo to reload Feature. My shield cracked and shattered, failing instantly as the almost literal-hose of bullets blasted into it. I dropped to the ground by reflex. If I hadn’t, I would have been a pile of scrap metal.
I rolled to the side as much as I could with Feature strapped to me to dodge the next scything line of fire.
”Detarget zebra! Capture only!” Gale ordered. "Yes! Really."
The weapon stopped firing at me.
This was my one and only chance!
I turned to look in my saddle bag and rummaged frenziedly ‘til I found the ammo crate marked Depleted Arcanite. I ripped the crate open and took out the belt. The shells glittered silver, but seemed to drink in all other light. I could feel them suck at the magic in my system and in the world around me. The metal was thirsty for magic.
I slammed the belt into Feature and instructed my saddle to charge her. Let’s see how you like shells your wards won't be able to stop!
I took aim at the monster in power armor, and fired. Three rounds spat from Feature’s barrel. One shot over Gale’s left shoulder and blew the door to the stairwell to bits. Another shot between his legs and punched a two meter hole in the rooftop. The third punched a hole through his right wing-blade and kept going, seemingly not exploding even after it vanished from sight.
Note to self. Fuses on shells may not be in working order after all these years.
Gale roared in pain and spun around to face me and Roll, who had moved to cover me as I reloaded. Thank you, Roll. You’re a good friend.
Gale raced forward, his wing dripping blood which I noticed was a very very distressingly bright shade of red. Almost like he was full of Fruit Punch instead of blood. He lunged out with his left forehoof for me, I rolled to the side, to dodge… But he hadn’t been aiming for me.
A metallic claw much like a dragon’s unfolded from his armor’s hoof and grabbed Roll around her head, binding her face against the bottom of his hoof. He yanked her towards him and reared up, holding his still extended blade to her throat as he glared at me.
“Fire the rest of that belt into the air or she dies!” Gale ordered.
I was the best cannoneer in the world once. Maybe I wasn't anymore… but I could still tell he could put Roll in front of one of my shots before the round reached him. He’d see me aiming and react in time, he was fast enough.
“Okay! I’ll do it. I’m aiming up!” I said as I stepped backwards, aimed at the sky, and fired until my weapon went click.
Gale ignored the continued hail of bullets bouncing off the back of his armor and leaned in towards me.
“Now… You are going to tell me what you did to my sister… and I am going to do the same to you, over, and over, and over again...” He said, his voice like ice.
I gulped and stepped back, knowing the edge of the roof was probably just a few more steps away… “I— I don’t know who she is! I’m sorry!”
Roll thrashed in Gale’s grip. I could see her neck struggling to support her body weight… And see her chest heaving. She was barely getting any air.
“You have her ID! Where did you get it? Tell me, or I will beat you to death with your friend here… Wait, I blew your leg off! How— Interesting. I suppose that wasn't propaganda. Why don’t we see just how good your regeneration is?” Gale said as he stepped over me.
DAD! Advice?!
”This motherbucker’s killed ten thousand zeebras. At least. That wasn't propaganda. It was fact He has a hostage you care about. You didn’t think to save the last shot on that belt. I got nothing…”
I didn’t save the last shot! I COULD HAVE SAVED THE LAST SHOT!
I’M AN IDIOT!
I heard the griffon sergeant shout into his field radio. “This is Sviatoslav! Extremely heavy target atop the Hotel on Gold Trot Lane! He has a SWAT Filly and a civilian hostage. Send backup!”
“M— Mom gave me her ID!” I yelped in terror.
Gale froze. “W— what?”
I blinked. The digital amplification hadn’t been present in his voice the time. That seemed significant.
His visor hissed as it slid open. ”Where did your mother get that ID?!” he demanded the amplification kicking back in.
…
Wait a minute…
Sweet Celestia’s teats, how, why, and WHAT?!
Family or not, the pony was a monster and I needed to escape.
I opened my mouth to tell him I was a cyborg, not a zebra, and that I was his niece. Maybe, just maybe, that would stop his rampage long enough for me to escape.
Gale’s head suddenly jerked to the side as if he had been punched. His eyes burned with rage. ”NO! SIR! I need more time! I’ve made a critical—”
He paused for a moment then roared in rage and screamed. The scream held nothing but hate. Hate for everything, EVERYTHING, in the world.
“Very well,” Gale said in a voice which made me worry for his commanding officer’s safety. ”I will disengage. Open the relay!”
Roll gurgled faintly as Gale continued to hold her as he took several large steps back from me.
“Let her go, please,” I asked as calmly as I could, but my voice trembled, betraying my fear.
The Rainbow Relay’s prismatic beam flashed back into existence. Hoof thick, centered right on Gale’s heart.
He paused for a moment and glanced at Roll. ”We are not finished, zebra! Not by a long shot. The minute I am allowed to come back down here, I will find you, and you will explain in great detail who your mother is, where she is, and what she did to my sister! If you help me avenge her, I might spare your life.”
Now was the time. “I’m adopted! I’m your niece! I was picking up some things from her lab! She’s fine! She’s in the north! Please let Roll go!”
The relay’s first pulse hit, widening the beam to a circle around Gale as he stared at me wide eyed. Wide eyed… with eyes that suddenly softened in color.
“I…” He said, again without the amplification.
Gale suddenly flinched, as if something jabbed him. The harsh color flooded back into his eyes, almost as if he’d been injected with a huge shot of adrenaline.
”You lie!” Gale roared. ”Swan would never let her filly go into a warzone! Not without power-armor for her powerarmor’s power-armor!”
To be fair… That did sound like something mom would do. If she could understand I’d left… or went places…
The beam began to pulse again. It was about to initiate the teleport. ”You don't have to believe me now! Just let Roll go, please!”
Gale looked at Roll’s thrashing form again, then nodded. ”You may have her back.”
“Thank you!” I said, letting out a sigh of relief.
Gale extended his foreleg and held Roll exactly halfway out of the teleport circle. I saw his eyes crinkle as he smiled. The relay pulsed again. Gale, along with Roll’s head, shoulders, and forelegs, transformed into balls of light and vanished.
The rest of her body fell to the rooftop in a pool of blood. I dropped to my knees and screamed.
☢★★◯★★☢
The moon shone down at me as I sat in the middle of the 501st’s camp. I hadn’t been able to talk to anypony since Roll died. They just sort of… guided me off the roof. Brought me here. Tried to get me to drink.
I couldn’t. I kept playing the entire fight back in my head. I’d done so many things wrong… I didn’t regret coming to the griffon’s and Ranger’s aid instead of just running like we’d planned. Yes, Roll would have lived if we had. But if we hadn’t, so many more ponies would have died.
I’d made so many mistakes… I could have kept Roll alive.
I could have saved a round and put it in my evil uncle’s brain.
I could have tried to summon more charisma and talk him down… He seemed to have small moments of tranquility, or clear headedness. I could have used one of them to get through to him.
I could have shot the roof out from under him and everypony could have fled.
There were so many things I could have done. Instead, I had tried to solve the problem puzzle. I’d tried to fight a madpony in full power armor an order of magnitude stronger than anything I had ever seen before.
I had tried to pick the lock, and Roll died because of my bad choice.
I was vaguely aware of the griffon sargent as he walked up to me and sat down by my side. He remained there, silent. Just… existing. I felt like he understood. Maybe that’s why when he finally said something, I heard him.
“I’m sorry we lost your friend,” he said quietly. “What was her name?”
“Roller Bearing,” I whispered through my tears.
He nodded, reached into a pouch on his armor, and handed me a small cloth bag without a word.
I frowned and looked up at him. “W— What’s that?”
“The Machine saved our lives today, so we bring her an offering of booze and salt,” he said solemnly, then smiled. “Please, eat and drink. They told me you refused water and apples. I know you like this stuff… They didn’t believe me when I said you were on the badflank diet of nails and your enemy's tears, so I brought it to you myself.”
An offering… Odd choice of words. Did they know?
Oh, goddesses! If I had honed my magic and kept in touch with my spirit side instead of abandoning it for trying to be a normal zebra, I could have saved her that way too.
An offering… I would never, ever, EVER let my powers subside ever again.
I reached out and took the bundle, opening myself up to the subtle arcane power in the act of giving. “I accept this offering… What would you ask of me?”
The griffon chuckled. “I would like you to try and adopt a Talon tradition… Have you ever lost a friend in combat before?”
I shook my head no.
He nodded. “I thought not,” he said as he looked up at the stars, squinting through the clouds. “I’ve lost hundreds. The Wasteland eats ponies. It doesn't matter how skilled they are. No one is indestructible, and if they are a warrior… Well, we all die in battle one day.”
I sniffed. “She was a filly, not a warrior!”
“She was a SWAT Filly. She took an oath. She trained for years. She fought to protect others and bring order back to this patch of tartarus some ponies call a world,” he said firmly.
He hesitated and reached into another pouch on his armor and took out an auto-9. Roll’s auto-9. He didn’t hold it out to me.
“I want you to see if you can’t think like my drakes and I do about losing friends in battle. It’s healthier for you in the long run,” he said slowly. “Roller Bearing may be gone, but I think we both know what would make her happiest. Once his armor’s cracked, take a shot with this for her.”
He passed her pistol over to me and set it by my side. I picked it up and held it in my hooves. I could see myself putting a bullet into Gale’s head easily enough… But the idea didn't make me happy. Something wasn’t right about him. I felt like I needed to know what before I killed him.
But I would kill him. In the end.
I nodded slowly. “Yeah… I think it would make her happy to know that monster was put down… and I will. But I don't know where he is. I have my suspicions, but I don't know where exactly.”
The sergeant laughed and looked down at the ground with a dark look in his eyes. “Something big is happening in the Wasteland, Machina. Keep your radio turned to DJ Pon3. He’ll let you know when and where that big guy is, and one day, probably soon, you can bring that monster to justice in the name of Fillydelphia's finest officer.”
I smiled thinly. “So long as it’s Tartarus' justice.”
“Where else do the monsters go when we slay them?” he asked as he stood up and grabbed my battle saddle straps with a talon to pull my to my hooves. “Come! Enough moping. Roll will be avenged, and SWAT fillies never want anypony to be miserable. It’s time we celebrated surviving today's battle.”
I scoffed and shook my head. “Celebrate?! Are you bucking kidding me? Goodness knows how many good ponies died today, and you want to party?”
A pair of griffon eyes were suddenly filling my entire field of view as he pressed me to his beak to stare right into my eyes.
“Look here, Machina!” he said in a tone I could only describe as fatherly. “Either you get some joy in you real fast after a tragedy like today, or the Wasteland kills a part of your soul. You can party with us, or you can wake up in a cold sweat every night for five years wondering how it could have been different… Trust me. I was there once- twice.”
He let me go, but kept looking into my eyes. “Every Talon’s been there. You can’t make the world a better place if the world breaks you, Machina. You’ve got the heart of a warrior in that chest of yours—”
“I don’t have a heart, actually,” I said out of pure reflex.
He waved a talon in dismissal and screeched irritably. “You’ve got the soul of a warrior in that chest of yours!” he said.
I frowned. Did I? I really, really, really didn’t like thinking about where my pelt came from… As much as I tried to repress it, I could sense the necromancy preserving my pelt. Was there a soul in there? Please don’t be a soul in there… or if there is, please let them be happy about it… Please…
The griffon saw my distress and sighed. “However many implants you have, you’re still a person, and every person has a soul.”
I nodded. That was true…
He extended a talon. “My name is Sviatoslav,” he introduced formally for the first time.
I shook it. “Whirling Gears.”
He nodded solemnly. “Da, Mashina, I know.”
I frowned. He smiled. “I am a Talon Mercenary. I have lost more friends than I can count. You can think in the way nature and your parents taught you, that death is the worst thing, and wallow in despair, letting it tear at your soul for the rest of your life… Or, if you have a bit of mental fortitude, you can try to see it our way, and know happiness again. Will you let me try and teach you how to properly handle a friend’s death?”
I nodded solemnly. I had no choice but to try. I’d taken the salt and alcohol. I’d accepted the offering.
Even if I hadn’t, he was talking about PTSD. Mom had that… I really, really didn’t want to develop that…
“Yes. I have already accepted the bargain. What do I do?” I asked quietly.
“Celebrate her life,” Slav answered instantly. “You think back on every moment you shared, every single last one, and you hold onto those. Yes, she’s dead. She died a warrior’s death. An honorable death. Big whoop! Who cares? We all die in the end. What’s something only she did? What’s some light she brought into this world?”
I didn’t have to think hard for that one. “She saved my life.”
He nodded and smiled. “She felt like the big damn hero type! What else did she do?”
“She… She made sure I have the stuff I need to make sure I can get fixed if I break again… She even found Feature for me,” I sniffled.
He nodded. “I'm sure you have more. Come! We’ll drink, toast her life, and you will tell all of us everything about her. A hundred Talons will carry her memory in our hearts and she’ll live on through our own deeds. To the hells with letting her death drive you to despair. She’s not dead! She lives in here!”
Slav extended a talon and gently tapped my barrel with it. “Carry her memory in your heart, and when you run into problems in your life, you do what you think she’d do. Not every time, but some of the time. Don't do everything just because you think she would. Live your own life, but remember her. Honor and celebrate her life and her achievements. Do this, and it won’t feel like she is gone, because she’s still having an impact on the world. A positive one. The kind she would want to have.”
Slav bent down to look me in the eyes. “Do you really think she’d want you to cry for hours over her passing? To live in constant fear of your other friends falling in battle? Or even worse, not fighting when your blade is needed to protect those you love?”
I shook my head. “No. She was a brave filly. I think she’d be upset at me… if I didn’t protect my other friends.”
Not that I had any with me anymore…
He nodded and pointed over to a tent. “Come! We’re waiting for you. After tonight, a hundred of our heroes will live on in your heart and lend you their strength and wisdom. We will eat, drink, and celebrate their lives as only griffons can!”
I nodded. I agreed to try it, and I liked the idea. It would be hard to push the brain I didn’t have into that way of thinking… but he was right. I should remember her life, not her death. Her life was the important thing. That’s what made an impact on the world. That is why we’d become friends. Not her death.
Her death was a tragedy… but… But I wouldn’t let it cloud how I thought of her.
“Lets go,” I said as I walked towards the tent he indicated. Slav smiled and lead the way, parting the tent’s flap when we arrived.
The huge olive-green tent was filled with at least fifty Talons, and another twenty NCR troopers. A few looked up as I entered, but most of them were eating, drinking, and talking.
I could hear dozens of conversations at one, and while none of them were distinct enough to follow precisely, I could hear enough to know that all of them were talking about someone who died today.
Not in a sad way. It was all stuff like “One time, she found a new pair of boots, and gave them to me without even thinking about keeping them.”, “That was the night he stayed up through the whole night so we could get some sleep.”, and “Remember that time Lemon worked overtime to buy us all a gourmet dinner?”
All positive things. All happy things.
That’s when it clicked.
This was therapy. Instantly delivered therapy, done as soon as you could talk about the day’s events. The Talon way wasn’t some bizarre way of thinking. It was medical treatment. Minds get hurt too. This was how you healed the wounds battle dealt to them.
You brought the good memories back. You celebrated them. With others. You showed your brain what happiness and friendship was, and it realized that while it had lost something, it hadn’t lost everything.
I could do this. I would do this. I needed to do this, or the wound in my mind would never heal.
I felt a small surge of power race into my spirit from the offering as I completed the contract. A little power coursed through me. I could feel it, waiting to be used. It wasn't much, some salt and a little tiny bottle of alcohol must not have been worth much to Slav.
But... it was a start to reclaiming my old power. A start to making sure I never lost another friend if I could help it.
That’s what Roll would want. That’s what she would do.
Suddenly a smaller griffon dressed in the same armor as Slav, but wrapped in a big thick woolen greatcoat, stepped up to me. He looked like a sparrow, and the little flat-billed cap with an officer‘s pin in it made him look like a kid trying to play soldier since it was too big for him.
He looked me up and down, somehow projecting an air of authority and compassion, but also judgment. Finally he looked me in the eyes and said, “So! I hear that you are the machine.”
He reached under his jacket. I flinched. The griffon produced a huge bottle of moonshine with bits of rocksalt floating in it and thrust the bottle into my face.
I knew I could drink it. With my coolant all topped up, the excess would be stored in the reserve tank, and if that was full I’d purge the excess. That system was working again. Thanks to Roll’s kindness…
My ears fell back and I stared down at the floor. This therapy was really, really hard…
I felt a talon press against my chin and tip my head up. The officer looked me in the eyes again, giving me a kind, but firm look. “None of that. Drink, eat, gamble! Buck, if those hips find you a partner. Tonight, we celebrate the lives of those lost in battle! The dead do not want us to live in despair, and we won’t disrespect them by ignoring their wishes. They all did good in their time with us, and they went out with their weapons drawn in defense of their home. We all must die one day, and there is no better way to go. A Warrior's Death, one which your friends are alive to celebrate. If only we all could be so lucky as to die and be remembered as heroes!”
I paused, and nodded. That made sense. It really did.
Slav plucked the bottle of Moonshine from the officer’s talon and wiggled it at me.
“So… Are you, or are you not The Machine?” He asked with a kind smile.
I looked up at the tent full of ponies and griffons. They were right. They were focused on living, enjoying that life, and keeping their loved one’s memories alive in their hearts. I was going to join them.
The only other choice was to die inside.
“Another offering?” I asked.
“Another offering!” he cheered.
I wondered again if he knew.
I snatched the 60 oz bottle from Slav’s talon, popped the cap off with a hoof, and tipped it back, drank it down in one long, slow, smooth motion, then set the bottle aside and shouted the only thing that came to mind.
“Ya mashina!”
I looked back down. The Officer and entire tent was staring at me in shock for some reason while Slav just grinned. The Officer blinked and turned to Slav. “You win that bet, sergeant. You and your squad get those two weeks of vacation.”
Then he looked at me and frowned. “Are you going to vomit?”
I shook my head. “Nah! I usually drink about four times that.”
“Ona Mashina,” Slav said with a sage nod.
“Ona Mashina,” the officer agreed with reverence I could feel.
“Ona Mashina!” The entire tent shouted, raising their various bottles, mugs, and glasses.
The tent quickly descended into the type of full on barracks party that only soldiers who just escaped the reaper can throw. Roll would have loved it.
I loved it for her.
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Ya Mashina!
There is one question, and one Question only.
EXPLOSIONS?
Prickrolled.
Whats even worse, given everything else thats already occured, is remembering Wild, Wild West.
You monster! you killed Roll, but still a chapter.
Ya Mashina! Im gonna miss roll,but lets celebrate here awesomeness!
also that motherbucker Gale needs to DIE
...this gave me ideas. Lewd ideas.
"awwwww!" indeed!
heh.
Dibs!
ok, now I want one myself.
wait, Should I recognize who Feature is?
Changelings need hugs, including gun changelings.
Nom nom nom nom nom, dakkadakkadakkadakkadakkadakkadakkadakkadakkadakka....
I'm loving the way these two are playing off eachother.
What an adorable, deadly family it'd be.
So are batponies nightflappers to Gears?
That song is probably gonna be stuck in my head the whole day.
FWOOOSH!
NOOOOOOOOOOOO!
9568955
Mr. Torque!?
9569284
Alas, no. Merely a humble admirer.
Johnny Horton, by now, is approaching lightspeed spinning in his grave.
Ya Mashina!
Aww, Gears has a new love. Just don't take gun porn to a whole new level with Roll in the same room, zeeb!
Oh shit who the heck puts that option in a system!?!
Huh, so she's part of the machine revolution. The sentinels are just a bunch of happy fellers, they even helped her get unstuck and didn't shoot the out-of-facility Roll
Damn, Gears playing with her new toys is terrifying indeed. And holy shit, she was using the WRONG weapons. She needs something she can aim like that cannon!
That's... not really a good moment for a family reunion. Specially with hostages... specially with HOLY FUCK. That's beyond sick
Gears needs to sit and talk with her uncle. And then put a bullet on his head, there's no time or space for redemption like his in the wasteland.
Let the healing comence, Mashina. Receive your offerings, let the legend of The Machine spread through the wasteland, the wandering one-zeeb army. She'll save your town and deliver your mail, all you have to do is the proper offering of summoning: A full bottle of vodka and a block of salt.
This right here was EXTREMELY touching, Meeps. A damn fine work.
Getting better armed before going outside does make sense.
Hmn.
Those robot commands kind of escalate.
Figures.
Ahh, there it is.
Very helpful.
It's probably the best for Equestria that these murderous robots seem content to stay inside this facility, though it would be kind of funny to see them attacking the Tainted army. On the other hand, it might be for the best if they remain secret, but it's possible giant murderbot pony already knows about them.
Oooo, nice.
Hey, sure. Why not.
Save the flap-flaps!
Neat.
Anything can be a sniping platform if you have the right precision aiming.
Hey, if you have your own battle song, own it.
There's more than one? Yikes.
Excellent, more opportunities for diplomatic contact.
Oh great, giant murder pony is back.
They really need to calmly talk about this.
Hey, there we go.
Damn, that monster.
At least this ended with a memorial party.
Knowing StableTech, and who its founders were, and Discord's Law, just for assuming that, you'd find there actually isn't one.
You see? YOU SEE?!!?! This was inevitable!!!!
Huh? But I thought she said it was only...
Yeah, that! Something's upsizing your potential armaments. IS THIS THE RETURN OF DISCORD?!?!
Poor LAER. If she heard that thought, she's feeling like the red-maned stepfoal right now.
Aww, how sweet.
...
Poor Roll. I'm hoping her front half is sufficiently irradiated by this relay beam zap thing to be able to regenerate and the madpony in supercyperpowerponyranger armor doesn't deliver her to torturers so she can be a pleasant surprise later.
Lookout wasteland! A big mare with an even bigger gun is coming through!
Ona Mashina!
9568955 In a song lyric...
9569125
W... what? How? What's similar to that Giant Spider wreck? XD Or did you mean the TV show?
9569133 It's the wasteland. People die. Especially when they make mistakes, or try to be big damn heroes when they really should have just ran away.
9569161 We may miss her, but that telefrag didn't.
9569248
You can. You'll need 200,000 USD, plus 2,000 for the tax stamp for an automatic weapon, and the 4,000 for the tax stamp for a destructive device, and also need to get your permits for explosives and automatic weapons, but it can be done. Here's the link to the store page that lists them.
Appropriate gifsound.
Yes. She's a changeling Gears had a crush on who went missing. FIrst chapter.
https://youtu.be/iAI6uft4GPo?t=22
No. They are nini flap flaps. These definitions are holdovers from her targeting system's parameter definitions. The zebra who taught her what to shoot at didn't speak very good Zebrican and made up terms on the spot. He was a dork.
BEHOLD! Sufficient fwoosh.
blizzardwatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/webcomics-fwoosh.jpg
9569601 So long as he dosn't sick zombie lawers on me, he can spin all he wants
9569825
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
"Using excess oil in my system to oil her receiver, duh. What did you think I was doing?"
"Uhhh... no comment..."
"Like I would do that before she was lubed up! What kind of a mare do you take me for?!"
"So uh... I'm going... Over there for a while!"
A very, very, very angry head of security, who spent a decade tinkering with the same robot untill it was such a good emulation of a pony's mind that you couldn't tell the diffrence even though it wasn't really alive, and was at best a slightly mentally deficient mare's mind, and a bit slow to do any task other than 'be a companion' due to the tinkering. Who then, was made to toss it in a trash compactor by her boss when the facility upgraded to newer models of personal medical assistant robots for it's paraplegic employees.
Or in more human terms: A Security Chief who'se mechanical wifu/live in nurse was destroyed simply due to better models being available.
If you recall the first chapter, she asks for LAERs for wanting something with a lot of firepower. The fact that the North dosnt have much int he way of ammo means while she could have asked for something like Feature, she would have gotten only like 30 shots with it tops. Her LAREs can recharge via her battle saddle tapping into her power core, so she's got infinite ammo, just has to worry about heat issues. It was a practical choice.
She's got next to no skill with MEWs. Or pistols. Or rifles. She's really only good with cannons.
A few encounters from now, you may change your mind on that...
Thank you, that means a lot to me.
9569839
Especialy when you have one of the very, very, very few untouched pre-war locations with an armory to explore. Couldn't jsutify having them not look for some ammo or weapons. No one in their right minds wouldn't when there didn't seem to be any danger.
Their orders were to purge the facility. They did that. And willkeep doing that, and only that. Equestrian Robots are... a bit dumb. As in, they do what their program says, and don't deviate at all. Even if doing so would be within the apparent scope of their program.
Tell one to go to the store and get a bottle of milk, and if they have eggs to get a dozen, they will return with a dozen bottles of milk.
Even if it's technically about your demise.
Such is the wasteland.
9570747
"Hey, shouldn't that have a confirmation check?"
"Yes. THat's why it won't."
"Seems ligit."
Actualy, where were two launchers. One 30mm, one 40mm. Gears likes mares with larger flanks and thus didn't even notice Features' little sister on another shelf. She also left behind several plasma rifles, a Gatling laser... lots of things. Too much squee over the first one she happened to see. The rest of the world was irrelevant for her at the time. Roll, on the other hoof, didn't think the 40 was worth mentioning, becuase clearly that's too big for a pony to carry. She thought it was an encamped gun. It is >.>
That's certainly possible. If it is so, I can assure you that Gale dosn't torture anyone. He'll mutilate a corpse, but that's another story entirly. The people who are holding his leash, on the other hoof...
9571273 Whirling Gears and the Slow Acclimation of Sufficient Dakka.
9571377
Oi! Wot kind of muckery is dis? Dere aint never enuff dakka!
9571390
suffiecient, but not enough, no NEVER enough DAKKA!
9571390 When the entire multiverse is nothing but dakka, and there can be no more anywhere, in any universe or timeline, that shall be enough dakka.
9571377
I want one, yes, but not that badly.
pretty muhc.
Yeeep!
The skeletons are on our side btw.
and it beats "bloosh".
sage nodding
Awwwww!
9571463
Or at least, almost.
9571377
Yeah, I got the idea that he was a super patriot who was (more than) a little cracked in the head do to reasons, but could potentially be a decent guy even so if he wasn't being puppeteered by crazy Enclave brotherbuckers on acid-laced crack. If you can get some facts into that skull. Like the idea that Gears is for real, his babbu sister is fine, and Rolls is a good SWAT filly protecting her town from his misguided thuggery. That's why I said "deliver her to" instead of suggest he might do it himself.
I put nothing past those Enclave asspoots.
Yes, that is an insult I am going with. They've wrapped off the scale of dire insults and around back to the beginning of the list with progressively juvenile ones.
The power up to legendary levels has begun!
9573189
Everything. His armor is very very nice... And has a remote link to certain computer systems which while not on par with Crusader Mainframes, are still intelligent enough to serve to automate simple tasks.
Where else would it land
... did Swan make these recordings
Yeah I'm thinking it was probably Swan... wait, did she program the one that drew an "angry face" on itself as well ?
You can always use more fwoosh
You should probably get in contact with the Queen and tell her to retake the facility immidietly
This guy is being tricked and used
9577343
No. These were made by the chief of security. Who loved the hell out of her personal nurse-bot, which she tinkered with untill it was a convincing enough simulation of a person for her to fall for. Doctor Silver had it scrapped when the new model came out. The Security mare snapped, and thought that Swan could make her into a robot to honor her "Dead" lover, since Swan had made herself into a cyborg.
Shame they only have 80 horse power :P
You're no soldier, you're a murderer and someone who should have been put in a mental hospital not given a super armor and super guns... and if "Her Grace" was here she would be disgusted with what you haven done in her name
He probably was injected with something at least, but it's highly unlikely that it's adrenaline
To be fair, with the correct immediate medical attention she could possibly survive that
Yeah despite everything he's done, he's still family and he deserves at least that from you
The sads.... I now have one.
Great chapter but... ya time to find fun happy pics.
This one works too, came out just one week after this chapter. Does Gears like metal?
9632616
I sure hope so, I mean she is after all...
Laughing quite hard right now. THERE it is! I swear, it's impossible to keep nice things in that setting. I can't deny this was funny, though.
Aww, they are perfect together! I'm actually fairly happy that this worked out that way. She's banned all other ponies from that lab permanently, but she can still get back... assuming the lab survives that battle on the surface, at least. And she has an awesome cannon. That counts for something.
Well, there IS that downside. I believe something about using an overpowered gun as a rocket engine was mentioned rather RECENTLY, in fact. Hmm.
Heh. I loved this line. But, Gears, please don't emulate GLaDOS too much.
Seriously, though, she's sniping with a dropship cannon. There's just something impressively awesome in there.
I love your characters.
Shit. Okay, that was cruel.
Funny story: Yesterday, when I saw the video you linked about the diodes on the left side, I accidentally had THIS playing in the background. I have to say that it really improved how emotional it was, but then confused me when the video ended and the music didn't. I have to suggest it, though.
talon
9648418
Huh! YOu're right that does make it much better.
Gears surely need to listen better in the next firefight she goes into. The big baddy dropped quite the plot revelation bomb on her, and she did not even notice it since she was too focuesed on emptying her new toy. Gears have some good stats, but she could use to bumb her Perception up in the future... I can see that she finally got it a bit further down, but really? She needed to get it explained 3 times. Ohh silly zeep.
I must say that it is the first time that I see the Talons depicted this way. Normally do I see them more as samurais than Vikings, honor and contracts and all that, and not celebrating life for what it is and death for what it is. As an old wise man once said "Do you not know that a man is not dead while his name is still spoken?"
Nitpicks:
"I jerked stopped with a painful squeeze and a sound like a cork being rammed into a bottle." Seems to be that there are lacking a word here
"I loaded Feature up with a nice belt of HE," Linebreak mistake
9792682
Have you never heard of "New Toy Syndrome"? Because that's basically what Gears was under there, focusing too much on the use and enjoyment of said new toy to notice little things like Gale's revelations.
still alive then?
Oh. They have the Bifrost.
Oh. Ya know, that explains a lot.
OH. He dies now.
Also, I love these Talons. They have some wisdom.
I hope homage doesn't get jelly
This reminds me of Blackjack and her whiskey drinking song
11707052 I haven't read all of that fic. It wasn't my cup of tea, so to speak. Nice to see someone enjoying this story. Thanks for reading, and especially for commenting :3