Fallout Equestria: Treasure Hunting

by Hnetu

Chapter 7: Losing Something Special

Chapter Seven: Losing Something Special
“Let this be a lesson to you, every time you sacrifice yourself... You’re gonna suffer the consequences the rest of your life.”

Run.

Thoughts of revenge? Gone. All that bravado about killing the Wirepony with my own hooves once I got some guns? Meaningless. The sight of that monstrosity with even bigger guns than when it had nearly killed me before was enough to send me running with my tail between my legs. Literally.

Of course, it gave chase.

Lost and Xeno ran beside me, down another one of the hallways. We checked the front door. Locked. There went our easy way out. Those precious seconds slowed us too much, now the monster was behind us. I could feel it more than hear it. There was just something about it that made me know it was there. I didn’t know why it hadn’t fired on is yet, or attacked with the wires. Maybe it was playing with me? Either way I didn’t like it. Just kill me now or fuck right off, don’t torment me.

The three of us rounded a corner. Behind me, I heard a noise I’d only heard once before, like the hiss of gas escaping followed by-

Oh Goddesses! It was firing the flamer! The hallway erupted into flames. What was left of the wall decorations blossomed into infernos. The fire missed us; we were incredibly lucky, but that didn’t mean our luck would last.

Lost shivered as she ran, her legs shaking with every step she took. The look in her eyes was the same one Xeno had moments ago: fear on a primal level. After Seethe had scorched her mane off, I could understand it. It was probably the same way I felt right now, with those claws in the back of my head telling me that I was going to die, cooked alive and eaten piece by piece by this monster.

A wire snapped through the air from above. It missed Lost’s horn by inches. She flinched, screaming as it caught her glasses. The frame snapped and the glass shattered, splintering to pieces into her face. Shit, this was bad. Either its aim was improving, or it was teasing us. Neither was a healthy option.

“You’re fine!” I yelled. “It just got your glasses!” I really hoped that would calm her down. We’d find a replacement, even if I had to turn the entire Equestrian Wasteland over. But we had to survive first. L.A. nodded, and kept on. She bled from the cuts on her face, but that was nothing compared to what it could’ve been. “Now where do we go?” I asked.

“I don’t know! I can’t read the map like this,” Lost yelled back, the panic audible in her voice.

A series of thumps sounded off, heralding a wave of grenades. I didn’t need a map for that, it wasn’t about escaping right now, it was about staying alive just long enough to breathe. So I rammed the first door I found in the hall, and burst into the room beyond. My sister and friend followed. We slammed the door shut. The room we’d entered was a small one, probably an office. Furnishings blended into the background, crushed by the mostly-collapsed ceiling. I slammed my back against the door to hold it shut, just in case.

“Ponies, what is it we should be doing now?” asked the zebra. She no longer had the look of fear in her eyes, but was back to her resolved, calm self. How in the Goddesses name did she do that?

“Run, run. Run some more. Try and think of a way to kill it,” I said frantically. These weren’t good plans. I wasn’t a thinky pony. I looked over to my sister. “Lost? Please anything?”

A thunk reverberated through the door, and it creaked heavily against my back. Wirepony must have hit it with a wire. Knowing that bastard, a full attack with the armor would’ve had it inside already. Another thunk bent the door in even more.

“Up!” she said, and scrambled up the collapsed ceiling to the floor above.

I didn’t need any prompting. I gave up on the door and ran up after her. It was a bit unwieldy, trying to maneuver with two rather large guns on my sides.

Wait. Wirepony was big and bulky and unwieldy... If we could trap it down there...

“Sis, give me one of the grenades,” I ordered as Xeno finished climbing up. Lost levitated a grenade to me, and I hooked it into my fetlock. Wasting no time, I pulled the stem out of the apple-shaped explosive with my teeth, and jammed it into a crack in the shattered panel that we had just climbed up. “Okay go!”

The door splintered below, and the Wirepony burst into the room. The now-familiar hissing started, and the room burst into flames. We didn’t stay to watch. Running through the door, we galloped down the second floor hallway. Several thuds echoed from the room behind us, as if the monster was trying to follow up the incline. Please let my plan-

A horrific BOOM exploded behind us, close enough to knock me off my balance and send me toppling into L.A. Xeno kept her on her hooves, by some crazy zebra luck. The thudding had stopped. It was stuck down there. That meant we had time. Time to come up with a plan.

The wall exploded as a series of incendiary grenades pelted it from the far side. The force of the explosions was enough to send the weakened wall down all around us.

Or... maybe not.

We ran to different sides, trying to keep from being crushed. Then came the wires. A half dozen burst up through the rubble, undulating wildly as they searched for their prey. I shot one on reflex. The new hunting rifle fired smoother than any gun I’d ever handled before. One of the wires’ tips exploded in a shower of sparks and shrapnel as two bullets tore through. What was left of it pulled back, but there were still plenty more remaining wires.

Across the rubble, Lost had the same idea, and was firing plasma shots into the wires on her end to keep them at bay. Down below, I saw dozens, maybe hundreds more of the wires burst from the back of the power armor and smash to the floor. It should have been impossible, but it was lifting itself up with the wires.

I refused to believe it!

Lost waved me over to her side, and I jumped past the rubble, hearing a hiss of released gas. Please let me make it in time. Flames erupted behind me, catching the end of my tail and lighting it up. Tails grew back, I reminded myself, trying to keep the mental claws away. I didn’t have time to get locked up by fear. If I did, Wirepony would eat me, but for now, it had to catch me first.

The monster reached our floor and pawed the ground with an armored hoof, ready to resume the chase. It let out another horrific mechanized roar, a sound that actually made the gunfire outside stop. The silence didn’t last long, as whoever remained out there resumed their battle. I could worry about them later. Right now, I had to survive.

We ran through another hallway, almost identical to the one downstairs. As before, the monster followed hot on our trail, launching grenades often enough that the three of us had to weave and dodge to avoid becoming a pony barbeque. My evasion wasn’t perfect. I already had scorched hooves.

Xeno cried out in pain as a grenade detonated next to her rear leg. She collapsed, legs sprawled behind her. Her leg’s stripes were gone, the entire coat charred black. Blood poured from the wound, her skin shredded by shrapnel.

“Grab her, I’ll heal as we run,” L.A. ordered, her horn already glowing.

I did as I was told, grabbing the zebra and throwing her over my battle saddle. She was surprisingly light, much lighter than a pony her size would be. Maybe it was the adrenaline? With her secured over my back and guns, we kept running. Another gout of flame roared behind me, setting the walls afire and singeing my skin. It felt like the grenade had exploded on my back all over again.

Running like this wasn’t going to work. So far, all we’d accomplished was tiring ourselves out. We needed to get Xeno healed, and fight back.

Wires exploded all around us, snapping through the walls with strength that could have sliced us to bits as soon as it started. It was toying with us. Celestia, Luna. Why?

“She’s good, get somewhere safe and set her down,” Lost said as we veered left around another corner. Wires burst through the walls ahead of us. I jumped, but Lost tumbled down. “Go!” she shouted. That cheating monster! It cut the corner on us!

Not fair, I was supposed to sacrifice myself to save her. I wavered for a moment, looking at her. The stare she gave me said it all. Even with one of her lenses cracked and missing pieces, even through the blood, the look she gave made it clear that she had something or other planned. I nodded and ran.

Wirepony slammed through the wall at the end of the hallway, completely missing us and the turn. Dust and mold burst into the air from the wall collapsing, but by the sound of things, it didn’t faze it. Wires flailed through the air in the hall behind us. A moment later, they retracted into the gaping hole in the wall the monster has created.

Time to run. Trust that L.A. knew what she was doing. I hauled flank as fast as my hooves could carry me, smashing open another door with my head, and ran into another identical office-

I tumbled through the floor, losing Xeno somewhere along the line. Why wasn’t there a floor? With a crunch, I landed on my side in the rubble. “Ahh!” I screamed, as the battle saddle bent under the pressure and pushed into my side. I’d had worse, seriously. Taking a deep breath, I forced myself up. We were on the factory floor now, back where it all started.

Above me, I heard the roar of the flamer. Please, please let it not get my sister. If it did, I’d just give up.

“Why did you think it was smart to fall through the floor?” Xeno asked, staring at me. She was totally unscathed now. L.A.’s ‘heal-on-the-run’ had done its work. She was getting much better at that healing magic. The zebra didn’t wait for my response though, only took to running. It was really starting to weird me out that she never reacted to anything.

I followed suit, looking over my shoulder for Lost. I could ignore the pressure from the battle saddle; it wasn’t that bad. Nowhere near as bad as a cracked rib pressing against my lung. Behind me though, the entire second floor was in flames. A huge chunk collapsed onto the factory floor, crushing one of the machines into a pile of rubble.

Walls were starting to disintegrate, the fires burning everything to ashes. I could still hear gunfire outside, so the Steel Rangers must not have caught on to what was happening. Let them fight, I didn’t care.

Shit! There it was!

Standing on the ledge left by a collapsed piece of building was the power-armor-encased monstrosity. The blue glow from his headlamp shined right on me. I jumped onto a conveyor belt and fired my new hunting rifle at it. The bullet ricocheted off with a satisfying ping, but it didn’t even leave a dent. Just how tough was his armor, anyway?

Several wires crawled into view, dragging something along the floor. It couldn’t be. No! I wouldn’t let it be! I fired the hunting rifle again, well aware of how useless it was. That didn’t matter, just firing made me feel like I was accomplishing something, anything. I reloaded and fired as fast as I could. The rifle was amazing, it held more than half a dozen rounds and fired them faster than any gun I’d ever touched. Were it not for the situation, I’d be in love right now. Despite my efforts, it didn’t stop what was coming.

The Wirepony stopped for a moment, taking the time to repair what little damage I was causing. The moment I ran out of ammo in my magazines, it started right back up. The mouth of the power armor opened, in what looked like a smile. The wires trailing along the floor beside it lifted into the air... wrapped around one of my sister’s legs! What had happened to her plan? It dangled her over the ledge.

She didn’t move.

“You motherfucker! Put her down this instant!” I screamed indignantly. My vision went red. This wasn’t about food, or even just murder for the sake of murder anymore. It was fucking with me, personally. How dare it use her as bait! I was going to take this gun, ram it so far down its throat that it would shit bullets!

The wires snapped around, slamming Lost into the remains of one of the flaming walls, and dropped her. She didn’t even flinch, just fell to the factory floor and smashed into another one of the conveyor belts. She didn’t hit the machine dead-on. She smashed into it halfway and tumbled off the side, landing with a thud on the floor among the debris.

“I swear to Celestia herself! I will end you, monster!” I yelled, barely keeping myself from running to help my sister. It hurt, more than getting myself shot, that the monster had targeted the one stabilizing influence in my life. Knowing she was hurt instead of me... I was so enraged that I barely noticed the gunfire dying down outside. What were they up to out there?

The monster leapt from the second story, and slammed down onto the far side of the conveyor I stood on. It shook violently, rattling all the way up the steel frames, and up my legs. The hunting rifle proved useless so far, so I fired the sniper rifle. Goddesses, please let the bigger gun have the power I needed. Nothing happened. Was it because...? I looked back at the battle saddle. Fucking bent. Not good.

Once again, I turned tail and ran. Xeno was nowhere to be seen, and Lost was out of the fight for the moment. That meant the monster was all on me. I just needed to kill it somehow...

It gave chase, and I ran my heart out. When I reached the end of the conveyor, I leapt off, making sure to look back and give it incentive to go after me. It didn’t need any. The steel hooves of the armor beat the raised belt platform so hard that many of the steel supports bent and snapped under the impact. I jumped through the window to the hallway where this all started.

My landing wasn’t very smooth. I caught many of the pieces of broken glass in my legs, but it wasn’t worse than anything I’d had before. So I kept on, circling around the opposite direction from where we’d headed the first time, leaving a trail of blood for it to find me by.

The thinky pony plan was to get outside, get the others into the fight. Win with superior numbers.

I burst through the doors to the back of the building, and skidded to a halt. “Hey, anypony st... ill...” Where was everypony? Past the bay door, I saw several corpses, power armor with holes riddled all through them. There wasn’t a single live pony. All that was left was twisted steel, bullet casings, and blood. A lone griffon flew overhead, but when the overhead door screeched, ripped from its hinge, it stopped mid-air, turned, and flew away as fast as its wings could carry it. The bay door flew past me, slamming into the ground and crushing one of the corpses.

So much for getting help...

The Wirepony paused for a moment. Several wires whipped out, and I braced for a slow death. Clenching my eyes shut, I waited. And waited. Finally opening them, I saw it had reached past me and was collecting the armor chunks. Overconfident, much? If it wasn’t already at full power, there was something seriously wrong with whatever spawned this abomination. Some kind of sick joke maybe?

I didn’t wait to answer. I had a new plan. Ducking a wire, I ran back inside.

I careened down the hallway and dove through one of the doors. My memory wasn’t as bad as I thought. Maybe I was becoming a thinky pony after all! Inside was the break room turned clinic that Doc Plagueheart had healed me up in before. There was a first aid kit sitting on a rack in the corner. Two kits, actually. Perfect!

The first was unlocked, and inside were a healing potion and- Thank the Goddesses. Buck! I shook the bottle. It sounded full. This might just work. I took everything I could and stuffed it into the saddlebags, taking what spare moments I could, before Wirepony came back to kill me, to open the bottle. I struggled, without magic, to twist the cap. My hooves slipped... Screaming in frustration, I bit down on it. I finally managed to unscrew the lid with a combination of hoofwork and my teeth. I downed a Buck tablet and just poured the rest in my bags. Easier to find that way. The second first aid kit was locked, but well... I had Buck!

The wonderful little pill kicked in, and I could feel the wonderful sensation of my heart pounding all over. Down my legs, behind my eyes, I could feel it everywhere. I felt alive. Sure, it made my pain flare, but that wasn’t my problem. It was somewhere far off in the distance, somepony else’s problem. My breath came in sharp gasps, something I had to force myself to control. This was good, I was strong. Strong enough to take on that monster.

I smashed the other first aid kit open with my hooves. It took several kicks, but eventually the prizes were mine. I realized afterward that a shard of the metal box jabbed itself into my leg. I hadn’t even felt it, and I didn’t care. Somepony else’s problem. I stashed two healing potions, and several syringes of stolen Med-X in my bags, and hauled flank out of the room.

With every step I took, I felt better. My heart pounded faster than ever, and I felt alive. Even the pulsing behind my eyes made me feel good. I could feel, I was alive. I was going to take that monster and rip it to pieces. But first...

I stopped in front of a steel support beam, one of the few bits of the structure that wasn’t covered in scorch marks or currently on fire. I smashed the battle saddle against it repeatedly, using it as a makeshift anvil to get the bend out. Slam. Slam. Slam! It didn’t work perfectly, but it smoothed out the dent enough that I could trigger the gun again. A kick of the reload lever later, and I was ready for a fight.

Now for the next- Wires wrapped around the pillar I stood next to, and ripped it from the floor. Okay! Not what I was expecting! The Wirepony stood behind it, wires out and searching. Not this time, fucker! I spun on a hoof and fired both rifles at the same time, aiming for the visor. It might not need it to see, but it might slow it down. I fired again and again, the off-balance kick from each shot digging the still-dented hunk of battle saddle into my side.

Didn’t care. Blood was pounding, I was alive! Behind the monster, I saw Xeno, her black coat and white stripes doing a terrible job of helping her to blend in against the off-white walls and rust. I called to her as best I could, yelling over the sounds of battle. I couldn’t even hear myself, and seriously doubted she could hear me either. She caught on, though, and looked to me.

For a split second I released my bit, and stopped firing. Time to reload, anyway. I kicked my reload lever and dug in my bag for one of the healing potions. By the time ammo was in each clip, I had it. I rolled the potion on the floor, along the wall, and out of the war path of the power armored monster.

“Take that to Lost!” I yelled, “Or else!” I spun on my hoof again and bolted down the hallway. As I passed the shattered window that overlooked the factory, I spared a glance inside. Inside it was bad, really bad. Much of the second story had collapsed, and the third story was already aflame. But I saw Xeno scurrying in, and heading to where I’d seen L.A. last. Good zebra, no murder.

The Wirepony wasn’t playing around anymore. Behind me, it let out a deafening mechanical roar, but being deaf wasn’t a problem that mattered right now. I swung my tail side to side, taunting the monster. Keep on target, bastard. Not my brightest idea, because said bastard let out a spray of fire and a volley of grenades in response.

Somewhere deep down, I knew the flamer hit me, but I didn’t feel it. My coat was scorched off, right after it had just started to regrow, and everything felt like fire. It was different from the grenade before, I still cried out in pain, swearing at the Goddesses that let this happen to me. There wasn’t the burst of pressure, the feeling like it was enveloping me. It was just fire this time, and it fucking hurt!

I jumped into a stairwell to get away, praying to Luna that the monster was too large to follow. I scrambled up the stairs, the flames on my back slowly going out. Go, Hidden, somepony else can deal with it. Just go! I skipped the second story; it was worthless now. Part of me, somewhere far away, was sad. All of those guns they had stolen, gone. Well, at least we’d raided the good ones first. Wait, we’d raided everything. Was there armor piercing ammo in there? Or maybe... I jumped up the last few steps, turned a corner, and listened.

I couldn’t hear the monster. Good. That meant it had to do its wire-floating trick to get up to me, which bought me a minute or two. I dug through my saddlebags, pushing things out of the way, trying to find the various shells that filled the bottoms of the bag. If I ever got that PipBuck back, I was bolting it on and never letting it off. Still digging, another Buck. Without a thought I popped it into my mouth. Back to digging. Just a minute or two to go. There! Thank the Goddesses for special talents. I found what I needed; armor piercing ammo for the hunting rifle. Three bullets. More than enough. I kicked the lever and loaded the ammo, which would have been a lot easier if I had some fucking cheater magic!

The roar sounded again, and the stairway collapsed behind me. That was my signal. I turned and aimed straight down the hollowed out stairwell. There Wirepony was, wires thrashing about as it lifted itself up. Too easy. I let loose a volley of six shots, three from each gun. The sniper rifle bullets didn’t do a damn thing, but the three from the hunting rifle put holes in his head and out the other side. The wires ceased, and it collapsed, falling a down the distance of a flight and a half.

“See ya at the bottom, fucker,” I yelled, and gave a victorious cheer. It felt good to be winning. It might be smart, it might be patient, but right now, I was faster and I was stronger than it was.

Dodging flames and collapsed sections of floor, I ran where I was sure the factory floor was. This was reckless, even for me. I didn’t care. Lost was down there. She’d have a plan on how to kill this thing, if she’d woken up yet. I hit a wall, somehow it was still standing. It didn’t stay that way. A few more shots to weaken it, and I bucked the entire wall out.

Several stories down, I saw them, a white pony and a striped zebra. My sister was up and moving, thank Celestia and Luna, and digging through her bags for something. She looked frantically up, then back at the bag. I had to get down there. I was breathing heavy, heart was pounding. I felt every vein in my body as the blood I had left was forced through. For half a moment I paused, I reloaded, I planned. I knew it would hurt if I did what I was planning. But with the floors collapsing, and the stairs demolished, did I have a choice?

No.

But I could at least protect that poor pony who was gonna be in a lot of pain when this amazing tablet wore off. I grabbed one of the syringes of Med-X, and- No. That mechanical roar again. I heard a thumping off in the distance, echoing the beating of my heart in my ears. The factory floor lit up with several grenades exploding.

None of them hit Lost or Xeno. My sister produced a grenade of her own, and ran from the monster with it held in her magical grasp. It emerged from below me, apparently having given up on reaching the third floor. It was going for weaker prey, expecting my sister to still be wounded and unconscious. Not today. It was not going to use her to hurt me.

I stabbed myself with the syringe, right in the chest. For a half second I considered walking down, somehow. Wouldn’t work. Too slow. Instead...

Fuck, that was a bad idea. “Hidden Fortune,” I muttered to myself, “This is the opposite of being a thinky pony.”

I jumped.

In the time it took me to fall from the third story, I really began to wonder if this had been a good idea. Too late now.

I slammed into the monster’s back full force. I heard, not felt, my legs snap, but without the PipBuck to tell me just how bad the damage was, I ignored it. I was really going to regret this later, but right then, I didn’t have the time. I stood, wobbling, on the back of my greatest enemy. It had nearly killed me last time, and there I was, ready for revenge.

“Hidden!” yelled L.A. She was on the far side of the factory floor, with an apple shaped grenade in her telekinesis. Was she going to do what I thought she was? Probably. She was the thinky pony, after all. So far all I’d learned was that this thing was big, powerful, and invulnerable... from the outside.

I slammed my hooves on the back of its head. It hurt. It hurt bad. I watched my legs bend awkwardly in places they shouldn’t. Too much stress and they’d break, but for the moment, I was okay. Keep it distracted. Let my sister do her job.

The monster thrashed from side to side, wires shooting through the air. With the crashing thunder of the Buck lifting me, I was faster. I could beat this thing. I dodged incoming wires, keeping it busy. That was my job now. It opened its mouth once more, revealing those horrible sharp teeth. I could hear them whirring over the heartbeat in my ears.

A wire hit me, and snaked around the leg. I was done. Lost was almost there. She just needed a few more seconds. The monster didn’t notice her, because all its attention was on me. Another wire wrapped around a second leg, then another. The claws dug into my mind, with more fury than ever before. Somewhere deep down, I was crying. The little pony in there couldn’t take it. She knew, just as I did, that we were probably going to die. To top that off, this was her worst fear. It was mine too, but I didn’t have time for those claws. I shook my head, felt my mane brush against my coat, and smiled. If I died, I was taking Wirepony out with me.

The Wirepony lifted me off its back, spinning me in the air so I faced it. A half-dozen wires snaked around my torso and neck, the ones around my legs moving to join the mass crushing my lungs and warping my battle saddle. The visor stared dead on at me, the blue light hurting my eyes. The mouth opened wide, a mass of squirming wires inside just like last time. But no, this wasn’t last time. I wasn’t alone, trying to play the hero.

We were a team.

“Well, damn. You finally got me,” I said, smirking. It was hard not to cough, from the pressure on my body, but I wouldn’t give it the satisfaction. “But we got you better.”

The grenade flew into its mouth, taking the monster by surprise. For half a second it paused. We’d won. Take that. “You’re fucked now.”

One of the wires wrapped around the grenade, and in a swift, fluid motion, it flicked the little apple-shaped explosive back out.

“That’s just not fair!” I screamed at it.

I threw out my right hoof, batting the grenade back toward his mouth. I swung my leg hard, sending both the grenade and my hoof through the gaping maw.

My hoof sunk into his mouth, scraping against the razor sharp teeth. Problem for another pony, I told myself. Problem. For. Another-

The monster bit down.

It was strange; I didn’t feel the teeth like I expected. Instead, I just felt the jaw when it snapped down. The feeling was a lot like when it had broken my leg. I heard several snaps as jaws crushed the bone inside.

For several seconds, I stared, looking at my fetlock pressed flush against the power armor. Blood began to seep down the metal jaw. Where was my hoof? Slowly, I pulled my leg back. There was nothing left but a stump. Realization hit me, and the pain came rushing up my leg, every nerve ablaze with agony.

I screamed. The pain I felt was like nothing before. Broken bones? Nothing compared to this. Being lit on fire? Not even close. This topped my list of favorite things to never do again.

The grenade exploded.

The blast seemed like it lasted for hours, though I knew it was only a fraction of a second. The explosion crippled the monster. Its power armor warped outward, the force of the explosion setting off a chain reaction of the other grenades inside. The wires holding me went limp, and the visor dimmed.

I fell to the floor on my back, screaming and panicking. I clutched the bloody leg with my left one, pulling it close and clinging to it like my life depended on it. Blood was everywhere, my hoof was fucking gone. I had no idea what to do, my limbs moved on their own to try and stem the pain and bleeding.

I started to scream, “You ate my-”

A massive explosion blew out Wirepony’s back. The flamer fuel tank had finally gone, and finished off what remained of the broken power armor. The monster threw its head back, mouth opening in another mechanical roar that sputtered, shrieked, and eventually silenced. The thing’s legs gave out, and it slammed into the floor and shattered. No more wires were inside, the explosions had taken whatever was left in there, and liquified it into molten metal and searing flame.

I pushed myself back with my rear legs, holding my right foreleg against my chest with my left. The pain was getting worse, I couldn’t focus. Where was Lost Art? She could fix this, right? Right?

“Hidden! Are you alright?!” my sister screamed somewhere in the distance. I didn’t know where.

In front of me, the molten mass of wire-innards poured from the armor’s mouth. I tried to get away, but I couldn’t. Lost was behind me, staring at my stump.

"Oh fuck oh fuck no please no-” She was panicked, screaming and using her magic to try and heal me. It wasn’t working, there was no pleasant feeling of flesh knitting back together. The wound must have been beyond her abilities. “Please be okay, please be okay!” She repeated herself over and over, the glow from her horn glared brightly, fighting futility.

I was dying, here in a mostly demolished building, from blood loss. Wonderful. So, did I earn a place up with you, Celestia? Luna? At least Lost and I were together.

“Hidden. Hidden, listen to me!” she screamed at my face. Tears streamed down hers. “Help! Xeno!” Lost yelled, turning her head away. “Xeno! I nee...”

I couldn’t hear anything after that, whatever she was saying... It sounded like she was miles away.

My legs felt cold, but I thought I felt her pull my right foreleg away. She stared at it, crying and rambling something, something about hurting? Yeah, I was hurting. She grabbed my hoof, no, where my hoof had been. But Lost was with me, so I’d get through it. We’d just-

Lost dragged me bodily back to the smoldering remains of Wirepony’s power armor. We stopped next to whatever the wires had melted into: a white hot patch of not quite solid metal. It looked nice, actually, and even warmed my frigid limbs up. Everything had melted together into one slowly cooling hunk of smooth steel. I felt something pull, then something solid as the stump was pressed against the still superheated metal. Why was she...

Med-X didn’t do a Goddesses-damned thing.

Everything went white with pain. I couldn’t even find the strength to scream.

* * *

I lazily flicked the stump of my leg. Wirepony had bitten it clean off. Why had I thought it was a good idea to stick my leg into the mouth of a cannibalistic monster with razor sharp teeth? It didn’t hurt too much, now that all the nerves were dead.

Flick...

“You weren’t being a thinky pony,” I reminded myself, under my breath.

I flicked the stump again, though it hurt. The seared ends of muscle kept trying to rip themselves free from the burned edge that was left. Of course, I could still feel that. The monster had bitten it off just below the joint, which meant I was only a hoof short. The cut was clean at least, severing off without any dangly bits that would need to be removed. There was still a tiny piece of the joint left that I could move up and down, but it wasn’t enough. I couldn’t walk on it either. The first time I’d tried to get up after... After Lost...

A shiver ran up my spine and down the leg. Had that really been the best way to stop the bleeding, stabbing the stump onto searing hot metal? With the pain from the fractured bones, and the fact that the Med-X was wearing off, a simple shiver put me in wracking pain. I couldn’t even walk, because every time I actually managed to get off the floor, I fell down again trying to figure out how to walk on three legs. I ended up either face planting the ground, or stepping on the charred wound and hurting myself. Why did it always have to be my legs!

For the time being, I lay on my side, watching Xeno dig through her bag as I nursed one of her makeshift potions. For something thrown together on the spot, the mixture did surprisingly well at healing up the burn on my back. The knit-flesh feeling of the potions and brews was becoming more euphoric each time it happened, because it reminded me I was about to be healthy again. I could almost capture that ‘alive’ feeling that Buck gave me, almost. Nothing compared to what those beautiful little pills could do. If I had another, then somepony else could be dealing with this pain right now. To check if I had more, I’d have to move, and I wasn’t capable of that at the moment. Instead, I lay there, feeling miserable and weak. I’d been asleep for hours, but I was exhausted and just wanted to close my eyes and drift back off. The escape from the pain was just a bonus.

If only the potions and brews could fix my hoof, then I’d be on the right track.

Lost disappeared somewhere the minute she knew I wasn’t going to die, probably to search for supplies. Maybe there was some Hydra secreted away somewhere that could regrow my hoof. I couldn’t blame her for wanting some space while she hunted...

All these years she’d looked out for me, and I’d looked out for her, and neither of us had ever gotten a serious injury. Shot recently? Eeyup. Cut, bruised, scraped, and every other infliction the Wasteland could throw at a pony? All of them at some point or another. This was different though. This wouldn’t heal with time. A cut will heal up, close itself. I discovered the same was true after being shot. If a doctor removes the bullet, it heals up with magic pretty damn good. Even the burn I had from the grenade, and the new one from the flamer, would heal. Hurt like being bucked by one of the Goddesses themselves, but I knew it would heal, eventually. But this...

The fires had mostly died down and whatever was going to collapse already had. I was lying in the corner of the factory floor, with one of the bigger machines pushed in such a way to block us from sight from any enemy that might decide to wander by searching for the remains of that firefight earlier. Even if somepony did find us, there wasn’t much to be done. Xeno wasn’t a fighter, and I was down one hoof to fight with. No bucking for me for a while, not without a firm set of hooves to balance on. I couldn’t even stand right now, with the pain I had shooting through every limb. I looked up at the hole that had been burnt into the ceiling. It was still early, the sun giving the tiniest of peeks through the cloud cover above us.

How long had Wirepony chased me? I didn’t want to answer myself, didn’t want to consider what had happened only a few hours ago. Getting away from the monster was lucky, even if it cost me... Ugh. I flicked the stump again. Up down, up down, the end hanging limp when I let it go. Beating him was a miracle unto itself.

My head still pounded, with a dull thready beat so unlike the surges of power from before. I just wanted to lay there, close my eyes, and give up. My heart hurt. Not because I was sad, or upset, but it lanced pain through my chest with every beat.

I couldn’t wallow like this, I needed my sister, and we needed to go. If Jazz or Scifresh, or any of their Rangers were still around, and I couldn’t move. We were sitting ducks. But L.A. was off somewhere, probably feeling guilty about what happened to me, and I could only wait, like a useless pony. Couldn’t even go comfort my sister...

The more restless I became, the more I wanted to pick at my wound. I looked at the stump, twisting my leg around to see all the little details. It really wasn’t pretty. All I could see was the charred remains from when Lost had pressed the wound into that searing hunk of metal. I counted my blessings though; Celestia had provided a white hot slab of molten steel wire and armor for her to use to keep me from bleeding out, and Luna had made sure I didn’t scream to alert anypony still around that would hurt us. Thanks a lot to both, but I’d have preferred to keep the hoof. The exposed flesh was mostly brown, muscle seared to the point where it was unrecognizable, with bits of charred black bone sticking out. It looked like burnt radhog steak...

Ugh. I might not eat meat for a while. Well, unless it was all we had...

At least I wasn’t wearing the PipBuck at the time. I had total confidence that that monster could have chewed through the old-world technology as easy as it did my flesh.

“Hey... Xeno...?” I called to her weakly. “Any idea...” I paused, trying to compose myself. It hurt to talk. The muscles I used to turn my head and talk burned with every subtle movement. “Any idea where Lost went? I could really use her right now.”

“Iam not sure,” the zebra answered. “She said that she was going to go search for some Hydra. I told her not to, but she went anyway. She is very upset.” Once again, she sounded completely unfazed by any of this. There I was, missing a hoof, and she didn’t bat an eye at it. I really didn’t want to meet any other zebras if they were anything like her. The fact she could remain calm and not freak out over a severed limb was a bit disturbing.

The only reason I wasn’t freaking out was because I couldn’t really believe it myself. Every time I closed my eyes, I thought I could open them up to a new hoof, whole and complete at the end of my leg. But no matter how many times I closed my eyes and prayed to the Goddesses, it never changed. I was crippled. And the Wasteland ate crippled ponies for breakfast.

Uneven hoofsteps echoed through the factory floor, followed by something clattering on the ground. L.A. rounded the corner of our hiding place, stumbling and limping with every step she took. Her eyes were closed and she looked terrible. Her fur was matted down and discolored from blood and grime, and it was very obvious she’d been crying. She staggered, wobbling to the side each time she put a hoof down. I gave up watching, and just lay my head on the floor until she finally got to where we waited.

Her horn was glowing, and behind her dragged three bottles, all wrapped in the blue haze of her levitation. Her magic looked flickery and frail. The three bottles dragged along the floor, occasionally bobbing up, only to fall back to the steel floor with a loud clink. She seemed to have far less control over what she was levitating than she usually did.

She stumbled over, crashing into and leaning against the... whatever-it-was machine, that shielded us from view. She still had her glasses on, though they leaned horribly to one side due to the one lens having shattered. For a while she just stood there and stared at me, blinking occasionally. “Hley...” she finally said.

My eyes widened in fear. Had something happened? Why was she stumbling like that? Had somepony shot her? I tilted my head to look past the machinery, ignoring the pain that shot through every muscle. If they followed her, we were screwed. My battle saddle was out of reach, taken off while I slept, and without it I couldn’t fight. Not that I’d be able to anyway, but if I had a gun I could at least...

Nopony followed her. I relaxed.

L.A. pushed herself from the machine and took a few final steps over to me. Her hooves slipped unceremoniously out from under her, and she slammed into the floor. With a whine, she pulled her hooves back and curled onto her side opposite me. With her telekinesis, she pulled one of the bottles closer. It was a full bottle, labeled ‘Highland Harvest: Apple Whiskey.’ She grabbed it in her mouth, and rolled onto her back, then took several chugs. A moment later, she turned away and spat the glass bottle under the machine, where it slowly drained onto the floor.

Oh Goddesses. She was drunk. There was no way she was that far gone off just that much. How many had she found and drank before she got back?

“Ahm ss-oh suhrey!” she blathered, her breath reeking of apple and alcohol. Not a word of it made any sense though, no matter how loud she screamed it or how much she tried not to gasp for air.

I started to ask what she said, but was interrupted when she grabbed my good leg and pulled herself closer. I stared at her, trying not to wince in pain. What could I do to make it better? The look she gave back was pitiful, a look I knew from a few times in our childhood, especially after mom died. I slowly wrapped my good leg around her neck and helped her scoot closer.

She buried her face against my chest, managing to find an opening under the armored barding and stuck her face right against my coat, matting it down with tears. She practically crushed her nose against me, and I could feel my heart clench, already weak and unable to handle anything exerting it. The whole time all she could do was repeat the same slurred and garbled phrase she said when she first fell down. I let her, just holding with my good leg to give her time to work through it.

“Sahl my fuhhlt,” she said, choking on her words. “Ahm ss-oh suhrey.”

Whatever she said, it hurt my heart. I was still hurting but I would be alright, and the lingering injuries were nothing I couldn’t handle. Not after what I’d been through in the past few days. But this was hurting her, her heart must have felt as bad as mine. Even over the physical pain, this cut straight through me. A thinky pony would know what to say to her to make it better. Too bad I’d proved just a short while ago how far from being a thinky pony I really was. As she cried, I idly stared at where my hoof had once been.

“Schood huave behn mie,” she sobbed. “Vuh guhenage wuhs...” She stopped talking, and wrapped her legs around me, forcing one under my neck and pulling herself closer. I gasped, tightening my jaw so she wouldn’t notice. The broken frame of her glasses and her horn both dug into me, but I ignored it. She sniffled, rubbing her nose against me. “Wuhs sztoopid,” she finished.

“Lost... I’m okay. I promise,” I lied. “And I can’t understand anything you’re saying.” I was trying to sound comforting, something that should’ve been the furthest goal from my mind. Part of me was pissed. How dare she go and get herself drunk, when I was in pain, when I was the one injured. I let out a long sigh, hugging her tight with my good leg. But I was weak... I couldn’t stay mad at her. Even drunk, she’d protect me better than I could ever protect myself, especially like this. She hurt just as much as I did, just... In her own little way. We all deal with things differently.

Something pushed against the side of my face, a cold roundish something that was just out of my field of vision. For a second, I froze, terrified a Steel Ranger had found us and was about to blow my head off. I looked over, and found not a gun barrel, but another one of the booze bottles pressing against my cheek. Ugh, something called ‘SkinnyFilly’ peach schnapps.

“No Lost I...” I stammered, trying to resist.

She pulled away, and looked up at me. Gah, those eyes. I couldn’t really say no...

“Fine...” I muttered, grabbing the bottle... no, not with that hoof. I rolled away from her and pulled my remaining hoof free to grab the bottle. With a sigh, I took a long swig. It burned, making me cough a few times. My heart beat weakly in protest, but I didn’t listen. Never liked alcohol? Too bad. I could deal with it this one time. I forced myself to take a second drink, and did my best to ignore the pain in the back of my throat. Really, it was the last thing I needed right now. It tasted like sweet peaches and fire. The drink helped a little, giving me a pleasant warmth in my stomach for a moment. Ok, maybe Lost knew what she was doing, she was the older sister, after all.

“Is schnapps the best thing for you to be taking, silly pony?” Xeno said. “We will be leaving soon. It is not safe. They will find us soon.” She was smiling though, something I hadn’t seen her do yet. I felt a twinge of guilt. Had she and her brothers been this close like?

“You don’t have to stay with us,” I said, trying to talk around the burn in my throat.

“Noh doandt guo. Ahm s-ohwry,” Lost slurred. “Ah...” Poor girl could barely talk. She pressed her face against me again, letting out a new torrent of tears and wails. Sigh. That shower was wasted, with all the blood, grime, and tears she was smearing onto me.

“Sis? How are you feeling...?” I asked, trying to take her mind off of me.

“Aie cantp meik eht beht-tehr! Huhwl kcunaih meiyk viss bhetter?” she muttered. Through her slurring, that was hard to make out. Especially with her face pressed against me like it was.

I tapped her head a few times to get her attention. “I meant, because, y’know. You got dropped from the next floor up...”

She didn’t answer, just shrugged and cried more. The sobs came as near silent wheezes now. She was close to finishing, if she followed her usual pattern.

This was getting me nowhere. I pushed away from my sobbing sister and forced myself up onto three hooves. I wobbled and felt faint, fighting to keep the vomit-y feeling at bay. I didn’t need to add ‘lost-a-limb vomit’ to my experiences.

Given how often I seemed to get a leg shot, or broken, or otherwise... damaged. I should be able to do this. Just limp like before.

Lost just curled up where she was, wrapping her hooves around one of the bottles. She took several pulls from it, before throwing the empty thing away. We weren’t going anywhere any time soon.

I started walking, hopping on my remaining foreleg to keep from falling over. Every step was agony, reminding me how weak I was, how easily my bones had fractured... No! I could do it. I just had to try, be persistent. First I had to get to my battle saddle. It was close, and was a good test on if I could do it at all.

“Hidd-den... Yuhl cann teyhk maiyn...” L.A. said from the floor, holding out her right foreleg. She was rasping out the words, trying to force them over the crying. The look on her face was devastating, something I couldn’t continue to look at.

Turning away, I hobbled over to the battle saddle and pulled it on. With all my hooves and mouth it wasn’t super hard, but missing a limb? Goddesses. Why? Why let me do that? Stupidest thing I’d ever done in my life. (And that was saying something!) How was I supposed to find the answers to any of the questions I had when I was all crippled? Learning Gunbuck’s identity was still my main goal, but there were other things I wanted to know too. Like, where had that fucking monster came from? How that green swirly-thing got into the water at Pommel Falls?

Don’t do this to me, Celestia! Luna either! It’s not fair!

Xeno said nothing. She just watched as I fumbled with my gear. I was mad at her too. Yeah, we had wronged her, but if she stuck around, she should at least be a part of the team. And Lost, she needed to just stop wallowing! I needed her to ignore her ego for a few minutes, and get sobered up. We had places to go, and I needed someone with fucking cheater magic to help get me something to walk on!

“Lost, stop it. You’re not going to fix anything by getting drunk and crying it all away!” I yelled at her. “You’re my sister, and I love you, but you need to be an adult right now!” Under the uncaring eye of our zebra friend, I forced myself onto my rear legs. My nerves roared in protest, sending pain through every inch of me. I ignored it. It took considerable effort to keep myself balanced, but I stomped over and pulled her to her hooves. “Lost,” I started.

She couldn't look me in the eye, her face contorted before me into that wheezing mask. Her throat caught on her breath and gave voice to her painful howl. She moved to embrace me but I stopped her. With the stump. Using it hurt more than any of the other pain shooting through my body, but it instantly stopped Lost’s crying, as she just stared in shock at my leg.

“You need to calm down,” I said, trying to stay strong for her. I really hoped she didn’t figure out that I was using her for balance. The response I got wasn’t the one I needed. New tears weren’t going to fix anything.

I hit her across the face with my good hoof.

“I don’t care if you’re the older sister. You need to sober up and focus. We can’t wallow right now,” I said, trying my best to give her a look that showed I meant business.

She didn’t respond with words. The only thing she did was stare back. For several minutes we didn’t say anything to each other. There was an eerie silence, and I thought things were back on track. She started to nod, but instead flinched a few times, her throat contracting. Oh Goddesses. She pulled back, turned to the side, and threw up where I had been lying just a few minutes ago.

In the Wasteland every day was terrible, but that? That took the cake, the party, and all the guests, too.

Today was officially the worst day ever.

“Ahm sohrry....” she whispered between watery hurls.

“I know,” I answered. “Let’s head out.”

* * *

Walking on three hooves wasn’t hard at all! It just required practice. Step, step, step, hop. Once I had the rhythm down, it was actually pretty easy.

I felt much better after a few hours of rest. Everything still hurt, a dull ache thudding through every part of my body. While the rhythm of walking might have been easy, forcing myself to take each step was a chore, as if somepony had draped weights over my back and legs.

It was afternoon now, and things seemed to have died down. We left the safety of our corner, and set about combing over the factory one last time before leaving. If one of the Rangers had survived, a friendly one at least, we could get some bearings.

We walked down the remains of the first floor hallway, the rotten walls and rusty metal now decorated with scorch marks and holes burnt through in various places. The building wasn’t going to last long.

“Do you think anypony’s still here?” I asked Lost. After half an hour of searching we hadn’t seen a single soul.

“Maybe, we just need to... do you hear that?” she responded, her ears twitching behind the bandana. “This way.” She trotted off, leaving me more than a little miffed.

Xeno and Lost darted around the corner and into one of the rooms we hadn’t been to before. I hobbled after them, doing my step-hop routine to try and keep up. It mostly worked.

I rounded the corner to an interesting sight. The doctor unicorn from before stood there, talking to one of the Stable Sixty Steel Rangers. Weren’t they enemies though? The idea of them working together hurt my brain, but considering the other pain I was in, I pushed it from my mind.

“... need to take the armor off if you want me to examine you,” said Doc Plagueheart, stomping her hoof. I was a little glad to see that she’d made it out okay.

“Doctor Plagueheart!” L.A. called, interrupting the conversation.

The sickly-yellow mare shuddered, closing her eyes and pulling her little medical band down over her face. “Please don’t call me that,” she moaned. “Jazz knew I hated that name, and refused to call me anything else. My name is Doctor Lemon Tart.”

Lost grimaced and flattened her ears against her head. “Well, hi then... Lemon Tart,” she started. “Hidden Fortune is hurt, do you have-”

“OH! It’s the surface ponies! Hi!” said Praline, bouncing up in her armor. The ground shook when she landed, and there was a quiet groan from inside the armor. “Sorry, ran outta medicine in the suit. I was shot a few times. Can you imagine? I never thought I’d be shot! It’s not like that time that Lamington got me on accident, those were ...”

I tuned out, not able to keep up with her prattling. The mare was adorably perky, I’d give her that, but if she was wounded, she should calm down and let the doctor- okay, yeah, I wasn’t one to talk.

“...And then he told me that if we get split up I should find a safe place and turn on my power armor’s tracking device,” she said, still bouncing up and down.

“Can you stop that?!” I screamed. The last thing I needed right now was... everything she was doing. “Doc, can you do anything about this?” I held up the stump.

Lemon Tart screamed, scrambling over her own hooves and backed herself into a corner, eyes wide. Even though the little doctor’s band mostly covered them, I could see the fear in her eyes. She stood there, pressing herself against a wall as the rest of us watched. I lowered my... stump, moving it behind my good left hoof, and she seemed to calm down.

“I cauterized it, there’s no blood,” Lost said, in an attempt to placate the terrified mare. She sat and covered her ears now with her forehooves. “I just... I’m not strong enough to heal it. I can’t. I tried. But you, you can, right?” She sounded scared as well, but given that none of Xeno’s medicines had done a thing, and that her magic had come up short, I could understand why.

“Does it hurt?” the Knight asked, poking at my stump. Normally it probably wouldn’t have hurt, since the nerves had been fried and it was charred over, but the power armor multiplied the strength of the poke so much that it was enough to make me scream.

I collapsed onto my side, grabbing the punctured wound with my other hoof and holding it close. The chaos and blood set the doctor into another terrified frenzy. There was no way she was a real doctor. She must have gotten thrown into the job due to lack of personnel. No doctor could be this terrified of blood and wounds.

“Yes!” I screamed at Praline, “don’t do that again!” For several minutes I lay there, holding myself. Lost stood right next to me, a hoof around my shoulder and her magic working to knit the charred flesh back up. I didn’t lose much blood this time, since the hole Praline made was small.

“Doctor pony, I think that it would be best if you were to help these ponies. If you do there will be no reason to fear whatever you are afraid of,” said Xeno, who was also backed against a corner. We were a dysfunctional group, but after the very personal going-over the doctor had given Xeno last time, it was justified.

Lemon Tart stared at Xeno a moment, then nodded. She took a deep breath, pushed her band back up over her mane, and came down from the corner. “Let me see if I have anything, for both of you,” said the doctor, and she left the room out the back.

Praline finally calmed down too, seeing the damage she’d done. She popped the helmet off the suit, letting her us see the apologetic look in her orangey-yellow eyes. It took her several minutes, but she managed to disconnect and power down all of her armor.

I sighed. Lost, meanwhile, flushed bright red the minute the chocolate-colored mare started stripping. Her tail slowly swept side to side behind her.

Subtle, sis... real smooth.

When Praline finished, a mishmash heap of metal armor lay in the corner. Praline didn’t look too much the worse for wear, which was surprising. Blood covered her legs, but I couldn’t see any actual wounds. I was intrigued as to what the power armor had in it that kept her from looking torn and tattered from the battle.

The doctor returned after a few minutes of awkward silence. She had a dour look on her face, with her eyes downcast. “I... I’m out of supplies.”

That hit hard. She was the only pony in the area that could heal me, that could possibly bring my hoof back, and... she was empty. I would have settled for a Hydra, even if Xeno would’ve yelled at me for it. “I can still do some healing magic, but I don’t have anything that can fix that.” She pointed at the empty space between the ground and my leg, shuddering.

“Oh, we can fix that later! What about me?” Praline asked, bouncing again. “You’re a good smart doctory pony! I’m sure you can fix me up.” She had a gigantic smile across her muzzle, with shimmering eyes. However this pony managed to stay happy, I’d never know. And just what did she mean, ‘we can fix that later?’

The doctor sighed, and got to work on Praline, her horn glowing silver. Praline couldn’t stay still through it, and hopped around endlessly. I could only watch, frustration building. I didn’t even know what I was mad about at this point. Praline got injured in the fight, the armor had probably repaired itself over her. The doctor had no supplies, more than likely because I took whatever treasure I found. And the whole thing was my fault anyway, for coming here and getting the poor Steel Rangers from Stable Sixty involved. Éclair was dead because of me too, and... I didn’t know if I could even ask for forgiveness.

“It looks like you took just as much damage as my brothers and sisters did,” said Lamington. My ears shot up in terror.

Xeno, Lost and I all turned around in unison, only to find the gigantic power armored pony filling the doorframe. Eep.

“How’re you doing, Knight Praline?” he asked in that passive voice, surrounded by crackling static. The Star Paladin strode into the room, pushing between my sister and I, until he got to the younger mare. I caught a glimpse of his visor, which was cracked in half and missing a chunk. Behind it lay a gaping hole where an eye had once been. Celestia, Luna... why?

“Oh, I’m perfectly fine, Llamington!” she said, hopping up to give his armor a hug.

“Good, I was worried. Crème Brûlée thought you were taking too long. We need to get back to her soon. Collect your armor and hurry,” he said, before turning his back to her. “We have a funeral to prepare for.” He took three thunderous steps toward my little group, and stared down at us with half a visor and that bloody hole in his head. “I’m glad you’re alive as well. We must speak with one another, however. Soon.” With that he stepped past us, and out of sight.

“You should probably go, he doesn’t like to wait,” Praline said, stifling a giggle. “I’ll be there soon!” She was bouncing again, and the doctor had taken to physically restraining her.

We didn’t wait to watch. Lost took the lead, Xeno and I followed, and we left to go after Lamington. He wasn’t too hard to find, essentially being a gigantic suit of power armor, and we caught up quickly.

“How come you don’t regenerate like the Wirepony?” I asked, hobbling in my step-hop maneuver. It wasn’t the best way to break the ice, but I didn’t want to start directly on the issue of Éclair.

“The armor does, but it requires base metals to do so. Either refined or scrap, doesn’t matter,” the Star Paladin explained, looking toward the factory with what remained of his visor. “When the funeral concludes, we shall raid the factory for repair materiel. Scifresh’s group has retreated, so we have an abundance of time. The arrival of the griffons was well-timed, and that stallion friend of yours was a lifesaver. We did, however, lose Éclair, which is...” his voice broke for a moment, but he was able to catch himself, “terrible. Mother is very broken up about it. I... will deal with it. In time...”

“I’m sorry,” Lost and I both said in unison.

“Don’t be. This became our battle the moment you entered our home. As I said, we were lucky. I merely lost an eye, Praline will be perfectly fine, provided the doctor removes all the shrapnel.” He sighed, causing a massive crackle of static. “She acts quite ridiculously, but there’s a good reason she’s a Knight and not a Scribe. Her health will make everything easier for the rest of us. The others. Marshmallow will pull through in the end, and I shall personally make sure to get her better armor for the next time something like this happens...”

We reached the back entrance, the same one we’d originally entered through. Lamington led us out and into the factory yard. There was a heavy atmosphere of sorrow outside, thick enough to cut through the pain in my heart. The Stable Sixty Rangers crowded around Éclair, his power armor lying in pieces on the ground beside him. I couldn’t look at him directly, not after what’d happened. I wanted to apologize for what I did, but now he was gone, I’d never have the chance. We walked up to him, acutely aware of the sobs of the Elder. She’d removed her armor and was lying over her son’s body, crying so hard she’d begun convulsing.

All of the others were still wore their armor. Most were pockmarked and blackened from bullets and explosions, but they all looked alright for the most part. Marshmallow’s armor in particular looked devastated, with large chunks missing. What I could see of her body looked undamaged though, so Lamington was probably right that she would pull through without any permanent harm. I shuddered to think what might be hidden away under the remaining power armor, or healed over through healing potions used in battle, locking the damage inside.

I couldn’t see past the armor to the rest of the family. I wasn’t sure I wanted to. Having lost my mother in a similar way, and always remembering the trauma of it, I understood how they felt. The Stable Sixty Rangers might have been hurting, either physically or emotionally. But they weren’t showing the pain. It wasn’t the power armor that kept them bottled up, but the stoic, unwavering stance they all had.

* * *

Eleven of us stood on the banks of the river that flowed behind the factory, as the sun sank past the mountains. This was where the runoff from Pommel Falls ended up, having once carried the logs from the sawmill to the factory for production. No logs flowed down the river now, only water filled with radiation gathered over the journey down. The ground here was too hard, packed down from years of being used as a lumber yard, to dig a grave. The Steel Rangers decided instead to use the river to give their fallen soldier a burial at sea.

I looked over to Lost, who had a frown on her face and looked rather distant to the goings on. I still hadn’t told her what happened, but I would, tonight. My life... I didn’t like where it was headed. This was the third time in as many days that I’d met a stallion, and then watched him die. Within a few hours. This wasn’t a pattern I was comfortable with, at all.

And deep down, I knew I needed to stop relying on others. Lost and I were adults, and this was our... my life. I needed to start fighting my own battles, going on the offensive for myself. Sitting back and asking for help all the time, letting other ponies deal with the shit I created, then running in after they’d died wasn’t right. If I was going to fix my screw up, and make things better, then that damn well better be what I do. That damn well better be what I do.

Did it really have to be about Gunbuck? It started that way. I wanted to know who he was, so I could understand the mistake I’d made. Now that I knew though, could I handle it? He’d been a hero, and in one shot I’d taken that away. I’d made the Wasteland a little bit darker, and it needed no help in being dark. Now though, only a few days later, things had changed so much. I wanted to find out who he was, and why he did what he did. At the same time, I wanted to find out who we were, why we were here.

All this time we’d lived, in the years since mom died, on our own. We hid away, and only by bad luck did we get into this situation. For all my bravado about surviving the Wasteland, I sorta knew my way around a gun, had no experience dealing with townsponies, and dragged nice families like Drop Scone’s into the mud of the Wasteland. So, who was I? Who was Lost? Really, as sisters who were we? I wanted to find out who I was, too. Find out what life in the Wasteland was really about. If it was okay with Lost, to push forward on our own journey and not waste our lives finishing somepony else’s. So, was it about knowing him?

No, it was about his goal, and trying to reach that pedestal I’d put him on. Maybe it was just me trying to come up with an excuse to get out there in the world and try to make it a better place. Who cared? Maybe I’d even accomplished a little bit already? Wirepony was dead, which meant no more psychopathic unfeeling cannibalistic wire monster roaming about! Leathers was down, which hopefully crippled the Steel Rangers here, and their doctor had either left or defected, which meant they were down an important member of their team. On top of that, I’d brought the Rangers from Stable Sixty to the top, and they were good ponies.

So maybe, deep down, I was doing the right thing? I wasn’t a hero, I didn’t think I could change the Wasteland. But my little corner of the world? Making a safe place for me and my sister and my friends? Maybe. Maybe I could pull that off.

Lamington finished the eulogy he was giving, a speech I wasn’t listening to. I couldn’t. The less I knew about this pony, the less I could get attached to and guilt over, the better. Part of me wanted to know more, but I couldn’t handle that. He finished and stepped back into the line of us.

Chocolate Éclair had been returned to his power armored. He was sealed entirely in the heavy suit, and locked in a standing position, with a salute, at the very edge of the bank. Lamington gave him a salute in return, a motion which the other Steel Rangers all gave. None said a word, and aside from the ambient sounds of the wasteland, I could only hear the clang of steel hoof against steel helmet echoing out. There was talk of a gun salute, but we all disagreed to it since ammunition was priceless in the Wasteland.

“Goodbye, son...” said the Elder through her tears. She turned to my sister and the doctor, and asked, “Would you... do the honors?”

The two unicorns began to levitate the locked armor into the air, slowly and carefully turning him to face the water. Both must have been considerably stressed at the massive amount of effort required to move such a large object, but neither showed it. It took several minutes, but they managed to move him through the air and to the center of the slow-moving river. They reverently lowered him into the water, and released.

With a splash, the power armor began to sink. We all stood stoic, with a forehoof raised in salute to their fallen family member, the doctor, my companions, and I following suit. I could only give a half salute, since I was missing the hoof, but I did the best I could. My pain didn’t matter, and I could ignore the weakness and lethargy I felt. Those could be tended to later. For the moment, give the stallion his dues.

The helmet of the power armor finally sank below the surface, disappearing entirely from view. He was gone now, destined to spend the rest of his time on the riverbed, sunken into it by the weight of the steel that once should have protected him. There was a bitter irony to it.

“Goodbye, Chocolate Éclair.” I whispered. “I’m sorry...”

* * *

The only remaining Steel Rangers in the area were our friends from Stable Sixty, so we decided to stay the night. The Wirepony was gone, the conscripted mine ponies had all vanished, and the griffons had disappeared as well. It was the safest place for the moment. Given that Wirepony had... eugh, eaten damn near every living thing all around the factory, we didn’t have much to worry about.

The building was halfway intact still, with one side of offices still unburnt. The other half was still trashed beyond repair or recognition, but the walls hadn’t completely caved, which gave us the good four walls we needed to not be taken out by a wandering band of raiders. Sleeping inside was really nice, even if this place wasn’t really liveable anymore. While I liked being under the familiar cloud cover and being able to watch the world around me at night, this was comfier, and safer. It felt more like home. We had a hoofful of allies that could take watch while we got some shuteye, too.

I really couldn’t thank them enough. For a family who’d just had their entire world turned upside down, they were handling things far better than I thought possible. Surely they were handling it better than Lost and I had when mom died. That must have been a sorry sight, the two of us thinking we were big and tough in the Wasteland when we had mom to hide behind, then suddenly being all on our own? I didn’t even want to remember those days.

For now though, I lay on a mattress we’d pulled over from the collapsing side, and turned what remained unscathed into a makeshift bedroom. It wasn’t as comfy as the Stable Sixty bed, but considering the radiation down there, and my wound, I didn’t want to chance it.

“So... are we going to talk now?” Lost asked. She lay on her back next to me, staring at the ceiling.

“...Yeah.” I muttered, staring at the wall. I couldn’t look her in the eye, not yet. We were alone at least, Xeno having wandered off to do... whatever it was that she did. I wasn’t in the mood to try and figure out zebras. But with her gone, and the Stable Rangers all pulling guard shifts, this was going to be the only time we had to talk.

“When you’re ready, sis,” L.A. said, placing a hoof on my shoulder. “I’m here.”

I closed my eyes, fighting against the urge to lash out. She didn’t know, she couldn’t, which is why we were talking now. Just... I rolled over and looked at her. “I’ve been having nightmares again.”

“Really?” she asked. “I have nightmares every night.” She smiled, and I knew she was trying to help. Trying to tell me it was normal, that I wasn’t going insane. Because that’s what the Wasteland was like, a giant nightmare, day and night. A pony just couldn’t escape it.

“These are different...” I said. “They’re almost real. They’re very specific... It’s...” I trailed off, having trouble finding the words to describe it. I could remember each nightmare I’d had since we started this little journey with surprising clarity, something I’d never had before. Before they were just vague ideas, but after that one about mom...

“What’re they about?” Lost asked. She took her hoof off my shoulder, and rolled onto her side to face me. She even took off her glasses, which weren’t really doing any good at this point, since they were broken.

“I... The first one wasn’t a nightmare... Not really. It was almost...” I stopped. Could I really admit it? It had been hazy at first, hard to remember. Did that count? Once it clicked, I couldn’t forget it. It’d been on my mind off and on for a couple of days now. “A memory.”

“About?” she asked. She wasn’t forcing it, just gently leading and waiting for me to be able to continue.

For a while I lay there, staring into her eyes. How could she be so damn understanding? None of this was justified, I was just a ball of fucked-up pony right now, and the patience she showed wasn’t something I deserved. I needed to tell her, get it over with, and just move on with my life.

“I remember exactly how mom died,” I said, it was all I could say.

“Remembering and dreaming about it, then?” she asked. I could only nod in response. She didn’t say anything more, just stuck her hooves out for me. I wriggled closer and she pulled me into a hug. There weren’t any tears, from either of us. It wasn’t like it was a fresh cut. Mom had died long ago, and we’d both gotten over it, in time.

I curled against her, pulling my hooves- well, hoof, tight against my chest. I whispered, “Every little bit, from the moment we found that house to the moment she died. It always cuts off there, with blood and a scream and then... nothing. I wake up.”

Lost nodded. “My dreams always start with the blood,” she said sadly. “I stand there, looking across the room at that little blue flower. Then she’s just... gone. I don’t know how, it happened so fast.” She paused, nuzzling against me and squeezing tight. “The nightmare keeps on though, showing me every detail. Most nights I can’t remember it, not once I wake up, but sometimes... sometimes it’s so real. It’s like I’m still there.”

That explained why she avoided sleeping so much. “There’s other nightmares,” I continued. “That... the Ashen pony, Seethe. I had one about him...” This was it, the moment of truth. That one dream had set things off, had turned me into a filly again. Before that, I’d felt tough, I could take on the world. I felt like I was on Buck every day, and nothing could stop me. Afterward, the littlest things set me off.

“It feels like he’s still there, digging at my mind, calling to me,” I added with a shudder. “Everything was so real. That wire monster, it was like reliving it.” I beat around the bush, trying not to tell her what actually happened. She’d figure it out, but this bought me time to compose myself, at least.

“How does... How does Wirepony have anything to do with Seethe? I mean they’re both big and mean and tried to kill us, but how are they the same?” she asked.

Yeah, cut right to it. I hadn’t had enough time to come up with anything. I pushed away from her, slowly. She’d pull back if she knew, and I didn’t want to face her. I rolled over and curled my forehoof up as tight as I could. I curled the stump too, but it didn’t feel right, didn’t feel the same. For some reason, I couldn’t get comfortable without being able to cover myself.

“He had me tied up. I was in a room, all alone, tied up. And he came in...” I shivered slightly, not wanting to mention the moans I’d heard. That might cause problems if she figured out that I knew it was me hearing her in my sleep. This was awkward already, and adding to that was the last thing in my mind.

She wrapped her hooves around me again, and pulled me back against her. I didn’t fight it. I probably couldn’t have if I’d wanted to. I broke down then, unable to hold it back any longer. It all came out, every detail. Being tied down, the muzzle, the feel of his breath on my neck, my struggle, the terror, and what he said to me. I shivered, holding myself as Lost held me. For a brief moment, it was still happening. It was personalized torture, tailor-made to highlight every single one of my faults, to pick at them until tiny scabs became gaping wounds.

“Is there anything, anything at all, I can do to help you, Hidden?” she asked. It sounded like she’d been crying too. She probably had been. I shook my head, brushing my mane across her face. She’d waited to ask until I’d stopped crying, at least...

“No, but there... there was another one,” I whispered. This one wasn’t as fear-inducing as the one with Seethe, but it had hit me hard. It was a testament to my every failure so far. A part of me wondered morbidly; the next time I had a dream like that, would Chocolate Éclair be among the dead?

I told her about it, listing off each body I’d seen, sparing no detail. I remembered everything, from the eerie familiarity to the moment it all clicked. I told her about mom, everything after that was... I couldn’t even form words. Fine, I was fine. Until that, and then, that was it. I couldn’t handle it anymore. The floodgates opened.

We lay there together until my sobbing slowed. Lost cried too, but did her best to stay calm. For once, I needed to let it out, and she let me. I didn’t remember when, but I knew that we’d reversed places from when I’d comforted her a few nights ago. My face was pressed against her side as she did her best to calm me down. It didn’t work though. The whole mess was just one of those things that I needed time to get through, and once I was cried out, I’d be okay again.

“Y’know. When my dad died. I cried like that too,” said somepony. I recognized the voice, but I had no idea where it had come from. It only took a half-second to figure out it wasn’t somepony who was going to shoot us, though. Which, was really obvious. Why give themselves away?

“Praline, what are you-” Lost started. She was looking straight up.

From one of the vents in the ceiling protruded Praline’s unarmored head. She had, somehow, gotten into the vents and was staring down at us from two stories above. I wiped the tears away with my good hoof, looking up at her. How in...

“Hold on!” she said, scrambling about. There were several metallic clicks, before her rear legs appeared in the opening. “Watch out!” Hooves flailing a little, she let go of whatever was holding her up there and-

Abruptly fell atop us!

“Ahh!” I screamed, as the unarmored Ranger landed on us.

“Ehhh!!” Lost yelped.

“Owieeee,” the chocolate mare groaned, rubbing her flank with a forehoof. She sat atop the two of us. Apparently we’d made for quite the soft landing. “It’s okay to cry when you think of family you’ve lost.” She gave me a hug, one tight enough that I thought she might secretly be Wirepony in the flesh.

“Pra-- Praline,” I wheezed, “I can’t.” She let me go and scooted away. Lost didn’t say a thing. She was too busy blushing. Ugh.

“So, I saw you lost your hoof!” the Knight said, in a voice all too perky for the subject matter. She grinned, with her eyes closed and hooftips touching up in front of her.

For a moment, I stared at her blankly before saying, “Yeah.” I moved the hoofless leg, sliding it behind my left foreleg to keep the wound out of sight. “What about it?” The idea of this mare having any interest in the loss of my hoof was a bit terrifying. Whatever could she do, aside from poke it and reopen the wound, that would affect anything?

I doubted that she was here just to remind me that I was crippled, and rub it in. But she was interrupting the little bit of bonding time my sister and I were getting... Interrupting me getting some of my problems out in the open. Why?

Actually, deep down, I was kind of glad she’d changed the subject. We’d wasted enough time crying over the past.

“I can fix it!” she practically shouted. Her smile widened and she clapped her hooves together.

“What,” blurted a very surprised Lost Art.

I couldn’t respond, my brain was locked; I kept trying to think of what she might be able to do. She was a ditz, a happy-go-lucky pony who bounced around while a doctor was trying to examine her. She obviously wasn’t a healer, either. L.A. had tried already anyway, and it was too far gone. Nothing short of old-world technology could possibly fix this. What in all of the Equestrian Wasteland was wrong with this mare?

“I can give you a new one,” she explained. “It won’t be like the old one. But there’s a lot of spare parts in the Stable, and I spent a lot of my time as a foal studying about our power armor and how it works and how it can be used to fix problems with ponies who lose limbs or get too old to move on their own! I’m pretty sure I could build you one.” She pointed a forehoof to the other one. “It wouldn’t be too hard, we just have to use a replacement hoof for the power armor and build a base for it to attach on and then we can take a battery or something and put that in there so you can move it and then we just have to put in a motor or something that the battery would power and if I bolt it on right then it won’t fall off and it’ll work just like your old one.”

My eyes went wide as I tried to follow along. She talked so fast! Whatever it was, it sounded promising, like she might actually know what she was doing. If she could fix my hoof, then I wouldn’t really be a crip- No, everypony would still see that it was a fake. Power armor wouldn’t really blend in with my coat. But who cared! If it worked, then I could walk without having to hop, and I’d be able to buck again, so I was all for it!

“So, what do you say?” Praline asked, leaning against me and pushing our noses together.

“Well I-” I started. She said in the Stable, didn’t she? Would I survive a trip down there? With the radiation, and the bloodwings.. and what had happened with Sweet Dreams... I shook my head. Danger or not, I needed that hoof. “Yes.”

“Yay! I’ll finally have a chance to get some real practice in. All those books will be so worth it!” she squealed, hopping off of me and my sister and prancing out of the room. “Tomorrow morning we’ll do it!” She hollered back.

What!

“Lost... do you think this is a good idea?” I asked, looking at my sister.

Lost hesitated. “It’s up to you, sis. Do you think it’s a good idea to get yourself walking again? Everything down in the Stable is clean and new, if there's anywhere in the wasteland that can give you a new hoof, it would be there. We can always tell her to stop if you don’t want to let her do... whatever it is she’s going to do.” She hugged me. “But we should probably get some sleep for now. That mare, well, she’s not normal. That doesn’t mean she’s stupid. Tomorrow we’ll figure out what’s going through her head.”

“Alright. Will you stay tonight?” I asked, grabbing onto her.

“Yes, I’ll stay. I love you sis,” she said with a smile, snuggling close and wrapping a hoof around me.

“You too,” I said, and curled up to get some sleep.

* * *

The Stable Rangers had done a fantastic job making the mine system less deadly. They’d put up some crude shielding and apparently blasted out the collapsed area at the far end of the foundry room overnight. I was hop-stepping along the makeshift floor, following my sister. All along the walls were some sort of tarp or... I didn’t even know what it could be. It was some old world something or other I’d never seen before that was doing a good job of making a little walkway that was free from almost all the radiation. Whatever was getting to us was down to a manageable level that would probably take years of constant exposure to do any actual damage.

“It feels so different now, without running from the bloodwings,” I said.

“Are you sure that it is not the fact that you are without a hoof? Maybe you are missing the stallion?” Xeno said.

Did... Did she just tease me?

“Come on you two. Calm down,” Lost chided, leading the two of us back toward Stable Sixty. Praline had said to meet her there in the morning whenever we woke up. So there we were, walking up to the entrance of the Stable.

At the entrance to the Stable waited Elder Drop Scone. She faced away from us, staring down the long steel hallway that lead to the Stable itself. The moment the three of us passed by her, she began walking with us. “I don’t know what to think of you Wasteland ponies,” she started. “In less than a day you’ve turned my world upside down. For decades, my life was the same old, same old. Day in and day out. Now... You introduced me to so much-”

“Death,” Xeno finished. “Did I not warn you, about the ponies here?” She didn’t sound smug, just... defeated. “Ponies will shoot first, just because they can.”

“Yes, you’re right,” The Elder said, stomping once. “I had to try, though. Do you have any idea what it’s like to be locked in a Stable your entire life? Everypony I knew has died here. My children are the only ones left. If... If we could’ve worked with the other Rangers, we could have done some real good for the others out there.” The older mare let out a sigh and closed her eyes. “Because Steel breeds Steel.”

I didn’t understand why that was so important, but the fact that she wanted to help ponies was something I could get behind. I was glad we’d met these soldiers, especially after the way the other group of Rangers had treated us. I still had a bitter taste in my mouth over the fiasco, but things were okay now. Hopefully, Elder Scifresh’s chapter was weakened enough that they couldn’t do too much damage, and new saviors were loose in the Wasteland now.

“So, what’s this about Praline offering to fix my hoof?” I asked, holding up the stump. I didn’t really need it to walk, since I could hop along without it.

“When our ancestors were sealed in this Stable they were given supplies and training materials to sustain an operational paramilitary presence when we were to emerge. The Ministry of Peace supplied us with facilities and basic parts for cybersurgery. There were several schematics for prototypes and theoretical designs. It was supposed to be used for replacing limbs lost on the battlefield. They never got to use it, but the things Praline has thrown together with the books and parts... work,” said the Elder, nervously. Not a good sign, not a good sign at all. “Its been generations since anypony in this stable has needed such attention though. Praline’s the only pony who had any interest, or kept up with it all.”

The look on my face must have been one of sheer terror. Maybe it was because I’d stopped walking and started staring at my stump. The Elder laughed.

Lost put a hoof on my shoulder and gave me a smile. It helped. She leaned close and whispered, “Don’t worry, I’ll be there too.”

“O ye of little faith?” Drop Scone said with a snicker. “Don’t worry. Praline doesn’t act like it, but she’s very smart, and she’s more capable than she looks.” I felt a hoof on my shoulder and looked over. Drop Scone had a smile, one that actually went a good way in reassuring me.

“Oh! You’re here! Hi, Mom!” squealed Praline. She bounced over to us from the end of the hallway and grabbed my shoulders in her hooves. “Are you excited? I’m so excited!”

Lamington stood behind her in his fully-repaired power armor. “You’re very brave to trust her,” he said through a burst of static, “considering how she acts. I assure you though, you’ll be in good hooves.” Behind him stood the remaining Stable Rangers, all out of their armor, with hopeful looks on their faces.

It felt good to have friends. The fact that they were offering to help, and give up their resources for me, after what I’d done, how I’d gotten one of their own killed, warmed my heart.

“Okay, this way! We need to go to the Clinic!” Praline exclaimed, and bounced off. The rest of the Stable Rangers dispersed as their sister bounded past, offering quiet words of consolation and wishes of good luck.

“You’ll be fine, we made sure that Doctor Lemon Tart will be there with you,” whispered Elder Drop Scone. She patted my shoulder and pushed me forward gently. “Now off with ya. My daughter’ll do fine.”

“I’ll be there if anything happens, and I’ll stop it if you can’t,” Lost said. She slowed her walking to keep pace with me. After a moment, when things quieted down, she leaned over and whispered into my ear, “I convinced the zebra to help too. Whatever it is that she always cooks up will help, I think.”

I nuzzled her, then headed toward my fate. I knew it was going to hurt, but it’d be worth it to be able to walk right again.

* * *

Not worth it!

Praline, Lemon Tart, and Lost Art had me strapped and tied to the table in the middle of the clinic. The room was far far larger than the small clinic we’d run across in Stable Twenty One, but that didn’t distract me from the fact that they’d strapped me to a table! I lay on my right side, with a half dozen straps over my torso and hips, and more yet to be buckled, waiting to tie me down tighter. In addition to the straps, a few wires ran from machines at the far side of the room to a series of sticky pads, each of which stuck to a different place on me. Two stuck to my leg, one over my heart, and one clung to each side of my head. My heart raced. I wished they’d explained what they were doing...

“Okay, so, first we have to use some disinfectant!” Praline announced, sounding entirely too joyful. “I know you lived up there with all that dirt and grime, but if it gets inside you and in your blood, there might be some big big problems. Sterile surgery is safe surgery!”

I didn’t care what she had to say. I just wanted off of the table. Nopony had said anything about chaining me down. Nopony!

I flailed my free legs, trying to find any leverage I could to get out, screaming, “Let me go, let me go, let me go!”

Apparently that was the wrong response, because Praline ordered my rear hooves and other foreleg be strapped in place, out of the way of their work. Not funny, Praline! I squirmed about as best I could, trying to break free.

“Hidden Fortune! Stop squirming this instant!” L.A. ordered. She stomped a hoof, and leaned down to look me in the eyes. “Seethe isn't going to get you here, you killed the Wirepony yourself, and your sister is here to protect you. So stop this right now, or else you’re going to be hobbling until the day you die!”

Ouch. Okay I understood, but that didn’t mean my brain did.

I took a deep breath, and tried to calm myself. Strapping me down was for safety, because this was surgery. I looked at the stump, hanging off the edge of the table with three straps immobilizing the limb completely. I needed a hoof, and this was the price I had to pay for it. Several deep breaths later, I nodded to the mares. Now or never.

Praline produced a bottle from a shelf and had Lemon Tart apply whatever was in it. The brown fluid was slathered liberally, all over the exposed flesh and the sides of the limb. It smelled terrible, pungent like overripe fruit mixed with ink, and left my coat stained dark. Okay, that was fine, so far so good. The little claws in the back of my mind kept digging in, trying to get a rise out of me. Yes, I was still in pain, yes, I was strapped down, no, I wasn’t in any danger. I pushed the thoughts away, trying to ignore whatever my subconscious was trying to do to me.

“Alright, thank you, Doctor,” Praline said with a giggle. Was this a game to her?! While Lemon Tart slathered the disinfectant on, she’d put something or other one to cover her hooves and mouth, which I suspected was just for infection control. “I really wish we could put you completely under for this, but I need you awake so we can make sure the nerves correctly. So next is some Med-X. Because you, uh, don’t want to feel this.” She jabbed a needle into me and pumped the wonderful medicine into the limb. A second later, I couldn’t feel anything past my shoulder, and the pain everywhere else went away almost completely. Almost.

Wait. Feel what?

Suddenly, a cloud of tools floated through the air to hover next to the Doctor. One was a pointed rod of steel with a wisp of smoke coming from its tip, and the other a little knife that one of them referred to as a scalpel. What were they going to-

The doctor sliced into my leg, cutting just above where I’d been cauterized before. I pulled against the straps, and almost screamed, but caught myself once I realized she was right; I couldn’t feel a thing.

The cutting went on forever, with Lemon Tart moving the scalpel around, pulling away the ruined flesh. Each time I started to bleed, the doctor would visibly flinch, and my sister would press the tip of the little metal rod into me to burn it shut. Lemon Tart pulled away the burned chunks of my stump, and placed them in a steel dish by my side.

“No, not that one, the hemostat there. Praline, get me a needle,” Lemon Tart ordered the mare. Thank the Goddesses for Med-X.

Praline offered Tart several clamps and a needle, and the Doctor got to work, in a surprisingly professional manner. I couldn’t see it from where I was strapped down, but in almost an instant, she stitched shut whatever she’d been working on. She collected the scalpel again and finished in short order, only stopping one other time to stitch something shut.

Lost levitated the dish of crisped flesh in front of me so I could see what they’d just cut off. It looked like chunks of cooked meat, burnt to a crisp and ready to be eaten by a the Wirepony. Just how much were they cutting off, anyway?

“There's that part done, sis. You were great!” Lost offered, smiling. She floated the pieces away, leaving me with an image I’d never forget, and a healthy respect for the animals we’d eaten to survive.

“What... what next?” I dared to ask. I couldn’t do much but lay there along for the ride, but knowing what was coming might make it easier.

“Well, next we’re going to cut your leg open!” Praline said with a bounce.

What.

Praline got out another scalpel and passed it to my sister. “Okay you two, I need all the muscles separated. Don’t worry about cutting through the skin. We’ll sew it shut later.”

Again, what.

I yanked at the straps again, my mind reeling. They were going to split my leg open and separate all the pieces? Not part of the deal! Nopony told me they were going to do that! I squirmed more, trying to get out, but stopped when Lost shot me a look.

Lost crouched on one side of the stump, and Lemon on the other, each armed with a scalpel. They both wore peculiar glasses with little magnifying things over the lenses, which hopefully meant there wouldn’t be any mistakes. “Umm... What’re you two-” I started, but couldn’t find words after the blade entered my flesh. The second they cut into my leg, I could feel it again. I knew the Med-X was blocking the pain, but I was still acutely aware of the feeling of blades slicing through my skin. I started shaking. I couldn’t help myself; I could hear the blades slicing through me. My throat locked and I couldn’t breathe. I was going to die here, and my sister was helping kill me.

The machine tethered by wires to my head and chest let out a series of beeps, but Praline ordered the unicorns to continue. I watched in mute horror as they stripped my flesh from the bone, and separated each little piece from the others. It was cold. All those little pieces, they all felt cold. The chill crept up my leg, spreading to encompass every part of me. I shivered again. My heart was speeding up, but the beats were so faint I could barely feel them.

The claws came back with a vengeance, ripping into the back of my mind, informing me of my imminent death. That really didn’t help. I just wanted to pass out and not deal with this. Wake me up with a fancy new hoof, and let me sleep through this, I thought. I clenched my eyes shut, trying to focus on my breathing. I couldn’t cry out either, I had to be strong.

Just get through it, I yelled inside my head. Just get through it.

Lemon Tart peeled several specific parts of my leg back and taped them out of the way, against my coat. I didn’t know what they were, and I didn’t care. The less I knew and the faster the ordeal was over, the better. Praline was issuing orders through each step, but I couldn’t be bothered to listen to each one.

“She's going into shock, get a saline drip going,” Lemon Tart ordered.

“Okay, this is where it starts to get tricky. Lost, can you put this on the bone?” Praline asked, and pointed to something outside my field of vision. I didn’t want to look, so I clamped my eyes shut again. I heard a grinding sound and could feel her doing something to my stump. My leg shook as she worked. The sound was awful, like horribly creaking wood that I could hear inside my skull. In an unwelcome distraction, there was a prick in my other leg, then the odd sensation of water under my skin.

This wasn’t surgery, this was torture.

Finally I opened my eyes, and looked at what Lost was doing. She’d bolted a chunk of metal onto the bone. I had no idea what it was, but it looked like a steel replacement for the bone that’d been there before. It was made of a long segmented rod, with one end bolted around the bone. Lost gave it a little flick, and each segment slid under the one above it, causing the rod to bend. She stepped back with a satisfied nod.

“What’s next?” L.A. asked hesitantly.

“Umm, we wait for the Med-X to wear off. I’ll need to connect some things to the nerves, unless she doesn’t want it to move,” Praline said, placing a hoof on her chin. Med-X wear off? My eyes went wide, I could feel enough already. Why did she need the Med-X gone? “I suppose in the meantime we can use some of that zebra concoction,” Praline continued. “It’ll keep her conscious during this, and make her feel better, too!”

Lost produced a jar, lifting it in the blue glow of her levitation, and moved it over to me. She ordered me to drink, and I did just that. The liquid tasted like what Xeno had made down in the mine, and was strangely, a familiar comfort during this horrible experience. The claws still cut at the back of my mind, but as long as I ignored them, they couldn’t do much damage. The drink even helped clear my dry throat so I could breathe better.

“Squish out these bits here,” Praline said, pointing to something, “and here.” She moved a bit, pointing to several more places. “Oh and this one too. I need them flat so I can attach the nerve bits.” She held up several little ribbony-looking things in her fetlock, which hung loosely.

How could she be so casual about this, I wondered, and found myself wishing she’d use slightly more doctor-y words than “bits” to describe important pieces of my anatomy.

“This next part is really gonna hurt, and if we do it wrong it might kill you,” Praline admitted sheepishly. I heard Lost yell something behind me, but I didn’t catch what it was. “Don’t worry. This isn’t the healthiest solution, but I want you to take this pill. It’ll keep your heart rate up and make sure you don’t go into arrest and die on the operating table.” She held up a familiar tablet of Buck. “I don’t want my first surgery to be my last!” She popped the pill into my mouth and I bit down.

I felt it almost instantly. My heart started pounding strongly again. I could feel everything. The pain didn’t matter now, they could do whatever they wanted. It was somepony else’s problem.

Once again, the unicorns did as they were told, and grabbed what I assumed were nerves. Slowly feeling was coming back, and everything already ached. I tried not to think about the returning pain, not wanting to have any idea, ever, what it might feel like to have a split-open leg, with all the muscles flayed apart. It was just... I shivered again. Even through the Buck, I felt the pulling on the raw nerves. There wasn’t anypony else to pawn it off on. I tried to focus all my energy on not screaming or ripping through the straps that held me down. I’d been a good pony so far. If I got up now it would just cause more problems.

Focus, stay calm. Focus, stay calm.

“Probably best to do this all at once. Once she knows what it feels like, we’re not going to get her to hold still long enough to put another one on,” Lost said, picking up the ribbony things in her telekinesis and hovering them over. One by one they were placed next to the nerves that Praline had pointed out. “Ready sis?”

“No,” I said, matter-of-factly.

She clamped them down anyway. The pain destroyed my senses. It was so much worse than even having the hoof bitten off in the first place! I was fairly certain that I blacked out for a second when she did it. There was pressure on the nerves, like I was being pinched by an entire herd’s worth of hooves, only magnified thousands of times. The pain shot up my leg, sending a horrific tingly-painy-agony through every inch of me. It felt like my nerves were burning me from the inside, like white hot wires threaded through my flesh. I screamed until my throat locked. Apparently my body couldn’t handle the pain and started to shut itself down.

“Okay, almost done,” Praline said. “Doctor, the receptor pins!”

And with that, there was another pain, something I was more used to after getting shot. The ‘pins’ Praline mentioned were all stabbed into the nerve endings. It felt like being shot, stabbed, and hung up to die by raiders all in an instant. My eyes rolled back until I couldn’t see anything but the inside of my head, and I damn near bit my tongue off trying not to scream again.

“We probably should have given her something to bite down on, huh?” Praline said. “Oh well, too late now. We need to get her put all back together.” She giggled. I opened my eyes. That didn’t sound fun either. Without a word, they began to move all the little pieces of me back into place. Lemon was instructing Lost as they worked together, making sure that each bit of flesh went right back where it was supposed to be. After a few minutes I was looking back at my leg.

It looked far better than- no, okay, that was a lie. My leg looked terrible. Blood matted my coat, stained red and brown from the disinfectant. The pieces were all in the right spots, but didn’t fit perfectly anymore, so odd bumps and ridges marred the surface of my skin. Lost and Lemon spent ages going over it, again and again, until everything lay flat. I just tried not to move, keeping my teeth clenched so I wouldn’t start crying over the pain. Without the Med-X, the ordeal was excruciating, and the feeling of them moving my muscle and bone was violating on a level I’d never thought possible.

Take the straps off, I screamed inside my head. Let me get up. I can live with just a stump.

When they were finally, finally done, it actually looked pretty okay. The skin and coat were back where they needed to be, flat and flush, and the ribbony wire-things just hung limply out the very end of my leg. Just as planned, right Praline?

“Your fascia will regrow with healing magic but you'll need a compressive dressing for a few days,” Lemon Tart said, using a word I’d never heard before. Seeing the confused look in my face, she scrunched hers up and sighed. “Like... It holds you together! I don’t know. Just glue inside you to keep the parts from moving around.”

Ew...

Praline seemed happy with the completed work, and had Lemon Tart sew up my leg. The stitches actually looked really well done, and were mostly hidden by my coat. It was good to be in capable hooves. Now they just needed to let me go.

Praline had spent the time hooking up more little bits against the stump of flesh and the little steel-bone replacement for the old one.

I winced as a sharp pain stabbed into the stump. Praline pushed something in and waited until she heard a beep. With the... whatever it was she placed in there, in place, she grabbed all the ribbony wires, cut off the excess slack, and slowly plugged each one into it. I couldn’t really see what all she had done, but she seemed to know what she was doing, and I wasn’t going to question it. I did, however, struggle against the straps again, to try and get free. They’d hooked them so tight I couldn’t move an inch.

“Alright Hidden! Now, we need to run some tests,” the earth pony mare explained, “let me know when you’re ready,”

I grunted. I wanted to be done. Now.

Praline took that as a positive response. She sat on her haunches in front of my tethered leg, and clapped her hooves together. She began attaching things to the metal stem that Lost had bolted on earlier. “These are motors so you can move it okay?”

I only groaned in response.

“...Good enough! Can you move the hoof a little?”

I did as I was told, though I didn’t know how. I’d never thought consciously about how to walk. I always did it on instinct, it just happened whenever I needed it to. I heard a loud loud whirring, and froze. The whirring stopped. No... I’d killed him, we melted his insides into molten steel! He was-

“Well, it works moving that way, try the other way now,” Praline said, tinkering with the tiny little motor at the end of my leg. Wait, what? I did as I was told, cautiously, trying the same trick to get it moving. The whirring started again when I moved it. The claws dug at me, but realization hit that it was my leg making the noise. Okay, that wasn’t so bad. I pushed the claws away with a deep breath. So I’d have a constant reminder of how I got the new parts. It was familiar, in a twisted way.

Praline did more fiddling, moving bits around in her hooves and removing one of the motors. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I wondered how she could hang onto such little parts with her hooves. Really, though it didn’t matter. Questioning it would only hurt my brain. I lay there, half-aware of what was going on, and just let her work. After several minutes she reattached the motor, and we repeated the process. Each time she made adjustments, and had me do something different; first slow to medium fast, somewhere in that rage? I couldn’t really focus, I just made little movements here and there like I was told. She wanted me to flex the hoof in every direction, testing its range of motion. It wasn’t easy, but I made sure to do every single test as best I could.

What point would be the point in getting a new hoof if it didn’t work properly? None! And going through this... I deserved a working hoof. No matter what the claws in my mind told me, no matter how deep they dug, I wasn’t going to give up.

“You're almost done!” Praline exclaimed. “I just finished calibrating the prosthetic processor, which listens to your nerves and talks to the motors, so you can move the hoof. I've pulled it out, as well as everything that's removable, to do a final sterilization of the area,” she said, brushing vigorously at my extremity. “First thing to go back are the motors. These turn energy into movement, mostly a linear compression system that ties into the tendon network.”

“Uh huh... Whatever, just finish please...” I whispered, feeling nothing as Praline inserted several small modules into my leg. Each one made a surprisingly loud click as it was secured. I blinked tiredly at Praline's serious face, as she held up another techno widget.

“This is a battery system out of a recharger rifle,” she explained, “your sister donated it! If this works right, it should keep your motors powered for, like, three times as long as you could possibly live, even in a Stable!" That piece of not-very-reassuring information was followed by another loud click, and Praline held up a flat black thingy with striped edges. “This is the control processor,” she continued, “which makes everything work. Most of the motors are disabled or turned way down, but they'll come back to full on their own! I set it up that way to let you get used to it slowly, so you don't have to learn it all at once!”

“Y-yeah,” I muttered. I just wanted her to get it over with. The pain was back in full force, and every part of me ached. Lying in this one position for so long had made it all so much worse, and being strapped down was doing me no favors.

Finished with attaching and tweaking all the inner workings, Praline produced the actual hoof replacement. It was beautiful. It was made just like a piece of Steel Ranger armor, with little flowy, curled designs etched into the bottom, right at the joint where the hoof began. It even had a simplified version of the Steel Ranger insignia on the front. Praline really was a master of her craft. Even though I was terrified of it at the beginning, and still scared of the fact that the hoof would stand out... It was beautiful.

The bouncy pony stepped over and began dismantling the beautiful hoof. A piece popped out from the center on the bottom, and then another larger piece slid off the top. “Lost, Lemon, when I put this on, I need you both to heal her leg, okay?” she said, holding up a disk-shaped plate with a mesh surface on one side of it and a hole in the middle.

She split the plate into two half circles and slid it into place, flush against flesh. The tugs as she put the ribbons through the center hole felt strange. Then she bolted the plate to the new steel-bone. The familiar glow of healing magic enveloped my leg, and I felt that old itchy knitting feeling as the flesh healed up. This time, the healing took an even weirder turn, as I could feel the skin and muscle actually forming into the mesh top of the plate. It itched something fierce, but I couldn't exactly scratch it. A few moments later, the itchy knitting feeling disappeared, and Praline announced, “Perfect! Now I just attach the leg to the mounting bracket.” She snapped the metal cylinder of the hoof into the new mounted plate and set to working on the processors and motors inside it.

The healing continued, and the cuts from the scalpels slowly disappeared, until only the stitches were left over healed skin. Whatever trick Praline used actually healed the plate directly to the skin, so that the Steel Ranger hoof was attached right against me. I gave my hoof a flick, trying to get it to move.

Nothing happened. The motor whirred, but nothing happened. Had Praline messed up?

“Hidden Fortune stop that. I’m not done,” the chocolate colored mare said, and bopped me on the nose. She had Lost grab the little steel-bone inside, and pull it out just a bit. I couldn’t see what she was doing, but there was a loud click, followed by a louder beep. Pushing the remaining lengths of wire up into the cylinder, she snapped the bottom piece on. “Now you can move it. It wasn’t powered up yet, silly.”

I did as I was told. Gloriously, I felt the familiar movement of my hoof. It might have been metal, but it was my hoof all the same.

Lost and Lemon unstrapped me from the table, and I took that as a sign I was allowed down. Off the table I hopped with a clank, onto four working hooves. I held my new hoof up and gave a few flicks, moving it here and there. Wow! It flexed a bit sluggishly, but it was there and working! If it weren’t for the fact that it was made of shiny steel, I’d have confused it with my own!

“Thank you!” I shouted, and wrapped both working forehooves around the Stable Ranger. I could have kissed her, if it wouldn’t have been weird and awkward, and besides, lost Lost had dib- Okay, not thinking about that. I made sure to give Lemon Tart and my sister each a hug as well. I even tried to give Xeno one, for her little contribution, but she refused.

Finally done being astounded and elated, I stomped the embellished metal hoof on the floor of the Stable with a resounding clang. It was a good sound. This felt right. This felt strong.

I was back.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Footnote: Level Up!

Hidden Fortune:
New Perk: Ministry Training – You gain a +10% to hit when using rifles of any description.
Quest Perk: Cyberpony (Design Level 1) – Steel Ranger technology has been used to make permanent cybernetic enhancements to your body. You gain +2 Damage Threshold, +10% Resistance to Poison and Radiation and a +10 to your Unarmed skill. Cyberpony perks unlocked. Zebra Alchemy Perks have been locked. Plus the new hoof looks really cool.

Lost Art:
New Perk: Advanced Spells – You are now able to learn more powerful spells and spell types of the schools you know. In addition to this, you are now capable of casting more powerful versions of the spells you already know. You are also able to learn a wider variety of spells, though the majority of new ones must remain in schools you already know.

“So, metal hoof... Trying to impersonate anypony in particular?”
“What! No, do you have any idea how much this hurt?! Do you think I wanted to go through with it?”
“It is the author’s fault, I believe that she has it in for you, silly pony.”
“You’re just saying that because you haven’t gotten seriously hurt yet.”
“It wouldnot affect me in any case.”
“Wouldnot? That’s a new one.”
“I have been studying instead of drinking and crying.”

Author's Note:

(A massive thank you to Kkat for creating, and everyone else who has helped to flesh out the universe of Fallout Equestria. And to everyone who has/will help with with editing and making this more palatable... Big hearts to Dimestream, Sabsy, Heartshine, Wirepony, Moth and everypony else who helped with ideas, editing, and brushies. And of course everything is copyright their respective owners. ~Hnetu)

Comments

[Hnetu]

To all the recent ponies who have been favoriting and reading! Thank you SO SO MUCH!

You have no idea how amazed I am!

And, hehe, regolit. Just wait and see what happens!

[MetalGearSamus]

Ooh, that surgery scene. I don't usually get squeamish from reading, but that made my skin crawl several times. Great writing!

[Calbeck]

I think you really came into your own in this chapter. The surgery scene in particular was exquisitely well-done, paying attention to detail and making sense every step of the way.

[Turtledude]

Alright. So... two things:

1) Once I get my new computer, I'll probably do up a Hidden Fortune with her new hoof, because cyberponies are the master race kinda awesome.

2) And because of number one, I might do up one of the Wirepony, too.

That is all.

[S3rb4n]

Awesome chapter. The Wirepony is always a winner, and Praline is really fun! Crazy, but fun.

Also, I think that the cyber-augmented limb idea has been used in my fic as well. It's a coincidence, I swear!

[Need More Gore]

I love all the crazy shit main characters in almost every fallout equestria story go through. It's so different from other fallout fiction. I love it thanks hnetu (and of course kkat) when I have some time going to see what else happens to hidden fortune and gang

[PaladinArcana]

In all honesty, this chapter got the reaction out of me that Cupcakes failed to.
Good job, I guess?
Made me really quesy. Thinking of re-reading this chapter until my brains dulls to a simple description of a surgery.

[Doctor Ham]

Shit, where to even start with this chapter.

The Wirepony was, like his last appearance, appropriately menacing and terrifying, and like before I kept trying to figure out how the hell they'd kill an abomination like that, especially if the barrage of Steel Ranger weaponry didn't do it before.  Even the grenade down the gullet, I wasn't sure of until it detonated all his ammunition.  Whether or not Lost thought of that (probably did), I'll give her kudos for that plan.  A good plan from a thinky pony, even if it needed Hidden to bat the grenade back in.  And by the way, that was a damn good moment, when the Wirepony knocked the grenade out.  The whole chase was great, particularly Hidden going into a blood rage at the sight of L.A. unconscious, but that last second of it was the capstone on the piece.  Just gave it that perfect emotional tug-of-war between cheering for victory and crying out in frustration.

And on the subject of emotions, I really liked the sisterly interactions here.  L.A. bawling about Hidden's injuries, Hidden seeking comfort from her sister about her nightmares, it was a really lovely pair of scenes.  Speaking as an older sibling to a younger sister, I really like how you've made it that both siblings support each other, rather than making the older sibling the infallible protector.  Even without the post-apocalyptic setting, it's been a two-way street in my experience, and if I didn't believe before that you had a little sister, I do now.

Finally, that surgery.  What I want to comment on the most is I'm glad to see that even though she'd finally talked about her nightmares, even though L.A. was there to comfort her, Hidden was still terrified of being restrained.  I mean, I feel awful for her, but from a narrative standpoint, it would have been easy to have her "get over" her fear after telling Lost about the nightmare, but that's not how fear works.  She fought through it, and there were other things for her to focus on too, but the fact that she still had to fight that fear was good characterization.  And the surgery itself was all kinds of horrifying.  I winced when Praline said they'd have to wait for the Med-X to wear off for them to connect the nerves.  

And so I finally got to see how Hidden gets her metal hoof!  I think that about covers any spoilers I was aware of.  I always try to go into any story as blind as I can, to ensure that I get the story in its most natural form.  Unfortunately, I ended up hanging out around FoE sites and tumblrs and saw a bunch of TH artwork there, all of which had Hidden with a metal hoof.  No one's fault but my own in this case.  And hey, all spoilers out of the way and still 14 chapters to go!

(Drat, I don't get to be the 300th comment)

[ibeachu]

dude, greate story and all, but the grammer nazi is saying "pick a tence; presant or past, and stay with it." You can do that for me right?

[ibeachu]

Hey guy, i cant tell if its supposed to be past or present... choose one please.

[ibeachu]

nice