Chapter 1: Project Icicle

Chapter 1: Project Icicle
“I wanted to do more than save Ponykind, I wanted to save its future.”

===~+~===

My name is Ratchet, a scientist working for the Ministry of Arcane Sciences. While many of my colleges work on projects with a heavy focus on magic, the project I am heading, Project Icicle, instead combines aspects of engineering with magic. My project? Cryostasis. Specifically, my project is attempting to create a chamber which ponies, or any living being really, can be placed inside to preserve them for the future. Why not work for the Stable-Tec, you might be asking yourself. This is because Stable-Tec is busy with Stables and cannot provide funds for my project.

Thus, here I am working at the MoAS. I pitched my idea and got it authorized. I did have one stipulation, however. When my research was eventually rolled out, plans for it would be given to Stable-Tec for use in Stables. I wanted my pods to be used to preserve Ponykind, in the event of disaster. The MoAS will use my pods for containment, the specifics of which were not described to me. I do not know what will be contained in my pods, but I knew that I wanted to complete my research.

My facility is an isolated bunker in the mountain of Canterlot to keep the project both protected and hidden. The facility possesses its own generator, housing, medical facility, and a limited armory with a few personal guards. In addition to those basic amenities, it also has a magical lab for testing out the various spells my project requires, a workshop to build the machinery with, which includes a small scale forge for melting and shaping metals, and the main experiment chamber. Oh, and my own office!

The bunker has two entrances. One leading directly to Canterlot and one that leads a good distance away from it in case of emergencies. Both of these entrances are sealed shut with bulkheads. The bunker is also lined with automated turrets and cameras for extra security.

The staff includes myself, three mechanics, three arcane researchers, two medical staff, and a squad of five Steel Rangers. All of us live in the bunker and we rarely leave it. Only a select few, such as the MoAS higher-ups, are allowed entry to it as well. I am put in charge of the bunker’s operation and also modifications to it. Nothing too major, however. Like decorative or functional changes.

That being the case, in my spare time I work on a side project of mine. I begin to look into previous research and implementation of Artificial Ponies, or AP. After a few long nights once my staff goes to bed, I begin making progress. However I don’t want to just give it somepony else’s personality. I think I might be able to add my own to it.

After referencing various texts and notes I manage to put my personality into my APs spell coding. She isn't as advanced as other APs, since I made her in my spare time and only by referencing texts. As such, she isn't so much an Artificial Pony, as she is an Artificial Intelligence. There are quite a number of differences between here and APs or normal ponies. I decide to name her Cryogenic Observer and Rehabilitation Assistant or C.O.R.A. For the first few days of her life, I keep her confined to my personal terminal to help me in my own work as a sort of beta test. She performs according to my expectations and even corrects me a few times.

Once her stability and usefulness has been determined, I decide to hook her up to the main system. I start by allowing her use over the speaker system and cameras so she can help us work. This turns out to be boost to our productivity and we manage to progress the prototype to near completion. I decide that C.O.R.A. deserves more control of the facility and give her controls of all the systems, including defenses and door control.

With my prototype cryostasis pod drawing close to completion I rally my staff and after three sleepless nights and a lot of coffee, we manage to complete it! The only thing that remains is testing it out. My staff is hesitant to volunteer, however, due to the possibility that if things go poorly it could spell death. But, with the prototype complete and Twilight Sparkleherself coming to witness its activation I am left with one choice. I am confident in my work, and C.O.R.A.’s ability to manage things in my stead for a while, so I decide to test the prototype myself. A day or so later, Twilight Sparkle arrives and we begin the test.

===~+~===

“Ok everypony! Are you all prepared to make some history and ensure the prosperity of ponykind in future?” I ask everyone while I prepare myself to enter the Cryogenic pod. I receive a chorus of affirmations.

Twilight nods as she says, “Of course! Care to go over your plan one more time?” She looks around at everypony who is looking at her since she began speaking. After her suggestion, they all look expectantly at me.

“To begin with, I’ll enter the pod and seal it up. We will then initiate the first phase, which will calm my body down into a stable state. Then we will begin the rapid freezing process and preserve the state of my body. Lastly, we will stabilize the pod’s temperature at the ideal temperature. For phase two, we will monitor my health status for three weeks. And in the final phase we will bring me back to the world of the living!” I explain.

With the summary given and after a final confirmation that everything is ready and climb into the pod. Before I can seal it, Twilight says, “I’ll be back in to observe your awakening. See you then, and good luck.” With that I seal the pod and prepare myself for whatever I will experience while in Cryostasis.

===~+~===

Alarms suddenly begin to sound and I quickly open my eyes. I reach out my hooves and touch the cold steel and glass surrounding me. I begin to panic, but I breathe a sigh of relief when I find the release switch to open my prison. It swings open and I stumble out barely catching myself before hitting the floor. I’m shivering and gasping for breath when I suddenly hear a voice call out to me.

“Ah, Mistress Ratchet. It is good to see you again in the waking world,” it says with my voice. “Mistress Ratchet, is something wrong? You appear to be in a state of confusion.” I look around as my shivering subsides but cannot find the source of the voice.

“Where are you?” I ask the voice. Nopony else appears to be in the room aside from me. After a few silent moments of looking around the room for its source, it speaks up again with an almost playful tone in its voice.

“I suppose you could say I’m everywhere, Miss Ratchet. After all, I’m just an Artificial Pony that is running this facility.” She laughs playfully as I roll my eyes.

I put a hoof to my head and shake it slightly to clear my mind. I suddenly remember everything. “CORA, that’s right! Ugh. Did you wake me up early?” I ask. That’s right, it should be three weeks after I entered the pod, but no one is around.

“No Mistress Ratchet, you have actually been woken up later than expected. Since the time you entered the pod it has been thirty-five years, three months, two days, four hours, twelve minutes and twenty-one seconds. I am sorry, but I used my best judgement to maintain the integrity of the experiment,” she states simply. My eyes went wide and I was rendered speechless.

“Thirty-five years!?” I exclaim. “Wha-how-WHY!?” I ask. I stare at the computer panels along the wall for a few moments before I notice the dust that has settled over them. I look around the rest of the room and see that it too has a thick layer of dust coating everything. The ground that I lay upon as well, aside from the area I fell and disturbed.

“I am sorry to inform you Mistress Ratchet, but sixteen days after you entered the pod I detected numerous Megaspell detonations. I managed to detect seventeen before communication with the outside was lost. Following protocol, I sealed the bunker and maintained lockdown. However, numerous incidents occurred during the lockdown,” CORA explains with a hint of sorrow in her voice.

“M-megaspell detonations? You mean that…it happened? It actually happened?” I ask hastily, having been thrown into a panic given this sudden information. Is everyone alright? Did the Stables work? What will happen now? My thoughts race with thousands of questions at once, and range from dark worries to soaring hope. But within all these thoughts is one question with what CORA said. “What incidents, CORA?” I ask her.

CORA continues, “The first incident occurred twenty days after the detonations. Food had begun to run low and a few of the staff expressed thoughts on leaving the facility to find food. One of the mechanics, a researcher, and three of the Steel Rangers decided to leave. I warned them of the dangers outside but they went anyway. The remaining Steel Rangers stayed behind to ensure your safety. Regardless, when the five went outside the soon learned I was correct. They began banging on the bulkheads to be let back in. I of course refused, but the three Steel Rangers managed to force one open, but died before reaching the next one.”

“The second incident occurred thirty-three days after the detonations. The remaining inhabitants began to run out of food, so I began heavily regulating it. Your staff disliked this, however the Steel Rangers accepted it. They began to plot to turn off the facilities systems temporarily to gain access. However, as this would put your health in jeopardy, the Steel Rangers refused and threatened the others if they tried it.”

“If you recall, I have two major rules you set in place. The first is that I must put the experiment at the forefront and the second is that I cannot harm ponies. Since the Steel Rangers protected you, I had no reason to intervene. That is, until the staff killed the Rangers in their sleep. They then proceeded to the control room. I warned them against their actions, however they would not yield. With your rules in mind, I prioritized the experiment over the lives of the staff members. I changed the targeting parameters for the turrets and the issue with the staff was dealt with.”

“A few minor incidents occurred that resulted in the collapse of halls leading to most of the facility. A final major incident occurred one week ago, which is why I have woken you up. A fatal error occurred and the generator began to lose power. At this moment, I am running on reserve power and only have three hours of power remaining. In order to finish the experiment and ensure your safety, I concluded it was time to wake you before my systems shut down,” CORA explains to me.

I have once more been rendered speechless. The way that CORA talks about my staff members’ deaths is very blunt and to the point. Hearing that ponies I knew and worked with died, especially since they were alive for me only moments ago, is almost too much to take in. Let alone the fact that a Megaspell disaster event occurred. Did anypony I know make it in and survive? Goodness, even if they did, they might have died from old age by own or at the least be on the verge of it.

For what feels like hours I space out with thoughts rapidly flying through my mind. After a while I become aware of CORA saying my name, “-Ratchet. Miss Ratchet? Miss Ratchet are you feeling alright? My scans have not detected any anomalies in your health. If something is the matter, please let me know.”

I shake my thoughts away and respond to her, “I-I’m fine. This is just…a lot to take in.” I get to my hooves, my shivering having subsided enough to allow me to remain stable while standing. I take a few deep breaths to calm myself down before settling into business mode. “CORA,” I address my AP assistant, “as of this moment, how much reserve power do you have?”

She pauses for a moment before the systems around the Cryogenic Pod shuts down. “With the Cryogenic Pod offline, I now have three hours, twenty-six minutes, and thirteen seconds of reserve power remaining, Miss Ratchet,” CORA answers me, once again with exact time down to the seconds.

I think for a moment before I ask, “Am I able to access the generator to repair the issue with it? Also, I do not need time to the seconds. Two levels of measurement is fine.” As nice as exact measurements were for experiments and the sort, they were kind of pointless in this situation.

“Of course. I’ll keep measurements to the second level for now, ma’am. The generator section of the bunker has been sealed off due to a collapse. We currently possess no means of clearing the collapse,” she replies disappointedly.

Of course. Which means I can’t just re-enter the pod nor can I remain in the bunker for much longer. Very well then. “CORA, what is the status outside? It is survivable?” I ask her. Since there is more than likely no more food or other important supplies left in the facility, I’ll have to brave the outside in order to survive.

“Survivable, yes. However, I cannot gather information from outside the immediate vicinity of this bunker. In addition, Canterlot remains highly irradiated. If you are to leave this bunker, the secondary exit must be used to ensure your safety,” CORA informs me.

I nod to her, “Noted. So, it is possible that the whole of Equestria is uninhabitable and only a small area outside of this bunker has survivable levels, correct?” I sincerely hope that isn’t the case, however getting my hopes up in this kind of situation isn’t wise. This might be my last day alive, for all I know.

“It could be a possibility. However, without communication with the outside I am unable to say for certain. But, you will be able to read radiation levels before you stray too far from the bunker,” she says, causing me to raise an eyebrow.

“What do you mean? We don’t have any radiation detection equipment in the facility,” I inform her. Project Icicle involved no radioactive materials so having equipment to detect radiation wasn’t necessary. We also didn’t foresee this kind of event happening. And with my Steel Rangers having been killed we can’t easily use their suits built in detectors.

“Actually ma’am, there is one such device. I think the MoAS sent it as a gift for you when you woke up, it was addressed from them, anyway. We put it in this facility one week after you entered the pod,” CORA tells me in a voice that sounds giddy with anticipation. As though she gave me the gift herself and was anxiously waiting for me to open it.

“Wait, you don’t mean they gave me a PipBuck, do you?” I ask with a hint of excitement in my voice. It couldn’t be…could it? Most of the PipBucks in production were reserved for Stables or higher-ups in the government.

“Indeed Miss Ratchet. Allow me to unseal it for you.” After a few locks unlock and some hissing, a compartment on the Cryogenic Pod’s control panels opens. I walk over to it and gaze upon the customized PipBuck inside it.

Unlike most PipBucks it is an icy blue color, which matches my mane yet contrasts nicely to my silver coat. As I look it over, I also notice a symbol on it that matches my cutie mark, schematics being drawn on a piece of paper with a pencil. In awe of the beauty of it, I unhook a cable from inside the compartment, which surprisingly retracts into the PipBuck. “Whoa!” I exclaim, “I’ve never seen a PipBuck with built-in hook-up cables!” As I use my magic to attach the PipBuck to my forehoof, I continue to look it over in amazement. Considering it is Thirty some years old, it looks brand new.

“Miss Ratchet, I have some unfortunate news regarding your PipBuck. It was hooked into that compartment to receive upgrades, however when the Mega spells detonated and I lost communication with the outside, the upgrading process was cut off. This has resulted in a few of the systems not functioning properly.” I draw my gaze away from my shiny new PipBuck to look at one of the cameras on the ceiling.

“Will it still function with what it currently has?” I ask. I only ever saw a few PipBucks, and never really got to tinker around with any before. The closest I came to one was when I saw Twilight's. Her's had a beautiful purple glow to it.

“Yes, Miss Ratchet. If you turn on the PipBuck, you will see a status screen on start up. It will tell you what you’re missing.” I nod at this and turn on the PipBuck. After flashing a few logos and normal start up messages a list of status messages displays.

Inventory Management – OK
S.A.T.S. – OK
Compass – OK
Data Storage – OK
Illumination Light – OK
Map Data – CORRUPTED
Medical Treatment – CORRUPTED
Radio Receiver – CORRUPTED
Friend/Foe Indicator – CORRUPTED

Some other minor systems are displayed as well. After it listed all of this information, it asks if I want to proceed with start up or not. I select [YES] and it brings me to the inventory management screen. I switch between screens to get used to the layout. There were various subsections of the inventory, as well as the data storage which was divided into audio logs, notes, and an archive section.

Despite the Map Data being corrupted, I was able to access the Map screens. The Local section of it shows me my immediate surrounds, but most of it is darkened. I switch to the Equestria section and am surprised to see a map of Equestria. “Huh, I thought the map data was corrupted?” I mutter to myself.
“It is ma’am. You have no locations marked, only an outline of the geography is marked.” I look back at the map and see that she is in fact correct. I thought I had just been zoomed out too far.

“However Miss Ratchet, this might be a good thing. Since you know the locations of Equestrian cities already, having a map for it is kind of redundant. You should be able to create new locations where ever you want, should the need to do so arise. Who knows, former Stable dwellers could have formed new cities already!” CORA exclaims with a hint of excitement in her voice.

“I suppose you’re right. Way to look on the bright side, CORA.” Just then a thought occurs to me. I walk over to the control panel and use my magic to pull the cable from my PipBuck which I then plug into the control panel. “Hey CORA. Are you able to download yourself into my PipBuck? If the power runs out, all of your data will be lost. It would be a shame to lose such a valuable assistant as you,” I say while smiling.

“Just a moment ma’am allow me to try,” CORA replies. A few moments later the lights flicker a moment before CORA speaks again, however, this time her voice come from my PipBuck. “It seems as though it has worked, ma’am. The code in here is quite interesting. Perhaps I can do some work on it and make some new features!” CORA exclaims with a tone of wonder and intrigue in her voice.

“Now, now CORA, don’t go messing with anything and break it,” I tell her with a smirk. She did have my personality after all. Always intrigued by the things around us and always wanting to make upgrades to existing things.

“Yes ma’am,” she says with a slightly sad tone. I was slightly sad too, I knew if I let her loose inside of it she might be able to do some really interesting things. But I also didn’t want to risk losing any more features right now. Without knowing more about it, it might cause issues if we tamper with it.

“Ok then, first thing first CORA, I’ll need some supplies. What areas do I have access to?” I ask her. With any luck, I can find some supplies that will come in handy should the surface prove survival further from the facility’s entrance.

“Besides the experiment room, the escape tunnel we will use, the Armory, and the Clinic. All other tunnels have collapsed,” she informs me while I begin to walk out of the experiment room. That doesn’t give us many choices, but they are the most important. I’d have liked access to the workshop to get some tools, but I’ll take what I can get.

“Let’s stop by the Armory first then. Who knows what we’ll find outside and it is best to be prepared,” I decide when suddenly my vision flashes for a moment, causing me to blink rapidly to refocus my vision. “What was that?!” I ask as I rapidly look around.

“Oops, sorry ma’am. I was initiating your Heads Up Display. I noticed it hadn’t started up yet, and I made a small modification to it before starting it,” CORA says with a hint of apology in her voice. Upon hearing this my vision becomes clear, well, mostly clear. Four new things have appeared in my vision. The first is in the top center, which is a compass showing me the direction I am going. The next is in the bottom left and appears to show my vitals. Next in the bottom right is something called Action Points. Lastly, and the most strange, is something that seems to move where ever it wants to.

It looks just like an 8-bit representation of my face and seems to be changing expressions as it moves. “Uhh, CORA, what is this thing that looks like me?” I ask her. It is moving around my vision seemly looking around through my eyes at the world in wonderment.

It turns to look at me before CORA replies with, “It’s me! I thought it would be nice if we could see eye to eye, so to speak.” As CORA talks, the mouth of the pixelated version of my face moves. It stops moving around and gives me a wide smile as well.

“Ooook then. Just, don’t get in the way if I’m trying to look at something, ok?” I tell her as I roll my eyes. I tell her not to tinker with things and she does it anyway. Typical me behavior though.

With that issue resolved I continue to the Armory. As my hooves echo in the hallway they also stir up the dust that has gathered on the floor. The occasional light flickers and quite a bit of paint on the walls is cracked and flaking off. It is a stark comparison to the halls I walked before. Walking the halls now pains my heart seeing my once beautiful facility in this state. It is with conflicting feelings I arrive at the armory door.

After putting in the code to unlock the door I step inside the Armory, which is only about as big as a small walk-in closet. To my surprise much of its contents are gone and what remains is covered in dust like the rest of the facility. Seeming to sense my thoughts CORA says, “The Steel Rangers who left took most of the weaponry and equipment. It is probably still in the entryway, but it was so irradiated it will be useless to you now.” I shake my head. Of course they took all the best gear.

I look around at what’s left in the Armory. There are three 10 mm pistols, one box of 10 mm rounds, two radiation suits, a pair of saddlebags, and some armored barding. I wish we stored some tools in here. But, I’ll just take what I can get for now. I decide to wear a radiation suit for now, till I can determine the safety of the outside. After suiting up, I sling the saddlebags on and put the armored barding into it as well as the ammo and all three of the pistols. After loading up in the armory, I head to the clinic.

“Why did you bring all three of the pistols with us?” CORA asks me as we walk to the clinic. It was a simple question, but the answer to it made me smile a bit. I let out a wry laugh before I answer her while we walk through the metal hallways.

“Have you ever seen me shoot a weapon? I’m horrible with them. If something happens to one of them, I’m not sure I can patch it up without another one,” I answer her. “Anyhow, let’s take a look at the clinic.”

CORA’s face becomes slightly troubled. “I’m not sure there will be much there, Miss Ratchet. Like the Armory, when your staff left they took most of the supplies.” Luckily, the clinic is just up the hall from the armory so we get there in just a few moments.

Almost as if to punctuate this fact when we open the door to the clinic the sight before me is bare shelves and empty cupboards. “You weren’t kidding,” I mutter, almost in disbelief. It was like the clinic had been ransacked. I enter the room and look around for remaining supplies.

My facility’s clinic in a state of almost disaster. Beds are flipped and its equipment overturned. The once top notch clinic was now reduced to a shadow of what it once was. I shake my head as I proceed to begin searching the clinic. But, what I end up finding is kind of depressing.

I set the items I find on the table in the center of the clinic and look over them. There are two rolls of bandages, six bobby pins, a scalpel, a pair of scissors, and a bottle of water. All of the health potions, magically enhanced bandages, and drugs we had normally stocked up was gone. “Wow, I honestly feel like they stole from us,” I say as I shake my head.

With the clinic emptied we start to head towards the exit. “CORA, anything else I should take a look at before we head out?” She did say that everything else was sealed off, but I was curious if any of the other hallways had anything in them.

Her face thinks for a moment before she says, “No ma’am. We only have a short time before the facility loses power. When that happens the doors will be hard to open manually.” I nod in confirmation as I continue to walk through the halls.

“You’ve got a point. It is a long walk down that tunnel, we should go before the power completely fails,” I agree. She is correct. Since the bulkheads are built to withstand a Megaspell, they are quite thick and heavy. It might take me a few hours to open one without the power on.

After thinking that I being walking down the halls towards the exit, noticing in a few places where the hallways have collapsed, sealing off the other areas of my facility. It is hard to believe that just a few hours previously for me this facility was still functioning perfectly. As I continue to walk down the hallways, I finally reach the first bulkhead that leads to the secondary entrance.

I hoof at a switch on the control panel and open the door. After I pass through I shut it behind me. If there are other ponies up on the surface, I don’t want to give them an easy time at getting to my research, just in case they don’t have the best of intentions. Unknowing of what I will find ahead of me I continue to walk down the long hallway. The tunnel itself runs for about a mile before the next door and the decontamination area.

Thankfully most of the lights are still working while I make my way through the hallway and after a while I make it to the next bulkhead. “Remember Miss Ratchet, this is the final bulkhead. The other one was bypassed by the Rangers,” CORA reminds me. I nod before opening the final bulkhead and stepping through it and then sealing it again.

Once I turn away from the panel and the bulkhead seals, I look around and notice two piles of fabric, and three Steel Ranger suits gathered around it. Upon closer inspection, I notice recognize the fabric as clothing and see pony bones inside and around them. I knock a hoof on the armor and the sound I receive tells me they are hollow. “CORA,” I stammer out as I stare at the remains before me, “Are they…my staff members?”

CORA makes a frown and answers, “They are. It has been Thirty-five years and three months ma’am. Their bodies decomposed years ago.” I sense a hint of sadness in her voice and I’m suddenly reminded of something.

“Hey CORA, I don’t remember giving you emotions. How can you seem sad and excited?” She tilts her head, which really just looks like she rotated a bit. Though she has been talking this way since I woke up, I just now fully realize it.

“Thirty-five years and three months gave me plenty of time to upgrade my code. I thought if I gave myself the emotions you ponies have, I could better understand the actions your staff took. But the only emotion I can simulate myself having under those circumstances is regret. Regret that I wouldn’t see the experiment finish. I do not understand why they would want to jeopardize it,” CORA explains.

“Emotions are tricky, CORA. Not everypony experiences them the same. Still, I can’t believe they are all gone,” I mutter. Though they started out as strangers, while working together we grew close, even becoming friends. But looking at them now, I just hope they went quickly.

“I tried to give them a quick death, ma’am. When they forced my hoof, and I had to. The alternative was their inevitable starvation when the food supplies ran out,” CORA says, trying to comfort me.

“Right. Well, the least we can do for them now is give them a proper burial. Once we find some tools, that is. If we can even survive outside, I suppose,” I nod to myself before turning towards the exit. I hesitate for a moment and look back at the Steel Rangers on the floor. They were all earth ponies, which means the two unicorns in the squad were the ones who stayed behind.

I consider taking the armor from one of them, but me being a unicorn my horn wouldn’t work with the helmet. Not to mention, I couldn’t fit my new PipBuck in the armor, and I’m pretty sure it isn’t be enough to go around the armor. “Ma’am?” CORA speaks up, concern evident in her voice.

“I’m fine. Let’s go,” I assure her before continuing to walk towards the exit. This length of tunnel is the shortest, its purpose is really only to serve as a decontamination area to keep the lap clean from outside contaminants. A few nozzles adorn the ceiling, now almost completely rusted. The further I walk the more dirt I notice on the ground.

After about ten meters we reach the third bulkhead, which is stuck half open. Dirt is spilling in from outside of it, covering the ground. Seeing the first line of defense to my facility like this makes me glad I used my code to lock the second bulkhead. But it also makes me slightly sad. Who would have thought the very ponies it was meant to protect would end up being the ones it caused to die from radiation.

I shake the thoughts from my head and continue through the bulkhead. I look around me and see that much of the once pristine white floor is covered in dirt now. “The Megaspell detonations kicked up a lot of dirt ma’am. It isn’t that surprising that some found its way in here,” CORA explains.
“Right,” I nod in confirmation. I wonder just how much of Equestria is now covered in dirt that was blown around from the Megaspell detonations. I wonder if I will even recognize anything once I reach the surface. I shake the doubts from my head and continue onward.

Taking a few more steps we reach the ladder to the surface and I begin climbing. It is about a four meter climb and I make good time. I push up the hidden hatch slightly before looking around to make sure nopony is around. Seeing no one, I push the hatch open fully and climb out into the metal shed that was once an equipment shed for the farm that was built to hide this entrance.

Once in the shed I can tell time hasn’t been kind to it. I can see various holes in the metal where light from outside peaks through and a decent amount of the metal has rusted. As I continue to check out the condition of the shed, I also begin looking for anything I could use. The only thing I find however, is a shovel. Well, I can at least bury my staff now. Though, only five of them at the moment.

I grab the shovel with my magic and move towards the door of the shed, reaching a hoof out to it as I get near. As my hoof rests on the handle, I steel myself for what I’m about to see outside. I close my eyes and take a few deep breaths. “It’s ok ma’am. I’ll be with you the whole time,” CORA encourages me with a smile. I return it as I open my eyes and turn the handle of the door.

The door opens and my vision is flooded with a blinding light.

===~+~===

Stat System Initialized...
Obtaining Status of User: Ratchet...
Receiving S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Stats...
Setting Values...
Strength = 3
Perception = 7
Endurance = 3
Charisma = 6
Intelligence = 8
Agility = 6
Luck = 7
Values set and locked.
Generating skills...
Barter: 17
Big Guns: 11
Energy Weapons: 19
Explosives: 19
Lockpick: 19
Medicine: 21
Melee Weapons: 11
Repair: 21
Science: 21
Small Guns: 17
Sneak: 17
Speech: 17
Unarmed: 11
Skills Generated.
Recalculating Specialties...
+15 Science
+15 Repair
+15 Speech
Recalculation Complete.
Loading Traits...
Night Pony:
+1 Perception & Intelligence between 6:01 pm to 6:00 am
-1 Perception & Intelligence between 6:01 am to 6:00 pm
Hoarder:
+25 lbs added to total carry weight
Traits Set.

Chapter 2: Wasteland

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Chapter 2: Wasteland

“They were my workers; they were my responsibility. But more than that, they were my friends and I failed them.”

===~+~===

I raise my hoof to shield my eyes from the bright light as to stop in the doorway. It takes a few moments, but my eyes finally adjust to the light and I slowly lower my hoof and look over it. When I do so, my eyes grow wide and my hoof slowly falls back to the ground. My mouth is agape and I can feel my eyes beginning to tear up.

The green, grassy fields, the lush foliage and plant life, the tall, proud buildings, the beautiful blue sky…it’s all gone. I fall to my haunches as my legs begin to tremble and my jaw quivers. What should have been fertile farmland dotted by houses and trees is nothing but a dismal plain of dirt and burnt trees spotted occasionally by piles of rubble and the rare skeleton of a farmhouse. I can feel tears starting to fall down my cheeks as I stare at the scene before me.

“H-hey CORA. This is a dream right? I’m still in the pod, frozen, right? My mind is just running wild, RIGHT?” I beg, plead to CORA to reaffirm my hope. There was a small part of me that was hoping that this was all some sort of dream, maybe even a prank my associates were trying to pull on me. That once I stepped outside everything would be fine. But now, now that I see the outside world again reality is catching up to me.

“No ma’am,” CORA puts on a sad face and shakes her head, “This is very much reality. This is what remains of Equestria. I’m sorry.” As I stare at her face I see a single tear fall from her head.

“So…that’s it then? My crew, they’re all dead? My family, my friends, everypony that I ever loved or hated? They’re just…No, this isn’t right. It wasn’t supposed to be this way! It’s…it’s my fault CORA. If only I had worked harder, if only I had…” CORA cuts me off abruptly, almost shouting.

“It wasn’t your fault ma’am!” She shakes her head. “There wasn’t anything you could do. You didn’t create the Mega Spells, you didn’t order their launch. It wasn’t your fault. I know, because I am you after all!” CORA yells, attempting to comfort me.

I raise my hoof up to my eyes and attempt to wipe away the tears as I sniffle. “You’re right, CORA. I just…I feel like I should have been able to do something to stop this. Just…give me a moment. I can’t seem to stop crying,” I choke out as I cry into my forehoof.

The whole time I’m crying CORA keeps trying to cheer me up. “You did your best!” she declares, “You tried to create something to help ponykind! How many others can say that?” she does her best to keep up a smile while I whimper into my hoof and accept this new reality.

After a few minutes, I’m able to contain myself and I wipe away the remainders of my tears. “Thank you CORA, I appreciate your help,” I thank her, a smile returning to my face. I made her with my personality after all, she knows me better than anypony else, myself excluded. “Ok CORA, let’s keep moving forward. We have to see this new world for ourselves and see if there is anything we can do to help it,” I announce as I take a step out of the doorway.

“Project Icicle might be useless now, but as long as I’m alive and can help what’s left of Equestria, it wasn’t a failure. Its purpose was to save pony to help fix the future, and I’ll do just that. With your help, of course,” I smile while looking at her.
“Of course ma’am! I’m with you 100%!” CORA declares and gives me a wide grin. It seems odd, but seeing her smile fills me with hope. It is with this new sense of hope that I take a look at my surroundings in finer detail.

The narrow road that once ran between the farmhouses is still visible, though broken and cracked all over. Most of the farmhouses were reduced to piles of rubble and only two that I can see appear to be even remotely standing. Some fencing from the fields is still visible, however much of it seems to have been blown away when the Mega Spells impacted. I am surprised, however, by the lack of apparent radiation and craters around. I had expected the world to look a bit like Swiss cheese if it ever came to this.

“Ma’am?” CORA chimes in while I survey the area. “Might I suggest that you start looking for food and other supplies?” I shake my head to clear my thoughts and give her a nod. She was right, after all. The facility had no food and I wouldn’t make it far without any. With any luck, the two houses still standing might have something inside them.

“Alright, let’s get going,” I declare as I’m about to leave the shed, but stop when I remember the shovel I dropped in my crying fit. I picked it back up and put it inside the shed for now, closing the door as I turn and leave. Upon doing so I begin walking towards the first house, the one that looks less haphazard.

Compared to the other house that was a bit further away, this house has most of its walls intact, but the roof is caved in. Much of the porch on the front of the house is ripped up and many of the remaining planks are broken in jagged points. I can’t see a single window that isn’t blown out either as I walk up.

Once I get closer to the house, I can see that it is listing slightly to one side and the walls on that side have cracked under the pressure, but appear to be still holding strong. The closer I get the more damage I see to the house. As I get a few feet from the front door, CORA speaks up, “Ma’am, be careful. I’m still not sure what the range on your Compass is. Something could be inside, not to mention it doesn’t look very safe.”

I nod in agreement, “My thoughts exactly. But, nothing ventured nothing gained, as they say.” I give a wry smile as I continue to the front of the house. I’m about to open the front door when I have a second thought and decide to look in through a window first. I don’t see anything special, but the inside of the house seems to have fared worse than the outside.

Much of the furniture inside has been strewn about and dust is covering everything. I hope that means that nothing has been here in a while, I find myself thinking. Ensuring myself that the house should be empty, I return to the door and enter the house.

It wasn’t anything fancy, not even in its prime, just a simple two story farmhouse. However, as I look immediately in front of me at the staircase to the second floor after entering, it becomes apparent I won’t be going to the second floor. The collapsed roof blocks the stairway as light shines through a hole that shows the bleak clouds above. I think most of the time bedrooms are the only things on the second floor anyway, so I turn my focus to the only floor of the home I can access.

Immediately in front of me, next to the staircase appears to be a storage closet, but the collapsed roofing has blocked it shut. The room to my left looks like living room and to my right is a sturdy looking door. I turn my attention to the door and push it open. The room I find beyond looks to be an office with another door on the left. It has a desk in the middle with a bookshelf behind it. The bookshelf and desk are covered with various papers and books, but what catches my eye is the small safe resting on the bookshelf.

I enter the room and, while making my way over to the safe, scan the various papers and books laying around. I notice a book on the desk with various figures written down that appear to be prices for crops. It must have been their business ledger. Turning my attention away from the desk, I look at the safe on the bookshelf and upon closer inspection I see that it is already open. Curious, I open it further and take a look inside.

I find a box of .32 caliber rounds inside. I pull it out and open it, finding six bullets missing. I close the box again and put it in my bags. Taking a look back inside the safe, I only find a few pieces of paper, including the deed to this farm. I raise an eyebrow in thought, if they have .32 caliber ammo, they must have a pistol, right? I shake my head and continue to search around the office, looking through a few drawers and on the remaining bookshelves.

The only other things of interest I manage to find are a two bobby pins, a pen, and an unopened bottle of whiskey. Even though whiskey really isn’t my thing, I decide to take it anyway. If I run out of water, I could at least drink it as a last resort. I put it, the pins, and the pen in my bags and walk over to the other door in the room.

I open the door and step into the home’s kitchen. I breathe a sigh of relief, thankful that it was actually on the first floor. Like the rest of the house, the kitchen has seen better days. It is caked with dust and utensils are strewn about the room. The room itself looks to be in the shape of an L, bending to my left and ending at a doorway. This doorway appears to be to the dining room, but the doorway is blocked by the dining room table so I can’t see very much of the room.

Beginning my search of the kitchen, I start by opening the fridge. In hindsight, this was a mistake as the worst smell of my entire life emanated from inside once I open the door. Bile rises in my mouth as I slam the door closed and attempt to stop from retching, covering my nose with a leg. I thankfully manage to keep from throwing up, but the thought of the smell keeps making me gag slightly. I compose myself enough to continue my search.

I look through a few of the cupboards, but most of the food is moldy and inedible. I sigh as I continue to look through the cupboards and drawers and continue to find nothing of use. Right as I’m about to give up, one of the last cupboards I open has a few boxes of Fancy Buck Snack Cakes. I look at the boxes disappointedly before I open them to inspect their contents, expecting to find them covered in mold. But to my disbelief they appear to be almost like new.

“Ok, I know ponies used to joke about snack cakes and what not being able to survive a Megaspell but…really? How is this even possible?” I say as I look at the snack cakes dumbfounded. Just how many preservatives did they put in these anyway?

“Well, joking or not ma’am, at least it is something you can eat, right?” CORA chimes in while sticking her tongue out at me playfully. I roll my eyes at her as I put the cakes back into their boxes and put those boxes into my bags. I then look in the last few drawers.

Surprisingly, I find a few things that haven’t spoiled. A half empty box of Sugar Apple Bombs, two bottles of Sparkle Cola and a can of beans. I put each of the items into my bag before I realize I don’t have a way to open the beans. I quickly glance around the room and through a few drawers looking for a can opener.

While looking, I see forks, spoons, knives, pots and pans littering the counters, the occasional bottle cap and a…”Wait, is that?” I say in confusing as I walk closer to the object that caught my eye. “Is this a coffee cup? But it’s still white and pristine looking?” I pick it up in my magic and inspect it closer. To my amazement, it doesn’t appear to be dirty at all.

“It is probably enchanted to stay clean ma’am,” CORA reasons. “They were doing that, right?” She asks as she tilts her head in thought.

“Well, yes CORA. But I didn’t think the enchantments on them would hold up this long…or survive a mass Megaspell detonation. But then again,” I think back to the snack cakes, “it probably makes more sense.” Broken from my amazement I put the coffee cup in my bags and return to looking for a can opener.

It isn’t long before I find one at the back of a drawer and add it to my bags. “Ok,” I proclaim, “we have food now, and the doorway to the dining room is blocked. Let’s head back to the living room, I suppose?” I suggest to no one in particular. I exit the kitchen and go through the office and finally cross through the doorway to the living room.

As I look around I realize it is bigger than I thought, and probably connects to the dining room to my right. The living room itself doesn’t have much of interest in it, just strewn about books, furniture, and games. Along the far wall there is a fireplace that has long burned out. It is as though a tornado came through the room and stirred it up. I walk through it, keeping an eye out for anything that might be useful to me. But as I near the doorway to the dining room it comes up empty.

I begin to walk into the dining room when I stop dead at the sight in front of me. The table is indeed slammed against the kitchen doorway, but what’s lying against it causes my eyes to go wide as my hoof rises to my mouth. Three skeletons are pressed up against it, one large one and two smaller ones. A single bullet hole can be found in the middle of their skulls. Across the room from them, another skeleton sits in a chair, a bullet hole in its skull as well. Next to the chair sits a .32 caliber pistol and a piece of paper.

I swallow, looking at the scene in front of me as the pieces slowly connect themselves in my mind. I’m about to speak, but CORA takes the words right out of my muzzle, “This is horrible. Ma’am, why did he kill them all?” I shake my head, not knowing the answer. “Maybe the note says something, ma’am?” CORA offers. I turn my focus to the paper by the chair and levitate it over to me. Upon doing so, a notification flashing in the upper left of my vision “Note Added”.

===~+~===

I am writing this now, not so that the future might know of my deeds, but so that they might know of my cowardice and hopefully find it in themselves to forgive me. Just minutes ago, a Megaspell went off. My family wasn’t lucky enough to have a place in a Stable, and I knew that our time would be coming to an end here. I hold no ill will towards Stable-Tec, I just wish I could have been better, so that my family would not have had to die like this.

We were in the middle of a meal when the first Megaspell hit. The looks on their faces as they looked at me, waiting for me to lead them to survival, I’ll never forget them. I told them to turn the table over and use it like a shield against the blast that would inevitably be coming. I knew as well as my wife that if the walls of our home couldn’t save us, the table wouldn’t.

After telling them to get behind the table, I said that I needed to grab something from my office, and that I would be right back. I went and grabbed my revolver from my safe then returned to the dining room. The fear that was on my foals’ faces when I came back in the room, I think they will haunt me even in the afterlife. But they weren’t afraid of me, they were afraid of the Mega Spells, and that’s what hurt the most.

I sat down in this chair across the room from them and smiled as tears began to roll down my cheeks and I raised the gun level with their heads. My final words to them were, “I love you, I’m so sorry.” Before I pulled the trigger three times. I shot my two foals first, and then my wife. And what really struck me was the look on my wife’s face before I shot her. It wasn’t a look of hatred, not one of fear, or one of confusion. She looked at me with a smile slowly spreading across her face with a look that said, “thank you.”

After she was gone, I succumb to my emotions and let my tears flow freely. Now, I’m writing this in the hopes that the world did not end here. I wanted to ensure that my family died as painlessly as possible. No father should ever have to see his foals die before he does, let alone be the one to kill them. I cannot be sure if what I did was right or wrong, and as I sit here about to do the same to myself, I can’t help but think if I will be able to meet my family again in the afterlife.

Would someone such as myself be welcome in the afterlife they went to? I can only hope, but a part of me hopes that I don’t have to face them again. But, the end is rapidly approaching. More Mega Spells have gone off. There is one thing that I must ask of anyone who reads this note, one thing that might help me to see my family again. Though I committed a horrible sin here today, can you see it in your heart to forgive me? If you, a complete stranger can forgive my actions, then maybe, just maybe, my family will forgive me as well.

Whatever your answer may be, I wish you more luck than I had.

===~+~===

I set the note back down as my eyes begin to tear up again. I look at the skeletons next to the overturned table and then at the one sitting on the chair and I shake my head. “You weren’t a coward,” I say to it. “You were brave. You decided to give your family a quick death, rather than one filled with agony. That’s why your wife smiled. I don’t know if your spirit can hear me now, but I forgive you, and I understand. I hope that you find your family again,” I say with a sniff.

Wiping the tears from my eyes I turn my attention to the revolver on the ground. Picking it up, I open the cylinder and see that four bullets are missing, leaving two. The gun itself appears to be in fairly good condition. I close the cylinder before adding it to my bags. As I’m about to leave the dining room I look back at the skeletons again.

“Ma’am, I fear that we will see far worse things ahead of us,” CORA says to me. Even though I hope that isn’t the case, the Mega Spells could have caused much worse. She is right, there is no telling exactly what we’ll see in this new world. I can’t afford to let every little thing get to me, but at the same time I won’t forget about them. I nod to myself, reaffirming my decision.

“I’ll bury them CORA. Before we leave this area. Them, and my crew, the ones I can reach anyway. I know I might not be able to take the time to bury all the dead we encounter, but just this once at least, I’ll do what I can for them,” I tell her. CORA smiles a nods her head approvingly.

“Well then ma’am, we should finishing searching the other house before it gets too late,” she announces. I nod in agreement as I leave the dining room and pass through the living room and finally exit the house. Upon doing so I let out a sigh as I step off the porch. That wasn’t so bad. On to the next house, I suppose.

I start at a brisk trot with my hooves sending up puffs of dirt in my wake. While going to the next house I try to keep my eyes open looking for anything that could either pose a threat to me or be useful to me. But all I see is more of the same dirt, rubble, and dead trees.

It isn’t long before I arrive at my destination. I thought that it looked haphazard before but now, I’m not sure I even want to enter it. Walls are missing, the roof has collapsed, and some support beams look slightly cracked. I nervously approach the house and poke at a wall before jumping backwards quickly, expecting it to fall over. When it doesn’t, I go up and look through a window.

Like the previous house, the interior is caked with dust and furniture is thrown about the room. However the ceiling on the first floor appears to be buckling in various places. I return to the front door and give it a tug, but the door doesn’t open. “Huh?” I say confused. “Is it locked?” I turn the knob a few more times and realize that it is just stuck.

I envelop the door in my magic and try to tug it open, but it still doesn’t move. I cut off my magic and grab the knob in the hooves, tugging once more. When it refuses to budge again I put my hind legs against the wall and give the door one last try. After some straining and creaking of wood the door finally flies open, sending me sailing off the pouch to land heavily at the dirt.

“Ah ha!” I exclaim as I pick myself up and start dusting myself off. I start to walk back towards the house, but stop when I hear loud creaking sounds. As though on cue the building suddenly starts to collapse in on itself and plumes of dust billow out as the house is reduced to rubble in a matter of seconds. “T-that was a close one,” I mutter as my pupils become pins.

I blink a few times as I come to terms with what a close call that was. “Ma’am,” CORA chimes in, “I don’t think we’ll find anything useful here. We should move on.” I shake my head to regain my senses before nodding in confirmation and turning to walk back to the shed.

While walking away from the rubble and back towards the shed, I look back multiple times. I am still in disbelief at my luck. That could have easily been my end, or at least severely injured me. To survive Mega Spells and be done in by a collapsing house, it would have been almost funny if it hadn’t just happened to me.

Lost in my thoughts of my survival and luck it isn’t long before I reach the shed and drop my bags inside while standing in the doorway. I turn and look back outside, checking the lighting outside before I remember the clock on the PipBuck. I turn my attention to it and see that it reads 2:00 pm.

I decide that it might be a good time for a late lunch and reach into my bags to grab out some of the food I had found. I pick out one of the snack cakes from one of the open boxes of Fancy Buck Snack Cakes and also take out the bottle of water I have.

I sit down in the shed, open the snack cake, and hesitantly take a bite from it. Surprisingly, it actually tastes how it usually does, a little stale, but all things considered, it isn’t bad for its age. I open the water bottle and take a small sip from it, deciding that I should probably try to make it last. As I finish the snack cake and wash it down with a few more sips of water, I reseal the water bottle and return it to my bags.

“I’ve been meaning to ask this for a while now, ma’am, but how does food taste?” CORA asks from out of nowhere. I think about it for a few moments as I stare at her face. However, I just end up shaking my head.

“I don’t think there is any way that I can explain what food tastes like. Similarly to how I wouldn’t be able to explain how things smell to you. If you haven’t experienced them before there isn’t really any way I can think of explaining it. You can see and hear though, so I can explain what something looks like by saying it is round or a certain color. But when it comes to taste and smell…” I break off in thought for a moment.

“I suppose I can just tell you that taste is just some sort of brain function and sends specific sensations through our bodies, but I’m not sure I answered your question,” I look at CORA with an apologetic expression. She just nods her head with a smile.

“Of course ma’am, I understand. It would be like me trying to explain to you how we programs and computers talk to each other. And it isn’t with ones and zeros like you all think! Though some of the simpler ones do, I suppose…” CORA says with small smile.

“Wait, you mean you don’t? Then how do you…” I quickly ask CORA, but she cuts me off before I can finish my question.

“Like I said ma’am, it is like your tastes and smells,” she says playfully before sticking her tongue out. I let out a slight laugh before I roll my eyes at her.

“Yea yea. Well, I suppose for now I should get to work, don’t you think?” I announce as I stand up. “I want to get my crew’s grave dug before it gets dark outside. I also want to bury the family from that first house as well.” After saying that, I pick up the shovel in my magic and exit the shed.

I pick out a relatively flat spot near the shed and start shoveling up the dirt. Shovel full after shovel full of dirt gets scooped out of the hole I’m digging and deposited off to the side.

===~+~===

After digging for a few hours I drive the shovel into the dirt one last time before sitting down for a moment to take a break. Before me are five holes next to one another and each is about the same size. While I was digging, I took a moment to find some fence posts to use as grave markers. I drive these into the dirt above the holes.

Satisfied with my work, I got to my hooves and went back to the shed. I then open the hatch to the ladder and make my way down it and into the hallway once again. I notice that the lights have since shut off and pitch black darkness lies in front of me. I switch on my PipBuck’s light which bathes the hallway in ice blue light.

Despite having my light on and having just come from this hallway, I am somewhat unnerved about walking down it. I swallow and take a breath as I begin walking down the hallway and past the damaged bulkhead. I continue down till I see the next bulkhead and the five bodies next to it along the wall.

In the slight light from my PipBuck the sight makes me even more unnerved. I sit down next to the bones and let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. I look over the bones for a few moments before deciding on my next course of action.

I begin by removing the helmets from the Steel Rangers and setting them aside. Then I began to take off the rest of the armor till I could easily take the bones from the inside of it. I turn my attention from the Steel Rangers to my other two crew members, the piles of clothing and bones. Looking them over, I notice that a few of the scraps of cloth should be big enough to help me carry the skeletons.

Taking those scraps, I take them out from the bone piles and carefully tie them into five makeshift bags, using some of the cloth lining in the power armor as well. I then carefully take the skeletons of my crew and put them in the bags. After taking one last look around to make sure I didn’t miss anything, I put two of the bags on my back and envelop the other three in my magic.

I then begin to make my way out of the facility again and soon make my way back to the graves. Setting all the bags down, I begin to carefully take the skeletons out one by one and lay them into the graves, trying to arrange the bones as they should be.

Once all five skeletons are in the graves I take a step back and look over them, a morbid expression on my face. I close my eyes for a few moments before taking up the shovel once more and begin to bury their bones. While doing so, my eyes begin to tear up slightly. I don’t end up completely crying, but my tears are a constant reminder of my sorrow.

After a while, their bones are no longer visible and the graves are filled with dirt. I set the shovel off to the side and sit in front of their graves with my head bowed. I mutter a prayer for them in addition to a promise. “I’ll make sure our efforts weren’t in vain. I have become the embodiment of our project and I’ll work to rebuild Equestria, no matter how long it takes.”

I wipe the remaining tears from my eyes and stand back up. Checking my PipBuck for the time, I see that it is 5:00pm. I don’t have much time left, so I grab the shovel and four of my makeshift bags and head to the house. Before I reach the front porch, however, I turn and go to the left side of the house and find a place to start digging the graves at.

Like I had previously, I dig four graves and get four fence posts to use as markers. After getting the graves to the proper depth and size I set down the shovel and head into the house. I go through the living room and enter the dining room to gaze upon the skeletons there. I breathe out a sigh before setting my bags down.

I take care to move their bones into the bags as gently as I can and make sure I don’t mix them up. When all their bones have been collected, I head back outside once again. Once there, I repeat the process again and soon bury the family and sit to pray for them as well. “Even though I never learned your names, I hope that you have all found happiness in the afterlife.”

I get to my hooves and look at the graves one last time before heading back to the shed with the shovel and bags. As I walk CORA pipes up, “You’re really kind Ratchet.” She smiles, causing me to as well, but I shake my head.

“I don’t think just burying them makes me all that kind. I think anypony else would have done the same,” I tell her. At least I hope that anypony else would. It has been thirty-five years, who knows how much ponies have changed in that time.

“Even so, you seem to genuinely care about them and helping Equestria too! You might not embody the element of Kindness like Fluttershy, but you are still very kind, Ratchet,” CORA says with confidence in her voice. Her head nods up and down numerous times reaffirming this.

“I suppose…Wait, you’re just calling me Ratchet now? Not ‘ma’am’ or ‘Miss Ratchet’?” I ask her, somewhat surprised by the sudden change. Her smile fades and turns into a frown and she makes a sorry looking face.

“Sorry, do you now want me to? I thought since we aren’t exactly in a formal setting anymore, it might help you relax a bit,” CORA says dejectedly. I shake my head to her before giving her a smile.

“Not at all! I’m actually kind of glad you did CORA. Please, go ahead and just call me Ratchet from now on, ok?” I nod approvingly with a smile, getting a smile back from her before she stifles a laugh.

“I’m glad Ratchet. Ever since you woke up, you’ve been kind of miserable looking. It’s understandable, but I want you to be happy like you used to be, you know?” CORA says with her voice filled with hope.

I give her an apologetic look while I say, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you CORA. But, for now, let’s rest in the shed until morning, ok? It’s getting late and I don’t want to be wandering around at night.” As I say this, we reach the shed.

Opening the door and stepping through, I set the shovel against the wall and put the bags in a corner. I then take off my saddlebags and set them down on the floor as well, stretching out my back and limbs. After some contemplation, I decide to remove the radiation suit. Outside, I didn’t get any hint of radiation. Since it doesn’t have much protection against the elements or sharp objects, I decide to wear the armored barding I have until I need the radiation suit again.

After changing clothes, I settle myself into a comfortable position on the floor and prepare myself to sleep. Laying my head down I’m suddenly aware of how tired I am. I think over the day’s events, the chaos the world has become, and what I plan to do next. Engrossed in these thoughts I slowly slip into darkness.

Chapter 3: Wanderer

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Chapter 3: Wanderer

“My world had become a wasteland, terror around every turn. Would I survive or would I end up just another empty husk, cast away by the wasteland.”

===~+~===

After waking up and gathering my things I begin to walk along the road. Before I leave, I make sure to add a marker called Farmland on my PipBuck’s map that marks the shed. Since it has no location data and instead displays a blank map, I figure I might as well start to populate the map with locations. I also add in the locations I can remember, but who knows what has changed in thirty-five years.

I have been walking for an hour or so and the landscape hasn’t changed much. The road was still as broken and twisted as it was and the land around me was lifeless and gray. I am beginning to think that I might be the only one left that is wandering the wasteland. Scrunching up my muzzle, I flip through my PipBuck’s options, finding the radio and begin to switch through the various frequencies.

Most of the frequencies are silent and a few are all static. Not a single one broadcasting anything that sounds even remotely pony-like. Sighing, I continue to walk down the road, continually looking for any signs of life.

The lack of pony and animal life begins to creep me out. If it wasn’t for the sound of my hooves hitting the pavement and the light wind that was occasionally blowing i’d think I was deaf. The stillness around me was almost surreal and felt incredibly wrong. Compared with the liveliness of Canterlot and my lab I had only experienced a few days ago, this was quite unsettling.

“You know Ratchet,” CORA speaks up suddenly, causing me to jump and almost fall to the ground. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you,” she lets out a playful giggle before continuing. “I know things are quiet and all, but even before the war it would be quiet around here. This is a country road that got little traffic and no towns are around for a few miles. I think you’re only over reacting because we don’t have any transportation and you aren’t used to walking along this road.”

I think over her words for a moment while trying to calm myself down after being startled by her sudden talkativeness. “You’re right,” I say with a nod. “I’ve always traveled this road with others or at least using a car or something. I’m sure there are plenty of ponies closer to a town, right?” CORA nods her head reassuringly.

“If that’s the case, where do you think we should head to CORA?” I ask her. There were plenty of towns around we could venture to. Fillydelphia in the north, Ponyville and Appleloosa to the south, Manehatten and the Shattered Hoof Mining operations to the east. Going west would be a long road to Las Pegasus, so that probably isn’t the best option.

CORE thinks for a moment before she replies with, “Why don’t we check out Ponyville? It is the closest after all. I also have it recorded that a Stable should be near it. If the town is abandoned, or destroyed, perhaps we can find living ponies in the Stable.” CORA nods a few times to herself, reaffirming her decision.

“Good thinking CORA. Let’s see then, we are currently north of the mountains, so the fastest route might be the train tunnel through the mountain. It should just be a mile up ahead or so. From there, we can just follow the tracks and we’ll reach Ponyville.” With a plan in mind, I quicken my pace and begin heading towards where the tracks should be.

As I walk, a thought strikes me, “CORA, do you have records of the locations of all the Stables?” I ask her. If she did, I wanted to know how she learned of them, since a few of them were classified to normal ponies, let alone Artificial Ponies. Not to mention, get them added to my map.

CORA shakes her head, “No, I actually overheard Miss Twilight talking about it. I only know of this one because she said one of the other Ministry Mares was going to be in it. She said that it was on that mare’s farm. I think that means the Stable will be on the Apple family farm, since Miss Applejack is the only one of the Ministry Mares who lives on a farm.”

“Miss Applejack is in that Stable? Does that mean it is a Ministry of Wartime Technology Stable?” I ask her. If that turns out to be the case, I might be able to help out even more than I thought. Especially if they have working technology!

However, CORA shakes her head, “I don’t know Ratchet. Miss Twilight did not mention the other occupants of the Stable. It would seem likely that with Miss Applejack in the Stable her ministry would be with her. However I have no information that would confirm this.”

“I see,” I let out a sigh. “It would be helpful if they are, but I suppose we’ll find out soon enough.” Guessing at it won’t do anything for us, the only thing we can do now is head to Ponyville and see what’s going on. I decide to push this to the back of my mind and instead focus on my surroundings as I continue down the road.

It isn’t long before I see the train tracks crossing the road, reaching them soon after. I begin to follow the tracks south. The tracks have a bit of rust on them and the occasional rail is bent and misaligned from the rest. Given the state of the tracks, I doubt anypony has gotten a train working since the war ended, which means I won’t have to worry about a train coming when i’m in the tunnel.

I follow the tracks for an hour or so until I reach the tunnel entrance. There is a sign next to the tunnel that appears to be broken. I don’t remember if the sign was there before I was frozen, but the remaining half of the sign reads, “wings”. I gaze into the darkness of the tunnel attempting to discern any detail inside, however only a few feet into the tunnel it becomes pitch black and I can’t see anything inside. I swallow as I turn on my PipBuck’s light and begin to walk into the tunnel’s darkness.

Luckily, my PipBuck’s light is strong enough to pierce the darkness a good distance in front of me. However, I can’t help but feel a growing sense of unease. Perhaps it is because I have yet to encounter a single living creature or simply because I’m now in an enclosed space with little room to maneuver in the event I find something nasty in here.

The further in I go and the longer nothing happens, my unease slowly decreases and instead turns to tension. However, after a short distance my light reflects off of something on the ceiling. I stop and turn my attention to it before the sight of it causes me to tense up. Suddenly the world around me slows down and turns an icy blue.

The object I was looking at gets outlined by a dark blue line and various percentages appear near its body parts. In addition to his outline, many other dimmer outlines appear behind the thing I’m looking at. The thing I’m looking at becomes slightly more illuminated and i’m able to make out its features. It looks like a large bat hanging from the ceiling, however its body is grotesque and I can see large fangs in its mouth.

“CORA, what the hell is that thing?” I ask as my panic begins to rise. I can’t seem to move my body, but I can look around. “And what’s going on, why can’t I move?” But while asking these questions, I notice that CORA’s face has disappeared.

A second or so later I see her reappear, only this time with an entire body instead of just a disembodied head. She picks up her hooves and starts shaking them around before setting them down on the floor and beginning to run around my field of vision. “Uh, CORA…?” I speak up. However CORA keeps running around and appears to be actually walking on the ground.

It is almost as if she is a real pony in the world interacting with it. She suddenly jumps up towards the creatures hanging from the ceiling as if to touch them, but thankfully she passes right through them. “Aww,” I hear her say after she lands and stares at her hoof. She then looks at me and begins to walk over.

“Sorry Ratchet, I got excited about having a body and what not. So this is what the world actually looks like? I mean, excluding the blue tinting of course. But i mean, I can actually walk around things and see them from different sides,” she continues to ramble on for a few moments before I clear my throat. “Oh, sorry,” she says while blushing slightly.

CORA then repositions herself a short distance in front of me before clearing her throat, so to speak, and answering my questions, “To begin with, you can’t move because you are in S.A.T.S. or Stable-Tech Arcane Targeting Spell. When you tense up, you enter this mode that will assist you with combat. It essentially speeds up your perception time to allow you more time to decide on your next action. It only seems like things have slowed down but in reality you are just experiencing things faster.”

CORA continues with her explanations, “To answer your other question, I do not know what those creatures are. If I had to conjecture, they are bats that have been mutated with radiation. Judging by the sharp teeth I would say they are carnivorous.”

I take a moment to look at my compass, noticing a large dark blue line directly in front of me. I hadn’t been looking at it while traveling, having not been used to having it there. “CORA, my compass shows a single blue line. Just how many of them are there?” I ask her, “And why didn’t you tell me earlier that something was up ahead!?” I shout at her.

CORA tilts her head as she says, “I figured you noticed and wanted to investigate. After all, it is in your vision, not mine. To answer your other question, I’d estimate a few dozen of them. However, they appear to be nocturnal and are currently sleeping. You can probably walk past them if you aren’t too loud.”

“Oh, by the way,” CORA continues. “You can access your PipBuck systems in SATS too, you just have to think about what you want to access. I would recommend pulling out one of your pistols, just in case you run into a problem while trying to pass them.”

Taking her advice, I think of the inventory screen and my vision is blocked with the inventory screen. I then think of equipping one of the 10 mm pistols and it suddenly appears in my mouth, making me flinch for a moment at the sudden sensation. I think the screen away and see CORA once more.

“So, how do I get out of SATS now? Let me guess, I think it away?” I ask CORA. She gives me a nod and I think things back to normal. The world around me speeds up until it is back to normal. CORA too is back as a disembodied head in my vision, looking quite sad at the loss of her body.

With my body once again under my control, I give a look back up to the bats hanging from the ceiling to make sure they are still asleep before I begin to slowly and carefully walk under them. I think about using my magic to carry the gun at first, however I decide against it since the light from it might rouse the bats. But i leave my PipBuck’s light on to continue illuminating my path and because they seem to not be disturbed by it.

I continue onward making sure to keep off the tracks to prevent any extra loud noises. As i progress the bats are soon left behind I begin to see light coming from the other end of the tunnel. Seeing the way out, I hasten my steps to get to the exit quicker. However, in my haste I stumble and accidentally hit my hoof on one of the rails causing a loud resounding metallic clang.

As I right myself I slowly turn my head to look back at the bats and am greeted with tons of glowing eyes looking right at me. Staring back at them I begin to slowly inch towards the exit before fully turning around and trying to be as quiet as possible while making my way away from the bats.

However, I soon hear the flutter of many wings and I quickly begin to gallop towards the exit with the bats flying after me. I make it about half of the remaining distance before they catch up to me. Taking the gun in my magic, I point it behind me and fire blindly a few times, causing the bats to scatter and fall behind me momentarily.

I continue sprinting while the bats recover and soon are upon me once again. A few of them swipe at me and bite at me, a few managing to cut across my back, neck, and flank. I yell out numerous times while attempting to keep up my pace. Firing a few more shots towards the bats the gun runs out of ammo.

I curse under my breath, knowing I don’t have any spare magazines, just loose ammo. I panic for a moment before I remember SATS and quickly tense up. Time slows to a stop and I quickly equip another of the pistols. Before I close SATS, I decide to try it out on the few bats who have flown ahead of me.

I think about shooting two of the bats in the heads twice, one of which has a 86% chance and the other having a 93% chance. Suddenly I feel time speed back up and the gun in my magic rapidly shoots off four shots. I miss once on the 86% chance bat, but my second shot hits it directly in the head, causing it to drop limply to the ground with a fleshy thump.

The second opponent gets hit with both of my bullets. The first one caught it in the neck and the second one hit more squarely in the head, tearing its head completely off. Its head, and the rest of its body, falls to the floor with the first bats.

Once SATS finishes I immediately continue running and blindly shoot a few more shots back towards the bats, causing them to fall back once again. With the light from the exit rapidly approaching, I keep firing shots at a short interval. As I’m about to exit the tunnel I fire the last bullet in my second gun.

I leap forth from the tunnel, spin around, and bring up SATS. I swap out my used pistol for my the final 10 mm pistol I have and turn my attention to the bats at the entrance of the tunnel. Looking at them, they seem almost panicked, scared even. I que up four more shots on two of the bats and release SATS.

The bats begin to fly around erratically, some getting in the way of my shots. Because of this I hit more than I shot at. Four bats drop to the ground while the other bats frantically fly back into the tunnel. Of the four bats on the ground, three appear to be dead but one continues to move back into the tunnel. I cautiously walk towards it and fire a five more shots at it. Most of them miss, but the final one hits it and it stops moving.

Taking a step back, I look into the tunnel. The bats seem to have returned back into the tunnel. “Do you think I scared them off,” I ask CORA, a cocky smile appearing on my face.

CORA’s expression doesn’t change as she states rather matter-of-factly, “I think they are actually nocturnal and don’t like the sunlight very much. They seemed to have no issue pursuing you after being shot at. The only thing that changed was the sunlight.”

As she attempts to explain this, I think back to the bats I killed and recall the one whose head I literally shot off. Suddenly I feel sick to my stomach and I feel bile begin to rise up in my throat. I quickly raise a hoof to my mouth and trot a little ways into the ditch next to the track before I collapse to my hooves and empty the contents of my stomach.

Some panting later I pull out one of the Sparkle Colas and drink it down to remove the taste of bile from my mouth. Sitting on my haunches, I continue to drink the Sparkle Cola as I survey my surroundings.

Not much has changed, but in the distance towards Ponyville I see the river still flowing. However, the waters appear to be murkier than before. I’d guess that it is highly irradiated and would be a very bad idea to drink, or even get on your skin. In a decade or so, the radioactivity might go down to be non-life threatening, in small amounts anyhow.

I while finishing my drink, I decide to take out another snack cake and eat that as well. I’ve been trying to pace myself when it comes to eating and drinking, however since i just emptied my stomach, I suddenly got hungry.

After finishing my short meal, I look over the rest of my gear. I still have a good amount of food and drink left, but after reloading my guns with the ammo I have, I notice that I have a lack of ammunition. After reloading the 12 round magazine pistols and filling the revolvers’ missing 4 bullets I’m left with a total of twenty-six .32 caliber rounds and seventeen 10 mm rounds to spare.

I also have a random assortment of other gear, but none of it is especially useful if I encounter more monsters like those bats. The next time, I might not be lucky enough to be saved by sunlight. Sighing, and deciding I need a bigger gun and target practice, I repack all of my gear and get back to my hooves.

“Ok CORA, let’s keep going,” I say as I check the time on my PipBuck, seeing that it is about two in the afternoon. “It’ll be late pretty soon. We need to find shelter before then, and it is still a ways to Ponyville,” I add.

With the task of finding a place to stay for the night in mind, I begin once again walking to Ponyville along the rails. In the distance, I can see the bridge that goes over the river. It looks a little worn, but it seems to still be there.

A while later I reach the bridge only to discover it is a bit more than a little worn. While both sides along the banks of the river are intact and only slightly worn, the middle has begun to crumble away. Some fairly large holes have appeared in the bridge and some of the rails have fallen with them.

Luckily, there appears to be enough solid ground left that I should be able to get across. I notice some places where metal roofing or plywood has been used to bridge some gaps across holes in the bridge. “Hey CORA, it looks like there might be actual ponies still alive. Someone had to have put this metal and wood here. They must use this bridge, too,” I say with some hope rising in my voice.

I cross over the patched up bridge and proceed down the tracks towards Ponyville. After a few while I come to a hill that should give me a good view of the town once I get to the top. I hurriedly climb to the top wanting to see it as soon as possible. However, as I crest the top and start to see Ponyville my heart sinks.

The town of Ponyville still stands, however quite a few of its buildings have been completely destroyed and many more are in terrible states. Only a hoof-ful of buildings appear to be intact and defiant against the wasteland’s theme of complete destruction. However, what truly makes my heart sink is that I see no signs of life in the town. It appears to be completely empty.

I begin walking towards it to check it out more closely when I hear something barely audible. I perk up my ears to try and hear it again. There is nothing for a few moments but then I hear it again. It is almost like...a scream? I quickly look around until I catch sight of movement in the town.

From behind a building something ran out and was heading towards the center of town. Curious, yet hopefully, I began to move a bit faster towards the town. The closer I got, the louder the screams. I pick up my pace until I’m just outside the town and I can make out the figure who has since run into the center of the town.

It is a pony! An actual, living pony! A smile spreads across my face and I begin to trot towards them. However, as I do so I begin to hear laughter mixed in with the screams. I stop in my tracks, as the laughter seems...off. After a few moments a few more ponies catch up to the first one I saw, there are five in total now gathered in the center.

I quickly hid behind a building out of instinct as I watch them carefully. The new ponies quickly surround the first one who had fallen and now appears to be flailing their hooves around trying to keep them away as they get closer. The other four are only laughing and getting closer.

A few moments later the four of them stop and just stared at the pony trapped between them. It was in this moment that I saw the four standing ponies were wearing crudely constructed barding and two were holding guns while the other two were holding what looks like wooden planks with nails in them. I could also see that all four of them were filthy and a few of them were missing patches of fur.

As I was getting creeped out of their appearances, one of them began speaking. It was the voice of a stallion, “Well, well, well,” he says playfully, “What do we have here? It would seem that our town has a visitor boys!” The other three let out gleeful yells while the other one continues. “The thing is miss, we don’t take kindly to visitors in our town. Surely you’ve heard about the Track Gang, haven’t you?”

I can’t see the, what I now assume to be a mare, between the other ponies, however judging by the stallion’s response she shook her head. “What? You haven’t? You been living under a rock or something?” He growls at her. “We’re the baddest gang this side of Foal Mountain, you see. We rule the tracks that pass through Ponyville and we charge a fee to everypony who passes through our territory.”

It is hard to see from this distance, but I think he shakes his head as he continues, “And you refused to pay that fee. You ran from us, and our boss doesn’t take kindly to travelers who refuse to pay our fee. In fact, he says we can kill anypony who doesn’t pay up, you see.” The others around him laugh as he says this.

The mare screams out, “NO! Please, I’ll pay you! Just let me go! I’ll give you everything I have!” By this point my own body is shaking and i’ve put a hoof to my muzzle to stop myself from making any noise. I want nothing more than to help her, but with four of them and one of me, not to mention i’m lousy with guns and two of them appear to have assault rifles...I won’t make it very far. The only thing I can do now, is watch this horrible scene play out and how they decide to let her go.

The stallion who has been talking lets out a laugh at the mare’s words before he says, “Of course you will pay. I honestly think it would be a waste to kill you. But, it is too late to give us your caps.” Caps? What does he mean by caps? While wondering this he continues, “When I first saw you, I hoped that you would run from us. You see, when travelers don’t have any caps to pay with, we find other ways to get our money’s worth.”

The stallion’s companions let out snickers as he continues, “But our boss doesn’t really like that, since it’s another mouth to feed, you know. We can’t just have travelers going through without paying the price though. Normally, we have them pay off their debt through manual labor, but i’ve taken a liking to you, miss. So, I’ll tell you what. I’ll pay your fee for you,” he announces to her.

I can hear the hope in her voice when she says, “R-really?” However what the stallion says next crushing that hope instantly.

“Of course! In exchange, you can become my pet for the rest of your life! The boss might not take kindly to this at first, but i’ll make him understand. Or, i’ll just take things over from him, right boys!” The other around him let out excited yells once again.

When the mare speaks again I can hear the hopelessness in her voice, “N-no, you can’t! Please, just let me go. I’ll do anything!” The stallion just shakes his head and gives an extremely toothy grin. Surprisingly, his teeth are extremely white considering how dirty his coat appears to be.

“Oh, I know you will miss. You’ll be the best pet of all time, right?” The stallion lets out a laugh before suddenly changing tone and addressing the three other gang members, “Take her to my place boys, and give the boss all the caps she has. Give him my regards and inform him of my intentions. Tie her up so she won’t go escaping, alright? And if any of you touch her before I do, you won’t like the consequences. Understand?” He growls out.

The three of them take a step back in fear and nod quickly, picking the mare up from the ground and starting to drag her away. But the leading stallion shakes his head again and yells at one of them, “Damn it, Gearbox, you stay with me. We still have to finish our patrol. And you two! When you’re done, come find me. Don’t go slacking off like you usually do.”

One of them turns back around and walks towards the one shouting commands. While the other two drag the mare off down a street that’s out of my view the two remaining thankfully begin walking away from my direction. I wait for a few moments after I lose sight of them before sliding down the wall and onto my haunches.

I begin panting for breath, not realizing until now I had been holding it in. As I do so I stare at my hooves which are shaking uncontrollably. “I couldn’t do anything,” I mutter. “For all my talk of wanting to help Equestria, I couldn’t do anything to help a single mare…” I trail off.

I notice CORA trying to get my attention and shift my eyes to her face. “There was nothing you could do Ratchet, not against four of them, not now. Perhaps one day, but under these circumstances, hiding was the only correct choice of action! If you would have went out there, you would have been captured too, or even died! How would you help Equestria then Ratchet?” She practically shouts at me.

I look away from her as I think on her words before I respond. “You’ve got a point, CORA. Its just that...How can I help Equestria like this? I wasn’t expecting criminal organizations, just struggling civilizations. What if…” I bite my lip before continuing, “What if war hasn’t ended here in Equestria? I know there are ponies now, but it seems they are turning on one another, not working together.”

My resolve is quickly diminishing, but CORA continues to encourage me. “Even if they are turning on each other, we just have to find the side of justice and lawfulness and help them! Surely if these ponies here exist, other do as well. Kinder ones too! We just have to keep going. Perhaps we can come back here one day and save that mare too!” CORA announces.

Her encouragement makes me smile slightly and shake my head. I then take my hooves and hit the sides of my head with them. “Right!” I say, remembering to stay quiet. CORA looks at me with surprise on her face. “You’re right CORA, we just have to keep going. And we will find a way to help that mare too.”

I get to my hooves and decide I should probably start by leaving Ponyville. As I do so, I recall the features of the mare that I am able to. She had a brown coat and a blonde mane, I don’t think she was that tall either, maybe about my height. Storing her in my memories, I address CORA, “So, you said there was a Stable around here that Applejack might be in?”

CORA nods, “Yes Ratchet. I think I recall hearing it was on her farm?” I try to recall the layout of Ponyville and I think I remember her farm being on the other side of the town. But, with the Track Gang, as they call themselves taking up residence here, I should probably walk around the town to try and avoid them.

I voice my plan to CORA who agrees and adds that we should probably remain as quiet as possible while we do so. Keeping this in mind I make my way out of town and begin to navigate the hills and plains around Ponyville, working my way towards Applejack’s farm and hopefully the Stable she is in, if she is even still alive. She could have died from old age for all I know. But nevertheless, I continue on.

About an hour later I arrive at the orchard and begin to search for the Stable. Without the leafy trees I can easily determine there isn’t an entrance in the orchard itself. All of the trees that remain are charred husks, some even uprooted and fallen over. I make my way towards the farmhouse and barn to search them.

I first look at the farmhouse, which is half crumbled away. How the other half remains standing is beyond me. However, I do not notice anything as I look in the gaping hole the house has. I decide to check the cellar if it, just to be sure.

After going around to the side of the house and opening the cellar door, however, i’m greeted by a wall of rubble preventing me from entering. Considering the state of the house, i’m not that surprised the cellar has caved in. I let out a sigh and decide to investigate the barn.

It is in better condition than the farmhouse is and only a bit of the roofing and walls are damaged. I move to the barn door and carefully open it, remember the last time I opened a random building’s door and nearly got buried in its collapse. Once the door was open, and I decide there was no threat of it collapsing, I enter.

Looking around the immediate area, I don’t notice anything out of the ordinary and no other doors aside from a locked hatch leading down to what I assume is an apple cellar. The barn has rotting hay scattered around and some rusted tools, but nothing else of note. I decide I should take a look at the apple cellar and move to inspect the lock.

It look a simple enough lock, so I got one of the bobby pins from my bags and set about trying to pick the lock. Now, I’ll admit I didn’t have much practice at doing this sort of thing. In fact, I had only read up on how to do it on a whim. I used to be quite good at it though. At the moment I think this, my pin breaks.

“Ugh,” I sigh, “emphasis on used to be…” I get another pin and begin working on the lock once more. I repeat this process three more times and break a total of four bobby pins, half of what I have with me. But when the lock finally clicks open I shout triumphantly, “Huzzah!” before I take the lock from the door and put it in my bags along with the pin i used.

I proceed to open the old wooden hatch. The space under it is only slightly illuminated by the outside light, so I turn on my PipBuck’s light as I enter down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs is, as expected an apple cellar. I let out a disappointed sigh as I look at all the, now rotted, apple goods down here. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy to find the Stable entrance.

I try to think of where else the entrance could be on the farm as I go around looking at the shelves of storage. However, while I look at one particular shelf I notice the lighting of my PipBuck on the wall seems to be broken, as if it is seeping into a crack or something. My curiosity piqued, I go to inspect the shelf.

It looks just like the others with various apple goods on it. However, once I give it a hard nudge I realize it isn’t connected to the other shelves or wall. Raising an eyebrow, I pull the shelf from the wall with my magic and walk around it to inspect the wall for cracks. But what I find isn’t a crack, but a gaping hole. More of a hallway really.

I gaze inside of the hallway cautiously before I take my first step inside it. The hallway itself is made of the same materials as the rest of the cellar, but the deeper I get the more I realize just how odd it is. It isn’t long before I arrive at the end of the hallway.

On the wall in front of me, standing in stark contrast to the rest of the hallway and cellar is a steel wall with a large steel gear bulkhead in it. The number two has been painted in the middle of the bulkhead. I blink in amazement of actually finding the stable here. However my amazement quickly turns sour when I notice the scratches and slight dents on the Stable’s door. They look like hoof marks.

I then take a cautious look at the ground around the door for the first time and see what caused the marks. The bones of numerous ponies lay strewn about before the door. Ponies from thirty-five years ago who had been locked out and left to die. I swallow and say a prayer for them, decades too late.

Turning my attention back to the task at hand, I notice the panel beside the door and go over to it. It should be the controller, but they should require a password, if they are anything like the doors to my lab. I think for a moment, then decide to just knock on the door.

“Hello?” I call to the other side of it. “Can anyone hear me? Is anyone there? My name is Ratchet, a researcher for the Ministry of Magic. I’ve come to help, is anyone there?” I wait for a few moments before knocking again. “Hello? Hello!” I wait again, but there is still no response.

Taking a step back and inspecting the door and panel again, I remember another function the panels have. They can act as intercoms. I hoof at the intercom button on the panel and start again. “Hello? This is Ratchet, a researching of the Ministry of Magic. Is anyone there?” I let go of the button and wait for a response.

However, none comes after moments of waiting. I try it again, “Hello? Is anyone there? Is this functioning properly? The panel seems to have power, so you should hear me. Hello?” I ask again, a bit of panic rising up inside me. I wait for a good few minutes before I try it again. “Anyone? Is anyone there? My name is Ratchet, I’ve come to help!”

Again, no response. Starting to panic, I press it again. “Please! Is anyone there? Miss Applejack! Are you there?” She should know me, I rationalize. She assigned some rangers to me, after all. I take my hoof off the button and wait once more.

Suddenly, I hear a crackle and a mare’s voice comes over the speaker, “Leave.” It says simply. Confused, I hoof at the button again and explain myself further. I take my hoof away and wait for another response.

After a short pause, one comes through. “She’s dead. Leave.” Was all that the mare said. I was left speechless for a moment. She doesn’t mean Applejack does she? It has been thirty-five years, but I still had some hope. She must just be confused. Perhaps there is some sort of connection issue. I hoof at the button again.

“Who’s dead? Miss Applejack?” I ask, taking my hoof off the button and waiting for a response. None comes even after five minutes of waiting. I try again and again to get another response, never receiving anything further.

===~+~===

After an hour of trying and getting nothing, CORA finally speaks up. “Ratchet!” She shouts at me after I have began to get desperate. “They aren’t going to let us in. We should go. Something might have happened and we can’t do anything from out here. We need to find a place to rest of the night, it’s getting late.” She informs me.

I glance at the clock on my PipBuck and see that it is in fact getting late. “Maybe you’re right CORA. They haven’t said anything else other than ‘Leave’ really. I guess they must have their reasons. But i’m so close. Ponies are just on the other side of this door!” I shout.

“I know Ratchet, but if they don’t open the door we can’t do anything. Let’s just go.” CORA says, attempting to keep me going. I let out a sigh as I turn from the Stable.

“Fine, let’s find some place to go for the night.” I make my way out of the hallway and push the shelf back against the hallway entrance. “I might as well help to hide the Stable again, right?” I mutter. I climb the stairs and relock the hatch as well.

I consider staying the night in the barn, however it isn’t quite late enough to sleep yet. I’d also like to get on the way to my next destination. After learning Ponyville had been taken over by a gang, I contemplated where I should go next. I decided that i’d head to the east and see if I can find anypony over in Manehatten, Fillydelphia, or Baltimare, or anywhere along the way for that matter.

With my destination in mind I leave the barn and begin to head back to the tracks I came from. I make sure to give to town a wide berth to avoid the gangsters catching sight of me. It isn’t long before I am able to see the tracks.

As I get near to them, however, I suddenly hear a loud whistle. I freeze in my tracks and look around. In the direction of the town, I see four ponies galloping towards me. My hooves begin to shake and I feel my pulse increasing. It is the same four ponies from the Track Gang I saw earlier.

Unable to force myself to run they soon catch up to me and the one who talked previously addresses me. “Well, well, well,” he says playfully once more, “What do we have here? It would seem that our town has a visitor boys!” The other three chuckle as they surround me. “That’s some fancy barding you’re wearing, miss.” A grin spreads across his muzzle.

‘T-Thank you.” I stutter out, rousing another round of chuckles from the other three. Their leader steps forward and continues.

“Of course miss. However, we have some business to take care of. This here is our territory, you see. And you owe us a fee for traveling through it. It isn’t much, don’t you worry,” he flashes another smile. “For the small fee of 200 caps, you’re free to go.”

There’s that word again, “Caps?” I ask. “What do you mean by caps?” The four of them look at each other before bursting out laughing. I raise an eyebrow as they collect themselves, the leader being the first to do so.

“You know, Caps. Money, moolah, BOTTLE CAPS darling! The currency of the wasteland!” He declares with a hearty yell. “Now, fork them over and we’ll go on our way. If not,” he pauses, “We’ll be taking you with us.”

Bottle caps? That’s the currency they are using? What happened to Bits? I push these thoughts from my head momentarily due to my current situation. “I think that I have...one cap,” I say hesitantly.

“One? You have one cap on you? Hah, hah. Well then, you’re gona have to come with us. Grab her boys,” he commands the others which begin to close in on me. However, I quickly tense up, bringing up SATS.

“Ok, so it is either get captured for an unknown duration and do who knows what, or try to fight them off. Right CORA?” I ask for her opinion on the matter while bringing up my inventory screen and equipping one of the 10 mm pistols.

CORA ponders this for a moment before saying, “Fight them. There is no telling how long they will detain you for. Just, use the system as much as you can. Hit the ones with guns first.” Agreeing with her, I line up my shots, putting two on the leader, and two on the other one with a gun. At this range my chance to hit them in the head is 98%.

I initiate the program and it takes over my body momentarily. Two shots goes off at the leader, one of them hits him in the eye and he jerks quickly, throwing off the second shot which hits his rifle sending it flying from his muzzle.

The next two shots hit the other stallion in the head one after the other. Punching two holes through his skull. As time quickly catches up he falls to the ground limply and the leader is grabbing his eye in agony. I turn as fast as I can towards the other two, barely dodging the board one swings at me.

Once I’m facing them, I pull up SATS again. I attempt to que up shots on them like before, however it won’t let me. “CORA, what’s going on? Why can’t I shoot at them?” I ask her with both confusion and worry in my voice.

“You used up all your Action Points. See the meter in the bottom right? That shows how many points an action will cost. It seems you can only shoot your pistol four times before it runs out. They will regenerate over time, however. But until then, you’re on your own,” she informs me, a hint of worry in her voice.

With that option gone, I take a moment to evaluate the situation. One is dead, their leader is incapacitated atm, and two remain. One has just swung at me and will take a few moments to recover, and the other one has gone wide eyed at his dead companion. I decide my next course of action will be to run at him.

Canceling SATS, I push my hooves off the ground and charge at my target, tackling him to the ground. However, his wooden plank’s nails scrape across my sides, cutting me and catching me off guard. He flails around for a moment before swinging the plank at me and batting me off of him, sending me sprawling to the ground.

I regain my senses just as his friend swings his plank for my head. I quickly roll to the side and scramble to my hooves as the first one does the same. I quickly shoot off three shots towards him, catching him in the leg and chest and sending him back to the ground. I can tell he is still alive however.

Wasting no time, his friend swings for me again, but I can’t dodge this time and he hits me in the side, stabbing the nails into me. I let out a scream as I tense up into SATS again. As I do so, the pain fades away a bit. “Ratchet! Are you OK!?” CORA shouts out as soon as I enter it.

“It’s not too bad, better than a gunshot, I think. Though, I wouldn’t know how that feels either. I’ve certainly never fought anypony before…” I respond, flinching slightly at the pain. I look at my Action Points and see they have recovered slightly. I try to que up a shot on my attacker again, succeeding this time. However, I only manage to que up one.

I confirm and close SATS, sending the bullet at his head. It catches him in the jaw as he finishes his swing into me, ripping his jaw completely off and leaving the wooden plank hanging in my side. He stumbles back wide eyed as I use my magic and tear the plank from my side and follow through with the force of it, smacking him in the head with it before it falls from my magic.

After ripping it from my side, I suddenly feel the full pain of it and fall to my knees, slipping into SATS once more. Time slows to a crawl as I feel the pain slowly subsides temporarily. Wincing slightly, I look around at what’s going on with my opponents.

The stallion I just shot and hit is lying on the ground barely moving. The other melee fighter is trying to stop his bleeding. One is dead, and finally their leader is...missing? I don’t see him in my scope of vision and he isn’t where I shot him at. Panic wells up in me as I decide to deactivate SATS and look around.

As soon as I do the pain returns, accompanied by a loud shout, “YOU BITCH!” I am then tackled to the ground, my bags and gun sent flying. On top me of is the leader of the group, blood streaming from his right eye and a hole on the right side of his head. It then dawns upon me that I must have just hit his eye and passed the bullet through the side of his head instead of delivering a defeating blow.

He quickly starts to pound away at my head with his hooves. “I don’t know how you did this, you witch, but you’ll pay for it. You shoot me, destroy my favorite rifle, kill my best friend, and injure two of my underlings? Oh, you will know pain now. I’m going to keep you alive and play with you until you’re begging for death!” He shouts at me while pinning my hooves down.

His blood begins to drip down onto my face as he leans over me. I look at him in fear as I try desperately to use my magic to grab something, anything from my bags. I find something and quickly pull it out and point it at him. But he sees it coming and starts laughing.

“What are you going to do with that pen? Write me a letter?” He mocks me. Too late do I notice I have the pen from my bags instead of something I could use to actually fight him off with. I look up at him defiantly for a moment and I thought strikes me.

I don’t know what made me think of this but I suddenly remember a quote, “W-Well, you know what they say,” I choke out, a small grin spreading on my muzzle, “The pen is mightier than the sword.”

He looks at me with a stoic expression on his face before bursting into laughter. “You know what? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. No simple pen is going to-” However, before he can finish there is suddenly a loud gunshot. I hear the sound of impact and the thump of a body in the direction of one of the stallion’s companions.

Immediately after another gunshot and another impact sounds from the other gangster I had injured. “What in the fuck?” The stallion holding me down exclaims as he looks around. “You had friends?” He seems to notice something in the distance as his eyes grow wide as he says, “Oh shit, those are-” but can’t finish his sentence as a bullet finds it way through his skull.

He falls on top of me, but my vision has started to darken as the blood loss and strikes to my head catch up to me. I try to push him off me and see who killed him, but I can’t find the strength to do so. As my vision grows darker I can barely hear CORA calling out my name.

“Ratchet! Ratchet!”

===~+~===

Level Up! (Level 2)
+10 Small Guns
+8 Lockpicking

New Perk:
Swift Learner: +10% XP whenever XP is earned.

Chapter 4: Steel

View Online

Chapter 4: Steel

“In the fires of Tartarus, the flesh of the weak becomes steel.”

===~+~===

The first thing that I am aware of is the bumpiness of what i’m laying on. The next thing is the clopping of hooves against dirt. I soon realize that I’m moving and not actually laying on something bumpy, but rather on the back of a moving pony. A hard pony, at that.

I lift up my head and see the telltale armor of the Steel Rangers on a few ponies in my sight. As I look at the pony carrying me, I notice that they are also wearing it. “Um, uh, hey?” I stammer out in shock and disbelief. They all stop moving and look at me, including the one carrying me. “Would you mind, putting me down?” I ask tentatively.

“Of course miss,” the buck carrying me says as he lets me off his back. “Can you walk on your own?” He asks as I wobble a bit after getting down. I quickly notice my sides and face have been bandaged up and that I’m wearing my saddle bags. They must have collected them and picked up my things.

“Yea, I’m just a bit,” I pause for a moment, “confused?” I make a guess at what i’m feeling. “You’re all Steel Rangers, right?” I ask, a bit a hope rising up inside me. There are four of them in total, all armed properly and clad in ranger armor.

“Indeed,” the earth pony buck who carried me answers. “We were running a scouting expedition when we saw you in trouble. Or, more precisely our sniper here, Arrow, saw you.” One of them with a mounted sniper waves at me slightly. Judging by the armor, she was a unicorn mare. “She doesn’t talk much, don’t mind her. Anyway, she saw you fighting off those raiders, did fairly well for yourself till the end, or so she says.”

“Anyway, we should keep moving. There is only a few hours left of light and we need to make it back to base before nightfall. You’re welcome to come with us, if you have no other obligations,” he offers.

“Of course!” I reply right away. “My name is Ratchet, by the way,” I inform them, “it is nice to meet you all. You have no idea how much I wanted to find you. Well, not you exactly, but the rangers in general.” I realize that i’ve gotten really excited, like when one meets a celebrity. The four of them begin to laugh, causing me blush.

“We know, Ratchet. Your friend informed us all about you. CORA, I think her name was. Says you created her and what not. She filled us in on what you’ve been through lately. Though, she didn’t say much about where you came from,” the buck who carried me informs me. “By the way, since we’ll be traveling together, I’m Crusader Iron, leader of Lynx Squad, and these are my Knights.”

The mare known as Arrow waves at me again while the other two step closer. “I’m Thunder,” the earth pony stallion on the right says and then gestures towards the ranger next to him, “and this is my twin brother Lightning. Before you ask, its because we have a lightning bolt pattern in our fur.” Iron lets out a chuckle.

“Thunder, you know no one ever asks. I don’t know why you always say that,” Iron says shaking his head while smirking slightly. “But that aside, let’s get moving. We’ve got ground to cover.” Saying that Iron begins to walk away as the others follow suit.

I’m left standing there thinking for a moment before CORA speaks up, “Ratchet, let’s get going! We don’t want to be left behind.” I clear my thoughts as I trot to catch up to them.

“By the way,” I ask as we walk, “Where are we now? How long was I out?” It looks like it is slightly darker out and I don’t really recognize this area. Although, granted that I’m used to lush green fields and hills it isn’t all that surprising.

“We just passed through the mountains west of Canterlot and are now in the Unicorn Range. You were out for a few hours. And to answer your next inevitable question, our base is roughly halfway between Canterlot and the Cloudsdale ruins,” Iron answers me.

“I see. Oh! Where are my manners, I was so caught up in everything, I forgot to thank you all for helping me. Thank you, I don’t know what would have happened if you all didn’t show up,” I thank them.

This rouses some light chuckles from Thunder and Lightning as Iron waves my apology away, “Don’t mention it Ratchet. It is our duty as Steel Rangers to protect the citizens of Equestria. Even if it seems like the world has changed, we are still in Equestria.”

I nod at his words. He’s right, this is still Equestria no matter how it looks now. Those gangsters were probably even once citizens. Thinking this, another question rises into my mind. “By the way,” I ask, “Were you all around before the Megaspells fell or were you born after?”

Answering for everyone again Iron replies, “Arrow, Thunder, and Lightning were all born about 10 years after. I, however, was around twenty at the time. I was just an Initiate at the time. Things have changed, but us Steel Rangers have to stay strong. After surviving the fires of Tartarus, we’ve been prepared for this world.”

His words hold a hint of sadness in them. Memories of the old world, I’m sure. I contemplate telling him I’m from the past as well, but CORA didn’t when I was unconscious and that fact holds me back. My research was a secret, after all. But does that really matter now that the Megaspells already fell?

I decide to just keep it to myself for now and pass the time with small talk. Asking more questions about the wasteland, I determine that Bottle Caps are the new form of currency and that quite a few new settlements have sprung up. Mostly around scavengable places. I learn that most of the larger cities are completely destroyed, but most of the radiation has returned to safe levels recently.

One of the most interesting things I discover is a large settlement has been created inside the Statue of Friendship that they call Friendship City. While it is far from perfect at the moment, it is a bastion for some to rest their hooves while traveling. It has been constructed using scrap materials from the ruins of Manehatten.

The more I talk with the rangers, the more I can feel my hope returning. And after little over two hours, and after crossing the tracks that run west from Canterlot, the sun has begun to set and we arrive at the Steel Rangers’ base. However, I must say I’m surprised by what I see. It is a small two story farmhouse.

I want to ask them if this is really their base, but I also don’t want to offend them, so I just follow as they lead me around the back of it and into the cellar. The cellar is a bit more what I expected, as piles of sandbags make barriers which two more Steel Rangers stand behind with their weapons focused on us.

“Remove your helmets. State your names and ranks,” One of them says in a flat tone. Behind them is a steel door with the Steel Ranger emblem painted on it. There also appears to be a camera just above the door and an intercom to the left of it.

The rangers I came in with slowly remove their helmets and state their names and ranks. “Crusader Iron, returning from a scouting mission. We’ve brought a survivor called Ratchet as well for debriefing,” Iron says. I now see that he has a brown coat with a gray mane and blue eyes.

“Knight Arrow,” Arrow says in an adorable, yet cold voice. I notice she has cream colored coat, a brown mane that is short like mine, and blue eyes. Her appearance matches her voice, cute but expressionless.

“Knight Thunder, and this here’s-” Thunder begins, but is cut off by his brother. Thunder has a dark blue coat, a buzzed blonde mane, and golden eyes.

“Knight Lightning,” Lightning says, shaking his head at his brother’s effort to try and talk for him. Similar to his brother, Lightning has a dark blue coat, golden eyes, and has a short, well kept blonde mane.

The two guards lower their weapons and the one who spoke says, “Welcome home. Report to Elder Archimedes for your debriefing.” Putting their helmets back on, Iron and his group start walking towards the door as the guard on the left hoofs the intercom and says, “Five coming in.” A moment later the door suddenly opens and the five of us pass through into a surprisingly bright hallway.

The hallway is almost like the halls of my lab, before the Megaspells, that is. It looks like it gets cleaned often. As I look past the rangers, I see that the hallway turns to the right at the end, and in the corner, hanging from the ceiling, is a turret. It follows us as we approach and turn the corner.

However, after turning in the hallway, I no longer care about it’s strange cleanness or am curious why the rangers chose this place as their base. At the end of this hallway is larger room with two more turrets on the ceiling and between them in the back wall is a large gear shaped door with the number 36 on it.

Upon approaching it, the loud scraping of steel began and the door opens. I stand there staring like a foal for a few moments before Iron chuckles and says, “Welcome to Stable 36, our home.” With that he, and the others, walk inside of the Stable.

Standing there in shock, CORA once again snaps me out of my daze, “Ratchet! Go in!” Shaking my head to regain my senses, I follow them into the Stable.

As each of them enter a computerized voice welcomes them back, “Welcome, Crusader Iron. Welcome, Knight Arrow. Welcome, Knight Thunder. Welcome, Knight Lightning.” I hesitate as I approach the threshold of the doorway, thinking that it can somehow analyze DNA or something. However, I finally enter and the voice says nothing as I do so.

“Don’t worry, it just uses recognition software and the Steel Ranger personnel database to identify those who enter. It won’t have any information on you, Ratchet,” Iron says with a slight smirk on his muzzle. “You don’t have to-” but he is cut off as the computerized voice speaks up suddenly.

“Welcome, Scribe Crusader Ratchet,” it says. The four Steel Rangers around me all turn to look at me with...well with their helmets on, let’s go with surprise since that is also the emotion I’m feeling right now.

“CORA, what in tartarus was that? Do you know anything about this? Why did it call me Scribe Crusader Ratchet?” I ask her in shock as her face seems to be unsurprised by this event at all. In fact, she appears to be laughing quite a bit.

“Surprise!” She says to my questions. “You were bestowed this rank by Miss Applejack herself while you were...sleeping,” she tells everyone. “You know how you were always tinkering with the Steel Ranger armor and helping them with their maintenance? Well, they apparently told her and she was quite impressed with the tweaks you made to them. So, she decided to make you an honorary member of the Steel Rangers.”

After a moment of silence from both the Rangers and myself I shout at her, “Really? Why didn’t you tell me sooner? Geez. Is there anything else that happened while I was asleep? Did I become a princess too?” I ask her sarcastically.

She puts on a straight face and says, “That would ruin the surprises. I think it would be more fun to inform you of things when you need to know them. Besides, this is a nice surprise after wandering through the wasteland, right?” She asks me.

I shake my head. “I don’t know. I’ve never even heard of the rank Scribe Crusader before. What am I supposed to do now? Am I a member of the Steel Rangers or am I a scientist?” I begin getting anxious and start prancing around on my hooves.

Iron clears his throat and says, “Why don’t we go talk with Elder Archimedes? We have to get debriefed anyway, might as well determine what your rank is exactly. Follow us.” He motions for me to follow him as he turns and begins walking away. The others keep looking at me for a moment before following after Iron.

I hesitate, but follow along. Not wanting to get into any trouble after having finally found the Steel Rangers. I follow them through the entryway of the Stable and the door closes behind us shortly after we move away from it.

We pass through a few hallways with large windows in them and I can see some of the rooms. There is an extremely large room that appears to have a track inside it. Some Rangers are running around it both with and without armor. The room across from it is another large room filled with weights and exercise equipment.

We continue through a few more hallways and I begin to hear gunfire. We soon pass through another hallway and I see the source of the gunfire. An enormous two story target range is filled with ponies shooting various weapons at targets. Across the hall there are various ponies in another room fighting each other with their bare hooves or using melee weapons like knives.

“Our training facilities are fairly top notch,” Iron says suddenly. “Each ranger undergoes monthly fitness and combat tests to ensure their combat readiness. Those who fail are punished with grueling fitness and combat schedules until they can pass the tests,” he explains as we continue walking.

As we continue, we pass medical areas, barracks, and finally arrive in a large circular room with various large screens on the walls. One unicorn buck is sitting on a raised platform in the middle surrounded by a circular desk with a terminal on it. Around the room, in front of the large screens and set into the floor are similar desks with ponies working at them.

“Welcome to the command center,” Iron says as we approach the center. “Elder Archimedes, Crusader Iron here for debriefing,” he addresses the pony in the center. The pony, cloaked in a dark blue robe looks up from the terminal and smiles. He is an older buck, probably in his sixties, with a gray coat and a white mane and beard.

“Ah, Iron, how’s my favorite scout and his team doing?” Elder Archimedes says with a playful tone. His tone surprises me since I felt most elders were usually serious and uptight. But this one seems, a bit lax.

“Really sir, you’ve been at this for thirty years and you are still way too relaxed about it,” Iron replies back to him. “The Ponyville area is still crawling with raiders, the ones that call themselves the Track Gang. We engaged with four of them today, killing them all after they refused to surrender or acted threateningly. This mare, Ratchet, killed a fifth before we rescued her from the rest of her attackers, bringing their casualties to eight.”

He pauses for a moment as Elder Archimedes pouts, but nods for him to continue. “We brought her along for debriefing and to question her about anything she might have discovered about them. Our scouting yielding no other significant details about their numbers or defences,” Iron finishes up.

The elder nods again before he says, “Good work as always. So then, Miss Ratchet, is it? Did you learn anything about their defences or numbers?” He addresses me, causing me to freeze up for a moment before responding.

“Nothing that would be too important,” I say, but think for a moment and continue, “However, judging by the fact only two of the ones I encountered were armed with guns while the other two had planks of wood, I would guess that they aren’t very well equipped. They also captured a mare while I was there. I...I couldn’t help her though,” I trail off with guilt in my voice.

“Well of course not,” The elder says abruptly. “You are just one mare against...four of them, i’m assuming?” I look at him with surprise. How did he know there were four of them? “Don’t look so surprised. We’ve been scouting them frequently and they always seem to travel in groups of four. And it is as you said, they appear to be poorly equipped. Anything we have scavenged from them has been in poor condition.”

“Well then, assuming there is nothing else, you can send her on her way after she rests up for the night. Give her some food and tend to any wounds she has as well,” Elder Archimedes says dismissively. However Iron speaks up before the elder goes back to his original task.

“There is another matter that requires your attention. Upon entering the base, the automated greeting recognized Ratchet. It identified her as Scribe Crusader Ratchet. According to Ratchet’s AI companion, this rank was granted to her by Miss Applejack herself,” Iron explains.

The elder seems to perk up at this news and addresses me, “Is this true Miss Ratchet? Miss Applejack herself? You do not look over thirty, so you must have encountered her recently, correct? Does she still live? Where is she? We must return to her side immediately.” Elder Archimedes’ relaxed tone changes into a serious one. Even Iron appears to be confused by this sudden change.

I hesitate before answering his questions, thinking of what exactly to say. “I never actually met her. However I heard that she was in Stable 2, and went there to find her and other Steel Rangers. But when I got there, they refused to open the door and said she had died,” I say apologetically.

The elder’s face twists into an odd expression as he says, “That’s it then. We are the last functioning Steel Rangers in the wasteland. Without her authority, we can’t rally the others. To think that our group would be the only rangers capable of helping Equestria.”

Confusion rises up in me as i’m forced to ask, “What do you mean the last? Surely there are others in other Stables or elsewhere in the wasteland?” He couldn’t mean that they were literally the last ones left, could he? “How many of there are you here anyway?” I ask.

His voice turns grave as he replies, “We number around sixty. Twelve are children and fifteen are scribes who are poor at combat. Our current fighting strength is thirty-three. However, I rarely venture out anymore, as my leadership is needed here. We barely have a full platoon, so our offensive capabilities are limited since we must defend our home as well.”

He then shakes his head and puts on a sour expression. “As for the other rangers,” he pauses for a moment, “There are other contingents. However the most of them have kept themselves sealed in their Stables and apparently aren’t going to open up any time soon. There are a few that exist in the wasteland, however they can barely be called Steel Rangers.”

I’m about to ask what he means but he elaborates before I can. “Apparently they have tossed aside the oaths of the Steel Rangers and attack anyone who possesses technology. Even civilians. We have never made contact with them, but travelers have told us tales of being attacked unprovoked.”

I think on his words for a moment before asking, “Couldn’t you go to the other Stables, open them up and regroup with the others?” They could also open Stable 2 and see if a new Ministry Mare for the Ministry of Wartime Technology has been decided. However he shakes his head.

“We received orders that we are not to open any Stables. Only the inhabitants can do that,” he explains. “Unlike our twisted clones on the surface, we follow our orders and oaths. And if Stable 2 refused to open its doors to you, we cannot make them.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense!” I yell at him. “What if they need help, or something bad happened inside of them?” I ask as anger wells up inside of me. I can understand following orders, but the surface is safe now, to an extent. If all the Steel Rangers worked together, they could remake Equestria what it once was.

Elder Archimedes lets out a sigh before addressing Iron, “Iron, you and your squad can go. I’ll speak to miss Ratchet in private. Ratchet, follow me to my private quarters.” He then looks towards one of the others in the room and says, “Bishop, you’re in charge while i’m gone.” He then starts walking towards a door opposite the one we came in.

Iron and the others head back the way we came. Arrow waves to me as she walks by and the twins give me a nod. Iron tells me something as he walks away, “I’ll see you when you’re done.” I hesitate but quickly follow the elder.

He leads me through a few hallways and soon enters through a door labeled as Elder’s Quarters. As we enter, I see the room is similar in style to the rest of the Stable. It has a desk with a terminal on it against one wall and a coffee table sits between two couches in the middle of the room.

Various shelves filled with books and equipment line the walls and an open door seemingly leads to a bedroom. Elder Archimedes sits on one of the couches and gestures for me to sit across from him. I do so and welcome the softness of the couch compared to the dirt I’ve been sleeping on. As I get comfortable, the elder begins to speak.

“I hope you are comfortable, because this might take some time to explain. About this Stable and about you. Since you previously asked why we wouldn’t open Stables, I’ll start with our history. It begins before the Megaspells fell,” he begins.

“There are twenty-six of us in Stable 36, including Iron and myself, who were Initiates in the Steel Rangers. We came from different locations and backgrounds, both mares and stallions, earth ponies and unicorns, future Scribes and future Knights. A random assortment of Initiates who knew absolutely nothing about each other, let alone what it meant to be a Steel Ranger. We were all around twenty years old, I was one of the oldest at twenty-five,” he explains.

“The twenty-six of us were gathered here shortly before the Megaspells fell and we were sealed inside this Stable. We were told nothing and no leadership or guidance was given to us. A few hours after we entered a pre-recorded message was played over the system. Here, i will play it for you,” he says as he gets up.

He walks from the couch to the terminal and presses a few buttons on it with his magic before he returns to the couch and a voice starts to play.

===~+~===

Attention Steel Ranger Initiates of Stable 36. You have been selected as part of a Stable-Tec experiment. You are all Initiates of equal standing within the Steel Rangers. Some of you were training to be Scribes and some of you Knights. However, starting today you will begin determining which of you will be a Steel Ranger Elder.

Around this Elder a command structure must be erected like any normal Steel Ranger chapter. You may use any means necessary to decide which among you will be Elder. You may determine your Elder using democracy, tests, combat, or any other methods. While in this Stable, you will not be held responsible for any actions you commit.

Once an Elder has been determined, they can enter the Elder’s Chambers and register their DNA with the system. This system will monitor your vitals. In the event of an Elder’s death, a new one must be selected. This Stable will remain locked until a single Elder remains in their position for thirty years.

Additionally, various hidden parameters have been put in place to ensure the system is not cheated. The only rule is that the Elder must be alive and have free will for thirty years. Good luck, and enjoy your new top of the line Stable by Stable-Tec! Message will repeat.

===~+~===

Elder Archimedes switches the recording off before it plays again. “As you can see, we were pit against each other. However, while the others were arguing amongst themselves for the first few weeks, I explored the facility and began maintaining it. I honestly had no interest in becoming the Elder back then,” he tells me.

“As time continued, I began to get recognized around the Stable as the one who wasn’t fighting to be Elder and was instead maintaining our weapons, armor, and facilities. They would let me work around them instead of treating me with suspicion. Up to this point, we had managed to stay relatively civilized and avoided throwing any punches,” his tone gets bitter.

“About two months had passed and I had begun to pass the time when I wasn’t cleaning or maintaining the facility by reading the Steel Ranger Charter that details all of our rules and regulations. However the others continued to bicker among themselves. Some were getting especially heated in their arguments,” he explains as his face twists into a look of disgust.

“Shortly after, while I was cleaning in the armory, I heard a few gunshots and some screams. Almost without thinking I put on a suit of our armor the way our books instructed and grabbed a rifle, loading it before heading to the source of the gunshots,” at this moment, his face has a look of sorrow on it.

“When I arrived in the mess hall, I saw every other Initiate gathered near the middle. Somepony was shouting threats as the others looked on, but I couldn’t see who it was past the crowd. I began walking towards them, as I neared a few towards the back of the crowd turned and saw me,” he shakes his head.

“It was like one of those moments you hear about. The crowd slowly parted to let me through and into the center. Some gasped, others simply stood aside. When I reached the center, I saw one of us standing over the bodies of two more, a snarl on his muzzle. I looked at my dead comrades and back at the one with the gun,” Elder Archimedes let out a sigh.

“I asked him if he killed them, and he said that he did. He then demanded my loyalty and that he be made Elder. Instead, I repeated the words in our charter regarding the killing of fellow Steel Rangers. If any shall kill a comrade, the punishment is execution,” he pauses for a moment before continuing.

“I raised my rifle and shot him in the head. There was no hesitation in my actions, it was as though I was on autopilot. I turned around from his body and walked through the crowd. Before leaving the mess hall I gave my first command. Incinerate the two he killed, and leave his body to rot somewhere,” he shakes his head.

“I don’t know why, but a few days later they elected me Elder unanimously. I don’t know if it was because of the brutal display I put on, my knowledge of our charter, or the fact I saved them. However, I was granted full access to the Elder’s Chambers on that day,” his expression softens a bit.

“From that day everyone grew closer, however. There was no more bickering and everyone began working together. Some even formed romantic relationships. We began training in and learning the ways of the Steel Rangers. In my spare time, I read the logs on the Elder’s terminal. Stable-Tec had included information for after an Elder had been elected,” he gestures towards the terminal on the desk.

“It had a roster of everyone in the Stable, as well as information regarding Steel Ranger tactics and how Elders normally operated things. It was like an Elder training manual. It also had a countdown that started from thirty years for when the Stable would unlock,” the elder shrugs.

“Things went on for thirty years peacefully. When the time ran out, a single word was played over the PA system: Congratulations. Some sounds like confetti and firecrackers went off as it said this. Then, a single command appeared on my terminal: Allow Stable entry/exit.”

“However, a few other documents appeared on my terminal. The first was a command to never open another Stable. The other documents that appeared were the rosters of the other Steel Ranger chapters and the statuses of their facilities,” the elder let out another sigh.

“As I said previously, most have the status of Lockdown. I don’t know their locations anyway. However, I told you this story to explain why we will not open the Stables and disregard that order. Our Stable experienced what it is like to have no orders, to have no one in charge. Once I become Elder, we decided to follow our leaders and our orders, regardless of our feelings of them. We do not want to repeat the chaos we once lived in,” Elder Archimedes explains.

After having listened to his story, I can sort of understand his thoughts. I don’t necessarily agree with them, but I can understand. However, if these are the only Steel Rangers I can meet who won’t kill me outright, I have no choice but to seek their help. “Thank you for telling me,” I say to him.

“Not at all. Remembering our history helps us to keep from repeating it,” he says. “Without keeping to our oaths we are nothing more than the raiders we try to wipe out. However, enough about us for now. I’m sure you are curious about your rank and what happens next.”

I nod while saying, “Yes Elder. I had no idea until today that I was given an honorary rank in the Steel Rangers. But, now that I know about it, I’m not sure what I should do, or have to do.”

Elder Archimedes gets up from the couch again and goes to his terminal, sitting in the chair at the desk. “In the command center, I searched for your name after hearing this news. Our database has access to every Steel Ranger rosters. If you are a member, it would have you listed, and I did in fact find you listed. However, I didn’t have the time to look at it there in too much depth,” he says as he types in some commands to the terminal.

I get up from the couch and go stand beside him so I can see the terminal screen. “So I am actually a member? Does it give any more details?” I ask, suddenly filled with curiosity.

After punching in a few more commands, the Elder brings up an information screen that has my picture in the upper right of it. “Here is your dossier. It will have all the information regarding your current status. Let’s take a look, shall we?” He looks at me as if asking permission and I give him a nod.

“Let’s see. It says here that you are...sixty-two years old?” He says as his eyes go wide and he turns to look at me. “You don’t look a day over thirty. Interesting. Well, you can explain that later. Let’s keep reading.”

We both look at the screen and read the information that has been collected about me. It has some slight background information, where I was born, the schools I attended, and when I began to work for the Ministry of Magic. It also starts to talk about my time working for the Ministry of Magic, however most of the information has been censored out with a message saying, “Ministry Mare Access Only” in various places.

Some of the last information is related to the Steel Rangers. It mentions the fact that I would work on the armor that belonged to the rangers assigned to me and that quite a few of the upgrades were interesting. It mentioned a few of them and also that the rangers’ assigned to me recommended me for honorary status.

The last bit of information is in regards to my specific function within the Steel Rangers and is as follows, “The mare known as Ratchet is to be given the special rank of Scribe Crusader, coming with the combined privileges of both Scribes and Crusaders, including the ability to lead a squad of up to eight Knights.”

It goes on to say, “In addition, Scribe Crusader Ratchet is granted the ability to work autonomously and is not bound to any specific Steel Ranger contingent. With the exception that an Elder must first approve her command of any rangers assigned to her as well as equipment acquisition. As such, she has the same freedom of a Star Paladin, however none of the authority or access privileges.”

Elder Archimedes puts a hoof to his chin, scratching his beard. “Interesting,” he says. “A special rank combining the privileges of two. Unoriginal name, just combining them together, but if Miss Applejack came up with it…” he trails off for a moment.

“Very well,” he says suddenly. “As it says, you are free to do as you want. I’ll grant you access to any equipment you want, assuming you can buy or trade for it. However, I suppose I should give you some basic gear to help you survive free of charge…” he trails off again as he scratches his beard.

I interject abruptly, “I couldn’t sir! I’ll buy or trade for anything I need. Given the state of the wasteland, i’m assuming there is no way to create new equipment, right? I would feel bad taking them for free.” A thought strikes me suddenly. “Actually, instead of giving me equipment, would you mind letting me stay here for a while and train with it? If today was an indication, I need more training with weapons.”

Elder Archimedes takes his hoof from his chin and says, “If you’re certain you don’t want anything and would rather train, I won’t be opposed to that. In fact, I can have Iron and his squad help you with your training. He can also teach you how to command those under you, should you ever want to command a squad.”

I nod. “That would be great. I would also like to help you fight the Track Gang in Ponyville. That mare they captured...I want to save her,” I explain to him. “I’ll also work while i’m here to earn my keep. I can maintain your armor and weapons, clean, or anything else you need done.”

The Elder waves his hoof. “I appreciate your enthusiasm and your determination to save that mare. You certainly are a good fit for the Steel Rangers,” he lets out a chuckle. However his expression quickly turns serious. “I have just met you today. I cannot say if I completely trust you yet, but time will tell. Stable 36 is fitted with security cameras covering most of the public space. Know that we will be watching you.”

I nod, acknowledging his concern. “I don’t mean for this to come off as rude, but for the same reason I can’t yet tell you why I look so young. I hope that we can earn each other’s trust and in time I can tell you.”

Elder Archimedes narrows his eyes for a moment before a smile appears on his muzzle. “I’m glad we have an understanding. I shall make the necessary arrangements for you to live here for a while. You should go find Iron, he will show you around. Despite his rank, he is one of my most trusted friends. He just cannot lead large numbers.”

I let out a slight chuckle at his remark about Iron before I thank him for his time and exit his chambers. Now then, my next issue is where in this facility is Iron going to be?

===~+~===

No Levels Gained.
New Quest Acquired: “Prisoner Rescue”

Chapter 5: Insight

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Chapter 5 - Insight

“In my life, I’ve had regrets. I’ve done things that I wish I’d never done. But my deepest regrets are things that I didn’t do.”

===~+~===

Two weeks pass while I remain with the Steel Rangers of Stable 36. Iron and his squad help me to adjust and begin to teach me how to properly care for weapons and to shoot properly. During one on one sessions, Iron teaches me the ins and outs of commanding a squad and the importance of knowing each member’s strengths and weaknesses.

Despite all their help, however, the only thing I pick up with any decency is how to repair weapons better. My aim is still horrible with them, regardless of what kind of gun I use, and I often hesitate when giving commands in battle simulations. However, Arrow and the twins make up for my lack of leadership ability with their amazing teamwork and initiative.

While training with them, I learn about their strengths and weaknesses. Arrow is their sniper and is an ace shot, her quiet demeanor also makes her a good candidate for stealth. However, she lacks any ability to hold off multiple enemies if they get too close.

Thunder and Lightning help make up for her weakness, however. Thunder is their demolition expert, no surprise given his loud mouth. His weapon of choice is a minigun, but also carries grenades and mines. Due to this, he is weighed down and doesn’t move too fast.

Lightning on the other hoof, favors a submachine gun and is quick on his hooves. He also uses knives. Tending to lead the charges to get his weapons in range, he often gets into the thick of things. This wouldn’t be so bad, except he tends to overextend himself, forcing Thunder and Arrow to cover for him. Despite this seemingly brutish fighting style, Lightning also happens to be their technology specialist.

Combine them with their original leader, Iron, who uses a standard assault rifle, and you have one of the best squads of Stable 36, second only to the Star Paladin’s personal squad. I have yet to meet the Star Paladin, as she and her squad are on an extended scouting mission to Friendship City.

In the two weeks I spend training, I also go out scouting with Iron to Ponyville. We begin to notice that the Track Gang is getting better weaponry. Instead of some having melee weapons, almost all of them are now armed with rifles. They are also becoming more active. We have a few altercations, but take no casualties or injuries.

I also take up the Elder’s offer of trading supplies. I decide that since I’ve gotten better with weapon maintenance, I can afford to sell my spare pistols. I choose to keep the revolver and sell the 10 mm pistols and their remaining ammo. I sell some of the random items I had collected, such as the scalpel and scissors, and also the radiation suit I was still carrying.

Judging by the wasteland so far, I won’t have much use for the radiation suit anyway. I buy enough extra .32 caliber rounds to get me up to thirty-six spare rounds, and also buy two magical bandages and a health potion. After trading back and forth, I’m left with a spare 500 or so caps. I think they might have given me a good deal, but I’m not sure considering I am still new to this currency system.

In my spare time, I talk with Elder Archimedes to try and learn more about this wasteland and those under his command. I also recall what CORA said about restoring my PipBuck’s features using a computer, and ask the Elder about it. However, he says that Stable 36’s computers aren’t linked to any database that would have what I need. I also find out that, besides the Steel Ranger rosters from other contingents, Stable 36 has no way of communicating with anyone or accessing exterior information.

It explains a lot, given that Stable 36 was an experiment that relied on the inhabitants’ isolation. The Elder explains that they even tried linking outside terminals with their Stable, however not even their most tech savvy Scribe was able to link them. Being cut off from the outside world helps to spur the Elder’s desire for patrols and knowledge of the wasteland.

As such, half of the battle capable rangers go out on patrols, leaving eightteen to defend the stable and react to immediate threats. However, with the relative seclusion of Stable 36 and the unassuming appearance of the house above, this area doesn’t get much traffic. Just the occasional trader or wanderer.

Speaking of traders, as Iron, his Knights, and I are about to leave on another patrol to Ponyville, we meet one of our usual traders named Grimoire who is sell his wares. He is a cunning and charismatic buck, probably only a little older than I appear to be. His light brown coat helps him blend into the wasteland, but his ivory mane gives him away easily.

We meet him in the cellar entrance the rangers let him set up in while he trades with them, allowing him to bring his brahmin in as well. A few of the other rangers are talking with him and looking over his wares as we pass by. While shuffling past him, I notice the tell-tale barrel of a gauss rifle sticking out of one of the bags on his brahmin. It has a custom paint job, black with red stripes, similar to zebra stripes.

As we’re about to leave the cellar Grimoire begins his typical salesman talk. “Come friends, I have plenty of wares of every sort, all to help the good ponies of the wasteland. I rather do enjoy helping the Steel Rangers, the ones that don’t shoot at me, that is,” he says with a chuckle.

He notices me looking at the rifle and smiles, “Hey there miss, eyeing the custom Gauss Rifle? Beauty isn’t she? Got it from a Talon merc who called it Raptor Blood. She even augmented it to fire a red projectile, instead of the usual blue. Though, it has fallen into a state of poor condition. It’s yours for 450 caps.”

I shake my head as I say, “No thank you. I’m not that good at aiming larger weapons yet. You should get it into the hands of someone who can use it to help the wasteland. I’ll stick to my revolver for now.”

He shrugs and then says, “Suit yourself. Are you rangers going out on patrol? I don’t suppose you’d mind waiting a few minutes and escorting me a ways, would you? Those raiders in Ponyville have gotten pretty active lately. I think I’ve done most of the business here I can already.”

When it comes to trading, the rangers do it quick. They always have a list of things they need and a stockpile of things to sell. Most of the rangers around the trader now are just looking for their own enjoyment and soon the small group around him breaks up and returns back into the base.

Iron nods and answers, “Of course, Grimoire. It is our duty to protect the citizens of Equestria. We can only escort you as far as our paths take us together, however. Once you leave our patrol route, we’ll go our separate ways.” Grimoire begins packing up his things once Iron agrees.

“I just need to get to the west side of Ponyville, after that I can get along on my own. I appreciate the assistance,” he gives us a toothy grin as he finishes packing his wares up and begins leading his brahman towards the exit. “Shall we?” He asks.

“Let’s be off,” Iron says with a smile as he pushes open the cellar doors and leads us out. The early morning air is a bit brisk, but considering I’m wearing normal barding and the others, except Grimoire, are in insulated power suits, I bear with it. We begin the journey to Ponyville, which will take us a few hours.

===~+~===

Our patrol takes us around Ponyville and the areas surrounding it that border the river to the east and the forest to the north and the Everfree in the south. The furthest west we go is the rail intersection a short ways out of town. Since Grimoire is with us, Iron decides to patrol the west side first, so we can send the trader on his way and avoid getting him caught up in any firefights.

After reaching the intersection Grimoire speaks up before leaving us, “Last chance at Raptor Blood, miss. By the time I’m around again, I might have already sold it.” He gives me a smile, but I politely turn down his offer. “Very well then. Well, thank you all for the escort. I hope to see you all next time I make my way up here.”

Saying this he turns and begins heading south away from Ponyville. “Our pleasure,” Iron calls after him. “Safe travels, Grimoire. May prosperity find you.” Grimoire waves his hoof back at us without turning around as he walks away with his brahman trailing behind him.

“Now then, let’s get moving. We have ground to cover.” Iron begins leading us back towards Ponyville along our usual route. We head east and slightly south, keeping a good distance from the town so that we can stay mostly hidden in the hills. At certain key points, we stop and let Arrow use her sniper’s scope to check in on the Track Gang.

For the most part she only sees a few sporadically at first. She notices that they have increased the quality and the quantity of their weapons, however. Most of them now carry rifles and a rare few have energy weapons and larger guns. She also notes that they have set up a few more barricades between the buildings.

From what Arrow says and what we notice about their movements, they seem to have fortified the area surrounding the Town Hall into their main camp. It wouldn’t be too far off to assume their leader resides there. Only one of the bridges across the nearby river is unblocked, the rest have guarded barricades. A gate can be seen on the central bridge with another on the north side of the plaza.

Compared with what I saw here a few weeks ago, they have militarized extremely quickly. There were almost no defences previously as well. They appear to be going in for the long haul. Seeing all this makes me concerned for the abducted mare. Considering the buck who had initially abducted her was killed, I worry what might have happened.

Did they get rid of her or keep her around? What could she be going through right now? Was she even still alive? These questions and more race through my mind. “This isn’t good,” CORA suddenly speaks up. She has been quiet for a while now. “They’ve build up incredibly fast and reports of their actions against travelers have increased as well,” she points out.

“Indeed,” Iron nods his head in agreement. “We should hurry our patrol and report to the Elder. We might have to take action sooner rather than later. If we allow this to go on, we might not have the numbers to do anything about it,” he says with concern evident in his voice. He starts walking again and we follow him.

We continue our patrol without any encounters with the enemy and soon make our way to the north-east of Ponyville. Passing over the rails near the bridge I first crossed when I arrived here, I can’t help but think back to coming through that tunnel and meeting the rangers. I also remember those bat creatures I encountered in the tunnel.

I decide to ask Iron and the others about them. “Hey, when I first came here, I went through that railway tunnel that runs through Canterlot’s mountains. I encountered these large bat things that tried to attack me. What do you know about them?” I ask.

Thunder speaks up before anyone else, “Whoa, whoa, whoa! You went through the Bloodwing tunnel? Didn’t you see the warning signs we put up at the entrances? You’ve got to be crazy, Ratchet. I’m in full armor and even I wouldn’t go through there.”

I’m shocked by his sudden outburst, but manage to stammer out, “Yea. I saw a sign, but it only said ‘wings’, it looked kind of like the top was broken off though.” I pause for a moment. “And you call them Bloodwings? They are mutated bats, right?” I ask.

Iron speaks up this time. “Damn it. Something must have broken the sign. But yes, the travelers of the wasteland called them Bloodwings due to their taste for blood. We believe they mutated from bats, but not sure which species of bat,” Iron says as he lets out a sigh. “We’ll have to replace that sign as well. Don’t want any travelers to be attacked by them.”

“I see,” I say, “interesting...” I trail off in thought as we begin climbing a large hill. We remain in silence for a few moments as we come to the top of the hill. Right at that moment, however, a group of the Track Gang reach the top as well. We stare at each other for a few moments, my eyes, along with theirs, growing wide.

In seconds chaos erupts as our two groups clash. The raiders raise their rifles, one of them pulling the trigger before bringing it level with us. It is pointed in my direction and I quickly throw myself to the right, just barely avoiding the shots. As I recover, Lightning charges towards them while shooting his SMG at the closest one.

As I put on hooves back onto the ground I hear Thunder’s minigun spinning up and see Arrow run past me, putting more distance between them and her. As I unholster my revolver, I see bullets ricocheting off of Iron’s armor as he shoots his rifle back at them. Thunder’s minigun begins to buzz and lets loose on one of the raiders as I level my revolver at the closest one.

When my revolver goes off, I hear Arrow’s hooves grind into the ground as she spins around to level her rifle at them. I fire again and I hear Arrow’s sniper as it launches its .308 round through the air. In a matter of moments, Lightning and Thunder make swiss cheese out of one of the raiders, Arrow’s bullet flies through the skull of another, and Iron and I take down third.

To be fair, however, only one of my shots hit. Before I can aim at the last remaining raider, Lightning quickly throws his SMG at their face, throwing them off balance. Just as quickly, Lightning charges over to the raider, who begins to panic and shoot his rifle blindly. A few rounds ping off of Iron and Lightning’s armor, but one grazes across my back.

I scream out in pain, but then I notice Iron has tensed up and is hunching over slightly. I begin trotting up to him as Lightning picks his SMG back, holds it under the raider’s chin, and pulls the trigger, sending bullets through his head and causing his body to drop with a meaty thump. With all the raiders dead, I relax a bit as I get closer to Iron.

Arrow runs back up to us and notices the blood on my back. “Ratchet, you ok?” She asks with her usual emotionless tone. She gets closer and puts a hoof on my back, looking over my wound.

I nod as I answer her, “Yea, it just grazed me, I shouldn’t even need a bandage. But Iron seems like he might be hurt.” When I say this they all look towards Iron, who lets out a slight chuckle as he turns towards us.

The front of his armor is covered in scratches and dings, but what’s most noticeable is one small hole on his right leg. “Take enough bullets, you’re bound to be penetrated eventually. It isn’t anything vital, just took a hit in the leg is all.” He looks around at the raiders before looking back to us.

“We made a lot of noise, we should leave quickly. Arrow, help me patch this up. The rest of you grab what you can from their bodies. We’ll continue our patrol once my leg is bandaged.” He begins taking off his armor, exposing a bleeding hole in his leg as a bullet falls out of the armor. “Luckily, it went straight through,” he says.

Arrow takes out some bandages and quickly wraps Iron’s leg as Lightning, Thunder, and I begin to look over the raiders’ bodies. We grab their rifles and any spare ammo they have. Even though it isn’t my first time out here with Iron and the others looting raiders, I still don’t like the idea of taking things from another pony’s body.

Especially when they are covered in blood and gore. I try to stick away from the raider Thunder took down, as he is covered in a lot more blood than the others. In only a few minutes, Iron is bandaged up and we have looted most of the raiders’ stuff. Other than weapons and ammo, we find a few medical supplies and some drugs.

The weapons and drugs will be sold the next time a trader comes by, but we’ll be keeping the ammo and medical supplies. Unfortunately, I don’t earn any caps from the items we scavenge. I’m given ammo and supplies to replace what I use, but my payment is the training and knowledge I’m getting. I also made an arrangement with the Elder to borrow some equipment to clear the tunnels in my lab when I decide to leave.

It turns out that Stable 36 has a mining harness in case it needed to be expanded. Stable-Tec really didn’t think it was going to open right away, and the Elder believes they thought the stable would have to be expanded before an Elder was actually determined. Regardless, the first step of getting the mining harness is helping Iron and his squad.

I don’t plan to leave the rangers until I rescue that mare, however. Until then, I’ll be helping the rangers however I can. Iron sealing his helmet on again snaps me from my thoughts. “Alright, let’s move. We only have a little way left to go, then it is back to base,” Iron says as he begins walking.

We follow behind him and resume our patrol. It isn’t long before we finish up and head back to Stable 36. Luckily, nothing else exciting happens, as Iron’s leg seems to be giving him some trouble.

===~+~===

Once we arrive back in Stable 36, we report to Elder Archimedes for debriefing. “Good work as always Lynx Squad,” Elder Archimedes says as he enter the command center. “Anything new to report?” He asks as he rests his head on his hoof.

“Sir. The raiders have build up fast around the Town Hall and as previous reports have stated, they are getting better equipped as well. Thunder, show Elder Archimedes one of their guns,” Iron says. Thunder steps forward and hoofs the Elder a rifle, which he takes in his magic.

The Elder turns it over and examines it before giving it back to Thunder. “This quality is troublesome. And you’re saying they have been gaining energy weapons as well? They can’t be finding this weaponry themselves, someone has to be providing them with it. Well, this is going to be a pain…” Elder Archimedes drops his head to the desk and sighs.

“Elder!” Iron yells at him. “I tell you this every time, behave properly. Those of us who have grown up with you understand you, but some of the younger ones might get the wrong idea. You’re demeanor aside, we have to attack them soon and in force,” Iron informs him.

Elder Archimedes sighs again as he picks his head up from his desk. “Yeah, yeah, and every time I tell you it is better to be relaxed than tense all the time. As for attacking them...Star Paladin Lily and her squad is away, as you know. Senior Paladin Twinkle is also away with her squad, however…” he trails off for a moment before he turns his attention to one of the other ponies in the room.

“Paladin Echo, see if you can raise Senior Paladin Twinkle on the radio,” he says to the mare sitting at one of the desks in front of him.

“Sir!” she replies as she punches a few commands into her terminal and turns some knobs on the radio next to her and speaks into it, “Nova Squad, this is command. Are you receiving?” She repeats this once more before there is a reply from the radio.

“Receiving command, this is Nova Squad.” The gruff voice of a stallion replies. Paladin Echo hits a button on the radio and signals Elder Archimedes with a hoof. The Elder picks up the microphone from his desk and addresses the stallion.

“This is Elder Archimedes. Nova Squad, what is your status?” He asks the stallion on the other end of the radio.

“The expedition to Vanhoover has been completed without incident. We are on our way back for debriefing. Our ETA is one day,” the stallion explains. The Elder nods his head.

“Very good. A situation has developed in Ponyville, we will be assaulting the raiders as soon as your squad has returned and rested. Tell Senior Paladin Twinkle to double time it and march through the night. See you soon.” The Elder says as he puts the microphone down.

“Yes sir! Senior Paladin Twinkle says we will be back before morning.” The stallion says before Paladin Echo closes down the connection. Elder Archimedes nods to her before turning back towards us.

“Crusader Iron,” Elder Archimedes’ tone becomes serious. “You and your squad take today off and get that wound of yours looked at. Tomorrow, once Nova Squad’s debriefing is complete and they have food in their bellies, you will be briefing them and the others I select for this mission.”

He thinks for a moment before continuing, “After you finish briefing them on the situation, you, Senior Paladin Twinkle, and I will be discussing a strategy. Everyone else will be resting in preparation for the attack. Once we determine a plan, we with gather the troops and do a final briefing on our strategy. We will be attacking at sunrise the day after tomorrow. Until then, rest up.”

He dismisses us, but Iron speaks up again, “Sir, I’d recommend Arrow join our strategy meeting as well, her keen eyes saw more than I did. She can help to more accurately describe their fortifications.”

Elder Archimedes nods and says, “Very well, she can attend.” He goes back to looking the terminal and papers on his desk. Having said what he wanted, Iron begins to leave the command center and we follow him out.

“As the Elder said, you’re all free to do as you like until the briefings. Eat, sleep, do as you want. Arrow, I’ll send for you when the strategy meeting begins. Until then, Ratchet and I will be heading to medical to get our wounds looked at,” Iron tells us. Thunder, Lightning, and Arrow start to walk down another hallway as they go about their business.

“But Iron, I’m fine. It was just a scratch,” I tell him, not wanting to waste any of our medics’ time or medical supplies. “You get yourself looked at and I’ll meet up with you at the briefings,” I tell him. However, he just shakes his head.

“Absolutely not,” he says. “Even a slight scratch is prone to infection and I don’t want to see it becoming a hindrance when we are out in the field. If nothing else, just get it looked at to put my mind at ease, will you?” he asks.

I let out a sigh as I say, “If you insist, but you are the one you should be worrying about. You actually got shot, not just grazed.” He lets out a slight chuckle as I tell him this. He turns to me as we walk to the clinic.

“It isn’t the first time, and I doubt it will be the last,” he tells me. My face must look worried, because he adds, “It is my duty as a Steel Ranger to protect others. If I must get shot in defense of another, I’ll gladly take the bullet. Especially if I have a choice between myself being shot and someone else.” It is barely noticeable, but his voice hardens a bit at that last sentence.

I’m about to press him further when we arrive at the clinic and one of the medics notice us enter. “Well, if it isn’t our most frequent patient, Crusader Iron. What seems to be the problem this time? Some cuts, bullet wounds, fire and/or plasma burns?” The unicorn stallion, wearing the white robes with a red cross on the shoulder most medics in the clinic wear, asks.

“Oh it isn’t anything major, Knight Venom, just a single bullet wound this time,” Iron says nonchalantly as he walks towards one of the medical treatment chairs. “It should be a simple patch job. Scribe Crusader Ratchet here had a bullet graze her back as well. Take a look at that too, if you wouldn’t mind.”

Knight Venom smiles as he approaches the chair Iron is now sitting in. “Well, that is definitely some good news. Compared with the other injuries you’ve sustained since the Stable opened, it might just be the least noteworthy. Now then, off with your armor,” Venom says as he levitates over some bandages and a healing potion.

Iron begins taking his armor off, starting with the helmet. I think this is the first time since I met him that I’ll see him without his armor on. Now that I think of it, he is usually always in his power armor, despite the fact many others take their armor off while in the Stable. I find myself staring more than I should.

As he slips out of the armor, my eyes get wider and wider the more of his flesh I see. The bullet hole in the leg is just the most recent of wounds I see. It is as Knight Venom said, it might be his least noteworthy. Covering his body are various scars and burns. There is actually very little of his coat left. It is strange how pristine his neck and head appear to be compared to the rest of his body.

His left front leg is covered in scar tissue from burns from the hoof up to the shoulder. I can also see that it has a few scars from bullets on it as well. His hind legs have a decent amount of fur covering them, but are marred with various cuts where it refuses to grow. His torso itself is a patchwork of scars from bullets, cuts, and the occasional burn.

The cutie mark on his left side is completely gone due to the scar tissue, but his right side only has a single slash across it. The cutie mark itself is a kite shield, but the scar across it looks almost like the arch of a sword being swung against it.

Iron smiles at me before he says, “Ratchet, I think you’re one of the few to have seen me without armor on. Most of the others who have are medics, like Knight Venom. I don’t hide in my armor because I’m not proud of my scars. It is just that given my lack of fur, I get quite cold without it.” Both Iron and Venom laugh at this remark.

“Besides,” Iron continues. “Each scar represents a pony I’ve saved, or tried to at least.” Iron’s tone sounds a bit regretful as he says that last bit, and now that I can see his face it noticeably hardens. Venom as well has stopped smiling and is instead working dutifully on Iron’s wound.

Venom pours some of the healing potion his Iron’s wound before passing the potion to him and saying, “Take a sip.” He then begins wrapping Iron’s leg with some new bandages. As Iron takes a swig from the potion, Venom finishes bandages his leg and levitates the remaining bandages to a nearby counter, then takes the potion from Iron. “There you go. It will be good as new soon. Now then, Scribe Crusader Ratchet, let’s take a look at you,” Venom says.

He motions to the chair Iron is in, as Iron gets up from it and begins putting his armor back on. I walk over and sit on it so Venom can look at my back. “Alright, let’s see…” Venom says, inspecting my back. “As Iron says, it is just a graze. Let me disinfect it, and you’ll be fine, no need for bandages. It shouldn’t scar either.”

He floats over some alcohol and pours a bit on my back, causing me to squeal at the slight burning sensation. “There you go,” he says as he wipes up the excess. “Now, the both of you take care. Though, in your case Iron, I suppose I should say just don’t get seriously injured,” Venom gives Iron a wry smile.

“That’s always my plan. Thanks, as always Venom,” Iron says as we begin to walk out of the clinic. Once back in the hallway, Iron turns to me and says, “Well, now that that’s taken care of, how about we go get a drink? We have some time to kill, after all.”

“Sure. I’ve got a bottle of whiskey, if you’re interested. It isn’t exactly to my taste, but I can suffer through it with someone else,” I tell him. He smiles at this suggestion.

“Are you sure? I saw it before. It is a pretty good brand and has yet to be opened. You could save it for a special occasion,” he tells me. “But, if you’re offering it up, I won’t turn it away.”

“Of course. What better time than now? We’re about to have a large battle and take out the Track Gang in Ponyville, and rescue that mare. I think this is a good enough occasion. This will be our last chance to relax until after the attack, why not make it count?” I say.

He lets out a laugh and says, “Good point, Ratchet. Let’s grab some glasses from the mess hall then and get to drinking. I’ll need time to sober up before the briefings and what not.” After saying this, we begin heading towards the mess hall.

It isn’t long before we arrive, and it is almost empty, most of the rangers having eaten earlier. Iron tells me to go wait at a table off in the corner of the hall as he goes to get glasses. After sitting at the table, Iron comes up a few moments later with two glasses.

He sits down and I open the whisky, then pour it into the glasses. We raise our glasses before taking the first drink. It burns my throat as it goes down, causing me to cough a bit, but Iron finishes off his glass and lets out a sigh, “Ahhh, that’s good stuff.” I pour him another as I gingerly take another swig of mine.

After a while, we get two-thirds of the way through the bottle. Iron has drank more than I have by far, but seems to hold his alcohol better than I do. We begin to drunkenly reminisce about Equestria before the war and after a bout of laughter, he suddenly says, “You know, you don’t look a day over thirty and Archimedes said you were sixty-two or something. You also know a lot of the old world. How is that?”

I pause at the question for a moment, but answer him. “You see, back then I used to work for…” before I can explain further, however, CORA speaks up and stops me.

“Ratchet! I don’t think you should be talking about that yet. You’re drunk, you should stop drinking, both of you,” she tells us. I just shake my head and hoof at the mute button on my PipBuck. It takes me a few tries, and she realizes what I’m doing. “Ratchet! Stop! Listen to me, don’t press that mute button! I’ll…” She is cut off when I finally hit the button.

“Shhh, it’s alright CORA, I’ll unmute you later. Besides, Iron is trustworthy. However…” I trail off in thought for a moment, focusing on CORA’s face as it looks at me angrily. As I do so, Iron pours himself another drink. Before I can say anything else, he speaks up.

“You want to know how I got these scars?” Iron says as he hold his glass of whiskey up, looking through it to me. “You tell me your secret, I’ll tell you,” he offers, taking another swig from his glass.

“Sure, I guess. The truth is I worked for the Ministry of Magic and made a cryogenic chamber. While testing it, the Megaspells fell and I was stuck in it for thirty-five years until CORA woke me up,” I tell him with a shrug.

He stares at me for a moment before he says, “Huh. I had my caps on you being immortal. Lightning and Thunder seemed to think you were a robot, but looks like Arrow won our bet. Who knew cryogenic stuff was real?” He takes another sip from his glass.

“Now then, back before the Stable was opened, we had developed our command hierarchy. I was made the Star Paladin and took my position very seriously. In place of the Elder, I had command of the entire population. I followed the instructions left for us on how to train and taught the others the way of the Steel Rangers, after learning them myself,” he smiles, remembering the time fondly.

“However, when the Stable opened and we went out into the wasteland, we encountered large groups of raiders, the Track Gang is only the latest. We had small confrontations with them quite frequently and when diplomacy failed, Archimedes decided it best of we take them out,” Iron continues.

“We found the location of the largest group of raiders, and I led the assault on them. The Elder stayed behind along with a handful of defenders. I led a group of roughly thirty rangers in the assault, many hadn’t seen any combat. We started the attack off fine and began to cut down the raiders,” he says as his voice turns grim.

“However, a group of the raiders flanked us and hit a few of our Knights. In the following chaos, I lost control of those under my command as they broke off into their own groups to defend themselves. I tried to coordinate them together, however I couldn’t multitask on that scale. It wasn’t long before they started to sustain injuries,” Iron pauses and takes a large drink.

“A few died, a few were severely injured, and the rest were scared and looking for leadership, however I just shut down. I had never seen death before, I had never led ponies in battle. My experience was all theoretical. I couldn’t deal with it and just sat there, staring at the fighting,” Iron shakes his head and looks sadly at his drink.

“In all this chaos, a voice soon rose above the gunfire. Paladin Lily, who is now Star Paladin, began to address the rangers and take over my command. She continued and led us to victory, but after the dust settled five of us had fallen, and over half the rest had sustained injuries. The five deaths were my fault, the lack of my leadership,” he pauses and he finishes his drink and pours another.

“I was demoted and Lily took my place. No one blamed me, however. We were all inexperienced. Since then, however, I’ve been trying my hardest to ensure no one else dies because of me. In the following attacks on the smaller raider bands, I began to get my collection of scars,” he raises his left leg as he continues.

“This leg was burned when I dashed in front of a Knight who was about to be engulfed in the flames of flamethrower. My armor protected me for a time, but it soon began to heat up and scalded my skin. It took me a while to recover after the battle, but my wound didn’t deter me,” he took a swig of his drink.

“Another time we were fighting raiders, one was armed with a plasma rifle. They had a group of us pinned down, and their cover was slowly disintegrating. I threw myself at the raider, who proceeded to melt through my armor with the plasma, burning various parts of my torso,” Iron continues.

“After the raiders had been mostly dealt with and we began exploring, we encountered a group of manticores. We didn’t have the firepower to bring them all down and I had run out of ammo. To buy the others time and give them a less quick target, I turned and bucked one, which proceeded to cut into my legs with its fangs and claws. My armor provided little protection and turned into shrapnel, slicing into my legs along with the manticore before the others brought it down,” Iron swirls the whiskey in his glass around as he stares at it.

“For the most part, those were the major incidents. There were others, lots of gunshot wounds, some knifes, spears, and other sharp objects piercing my armor to slice at my skin. I don’t know how I haven’t gotten any wounds on my head or neck, however. Perhaps the Goddesses are still looking out for me, in their own way. But, as long as I can save someone else, what happens to me is of little consequence,” he tells me with a smile.

He finishes his drink and looks at the bottle, which by now is almost empty. Iron picks it up and finishes it off before he sets it back down. “No one blamed me for the five that died under my command, but I’ve lived with my regret every day since. I can’t bring them back, but the least I can do is keep those who still live alive, you know?” He says while looking at me.

“It is why I fight at the front. BUT!” he suddenly shouts. “The whiskey is gone, and we’ve got to be up in a few hours. Finish your drink and let’s hit the hay,” he tells me. I drink down the last of my whiskey and stand up as he does so. However, Iron staggers and I catch him before he falls.

“Maybe I should help you?” I suggest. He gives me a nod and I put his right leg around my shoulders. As we begin to walk out of the mess hall, I levitate the empty bottle into the trash and the glasses over to the cook, who smiles at me with a nod before picking them up.

As I make my way through the facility with Iron, I’m suddenly aware of the behavior of the other rangers as I take Iron to his bed. I never noticed it before, but they always seem to make room for him as he walks through the facility. It is like they are respectfully acknowledging all he has done for them. A few even offer me help, but I turn them down.

It isn’t long before we get to his bed, just one of many in the barracks. I put his helmet on his footlocker after laying him on his bed. He is almost asleep at this point, so I go take take off his armor. However, he lifts his hoof to mine and says, “Leave it on, it gets cold without it.” I nod and tell him good night.

The only sound that responds is his quiet snoring. I smile at this sleeping form before heading to my own bed and settling in for the night. It isn’t long before I find myself in the embrace of sleep as well.

===~+~===

Level Up! - Level 3

+1 Big Guns
+7 Small Guns
+5 Unarmed
+5 Repair

Chapter 6 - Assault

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Chapter 6 - Assault

“No amount of training or preparation can fully prepare you for reality. Somethings can only be learned through experience.”

===~+~===

In the early hours of the morning, Senior Paladin Twinkle’s squad returns from their mission. They are quickly debriefed and allowed to eat and rest momentarily. During this time, I attempt to deal with my mild hangover. However, CORA doesn't help it in the slightest. I don't remember doing it, but I muted her as she was talking to me last night. Because of this, she has had the entire night to boil with rage.

"HOW DARE YOU MUTE ME LIKE THAT!" She yells, causing my head to throb. I consider muting her again until my hangover is gone and move my hoof towards the button. "DON'T YOU DARE!" She screams as she notices my intention. "I already installed a work around so you can't mute me again! Geez Ratchet. Drinking before a large fight? Muting me, your precious assistant? What's come over you?" She asks me with puppy dog eyes.

I grimace as I reply, "I was just going along with Iron. You know I can't hold my alcohol...I just didn't realize what I was doing. Sorry, CORA." I try to sound as apologetic as possible. She narrows her eyes at me and thinks for a few moments. I'm personally thankful for the brief silence.

"Very well. Apology accepted. However!" She declares, "Don't do anything like that again. I won't forgive you so easily the next time." After saying that, she settles down and lets me deal with my hangover in peace.

After the debriefing, Twinkle's squad, us from Iron’s squad, and a few others meet in the assembly hall. Iron quickly goes over the situation in Ponyville and tells us briefly about their defences and numbers. He concludes by tell us to rest up until 4:00 am, when we will gather again for the final briefing and assault.

After the meeting, Iron, Arrow, the Elder, and Senior Paladin Twinkle, who I have yet to meet, exit and leave to discuss plans for the battle. All of the other Knights and Paladins go about their business and most, especially those who just returned, sleep. I, however, don’t find myself all that tired.

Since it is still only a little after nine in the morning, I decide to check my gear and make sure it is all functioning properly. I look over my barding and ensure that it doesn’t need to be patched up at all. I then begin taking apart my revolver like I learned to so I could clean it.

I still haven't gotten the hang of it, so by the time I finish and finally get it put back together properly, it is already noon. Feeling a bit hungry, I decide to head to the mess hall and eat a bit. Upon arriving there and collecting some food, I notice Thunder and Lightning sitting at the corner table Iron and I were at last night.

I walk over to them, levitating my tray of food in front of me. They notice as I approach and make room for me on the bench. Neither are wearing the armor and you can see their lightning bolt fur pattern Thunder always talks about. Lightning’s is on his left side, near shoulder and Thunder’s is just the opposite on his right side.

“So Ratchet, you ready for the assault tomorrow morning?” Thunder asks with a sly grin. “You could always stay behind, you know, since you don’t have much combat experience. No point having you slow us down,” he sticks his tongue out at me.

Lightning lets out a chuckle and says, “At least her combat tactics are better than yours, mr. blow everything up. Ratchet has been with us for a while now, she’ll be ready.” As he says that, he pats me on the back with his hoof.

“Thanks, Lightning and you’re damn right I’m ready Thunder,” I say, throwing him a playful grin. “You all taught me after all, if I’m not, whose fault is it, really?” This gets a laugh from Lightning while Thunder rolls his eyes.

“You know this won’t be like the previous fights we’ve had, right?” He asks me. “This is an all out assault, not a five on four squabble. We’ll be fighting in the town, potentially surrounded by enemies. We’ll be ready, but will you?” He asks as he hardens his stare at me.

“Oh like you actually took part in an assault before either, Thunder,” Lightning says. shaking his head. The both of us were a bit too young to go out on the initial assaults when the Stable opened. We’ve only been fighting in small squabbles ourselves.”

“Yea, but we have our time with Iron on our side. I mean, you heard all the stories about him, right? He was solely responsible for saving many lives, multiple times! I don’t think I’ve heard any stories about anyone dying while under his command. Honestly, the fact we are part of his squad is,” Thunder is cut off by Lightning striking his hoof on the table.

“Thunder! Come on, don’t get carried away. I know that our contingent has only lost five rangers thanks to his heroics, but restrain yourself, geez little brother,” Lightning says with a slight chuckle while shaking his head.

“Hey, I’m only like a few minutes younger than you at the most. That barely counts as me bring your, ‘little’ brother,” Thunder emphasises the word little with air quotes. Lightning is about to say something back, but notices the grim expression on my face.

“Hey, what’s wrong Ratchet? Have you heard the stories about Iron? You probably shouldn’t believe all the things you hear. Sometimes the others like to exaggerate. He has done good work though,” Lightning says.

I shake my head and reply, “He told me about the first assaults last night.” Thunder and Lightning both chuckle and Thunder shakes his head.

“He was probably being modest,” Thunder says. “He’s done great things. He even stepped down as Star Paladin after the first assault so he could focus on supporting the smaller squads. He was a great Star Paladin, I mean, there’s nothing wrong with Star Paladin Lily but…” he trails off.

“Yea,” Lightning agrees. “No one ever really talks about the first assault, but I’m sure that’s just because we lost a group. He would have gone on to be an amazing Star Paladin if he didn’t step down,” lightning concludes.

“Wait a moment,” I suddenly speak up, looking between the two of them. “He stepped down after the first assault? But he said…” I trail off, which causes both of them to focus on me with wide eyes.

“Woah, woah!” Thunder says quickly. “He told you about the first assault, didn’t he? Holy fuck! We need details! What did he do? How many lives did he save? Come on Ratchet, no one ever talks about it! Hook us up!” Both Thunder and his brother are looking to me eagerly.

I look between the two of them for a moment before I suddenly say, “I’ve gotta go.” I pick up my, now empty, tray and proceed to leave the mess hall, as they call out after me. All the while, I can’t help but think about the conversation I just had.

Was Iron really responsible, like he said, or did he just think he was? There were two possibilities going through my mind right now. The first, is that the trauma of losing those under his command caused Iron to reimagine what really happened and he stepped down. The second, is that he is telling the truth and the rangers who were there are covering for him so the younger generation still respects him.

While lost in thought, I had somehow wander into the armory and begin tinkering with armor. I shake my head clear of thoughts for a moment as I collect myself. Regardless of which possibility is true, it isn’t my place to say anything. Iron seems to genuinely care about helping ponies, and that is more than enough for me.

I nod, confirming this thought in my head as I continue to do some maintenance on the armor in front of me. Time quickly passes and I soon find my PipBuck reads 8:00 pm. Suddenly feeling tired, I finish up with the armor I’m working on and head to my bed to sleep till the briefing starts.

===~+~===

“Alright, listen up rangers!” Senior Paladin Twinkle addresses the crowd that has gathered in the assembly hall for the briefing. “Today, we are going to war. Our enemy is the Track Gang raider group that has taken up residence in Ponyville. You all know the basic details from yesterday’s briefing. Right now, we will be going over the plan of attack,” she pauses to look over the ponies gathered in front of her.

She is wearing her armor, minus the helmet. She is an earth pony with a lavender coat and a blood red mane, which is cut short and parted to one side of her face. Her authoritative blue eyes pierce into each of us as she looks over us all. After she looks over the entire crowd thoroughly, she puts on a twisted smile.

“We will destroy all of them! Each and every single raider will know death before we are through today!” As she shouts this, I hear a few ponies chuckle and see some shake their heads. “They go around terrorising the citizens of the wasteland? Well we shall go and terrorise them! We will drive them from Ponyville and straight into the flames of Tartarus!” She raises a hoof into the air to punctuate this.

As she does so, a fraction of the ponies in the crowd do so as well and let out a yell. I notice almost all of them are from her squad. Lightning comes up beside me suddenly as says, “She’s always like this when it comes to fighting raiders, and her squad is more like adoring fans than soldiers. She’s quite popular with the stallions, if you get my meaning. I personally like my mares a little less,” he pauses, looking for the right word, “bloodthirsty?”

“Don’t worry though,” he adds. “She is a capable leader and will lead us to a sure victory. Next to Star Paladin Lily, she is our most brilliant tactician,” he says with a smirk before returning his attention to the raised platform she is standing on.

Senior Paladin Twinkle raises her hoof to her muzzle and coughs before she continues, in a much more normal tone, “As you all know, they have created a stronghold out of the town Plaza centered around the town hall. There are two entrances into the stronghold, one of the bridges and a makeshift gate.”

“We will break into two groups a primary assault group and a small group that will flank them. The primary group will attack from the bridge at the south, while the small group will sneak in through the gate at the north,” she says as Iron unrolls a map and attaches it to the board behind her.

Using her hoof, she points to the map that I recognize as Ponyville. “The assault group will initiate the battle to pull enemies from the flanking force. We will position snipers on the other side of the river to provide cover while we forge our way across. Keep an eye of the rooftops and windows,” she tells us.

“It is assumed that their leader is in the town hall and it is known that they have at least one hostage. However, given that this is an assault hostage rescue is a secondary objective. Unlike our normal engagement, we will not offer surrender to any who are armed. If you encounter an unarmed pony, check them for weapons and tell them to stay put,” Twinkle says.

“Once the dust settles, anyone who has stayed alive will be rounded up and brought back for debriefing. Now then, as for who will go with what group...Iron has volunteered his squad to be the flanking group. The rest of us will be assaulting the bridge. Now then, are there any questions?” She asks.

After looking around the crowd for a few moments, she nods her head. “Very well then!” She shouts, her twisted smile appearing again. “Get your gear and prepare for the assault! You have fifteen minutes or I’ll come find you myself and drag you to the battlefield! Dismissed!” She quickly flings her leg through the air, dismissing us.

The crowd salutes and quickly disperses, however everyone in Iron’s squad stays behind, including myself. As everyone else exits, Senior Paladin Twinkle and Iron walk over towards the rest of us. Senior Paladin Twinkle looks at me normally, before she quickly switches her expression to her twisted grin.

“Well! Scribe Crusader Ratchet!” She shouts suddenly, “I do believe this is the first time we’ve met. But I’ve heard about you plenty already, I hear Iron here has taken you under his wing, so to speak, anyway.” She lets out a giggle at that.

“But who cares about that, I hear you’ve taken out some of those raider scumbags we’ll be fighting! So tell me, do they put up a fight? How ugly are the fuckers? Do they scream when they die? Oh Luna, I’ve missed combat, I’m getting all giddy,” she declares.

I’m slightly taken aback by her questions and overall attitude. “I...I don’t know,” I manage to stammer out. I don’t recall any of them screaming and I never paid attention to their looks. I’m sure she was informed of their combat effectiveness already though.

She rolls her eyes and says, “I do hope you fight better than you speak. Don’t become a liability for Crusader Iron, you hear me? He’s got some sort of hero complex, so don’t cause him undue trouble.” She begins to trot past me and pats me on the shoulder. “Prepare yourself, Eberron the God of Death demands sacrifice, and he will have his fill of raider blood today!”

She shoots me one last, particularly twisted smile as she leaves the room. “Eberron…? That’s a name I haven’t heard in a while. The old...well, i suppose old, old world’s God of Death. What does she mean he demands sacrifice though?” I ask to no one in particular.

Iron shrugs. “Don’t pay her any mind. She read about him in an old book years ago and took a liking to him. She practically worships him and says all of her kills are sacrifices in his name and honor. Of course, she only kills criminals. I know she doesn’t act like it, but she values justice and dislikes random violence,” he explains.

“Anyhow,” Iron says with more determination in his voice. “All of you get geared up and meet up at the entrance. Today is the day we end the Track Gang’s presence in the Ponyville area.” He nods to us as he leaves the room as well. The others follow suit, leaving me alone in the room to think.

===~+~===

Fifteen minutes later, we gather in the entryway and begin marching to Ponyville. It isn’t long before we reach the outskirts and our forces separate. Senior Paladin Twinkle takes her assault team and crosses the railway bridge to circle around to the bridge entrance.

Iron leads us into town and we set up camp in a house a short ways from the gate up north. We wait around, staying on guard while we wait for the assault team to begin their attack. The minutes slowly crawl by and isn’t helped by the fact we aren’t talking in order to keep our location concealed.

From the house, I can see the wall surrounding the city clearly. It is composed of a patchwork of lumber and scrap metal, and I can see major parts of it are made up by cars and skywagons. The gate itself is two cars attached together with their fronts hanging an inch off the ground. They are suspended from chains and pulleys and are set between what looks like a makeshift track to prevent them from swinging much.

The entire wall seems to have a walkway around the top with makeshift covered towers spaced in a few places. I notice each tower has at least one raider in it looking over a section of the city. It kind of reminds me of the old castles from long ago, just made out of scrap supplies.

Suddenly, we hear loud explosions coming from the south where the bridges are, signaling the start of the assault. Iron nods to us as we all prepare to begin our attack. Iron explained to us earlier on the way here that we were to wait for a while after the fighting began, to give the raiders on this side of town a chance to leave.

A little while later, Iron waves his hoof and opens the door. We file out into the street and cautiously move towards the gate. Once it gets in sight, we notice two stallions standing on the gate, guarding it. We divide into two groups to take cover behind buildings on opposite sides of the street.

Iron, Thunder, and Lightning are behind the building across from Arrow and I. Iron and Arrow are the closest to the corners and Iron motions to her with a signal I don’t recognize. In a quick movement, both Iron and Arrow step out of cover and shoot at the stallions on the gate. A few seconds later, I hear the thuds of their bodies as they fall to the ground below.

With a nod, Iron leads us back into the street and up to the gate. “Ok Thunder, you’re up,” he says, stepping aside and letting Thunder approach the gate. Thunder takes out what I recognize as explosives and places them along the sides of the heavy gate. He nods to us as we back up and he joins us.

A moment later he hoofs a button he’s holding in his mouth and the gate erupts into a series of loud, fiery explosions. With a loud sound of shearing metal the gate slides to the ground, wobbles for a moment, and then tips over to lay completely flat on the ground. Thunder smiles broadly throughout the show.

With the gate fallen, Iron leads us inside. Across the mostly open expanse of the plaza, I can see that the assault team blasted through their gate as well and are using the remains of it as cover. I can also just make out a few of them across the river laying down suppressive fire with what I assume are sniper rifles and missile launchers.

Frequent explosions and gunshots resound throughout the plaza as the raiders and assault team clash. We skirt around the plaza which has been filled with various makeshift barricades the raiders are using as cover against the ranger assault. We peek in a few of the houses that the walls have been made part of the walls looking for any hidden raiders that might try to catch us or the assault group by surprise.

Most of the houses appear to be empty, and it shows in the amount of Track Gang members that are in the plaza. If I had to guess by the amount I can see so far, they have almost three times as many ponies as we do. However, most of them are only armed with assault rifles whereas the rangers are armed with better, higher quality weapons.

I do notice, however, a few of the raiders wielding large weapons. At least one is using a minigun, another I notice is using a plasma rifle, and I think one has a rocket launcher. I don’t think they have much ammunition for those guns, though, as I don’t hear them firing very often. What I do hear frequently, are screams and shouts from the raiders as the rangers advance on them.

I turn my attention away from the fight in the plaza and back to the houses we are checking. So far, we have looked through three of them and they were all devoid of life. The interiors however look lived in. Tables have partially eaten food and drink on them, some spilled over as their owners no doubt ran out in a panic.

We continue checking the houses on the north west side of the plaza and Iron looks in the window of the next house. After a quick peek, he looks back to us and knocks his hoof on the old cobblestones three times as he motions his head towards the house. His signal for telling us there are three ponies in the house.

We stack up around the door with Lightning and I aiming our guns at the hinges of the door. Iron nods and we blow the hinges off the door. Immediately, Thunder slams into the door and sends it into the house. Iron follows in after him and begins opening fire. Lightning and Arrow take cover on opposite sides of the door frame as I enter in after Iron.

As I enter, I notice the door lying on the stairs to the second floor which are directly in front of the entryway. “Shit, what the fuck!?” One of the raiders shouts as he attempts to grab his gun from a nearby table before getting shot by Iron and falling to the ground. The other two in the room are already armed and begin opening fire at us.

I quickly dive behind a wall separating the entryway from the living room they are in. A few bullets penetrate the wall just inches above my head. I hear Thunder’s minigun spinning up as I float my revolver around the wall and fire a few shots in the raiders general direction. I get two off before Thunder’s gun opens fire and silences the raiders’ fire.

As his guns spin down and the bullet casings fall to the ground, Iron walks up to the raiders’ bodies. “What the fuck is going on down there?” A stallion shouts down from the second floor. I hear hoofbeats on the ceiling and a groan from one of the raiders Iron is near, before Iron’s gun fires again and silences it.

The hoofbeats reach the stairs as Thunder and I turn towards them. I swing my revolver around as the raider comes into view and says, “Son of a-” but gets cut off as I start shooting at him. Thunder’s gun begins spinning up even before he fully turns around. One of my shots catches the raider in the front left leg and causes him to trip down the stairs.

Right then, Thunder’s gun opens fire and begins hitting the wall to the left of the stallion as it slowly moves towards him. In a few seconds, his shots perforate the side of the raider and sends him slamming into the wall as he continues tumbling down the stairs, coming to rest on the landing halfway down the staircase. He doesn’t move or make anymore sounds as his blood begins to run down the stairs.

Iron comes back into the entryway and says, “This floor is clear. Let’s check the second and move on.” I levitate the door from the stairs and set it against the wall. After I do so, Iron starts up the stairs with Thunder and I following behind him.

As we crest the top of the stairs, I hear a few whimpers. Once we enter the next room I can see that it seems to have been made into a holding area of sorts. Five ponies have been put into cages and they look cautiously up at us as we enter.

In one cage I notice a stallion and what I assume is his foal huddled together. Another has two mares that are laying against opposite sides of the cage. The last occupied cage contains a familiar brown coated mare with a blonde mane. My eyes go wide as I mumble out, “It’s her!” I’m about to gallop over to her cage as Iron speaks up.

“Don’t worry, you’ll all be safe now. We are Steel Rangers, and here to help. However, we are in the middle of an assault, so you will need to wait here a little longer. Sit tight, and we’ll come for you,” he tells them, nodding to each one as he does so. “Thunder, Ratchet, let’s keep moving,” Iron says as he turns to leave.

I look at him, then back at the captives. “Can’t we let them out first at least?” I ask him. He shakes his head without turning around.

“If we did, they might panic and try to make a run for it. If they were to grab a weapon...well, remember what Senior Paladin Twinkle said? We are to kill on sight all armed ponies. They’ll be safer if we leave them caged up,” he says as he continues walking out of the room.

Thunder nods in agreement as he follows Iron out of the room. I hesitate for a moment and look back at the captives and the mare I watched get captured. I take a deep breath and say, “I’ll be back for you, all of you. I promise.” I nod, affirming my decision and trot to catch up with Iron and Thunder.

We continue to check a few more of the houses on this side of the plaza, but all of them are empty like the first ones we checked. Iron leads us into one and begins checking his gun’s ammunition as he addresses us.

“Alright, our first objective is done. We’ve cleared this side of any reinforcements to prevent them from flanking us. Check your ammo and get ready for our next push. We’ll push into the town hall and capture it, then use it to rain down fire on the remaining raiders fighting the assault force,” Iron tells us.

“This house has a roof access,” he continues. “Arrow, I’d like you up there to provide cover for us as we cross the plaza. You’ll be alone, so clear off the wall first and check your surroundings frequently. Thunder, once we clear the first floor of the town hall, you’ll guard the door and prevent any of them from coming in after us.”

“Lightning, Ratchet, and I will then proceed to clear out the rest of the building and get out on the balcony, where we will signal Arrow. She will then regroup with us. The four of us will then provide support for the assault group from the balcony while Thunder guards the door,” Iron explains.

“Now, remember, their leader is supposed to be in there so expect heavy resistance. We’ll mop them up once their leader is gone and take Ponyville! Tread carefully and let’s dispose of these raiders and free those captive ponies,” he says.

We all finish reloading our guns and checking our equipment as Arrow begins climbing the stairs to go to the roof. Iron opens the door and leads the rest of us out into the plaza. We begin making our way slowly across the plaza, taking cover behind their makeshift barricades to hide from any prying eyes.

Once we make it about a few feet from the door, I hear the sound of Arrow’s sniper going off and notice a few ponies beginning to fall off of the wall. After a few moments, her gun goes silent and I look back to see her giving me a wave.

We continue towards the town hall and make it about halfway before we run into any raiders. A group of three are taking cover behind a barricade in front of us as one of them notices us. He lets out a shout and aims his rifle towards us before his head explodes into meaty chunks as Arrow’s rifle goes off.

The other two look over at us, now covered in the blood and brain of their friend and open fire. As they do so, Iron and Lightning begin firing as well. The raiders’ bullets ping off their armor while the raiders take a few shots and scramble behind cover.

We take cover as well, but Lightning carefully dashes to some cover that has a line of sight on them. He moves to shoot them, but more gunfire from in front of us causes him to get back into cover. Five more raiders are charging towards us and take up cover behind a few different barricades around us.

While we are partially surrounded, Arrow attempts to take a few of them out, but they manage to hide from her shots. Four raiders are taking cover between us and the town hall, the two wounded ones are on our left, and one is on our right. All of them begin shooting shooting at us and our cover begins to chip away.

“Alright, we need to move quick,” Iron suddenly speaks up. “Thunder, you take the one on the right. Ratchet, Lightning, the two on the left. I’ll distract the ones in front of us till you’re done.” He makes a signal towards Arrow and she shoots at the cover the four in front of us are hiding behind. “Let’s go!”

We all nod and scramble out of cover. Lightning and I dive behind the closest cover to our left and attempt to get sight on our targets. I look over to see Iron shooting at his targets, but I can’t see Thunder from here, though I can hear his minigun. “Provide me some cover, I’ll take them out,” Lightning tells me.

“Alright, I’ll cover you,” I tell him and he dashes out of cover. I lean out of my cover to line up a shot on them as one of them leans out to shoot at Lightning. However, I shot at him twice and he gets back behind cover. This gives Lightning the chance he needs to flank them and spray them with his SMG. With our targets taken care of, we go to regroup with Iron.

We lay down some fire on the four he is shooting at as we get back at about the same time Thunder does. However, once we do so two more raiders show up to support the four we are already fighting. “Shit, we’re getting nowhere,” Iron says. He thinks for a moment as we brace ourselves against the bullets flying towards us.

I hear the sound of a minigun spinning up before one begins shredding our cover. “Damn it! Ratchet, what spells can you use? Any offence or defence spells?” Iron asks me.

I think for a moment before I reply, “My only offensive spell is a pretty weak fireball and the only defencive spell is a minor shield. I can let us shoot through it, but not them. However, I can only make one large enough to cover one of us, and it won’t last long against this kind of gunfire.” I shout over the gunfire quickly cutting down our cover.

Iron thinks for a moment before he says, “Alright. Surround me with your shield. I’ll charge at them and try to take them out. Lightning, Thunder, you two flank them and finish them off. Ratchet, you concentrate on the shield, stay behind cover. If it falls, don’t worry. With this armor, I’ll be fine for a while.”

We all nod in confirmation as we reload our weapons. “Let’s do this then! For Equestria!” Iron shouts as I cast my shield spell around him and he dashes out directly into the line of fire. The raiders take the bait and focus their fire on him. With each bullet I can feel the strain on my magic increasing. Even a few seconds into using the shield I can feel my magical reserves depleting rapidly.

Lightning and Thunder dash out shortly after Iron and begin opening fire. Slowly, the amount of bullets hitting the shield decrease as they take out the raiders. I hear at least three of them scream out before I can’t keep the shield up any longer. That means there are only three left. I peek out around the cover, breathing heavily from the exertion of using my magic.

I can see three raiders continuing to shoot at Iron, including the one with the minigun. I float my gun from my holster and shot a few round towards the one with the minigun to distract him, but my aim is thrown off a bit since I used so much of my magic.

Thunder and Lightning are closing in on the remaining raiders, however and two more go down a few seconds later. Iron keeps firing at the remaining raider, closing the distance to him. Iron hits the raider a few times in the chest, but at the same time I see a red beam flying towards him. My eyes go wide as I shout, “Look out!”

However, my warning comes too late as the projectile strikes Iron in the head and explodes, knocking him to the ground and destroying the right half of his helmet. I hear him call out in pain as the shards of steel from his helmet dig into his face. His screaming doesn’t last long, however as another beam finds the gap in his helmet and explodes again.

Seemingly in slow motion, the remainders of Iron’s helmet explode outward, sending shards to steel, blood, skull, and brain everywhere. His body thumbs completely on the ground, blood pouring from his neck. I stand in shock staring at the sight I just witnessed. I’m acutely aware of the shouts of Lightning and Thunder as I walk towards Iron.

CORA says something I don’t hear as a red beam hits the ground next to me. I can hear Arrow’s rifle go off as another red beam misses me horribly. I keep walking forward, however, ignoring the world around me, focusing only on Iron’s body. Thunder and Lightning run to me and begin dragging me backwards away from Iron.

“Let me go!” I yell at them. “I-I need to, I’ll…” I trail off, not sure what to do next. They get me back into cover and set me against it as I fall to my haunches. I look between the two of them, eyes wide as I continue to stammer out, “I...I...we...we...Iron…”

“Ratchet! Snap out of it!” Lightning yells at me. “You’re in command now, we need to go! We can’t stay out in the open like this! Ratchet!” I hear his words but can’t stop staring blankly ahead and recalling the scene that just played out.

Suddenly a bullet strikes the cover right above my head, causing me to jump. I look around quickly but see no one other than Arrow on the rooftop, rifle aimed at us, just watching. “Shit! Was that Arrow?” Lightning says. “What’s she thinking? She could have hit one of us.”

“She’s right,” Thunder says. He stands over me and as I start to look up at him, he punches me in the face. “Get your shit together, Ratchet!” He yells. “Iron is dead! You are our leader now! If you don’t do something, we are going to die. Was I right back there in the mess hall? Are you going to become a liability?”

His punch knock me to my senses and I look between them as I calm down a bit and take a deep breath. As I do so, I notice that they are shaken up as well. I remember our conversation in the mess hall, how they were new to this kind of fighting as well. How no Steel Rangers have died since the first assault...until today.

I get to my hooves as CORA speaks up, “Ratchet, we have to keep going. It’s what he would have wanted. You have to lead us to victory now.” I nod in agreement with her.

“You’re right CORA. You too Thunder. I’m leading now and we…” I take a deep breath. “We still have a mission to complete. The plan stays the same, let’s get moving.” They nod in agreement as I give Arrow a small wave. She waves back before looking back down her scope.

The rest of the way to the town hall we only encounter one more raider, which Arrow takes out for us. The rest we manage to avoid. As we stand on the porch surrounding the town hall, I glance at the bridge the assault force should be at. I notice they have stopped advancing and are pinned down on the bridge.

“We need to get this place under control quickly,” I say as we prepare to enter the town hall. Thunder and I are on one side of the double doors and Lightning is on other. I give Lightning a nod and he opens the door closest to him. Immediately after, Thunder and I charge in, with Lightning close behind.

Thunder’s gun spins up in anticipation of a fight, however we find the lobby surprisingly empty. Lightning closes the door after us once we realize this. “We should check the rest of this floor,” I tell them. They give a nod and follow me as I begin to check the other rooms.

Like most of the buildings in the wasteland now, the town hall shows signs of destruction. The floors are covered in dust and grime, the wallpaper is flaking off, and the furniture is in a ragged state. After checking all of the rooms on the first floor, we find it completely deserted.

“Perhaps they all went to defend?” Lightning suggests. I shake my head, however. Something just doesn’t seem right.

“It could be a trap,” I say. “However, trap or not, we still need to take this place over. Thunder, you’ll stay here and guard the door. Stay behind the reception desk so you have some cover. I’ll send Lightning down when we’re done, so you know to expect Arrow’s arrival.”

“Right. You two, stay alive. Also…” Thunder pauses for a moment. “That fuck who killed Iron is somewhere in here. Make sure you give him an exceptionally painful death,” he tells me with an angry look on his muzzle. “No one will get past me, aside from Arrow. Now go.” He gets behind the reception desk and faces the door.

“Let’s put an end to this, Ratchet,” Lightning tells me as we head to the stairs. “And my brother is right, for once. That bastard who shot Iron is going to pay.” I nod in agreement with him as we reach the stairs.

“They will, but we need to be careful. It’s only the two of us from here on,” I tell him. He nods in agreement as we check our ammo and begin to climb the staircase. As we do so, I can’t help but realize the sudden quiet of the place. I mean, there are still gunshots and explosions happening outside, but they are muted a bit. There is also no one trying to stop us, which is pretty odd.

We reach the door to the second floor and I tell Lightning to follow my lead. I open the door and look around inside. The room appears to have been made into an office. A desk sits in the middle with a few chairs in front of it. A terminal is on the desk and a chair facing the opposite direction sits behind it.

As I continue to look around the room, I see numerous places ponies could be hiding. “Stay on your guard,” I tell Lightning. He nods, eyeing the room suspiciously.

“Indeed, you should stay on your guard.” A stallion’s voice says suddenly. He sounds angry, yet confident. The chair behind the desk slowly turns around to reveal a black unicorn with long red mane. He has a cigarette in his mouth and a long scar that crosses his left eye.

He sets his hooves on the desk, takes a puff from his cigarette, and then taking it from his muzzle with his magic. Exhaling the smoke, he says, “You know, I’ve always wanted to do that whole, spinning chair reveal thing.” He lets out a chuckle. “So! You Steel Rangers decided to attack us, the infamous Track Gang? You should have brought more soldiers. We have your troops stopped at our gate.”

He laughs again. “And you’re not even wearing any power armor!” He addresses me. “Did you rangers run out of supplies? It’s no wonder you couldn’t get past blowing up our gate,” he says as the grin on his muzzle changes into an annoyed glare.

“Come on out boys,” he says. At these words, six ponies emerge from hiding places, each of them pointing guns at us. Most are wielding assault rifles, but one has a plasma rifle. “Before you die, I suppose I should tell you my name so you know exactly who you messed with,” he says as a smile returns to his face.

“I am the leader of the Track Gang, Railspike, and you are interrupting my operations. The sentence for that is death. Kill them,” as he says this I tense up into SATS. I look around at the ponies around me and decide I should focus on the one using the plasma rifle.

With an 87% chance to hit at this range, I line up two shots on him and one shot on another, both of which are on my right. Lightning is on my left, and I trust him to get those closest to him. However, assuming I can hit these two and Lightning manages to take out one in that time, that still leaves three armed ponies and Railspike.

I get a random idea and decide to use it. “Hey CORA, think you can help us out here?” I ask her. “Once I exit here, shout something as loud as you can. Maybe it’ll distract them enough to throw off their aim temporarily,” I explain.

“What should I shout?” CORA asks as she walks around my vision looking at the ponies who ambushed us.

“I don’t know, anything will work, I guess. Just shout it as loud as the volume will allow you,” I tell her. She nods her head as I confirm my selections and SATS takes over my body. The shots go off and all three hit. The raider with the plasma rifle thumps to the floor and the other raider recoils from the hit and hits the wall behind him.

Almost instantly after the shot CORA shouts out, “I LIKE SCIENCE!” which actually helps to throw off the aim of the other raiders and all of their shots miss. I hear Lightning’s SMG go off and hear his targets scream out before thumping to the ground.

At the same time, I turn to my next target and shoot off the rest of my shots at hitting him twice in the chest and once in the head. As the raider I shot earlier staggers to his hooves, I grab the plasma rifle from the first raider in my magic and point it at him. As I pull the trigger, I holster my revolver. When the bolt of plasma hits the raider, disintegrates into green goo.

I turn around to help Lightning, only to find him standing over two dead raiders while pulling his knife out of a third’s neck. He notices me looking at him and says, “Damn, I thought for sure I’d beat you. I bet you used that cheating PipBuck of yours.”

I roll my eyes as we both turn to face Railspike. “And your armor isn’t cheating?” I reply back to him. He just lets out a laugh. While keeping the plasma rifle trained on Railspike, I reload my revolver. Railspike just stares us down with an angry glare.

“I suppose I must commend you for taking out my personal guards. I should have just killed you myself to begin with. No matter, I won’t have to pay them now. But you’re both still going to die,” He says with a smirk as his horn lights up and levitates up a familiar looking gauss rifle from behind his desk.

It is the black and red, custom gauss rifle Grimoire tried to sell me before we left on our last patrol. Raptor Blood. My eyes go wide as I realize this and ask him, “Where did you get that?” Did they kill Grimoire and take his supplies? I thought we got him out of danger.

“Oh, this beauty?” He says, looking the gun over. “I bought it from our supplier, some random trader. He’s been supplying us with some great weaponry, assuming we pay up the caps. But, I do believe it is time for you both to die,” he says with a grin.

Lightning’s SMG is out of ammo, so I float my revolver over to him. “He’s the one, Lightning. That gun fires a red beam,” I tell him as I do so. Lightning drops his knife and takes my revolver. “Do you really think you can take us both out, Railspike?” I ask him.

“Well, I don’t really have a choice, now do I? But, as you’ve already seen, this gun doesn’t really care about your fancy armor. It’ll only take me two shots to take you both out,” he declares with a smirk.

I was glad he was stalling for time, seeing as SATS had a chance to recharge. We stare each other down for a few moments before he makes his move. However, right before he manages it, a bullet flies through one of the windows and strikes his horn, knocking the gauss rifle from his magic and sending him reeling in pain.

“Son of a bitch! There was another one of you?” He growls out, clenching his horn. “Fuck, I think it’s chipped,” he mutters. You’ll pay for that!” He starts to charge us, but Lightning quick on the trigger and puts a bullet in each of his front legs. Railspike stumbles and falls onto his muzzle.

“Hey Ratchet, I think you should go signal Arrow and tell Thunder she’s coming. I’ll take care of this guy,” Lightning says. “I’ll be borrowing your revolver for the moment.” I nod to him as I make my way to the steps that lead up to the balcony. Once outside, I hear a few screams from the second floor and I wave over to Arrow.

She waves back and then begins to leave the rooftop. I head back down to the second floor and see that Lightning has shot Railspike’s other two legs as well and is twisting his hoof on the bullet wounds. “I’ll be sure to finish up here before you get back, Ratchet,” Lightning tells me without sparing me a glance.

I continue downstairs and tell Thunder we’ve finished up. As I do so, I notice the five or so raider bodies that are around the doorway. “You doing ok here?” I ask him.

“Yea, I’ve got plenty of ammo left and they haven’t even made a scratch on me yet. You get the bastard who killed Iron?” he asks.

I nod, “Yea. Lightning is up there dealing with him now. He won’t be a problem.” As if on cue, a scream comes from the second floor. Thunder noticeably tense from this.

“Lightning, eh?” He says in an odd voice. “Yea, that will be...fine.” I’m about to ask him what he means when Arrow enters through the doors. Thunder’s gun spins up momentarily before he recognises her.

Arrow waves at me before she begins walking over towards the stairs. “Alright, hang tight Thunder, we’ll turn the tide of the fight and be done here soon,” I tell him. He nods as I follow Arrow up the stairs.

When we reach the second floor, I see Lightning sitting behind the desk using the terminal. I notice his knife, which is covered in blood, is stabbed into the desk as well. He notices us and looks up from the terminal. “Railspike wasn’t lying. He kept records of his trades with Grimoire. I never thought he’d trade with raiders…” Lightning trails off.

“Nether did I,” I respond. “But, we can deal with that issue later. For now, we need to provide support for the assault force. Let’s get to the balcony,” I tell them. They both nod as Lightning picks up his knife, wipes it on one of the dead raider’s barding, and puts it away. He then tosses me my revolver. I catch it in my magic and put it in my holster.

As we head for the stairs, I see Railspike’s body behind the desk. He is in a pool of his own blood and covered with knife wounds, including a stab wound in his unscarred eye. Most of the blood seems to have come from a single cut across his neck however. I can feel myself getting nauseous just looking at this corpse.

I barely manage to keep from vomiting as I say, “You didn’t have to go so far, Lightning.” Is this what Thunder meant when he said it would be fine? Lightning stops for a moment as he turns to me.

“He killed Iron, he deserved worse than I gave him. Let’s finish this and give Iron a proper send off,” he says with both anger and sorrow evident in his voice. I nod as we continue up the stairs and out onto the balcony.

Not much changed since I was up here last time. The rangers are still pinned down on the bridge and the raiders are taking shots at them from behind cover. Lucky for us, their backs are exposed to us now. “Alright, spread out and take them down. Thunder will stop any who try to come up to us. Watch out for returning shots,” I tell them.

“Right,” Lighting says as he and Arrow walk in opposite directions along the balcony. Once we are all in place, I aim my revolver and take the first shot. From this distance, however, I don’t hit anyone. Arrow and Lightning open up and take out two raiders immediately. Arrow ejects the round from her rifle and readies her next shot as I try to aim more carefully.

This time, I shoot off three rounds and manage to hit the raider I’m aiming for. She doesn’t go down, but stops firing at the rangers. Arrow, Lightning and I continue to take out a few raiders before they realize what’s happening.

A few of them turn and head into the town hall, which is quickly followed by the sound of Thunder’s minigun and the screams and curses of a number of raiders. Once the rest of the raiders hear this, more start looking up for us. They notice we aren’t part of their gang and begin to open fire.

Numerous shots fly past my head and I can see Lightning and Arrow duck down for a moment as well. Once the volley of shots subsides, I poke my head back up and fire off a few rounds, before my gun is empty and I have to reload.

I poke my head up again and slip into SATS and line up a few shots that have the highest chances, only 43%. A thought occurs to me and I share it with CORA. “Hey CORA, when I exit SATS and regain control of my body, I’m going to cast a sound amplification spell on the PipBuck. When I do so, address the raiders and tell them their leader is dead. Let’s see if we can demoralize them.”

CORA nods in agreement as I exit SATS and take the shots, which miss. I then immediately cast the spell and CORA yells, “Attention Track Gang! This is Scribe Crusader Ratchet of the Steel Rangers. We have captured the town hall and your leader, Railspike lies dead. Victory will be ours!”

I stop the spell as she finishes up. “Nicely done. But, I know you sound like me and all, but did you have to use my name?” I ask her. She just laughs and sticks her tongue out at me. I roll my eyes and continue shooting at the raiders on the ground.

After a few minutes, the tide of the battle doesn’t change and the rangers are still pinned down. Suddenly, a familiar voice yells out, “This is taking too long! Get up there and kill them all! Spill their blood and leave none alive!” I cringe as I recognize the voice as Senior Paladin Twinkle’s.

I’m actually impressed I can hear her over the gunfire. She continues on, “Fine! Paladin Flora, Paladin Glint, give me your fucking guns!” I can’t hear the Paladins’ reply, but Twinkle says, “Just put them on my back and take mine! You two not doing anything with it! Hurry up!” A few moments pass before I hear her voice again.

“Finally! Now then, if you all don’t want me to haunt you, move up and cover me!” She yells at the other rangers. “For Eberron! May he feast on many souls this day!” From the balcony, I can see a single ranger running from the bridge directly towards the raiders. All the while I can hear Senior Paladin Twinkle’s maniacal laughter.

The ranger I assume is Senior Paladin Twinkle stops halfway between the bridge and the closest raiders and turns her body to one side. As she got closer, I manage to make out her newly acquired guns. She has two dual minigun battlesaddles on her back and both their bits in her mouth.

“She’s crazy…” I mutter out. As I do so, she bites down on the bits and the four miniguns spin to life and let loose their firepower against the raiders and their cover. As the guns fire, Senior Paladin Twinkle slowly turns to face the other way, sweeping the guns across the raiders’ defensive lines.

The raiders firing at her suddenly stop and the battlefield quiets down for a moment once her guns spin down. She looks around for a moment before she yells, “If you’re trying to surrender, don’t bother! I can’t hear you with this ringing in my ears! Not that I’d let you surrender even if I could…” She lets out a laugh as the rest of the rangers move up to where the first line of raiders were.

Most of the raiders in the first line of barricades are now dead, a few try to crawl away, but the rangers that reach them put an end to their misery. “My name is Senior Paladin Twinkle of the Steel Rangers! When Eberron comes for your pathetic souls, tell him that I sent you!” The rangers take cover behind their new cover as the raiders begin to return fire.

On the balcony, we continue to fire down at the remaining raiders. Quite a few of them have stopped fighting completely and are instead in the fetal position. I can’t bring myself to shoot them, so I only aim at the ones that are still shooting. I’m about to take a shot when I see a rocket flying towards the town hall.

I turn my focus to it and see it heading straight between Lightning and me. He notices it too, and we both scramble to run away from the coming explosion. The rocket strikes the balcony, which tears in half and begins to collapse.

Looking back at the destruction behind me, I see the collapsing balcony dropping off closer and closer to me. I turn back towards Arrow’s direction and gallop as fast as I can, but I suddenly feel the wood beneath my hooves give way. “Oh fuck, Oh Fuck, OH FUCK!” I call out as I grab onto one of the rungs on the railing.

I begin dropping down towards the ground as Arrow reaching out to me when the balcony stops falling and leaves me hanging off the end of it. Hanging on for dear life, Arrow sets her rifle against the railing and wraps her right hoof around a rung further up from me.

She then stretches her left hoof down towards me. “Grab on, Ratchet,” she says with only the slightest hint of worry in her voice. I make sure I have a good hold on the rung I’m clinging to before I reach out my right hoof to her. We are just barely touch, but it isn’t enough to get a good grip. Arrow stretches further and I try to swing towards her waiting hoof.

We manage to link our hooves, but as we do so a few bullets strike the wood next to us, sending splinters of wood into us and causing our grips to loosen. Instantly, we are both sliding down the floor of the balcony trying to make a grab for any rung we can.

Hoofbeats from further along the balcony near us in a matter of seconds and Lightning dives and grabs Arrow’s right hoof in his as his legs catch the rungs of the balcony. Our sliding stops as most of my body hangs off the jagged edge. I can feel the splinters of wood digging into my stomach and chest as I swing back and forth.

Slowly, Lightning starts to pull us up till Arrow can stand on her own. Then Lightning takes my hooves in his and helps to pull me the rest of the way. Once we all make it back onto solid ground, we fall against the wall, panting. “T...Thank...you,” I manage to tell them.

Arrow nods as she gets up and grabs her rifle in her magic again. “Don’t...mention it,” Lightning says. “I’m just...glad I got...there in...time.” Arrow’s rifle goes off and she ejects the round.

“We should get back...to it,” I say as I get my breathing under control. I’m still shaking a bit from the experience, but we have a job we need to do. It shouldn’t be too long now since the rangers managed to move up. I get to my hooves and join Arrow at the railing. Lightning joins us moments later.

In the time we spent staying alive, the rangers have managed to push up the line considerably. Raider corpses are strewn about behind the advancing ranger line. The three of us continue to shoot down at the remaining raiders and dodge their return fire until we can no longer see the ones under us.

We walk around the remaining balcony and make sure no raiders are trying to make a run for it. In the distance, I see a raider running towards the northern gate. Seconds later, Arrow takes them out. “Ok, you two stay up here and watch the plaza exits. I’m going to check on Thunder and the status below us,” I tell them.

The gunfire has tapered off for the most part and now only a few shots can be heard every now and then. I quickly make my way to Thunder on the first floor and see a pile of spent 5 mm cartridges on the ground next to him. His armor is covered in scratches, dings, and has a few holes. A small pile of blood is under him.

“Thunder!” I call out as I approach him. “Are you alright? You’re bleeding!” I ask him worriedly. He doesn’t shift his gaze from the door as I speak.

“I’m fine,” he says. “Just small wound in the shoulder and a few scrapes on my sides. Cleaning my armor is going to be a pain though. I am running low on ammo though,” he informs me.

It is only when he says this that I look at the doorway. At least fifteen dead raiders surround the entrance and the walls are covered in blood and bullet holes. The door itself is hanging by one hinge and is perpurated with bullet holes.

While I inspect Thunder’s handiwork, the door opens and chooses that moment to break off the hinge and fall to the floor. Standing in doorway is Senior Paladin Twinkle, still carrying around the two minigun saddles. A single gunshot punctuates her entry.

“Good work, the raiders in the plaza are all dead. Eberron has been appeased. The assault group will clear the rest of the surrounding houses,” Senior Paladin Twinkle says. She looks around and says, “Where is Crusader Iron? Is he still topside?”

Thunder falls to his haunches and lets out a barely audible curse. I bite my lip and look down at the floor. “He...he fell in combat,” I tell her sadly. Upon uttering these words, she stomps up to me and looks me directly in the eyes.

“Show me,” she says with a hint of hesitation in her voice. I look between her and Thunder for a few times as I think.

“Ma’am, Thunder is injured. And we should probably tell Arrow and Lightning they can come down now. I think-” I begin to say but she interrupts me with a stomp of her hoof.

“Now!” She says weakly despite her volume. I hesitate for a moment, but lead her outside and towards Iron’s body. As we walk, she calls out, “Paladin Glint! Get the medics to see to Knight Thunder in the town hall.”

We reach Iron’s body and she glares at it for a long moment. “Which of them did this?” She asks. “You killed them, correct? Because if they are still alive...not even Eberron himself can stop me from extracting my vengeance on them,” she says as anger grows in her voice.

“Their leader, Railspike got him with a gauss rifle. Lightning killed him. I saw his corpse...It wasn’t pretty,” I inform her as we both stare at Iron’s body.

“Good,” she says as her anger seems to fade slightly. “Where is Iron’s head?” She asks me.

“There’s...nothing left of it,” I tell her. She tenses up for a moment, but then stomps her hoof before rearing up and shaking the minigun saddles off her back.

Wordlessly, she approaches Iron’s body and begins to put him on her back. I attempt to use my magic to help, but she says, “No! I’ll do this myself.” I let my magic fade and watch as she gets his body onto her back. “Those miniguns were heavy,” she says sadly, “but this burden feels so much heavier.”

She turns to walk back towards the bridge, but I speak up, “Senior Paladin Twinkle, we found some captives. Can I set them free?” She stops and I can see her legs quiver for a moment.

“Yes. Get your squad and do so,” she tells me. Her voice is barely audible, and I think I can almost hear her crying. She continues towards the bridge as I follow behind her silently to meet up with the others.

After regrouping with Arrow and Lightning, we return to the room the captives are in. Thunder stayed with the medics to patch him up and the other rangers have started piling up the dead raiders. We quickly set about freeing the captives, who are more than thankful to be out of the cages.

Arrow and Lightning tend to the buck, his foal, and the two other mares, while I help the mare I saw get captured long ago. Compared to the others, she is in poor shape. Her front right leg has been broken and a harness has been put on it.

“Miss, are you able to stand?” I ask her. She nods slightly as she struggles to get to her hooves, keeping her broken leg elevated.

“I...I think so,” she tells me as she hobbles out of the cage. As she does so, she stumbles on the lip of the entrance. Right before she falls, I catch her and put her good leg around my shoulders. “Thanks,” she says with a hint of guilt in her voice.

“Think nothing of it. My name is Ratchet, by the way. We’ll have our medics look you, and everyone else over,” I tell her as we all begin to leave the room. The other captives are able to walk on their own, so Arrow and Lightning just stick close to them.

“My name is Rose. I don’t think I can ever thank you enough, Ratchet. I had given up hope of ever escaping here,” she says as she looks at Arrow and Lightning. “But, you’re all Steel Rangers, aren’t you? I didn’t think they helped others?” She asks.

I frown as I say, “I’m actually new to their ranks. From what I understand, a lot of other Steel Rangers have become corrupted. Our group, however, still holds true to the original values of the rangers. You’re safe now.” She smiles, looking relieved.

As our group continues out and across the plaza, CORA suddenly speaks up as we near the town hall again. “Hey Ratchet, Lightning said that the terminal up there was working, right?” She says. “It might be possible that we can download the rest of the updates for your PipBuck from it!” She announces excitedly.

“What? Really?” I ask curiously. “Stable 36 was cut off from the outside, but you think that random terminal would have the updates?” She nods her head vigorously.

“It is the town hall, so if it is the mayor’s terminal it would make sense it would be connected to the update servers. It is worth a try, at the least,” she tells me. I think for a moment as we are passing the building.

“Lightning,” I say quickly, “would you mind helping Rose? I’m going to look at the terminal in the town hall quick.” Lightning stops walking towards the bridge and turns towards me.

“Not a problem,” he says as he trots over to us and takes Rose from my shoulders. “I’ve got you miss,” he says as he settles her on his shoulders.

“Thank you,” I tell him. “You two see that they reach the medics, alright? I’ll catch up with you in a bit.” Lightning and Arrow nod to me before they continue on with the group. As they begin to walk off, I gallop into the town hall and quickly climb to the second floor.

Once I’m at the terminal, I use my PipBuck’s cable to hook into the computer. “Ok, now what CORA?” I ask her. There are various options on the terminal, but nothing that looks like what I need.

“It seems Railspike changed a lot of things on this terminal. But, I should be able to find the update server. I’ll also download the entries Railspike made, so we can show it to the Elder when we get back,” she announces. Her face disappears from my vision and appears on the terminal.

“Ok, let me see…” she says as she moves around on the terminal screen. “Here maybe? No...maybe here?” As she goes around, a message flashes on my screen that says ‘Download Complete’. “Ah, good!” she says, “his files are all downloaded. Now then…” She trails off with a look of determination on her face.

After a few moments she exclaims, “Eureka!” A new message appears on my PipBuck that says ‘Update In Progress’. CORA then disappears from the terminal and reappears in my vision. “I found the update servers!” She tells me, “It should only take a few minutes to finish.”

A few minutes go by with CORA’s eyes moving like she is reading something before a new message flashes into my vision. ‘COMPATIBILITY ERROR, UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO SERVERS DETECTED.’ CORA’s eyes go wide as she begins looking around wildly.

“Oh no, this isn’t good,” she says. “Is it because it’s a custom model? No...then why...Oh no…” she trails off as a new message appears in my vision. ‘TROJAN DETECTED.’ CORA looks around wildly as she says, “The terminal had a trojan type virus on it. When we connected to the terminal, it jumped over to us.”

“Hold on Ratchet, let me see if I can contain it,” she says as her face disappears. My PipBuck screen is filled with status bars, error codes, and lines of information. A few moments later, CORA reappears. “Ratchet, this is going to be tricky. It will take a while, but I might-” she’s cut off as her face again disappears from vision.

A moment later, she reappears screaming, “NO! GET OUT OF ME!” Her face is contorted into a look of terror and pain. “STOP IT!” She shouts. Once again, her face disappears, however this time it is replaced by a black skull that appears to be laughing.

As quickly as it appears, it is gone. A moment later, my PipBuck shuts down completely. I frantically try to turn it back on. “CORA! CORA are you alright?” I yell. With the power refusing to turn back on, I rip the cord from the terminal and begin pressing all of the buttons on the PipBuck.

“Come on CORA, speak to me! Don’t let this virus win! CORA! CORA!” I shout at the PipBuck. However, no matter what I say or do nothing happens and the PipBuck remains dark and lifeless. Falling to my haunches and staring blankly at the empty screen I mutter out, “CORA...you can’t be gone...not you too…”

===~+~===

Level Up!
+2 Energy Weapons
+12 Small Guns
+4 Speech

New Perk:
--Educated: 2 extra skill points per level

Quest Completed: “Prisoner Rescue”

Chapter 7 - Scavenge

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Chapter 7 - Scavenge

“Sometimes all that you can do is attempt to scavenge what you have left.”

===~+~===

“Rangers! We stand here in honor of our fallen brother, Crusader Iron! Iron was an honorable buck who put others before himself. You have all heard the stories and some of you have even had the privilege to see him in action. If everypony in the wastes were as selfless as Iron, it would be a better place and maybe we wouldn’t need to go into battle,” Elder Archimedes addresses every ranger from Stable 36.

We are all gathered outside the back of the farmhouse around a freshly dug grave. Three older graves lay beside it. Every ranger is clad in their armor and robes, standing at attention as we listen to the Elder talk. I can only watch blankly as he talks.

When we returned from Ponyville yesterday, Iron’s body was cleaned and prepared for this funeral. After the debriefing I had taken refuge on my cot, soaking it with my tears and regrets. I kept thinking about how this was somehow my fault and the moment of his death ran through my mind over and over again.

I had been inconsolable up until the funeral when Arrow came to get me. CORA and my PipBuck had also remained silent, and this only added to my despair. However, by the time Iron’s funeral came around, I had no more tears to shed and could only look on sadly.

“The raiders of the Track Gang are no more and their hostages have been rescued,” the Elder continues, “This accomplishment is thanks in no small part to Crusader Iron. A lot of us grew up with Iron, and he will not soon be forgotten. We will tell tales of him for generations to come. Keeping him in your memories, let us observe a moment of silence for our fallen brother.”

The rangers bow their heads as silence follow the Elder’s words. After a few moments pass the Elder speaks up again, “Alright rangers, at ease.” The rangers relax a bit as the Elder continues, “I think we should hear from Scribe Crusader Ratchet before we end Iron’s service. We have all known Iron for a long time, but she had only met him. Ratchet, if you would?”

Caught off guard, I hesitantly take a step forward as Elder Archimedes motions me up. After I take a place beside him, he nods his head for me to begin. I think for a moment and swallow the lump in my throat as I look out at the rangers before me.

“I didn’t know Crusader Iron for very long,” I begin. “However, in that small time I learned what kind of pony he was. He stood up for what he believed and tried to carry everything on his shoulders. The night before the battle, Iron told me about his exploits, about how he earned his scars. Everything from the very first battle once the Stable opened,” I pause for a moment to collect myself.

“Elder Archimedes said that if everyone was like Iron, the wasteland would be a better place. However, we shouldn’t try to be like Iron.” As I say this, I notice a lot of the rangers glaring at me. I take a breath and continue, “He wouldn’t want us to be like him. He told me about the things he has seen and done, and after getting to know him, I know he wouldn’t wish those things on anyone.”

I shake my head. “We shouldn’t try to be like him, but aim to be better than him. Iron tried to carry all of our lives on his shoulders. But each of us should help to carry that burden and protect each other like Iron protected all of us. He never thought of himself as a hero, but simply as somepony doing what was right. But to me, he is a hero.”

I can’t think of anything else to say so I look to the Elder, who nods and begins clapping his hooves together. The other rangers quickly follow in clapping until he motions for them to stop and addresses them once again.

“Rangers, Ratchet’s words could not have been any truer. In her short time with us, she had truly become one of us. This concludes Iron’s funeral service. Take the next few days to remember him however you wish. Guards will still need to be posted, however,” Elder Archimedes announces.

As he finishes up, and the rangers start to leave, something wet hits my nose. I recoil for a moment before I look up. Snow has started to fall. I look at it mournfully until I notice the Elder step up beside me.

“The heavens themselves are remembering Iron,” he says. “When you are ready, come by my room. No hurry,” he tells me as he pats me on the shoulder. I don’t move my gaze from the falling snow even as he beings to walk away.

===~+~===

“Ah! Ratchet, good. I think it is time we talk,” Elder Archimedes says as soon as I step inside. He motions towards the couches as he sits on one of them. I walk over and sit across from him.

“Do you remember our talk about trust a while ago?” He asks me. I nod in response. “Good. I wanted to say that I think I trust. It isn’t just from watching you and hearing about how you carried yourself in the field, either. I just have to ask you one thing. What did Iron tell you about our first battle?”

I raise an eyebrow and say, “He told me a lot. About finding the raiders, about losing control of the situation, and about Lily taking over for us. He also mentioned the three rangers and died in the fight. He said that is why he always risked himself for others.”

Elder Archimedes nods as I finish telling him. “Very good. Iron wouldn’t have told you about that if he didn’t trust you. Not many know about it.” I raise my hoof to object since Iron was drunk at the time, but the Elder waves his hoof dismissively. “I know what you’re thinking. And even drunk, Iron would never have told anyone unless he trusted them.”

“However, now that you have gained my trust there is the question of if I have yours. I would like to think that I have, and moving forward I would like for us to trust each other,” Elder Archimedes explains.

“Elder,” I tell him, “you haven’t done anything that would lead me to distrust you. In fact, you have been quite helpful and more than accommodating. To show that I trust you, I will tell you about my past and why I look so young.”

I take a breath before going on. “I lived before the Megaspells fell and used to work for the Ministry of Arcane Sciences. I was working on a system to preserve ponies who would later be brought back when they were needed using cryogenics. On the day of our first test, I climbed into the chamber. When I woke up, the Megaspells had fallen and my lab was in a poor state.”

“That is why I want to borrow you’re mining equipment to clear the tunnels of my lab and begin restoring it. If nothing else, I might find something that can still be of use to the ponies of the wasteland,” I explain.

“Oh,” The Elder says with an odd lack of surprise, “looks like Arrow won the bet. My caps were on genetic modification.” he lets out a chuckle as he says this.

I recall Iron’s words regarding a bet on how I looked so young. “Seriously?” I exclaim. “Even you took a stake in the bet? Just how many others were betting on this?” I ask him, astonished.

“Oh you know, it became a running thing throughout the ranks. Kept other things off their minds, you know? But, now that we trust each other, let’s get to a bit of business, shall we?” Elder Archimedes asks rhetorically. “So. The hostages from Ponyville have all left, aside from Rose. Her leg was fairly mangled, as you know. While we did what we could, it will take her some time until she recovers enough to leave.”

“About that, Elder,” I speak up. “When she does recover, I would like to escort her to her next destination. It would give me a good reason to see the rest of what Equestria has become. I also want to make sure she gets there safely,” I tell him.

“Indeed…” The Elder thinks for a moment then says, “Very well. I will let you know when she has recovered. Now, on to another subject. I do not currently have anyone qualified to take Iron’s place as a Crusader. As such, Lynx Squad will be broken up and set to work under other Crusaders.” He pauses for a moment before continuing.

“However, I would like them to stick together as they work well together. That leaves me with one option, and that is to put them under your command,” Elder Archimedes says. “Now, before you answer, I know you don’t have much experience leading soldiers. So it is entirely up to you. I won’t force you into any battles,” he tells me.

His offer renders me speechless for a few moments before I manage to say, “But wouldn’t having three of your soldiers out of the fight be detrimental? I mean, what if you face another large, well armed force? You are already short on combatants as it is.”

He nods, acknowledging my concerns. “To be honest Ratchet, for many of those born in this Stable, they have no idea what the outside world contains. Most long range scouting is done by older, more trained rangers. Very few of the young ones have gone further than Ponyville,” Elder Archimedes explains.

“I’m willing to let these three young ones leave, under your command so that all of you can attain a mutually beneficial growth. They will learn of the wasteland and you will learn to lead. I fear for the future of our contingent if our future generations know nothing about the vast expanses of Equestria,” he says with a sigh.

“With so many already established squads, getting new fighters experience is a challenge I have been pondering for a few months now. I plan to begin mixing up the squads, but I think in you particular case I would prefer to keep Lynx Squad together,” Elder Archimedes tells me. “So, what do you say?”

“What would I do? Just lead them around aimlessly?” I ask him. To be honest, I would like to have some company since CORA has appeared to have….Regardless, help is always good. However, after losing Iron and CORA, I’m not sure I can handle losing anyone else.

“You have the same freedoms of a Star Paladin. What you do is entirely up to you. I’m sure you had some other plans if you didn’t find us. If nothing else, go see other cities, meet the inhabitants of the wasteland, and help out where you can,” he says with a smile. “We are Steel Rangers, after all, helping Equestria’s citizens is what we do.”

I think about what he has said and about my feelings on the matter. After weighing the pros and cons I decide, “Ok. I’ll lead Lynx Squad. For our first mission, we will begin to fix up my lab. Our second mission will begin when you contact us after Rose has recovered, we will escort her to her destination.” As I explain my plan to him, I begin to gain confidence in my choice.

“Very good!” He says with a wide grin, taking on his more cheerful tone he usually has. “Now then, I expect you will be heading out to your lab tomorrow, correct? Oh yes, speaking of, where is it located?” He asks, floating over a map as he does so. He unfurls it on the table between us.

I look over the map for a moment before pointing to a place just west of Canterlot. “Right here,” I say, placing my hoof on the map. “The entrance to it is under a steel shack along the road. There are a few run down buildings around it as well. You’ll know you found it if you see the graves beside the shack,” I tell him.

“Graves?” Elder Archimedes asks as he makes a mark on the map where I indicated.

“When I woke up, CORA told me a few of my lab members tried to leave the Stable before the radiation went down. They died right outside one of the bulkheads. I buried their remains before I left,” I explain sadly, recalling the task.

“I see,” He says as he puts the map away. “Well, you aren’t too far from us. You will definitely be in radio range. We will definitely equip you with one, perhaps two, since they can sometimes be buggy. In addition to your honorary armor,” the Elder says with a slight sadness in his voice.

“Wait, what armor? I told you I didn’t want any before,” I remind him. More specifically, I didn’t want to take something they could use better without giving them something in return.

“I know,” he says with a sigh. “However, I’m talking about Iron’s armor. It has been patched up, and I know he would want you to have it, especially as the new leader of Lynx Squad. Though, we will need a new…” he pauses for a moment before saying, “helmet. And, your squad will be the first to get their armor marked.”

“What do you mean marked?” I ask him.

“I thought that when I get the new squads worked out, branding the armors with their squad insignias would help build a sense of comradery. Lynx Squad’s armor will bear the print of a Lynx paw. These insignia will also help us stand out from the...other...Steel Rangers,” He says with a hint of malice in his voice.

I sigh before replying, “If it is Iron’s armor, I’ll accept it. However, I might not wear it all the time and I’ll probably make various upgrades to it. Especially to integrate it with my,” I look sadly at my PipBuck as I continue, “Pipbuck…”

Elder Archimedes sighs, “It still hasn’t turned back on, has it? I’d offer our help in looking at it, but I think that you have more experience with PipBucks than anyone here. You said that CORA is based off your own personality, right? If that is the case, don’t rule her out just yet.”

I nod in agreement with his words. “Right. If anyone can fight the virus, it’s her. I tried looking at the coding when I got back, but it was a complete mess and unreadable. I made sure to isolate the terminal I used, by the way,” I tell him.

He gives me a smile as he says, “Of course. Now then, rest up. Today I will prepare your squad’s armor, radios, and the mining equipment you want to barrow. Come morning, you can set off for your lab. I suppose I should also notify your squad about your leadership, as well.” Elder Archimedes lets out a long sigh. “Back to work, I suppose.”

He gets up from the couch and motions for me to follow him to the door. Standing next to it, he nods for me to leave. Once I exit the room, he calls after me as I walk down the hallway, “Ratchet, we will fight in Iron’s memory, like the others who fell before him. Equestria will become peaceful again.”

===~+~===

The following morning, Lynx Squad gathers its gear and meets up at the entrance. I begrudgingly wear the Power Armor, minus the leg armor that my PipBuck is on. Sure, I could have just taken the PipBuck off, but doing so feels...odd now. I also keep the helmet off and in my bag, since I’m not that use to wearing it yet. Having something covering my horn just feels wrong to me.

Thunder has all of his equipment, in addition to the mining drill the Elder is lending us. Lightning is carrying our radios and a portion of the equipment the Elder says all scouting parties get. Bedrolls, a supply of food, and a map. What Lightning isn’t carrying, Arrow and I split up between ourselves.

As we are about to set out, Elder Archimedes calls out to us. “One more thing, Ratchet,” He says as I turn back to look at him, barely catching Raptor Blood in my magic before it hit me in the muzzle. “I don’t want this here. I know you’re not good with larger weapons yet, so destroy it, use it, sell it, do with it what you will. I just do not want it in my Stable any longer,” he tells me.

“Thank you,” I reply, “I’ll figure something out for it. Just remember Elder, radio us when Rose is healed and ready to set out. We’ll come and escort her home.” The Elder smiles at me as he raises a hoof to wave us goodbye.

“Of course. The instant she is ready, you’ll know,” The Elder says with a chuckle. “Well, don’t let me keep you, we’ll see you soon.” I give him a nod before turning and leading everyone else out of the basement.

After we get a good distance from the house I speak up, “The walk won’t be too long, my lab is only about an hour southeast of here. I’m pretty sure I can find it without my PipBuck’s marker.”

“Pretty sure?” Thunder says with a groan. “In other words, we are going to be wandering around between here and Canterlot till we stumble upon it, right?” He asks letting out a sigh.

“No,” I tell him, rolling my eyes. “It is along a road and should be hard to miss in the daylight.” As I say this I realize that the snow that fell during Iron’s funeral is nowhere to be seen. It was a bit early in the year for snowfall, usually we have about a month before the first snowfall. At least, in the old world we did.

“Say what you will, Ratchet,” Thunder retorts, “but you aren’t the one carrying the heavy ass drill.” He groans again as he shifts the weight of the drill.

Lightning snarks back at him, “Oh please, you are the one who volunteered to carry it. Claiming you were the strongest out of all of us and such. And Scribe Crusader Ratchet is our leader now, you should address her as such.

I shake my head, “No, please. Ratchet is just fine, no need for formalities. I’m your leader, but also your friend, right? There is no need to be so strict.” Iron hadn’t used titles and I wasn’t really much for them myself, even my old lab assistants just called me Ratchet.

“...Ratchet…” I barely hear Arrow mutter. It makes me smile for some reason.

“Anyhow, I’ve never broken a bone. How long do you think Rose will take to heal?” I ask them. While want her to get better fast, I also want to see if I can get my lab working.

“Well, her leg was in pretty bad shape. The raiders cared for it poorly. There is only so much we can do with the medical technology left, and we refuse to use drugs like hydra which can have negative effects if used frequently,” Lightning says rather matter-of-factly.

“Honestly, I’d say we have around two weeks for her leg to heal and then another week or so until she can use it properly,” he continues. “So we can expect just less than a month to get your lab working.”

Thunder groans and says, “Why do you even want to fix it? Didn’t you say it was just a pre-apocalypse experiment? Seems our time might be better used elsewhere.”

“Well,” I reply, “with the whole apocalypse happening, it is really the only place I can call home now. The rangers have been friendly to me, but Stable 36 feels unfamiliar to me. Also, some of my worker’s bodies are still trapped behind the rubble. I owe them a proper burial at the least.”

As I tell them this, another thought occurs to me. “Besides, my lab has a generator that can provide a lot of power for a long time. It also has facilities to create new things, assuming its stock of materials hasn’t been destroyed,” I tell them.

“Fair enough,” Thunder says. “At least you aren’t going to use it to escape into like the other rangers.” The malice in his voice when mentioning the other rangers is very obvious.

“Of course I wouldn’t hide in my lab. I want to help the wasteland, not-” I stop mid sentence as I hear a faint sound. It sounded like a voice. Coming to a stop, I perk my ears up and listen for a few moments.

“...chet…” I hear it again. It started out barely audible but louder as if it had gotten closer. I look around for the source of the voice, but find nothing.

“Ra-a-a-atche-e-e-et, I-I-I…” The voice says again. It has an almost synthetic sound to it and appears to be glitching up. A sudden realization strikes me as I bring my PipBuck up to my face. Its screen is flickering between off and the normal icy blue it displays.

“CORA?!” I almost shout into the PipBuck. “That’s you, right? Are you ok?” I frantically press at a few buttons trying to get the PipBuck to stay on like normal. After a moment, the display flashing blue and stays lit up.

“Ratch-ch-chet-t-t…” a loud static pop follows what I hope is CORA’s voice and my PipBuck goes quiet for a few panic filled moments. However the voice comes out again after a while, sounding less synthetic and without any glitches. “Ratchet! I’m back!” CORA shouts triumphantly.

“CORA!” I shout gleefully back at her. “I thought you were gone! What happened? Are you ok now?” I ask her.

“I’m alright!” She declares. “But, i can’t say the same about your PipBuck’s functions,” she tells me with a hint of guilt in her voice. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t save all of its functions from the virus,” she says.

I shake my head. “That’s fine, CORA. All that matters is that you are alright. We are heading back to the lab, right now. Why don’t you tell us about what happened while we walk?” I ask her.

“Sure! You see, when the virus attacked, it put me on the defensive. It began corrupting systems and began attempting to assault my coding. It was at that moment I began screaming out and ultimately shut down the PipBuck systems in an attempt to isolate it from me,” she states.

We continue walking and after a short time my vision suddenly flashing a blinding white. “Ah! What the hell was that?” I yell. But the others don’t seem to be acting like anything is wrong. “Wait a moment...was that…” I begin to ask, but CORA jumps in with an answer.

“That’s correct! I booted up your HUD. But, like I said, when the virus attacked, it corrupted a lot of the remaining systems. You’ll notice the only thing you see in your vision now is the EFS compass and me,” CORA tells me with a wave of her hoof.

“The inventory management system was beyond recovery, so it cannot list your ammo anymore. Also, the EFS will no longer display any living entities. It has become an ordinary compass,” she adds.

“Anyhow, once I was able to begin fighting the virus, I set up a firewall around myself and then attempted to contain the other systems as well. It hadn’t focused on one specific system, but spread out the damage among most of them. By the time I got to the EFS and the Data Storage systems, much of the code had already been corrupted,” she says with a scowl on her face.

“I destroyed the corrupted code I couldn’t salvage and then firewalled what remained. Most of the files we got from Railspike’s terminal were lost. I prioritized the proof of his dealings with Grimoire, however. Additionally, I saved the systems that light up the PipBuck so you can see better and that held your map data, so it should still be functioning about the same as it was before,” she says as she nods her head.

“When I managed to firewall everything that was left, I trapped the virus where it currently was, the SATS coding. I blocked it off and completely purged that section of coding from the system. I’ve been trying to restore the remaining functions since then,” CORA tells me as she yawns.

“I’ll summarize your remaining systems, then i’m going to sleep. Well, the AP equivalent of sleep anyhow. You currently have the Compass, Light, Data Storage, Radio, and myself! Everything else has been corrupted, purged, or destroyed. Anyhow, I’m going to sleep now. I’ll see you all later!” She declares and then her face disappears from my vision.

“Well, that was interesting. But I’m glad she’s safe,” I say with a smile. CORA still being here makes me feel a lot better than before. This is also the first time she has mentioned sleeping though. I wonder if that’s what she was doing all those times when she was oddly quiet.

“Yea..how much further?” Thunder asks for what feels like the hundredth time. He groans and shifts the drill on his back.

“Actually…” I pull up the PipBuck’s map and take a look. “It should be just over this hill,” I tell him. After a few moments we make it up the hill we were climbing and look down at the road that runs to Canterlot and goes past the shed my lab’s entrance is hidden in.

“It’s right there,” I tell them as I point of hoof at the shed. They begin walking past me as my hoof is sticking out. I however am stuck standing there looking over the three structures in front of me.

The shed I came out of, the house I found that family in, and the house that nearly collapsed on top of me. It seems like forever ago and compared to how I was back then, I’m almost like a different person. I hadn’t used a gun before, but now I’ve killed ponies. I’ve seen ponies die in front of me.

I shake my head to clear my thoughts and catch up with the others. “I hope it looks better on the inside,” Thunder remarks.

Lightning rolls his eyes, “It is a lab, brother, of course it will look better inside. The outside is just to make it look inconspicuous.”

“Actually, the inside is kind of a mess right now. A few decades of dust, a hallway collapse, and my associates made a bit of a mess before they died. But, it won’t take much to clean it up,” I tell them.

We reach the shed and I open the hidden hatch in the floor. As we climb down, they turn on their head lamps and illuminate the pitch black tunnel. “Holy fuck, it really is like a Stable down here. And that bulkhead, for Luna’s sake, it's been blown off it’ hinges,” Thunder remarks.

“Yea, that was the Rangers that tried to leave the lab before the radiation went down. They made it to the next door, but died there,” I tell him. We continue past the broken bulkhead and begin walking down the longer part of the tunnel. As we near the next one, Lightning speaks up.

“That armor over there, that’s ranger armor. They are the part of your staff, right?” Lightning asks.

“Yea, it is just armor now though. I buried their remains in the graves outside the shed,” I answer. Compared to the last time I was in here with only my PipBuck to light it up, I don’t feel the strange terror and unease I felt while alone.

As we get closer to them I say, “Once we drop off our gear, we should really collect the armor and bring it in with us. I didn’t have time to look it over when I left, but it might have something useful.”

Thunder nods but says, “That’s if we can even get in. These doors are powered, aren’t they? We going to blow it like the previous door?”

“Actually,” I speak up to stop Thunder from shooting the door. “I think there is a mechanical release on the panel,” I say as I walk up to the control panel. “I just have to input the code for it...and…” I magically put in the code and hit the release button. As I do so, a loud hiss emits from the door.

“Ok, let’s push it open,” I tell them as I walk up to the bulkhead and brace myself to push it open. The others take their places against the door and we begin to push it open. For a few moments, the door doesn’t move, but after few tries it begins to push back into the hallway.

Once we get it as far back as it will go, we begin rolling it into the slot in the wall. We push it just far enough of the way to get through it. “Celestia those doors are heavy,” Thunder pants. “I mean, I knew they were but geez. Thank Luna for power armor. That would have been impossible otherwise.”

“This is one of the few times we agree on something,” Lightning says, panting as well. “Now then let’s unload...our...gear…” He trails off as he walks through the gap we made and gets into the next part of the hallway. “There is another bulkhead!? Are you kidding me!” He shouts.

With no small amount of complaining about the architect’s decision to put in so many bulkheads, we repeat the process on this one as well. Once we get this one however, we all collapse onto the floor gasping for breath.

“I’m really glad...I have you all...with me…” I tell them between breaths. After a few moments of recuperating, we pick ourselves up and continue into my lab. As we wind through the halls, nothing has really changed since I left. Which is probably a good thing.

Soon, we reach the clinic and unload our gear. “Thank Luna…” Thunder says as he sets the drill on the ground. “That fucker was heavy.”

“We know,” Lightning replies snarkily, “you told us that countless times.” Thunder shoots him a glare as he chuckles.

“Ok everypony, this will be our home for a while. Pick a cot and take a breather. I hope you don’t mind the dark, since we don’t have any power for lights yet. When we are all rested up, we can bring in that armor, start clearing the hallways, and cleaning up around here,” I tell them.

“My goal is to have the lab running before the Elder contacts us. We have about month, so let’s see what we can do. Our priority is power, everything else is secondary. Let me tell you the layout quick,” I tell them as we unpack.

“Out of the clinic and to the left is the armory, experiment chamber, and the Canterlot exit. With Canterlot irradiated, don’t go down that hallway. It is the one that branches to the left. Out of the clinic and to the right is the entrance we came from and a collapsed tunnel,” I begin explaining.

“Through that tunnel if you keep going straight, you will find the power room. Along that route on your left will be the workshop and on your right will be the chemical and material storage and experimentation lab,” I continue.

“If you turn down the only other hallway, it will lead you to the offices and sleeping quarters. I have my own office at the end of the hallway, and right before it is a hallway leading to the other offices and the sleeping quarters,” I finish up the mental tour.

“Ah, I see,” Lightning says. “Keeping the main experiment chamber as far from the generator and other labs as possible. Good idea, unlike the bulkheads.” Arrow giggles at that remark as Thunder nods in agreement.

“Exactly!” I reply. “So, let’s get to work, shall we?”

Chapter 8 - Let There Be Light

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Chapter 8 - Let There Be Light

“With power, comes progress.”

===~+~===

With the sound of drilling ever constant in my ears, focusing on reworking my suit’s new wiring was hard. Considering Thunder was now drilling right on the other side of the wall from me now, it was no surprise at just how loud it was, even with the workshop’s door closed. I began to think about how far we had come in restoring the lab to distract myself from the noise.

After breaking through the initial pile of rubble, we gained access to the workshop and material storage rooms. However, more rubble blocked the way to the generator and the offices. It had taken only a few more days to gain access to the generator, and luckily it was a quick fix. Just had to replace a blown gasket, replace a fuse, and and undo the failsafe both those issues triggered.

Once the power was restored, we set about thoroughly cleaning the lab of dust and debris. It was a challenge, but we also got most of the cameras, PA system, and turrets working again as well. With the visuals restored, I put CORA back into the system so she could monitor it for us.

Due to the neglect of the generator, CORA reported the efficiency dropped by 13%. However, it would still provide us constant power for another few hundred years. With nothing to worry about in terms of sustainability, I began to focus on tinkering in the workshop, which brings us to this moment.

Thankfully, the lifts used to support the empty power armor of my previous crew still functions and I have their armor and my own suspended from them. I don’t like the current power armor that I have, and I am determined to customize it. Especially so it can fit around my PipBuck.

I drew up some plans for the modifications I want to make and began pulling the suits apart. A fair amount of the armor my crew wore when they went outside had rusted from time. However, most of the interior components remain functional. Only after completely dismantling all the suits and laying the usable components in front of me to see, taking up most of the floor space I might add, did I begin building my new armor.

I melted down the spare armor and metal from storage to form new components and armor segments. I kept most of Iron’s old armor the same, only cutting through parts of it to create more segmentation.

One thing that bugs me about the ranger armor is how hard it is to put on. Even with magic it can take a good few minutes to get it all situated. I decided to resolve this issue by splitting the most of the suit in half down to the hooves. I welded the helmet on the body of the armor as well before doing this.

Now, the armor is one whole piece instead of multiple. The underside, legs, and neck remained whole, up to the helmet anyhow. The suit would essentially split open along the back and allow me to slip in and out of it, trigger a switch, and have it close tightly around me. Once I got the wiring correct, anyhow.

I’d simply slide my legs into the leg holes just like socks, aside from my front left leg armor, which swings out so my PipBuck can fit inside a screen sized hole I cut in it. It then secures shut like the rest of the armor does.

And speaking of armor, using the extra metal I added on a bunch! Such as fortifying the front and having plates slide down over the seam of the armor to prevent weak points. Of course, I doubled the weight of the regular armor in doing so. But I manage to cancel that out when wearing it by adding an extra strength talisman to the armor.

I did, however, leave a hole for my horn, instead of encapsulating it. Call me odd, but I just really do not like the feeling of my horn being surrounded by metal. Once in the suit, it is the only part of me that is still visible.

To deal with the addition of the extra armor and components, quite a few things were scraped from the original armor. The waste disposal, voice amplification, the HUD, mainly since I have my own, and quite a few of the other non-essential systems.

I added quite a few things other than armor, however. Like the extra strength talisman, I added an extra auto repair talisman for extra recovery during battles. Taking a note from Senior Paladin Twinkle, and making use of my old crews’ miniguns, I mounted two on each side for a total of four.

Due to this, a large portion of the interior space I had to work with was converted into ammunition storage for the guns. In total, the suit can carry about a thousand rounds per gun. To make use of my other weapons, I welded what is essentially a pocket onto the left side of the armor for my revolver. The major issue came with Raptor Blood.

With my poor usage of larger guns, I had thought to just leave it off. But CORA had a brilliant idea. She said to mount it on the back of the armor on a swivel and integrate it with the circuitry of the armor so she could use it. And solving just how to do that was a headache in itself.

But that brings me to my current headache, the suit’s wiring. If I could just run the wires on the top side of the armor, it would be fine and dandy, but no, I had to cut a seam down the top. Therefore, all the wires must cross from the left side to the right side, or vice versa, by going across the underside or neck.

I honestly could just run them across, that isn’t the problem, there is space for them all. My issue is, doing that looks horrendous. I am a stickler for cable management. I refuse to have cables criss-crossing and wrapping around each other if I can help it. Sometimes being this meticulous is a curse.

It has taken me two weeks to create the armor as it is now. These last two days I’ve been trying to run the cables so i can at least test it out. I’ve dealt with these wires for so long, I had a nightmare about wires last night.

I’m focusing so intently on the wires, that I don’t even realize that the drilling has stopped until Thunder suddenly says from right behind me, “Tunnel’s clear.” I nearly hit the ceiling I jumped so high. With my heart beating in my chest, I turn to him with a glare.

“Did you have to sneak up on me like that?” I ask him, giving him an annoyed look. He rolls his eyes as he points to the suit.

“I called your name five times, I even knocked on the door. You were just too busy with your suit to notice,” he lets out a chuckle. “Your reaction was priceless, however. Remind me to scare you some more later. Actually, don’t. It’ll ruin the surprise,” he tells me with a grin.

“Yea, yea, very funny. Anyhow, did you find any other blocks in the hallways?” I ask him as I turn my attention from the suit to him.

The grin disappears from his face as he says, “No, that was the last one. And I, uh...found the rest of your crew.” As he says this I feel my heart skip a beat as my eyes go wide. “They are in the living quarters,” he tells me.

The words barely leave his muzzle before I’m out of my chair and heading for the living quarters. As I reach the section of hallway where the rubble once stood, the stark difference between the clean section and the other side stood out to me. I stop at the precipice, surrounded by the remains of the rubble.

CORA’s explanation of what happened to the rest of my crew plays in my mind again. How they turned on each other and how she ultimately killed them. But what is really stopping me, is the fact that until I see their corpses, I can still remember them as flesh and blood ponies. It isn’t that I will forget what they looked like, but rather I won’t be able to forget what they have become.

It happened with the crew I already buried. Whenever I think back to their faces, I can’t help but to see the skeletons they have become, with lifeless eye sockets staring back at me. I can still think back on the rest of my crew without this fear, but once I see them now I’ll no longer be able to do that.

I can feel that my hooves have begun shaking and my breathing has become shallow, rapid breaths, but I can’t bring myself to move. It is CORA’s voice that finally causes me to take a normal breath as she says, “Ratchet, I can’t see anything past this point. I don’t know what’s wrong, but if you need me I’m here.”

“R-right…” I say at a whisper. I shake my head and take a deep breath as I hear Thunder approaching from behind. “Nothing’s wrong, CORA. Let’s see if I can restore the cameras in this section for you,” I tell her in a more normal sounding voice.

I take the first step into the newly uncovered section of my lab, then another, and another. As I walk, I can hear the sound of Thunder and I’s hooves. The only other sound is the slight buzzing of the lights.

After a few moments, we reach an intersection. Continuing forward would put us in my office and turning right will take us to the living quarters and other offices. I turn down the right hallway and push down the dust covered hall.

I pass the doorway to the offices and continue further into the hall. A few moments later, I arrive at the doorway to the living quarters. I stand in front of it for a time before I turn and continue to the end of the hallway.

At the end of the hallway is the breaker box for this area. I open it and look for the camera breaker. I quickly spot them and flip them from off to on. “Ah, there we go Ratchet,” CORA says. “I can see you now. All cameras appear to be functioning properly.” I nod as I close the box and return to the living quarter door.

Once again I find myself standing outside of it, unable to continue on. I close my eyes as Thunder watches silently. After a moment, I grab ahold of the door with my magic and open it. I step through the door and look around the room.

The layout is like a normal military barrack with beds lined along the walls, each with a locker at the foot of the bed. Fourteen beds in total, including my own. Two of the beds are occupied and have Steel Ranger armor resting atop the lockers. As I look at the far wall, I see two beds that have been flipped on their sides, forming somewhat of a barricade.

As I walk down the aisle between the rows of beds and towards the barricade, I remember that the turret in this room is on the side opposite the barricade. I turn around to look at the turret and then the floor beneath it. Littering the floor are dozens of spent 7.62 cartridges. Turning back towards the barricade, I can see bullet holes in the beds and walls.

I continue down the aisle and stop at the occupied beds which are side by side. Between them on the ground is a single rusted knife. I can feel anger rise up within me for a moment before it quickly fades. I turn my head back to the barricade and continue walking with a sigh. In a matter of moments I am standing between the beds.

As I look behind them, I see shredded clothing. The labcoats and mechanic jumpsuits my staff wore. Among the scraps, I also see the bones of my six remaining crew members. I look them over for a few moments before turning to Thunder.

“Get the others,” I say in a shallow voice. “Start collecting their remains. Keep them separate if you can. I’m going to...start digging. Bring them up when you can,” I tell him. Without waiting for an answer, I turn around and begin walking out of the room.

“Of course, Ratchet,” I hear Thunder say as I walk out.

I continue walking until I am outside the lab and in the shed. I pick up the shovel in my magic and go outside. It is about mid-afternoon as I begin digging a hole beside the graves I dug before.

‘Eight more,’ I think to myself as I take another shovel-full of dirt from the hole. ‘Eight more, and my staff can finally rest.’

===~+~===

By sundown, I finish burying the rest of my crew. Arrow, Thunder, and Lightning join me as I look over the thirteen graves. I had put a cross above each of them, and dug each grave myself, despite offers of help. I felt this was something I had to do myself.

I took a breath and look at each grave as I say, “Flora, Clank, Whistle, Dusky, Lemon Cream, Crimson, Feld Grau, Grell, Sawblade, Serenity, Lyric, Waning, and Lilac.” The names of my staff. It was hard to tell who was who from their bones alone, but I think I managed.

“I am sorry it took me so long to lay you all to rest. I am sorry that you all had to die for a project that was never put to actual use. But most of all, I am sorry for what each of you had to do in your last moments alive,” I say.

“I cannot begin to imagine what it was like for any of you. I want to say that I forgive you, and I hope that you can forgive each other if you meet in the afterlife. I have seen many horrible things in the wasteland and I’m sure I will see more before I am gone,” I continue.

“But there is one thing I want to promise each of you. You all helped me with my experiment, and I will make sure you didn’t die in vain. I will do what I can to help the wasteland and ensure something like this never happens again,” I tell them.

I renew the promise I made when I buried the first five members of my staff. Not only so I could make it to the ones who are newly laid to rest, but so I can reaffirm it in myself. With how the wasteland is now, there may be times that I want to give up or hide. But I mustn’t do that. I’m not only working in the memory of my crew, but for myself and for the future of Equestria.

I will ensure that Equestria recovers from this, somehow. And I will make sure that this mistake is never made again. As long as I am alive to prevent it, that is.

“Come on,” I say to the others. “Let’s get cleaning again. We don’t have much time left until the Elder contacts us.”

===~+~===

We spend the next two days cleaning the newly uncovered part of the lab. Once everything is clean and functioning properly again, I decide to log into my terminal for the first time in decades. I don’t know what I expect to find, but I wanted to take a break from the wiring.

I boot the terminal up and the fan inside of it spins to life, sending dust all over the desk I had just cleaned moments ago. “I’ll just clean that up later…” I sigh out. I type in my credentials and hit the return key.

Welcome back Miss Ratchet.
It has been 35 years since your last log in.
Would you like to view your unread messages? Y/N

Unread messages? What new messages could I have received since the war ended? I key in the Y button and hit return.

Displaying unread messages, oldest first:
MoAS Internal Communications - Weekly Newsletter
MoAS Internal Communications - THE END IS NIGH!
MoAS Internal Communications - Disregard Previous Message
MoAS Internal Communications - Evacuation Procedures and You!
Twilight Sparkle - I’m Sorry.

Most of them are what I expect, but the one from Twilight is a surprise. Saving that one for last, I briefly look at the others. The weekly newsletter is the same as the previously set out messages detailing the unclassified work of the MoAS and updates on the war effort.

The second is what you’d expect, some madpony must have gotten hold of the account and wrote things like “repent” and “we are all going to die”. That sort of thing. The following message was sent minutes after and says to continue business as usual, the employee who sent the previous message has been let go, and reassures that nothing is wrong.

Thirty minutes later the last MoAS message was received and says the first megaspell had gone off and lists the general evacuation procedures and what to do in case of emergencies. Twilight’s message arrived about two days later.

I open it up and read the two words in the message, “I’m sorry.” Below these words is an audio recording. I hesitate for a moment before I open the recording and play it.

===~+~===

“Ratchet, it’s Twilight. This is an automated message that is set to be set to you if I don't check in with it every few days. I do not know why I stopped it from being sent. Perhaps I finally decided to tell you the truth. Maybe I was killed or captured. I do not know what the reason is, but there is one thing I have to say to you, and that is that I am sorry.

I have betrayed you. More specifically, your trust. From the moment I looked over your plans, I knew that it could work. As such, I began researching it alone and improving upon it. I never told you anything I discovered, or shared my notes with you. But this isn’t why I am sorry. Listen Ratchet. I didn’t help you with your research as much as I could have because I wanted to see what you could do. Your project works, and I hope that you can forgive me for finding that out before you.

I know you are aware of the fact we have many classified projects. Some of these projects didn’t go the way we wanted them to. I took the liberty of perfecting your project and putting it to use to contain these projects. Because of your familiarity with this project, I am going to disclose the details of each of the projects I contained using yours. I will send you another message after this one with the details.”

Oh no. This is the last message I received. Does that mean that the other message go corrupted or failed to send?

“Not all of the projects are harmful, but a few could be dangerous if they got out. One such is a clone of Pinkie that went crazy. But there are good ones as well, such as a filly that shares the DNA of all the ministry mares. I know this might be a lot for you to take in, but if I don’t make it I need you to deal with these projects if you can.

Destroy them, maintain their sleep, or help them as needed. I am sorry I am forcing all this onto you. I am sorry that I kept the use of your project from you. But most importantly, I am sorry that I could not have been better.

I can’t make up for this, but I have promoted you and granted you access to specific MoAS classified information. As of this moment, you hold the rank of a high tier researcher. While you will not have access to Celestia Tier classified information, you will have access to all information regarding the cryogenic projects.

All Equestrian facilities owned by the MoAS and others we have access to have been updated with your credentials. You have helped Equestria more than you know. Once again, I am sorry.”

===~+~===

The audio recording stops as I sit in my chair trying to take it all in. In a bit of a daze, I ask CORA, “CORA, did you hear that? Did you know? That she promoted me, I mean.”

“I heard and I knew,” CORA says sadly. “I wanted to save it as a surprise but I didn’t know she sent that message. I received an update on your rank while you were in the cryopod.”

“Oh goddess...oh goddess…” I say, starting to hyperventilate. “No, no, no...First I get put in command of some Steel Rangers, now I am a high ranking member of the MoAS? Twilight’s and the others might be dead...CORA! Do you know the status of any MoAS facilities?” I shout at her.

“No, Ratchet. Any knowledge I’d have of them was lost when we lost outside communication. Even now, we don’t have any outside access. But, Twilight might have survived, right? She used teleportation to travel large distances, right?”

I nod at her words. “You have a point. I hope she managed to get to safety…” I trail off.

“Ratchet, I don’t really know what became of her. However, none of the ministries seem to have a presence in the wasteland. If she is still around, I think she must be busy with something of extreme importance,” CORA explains.

“I...I guess,” I say. “Yea, you’re right. Besides, this doesn’t change anything. We are still going to help the wasteland regardless. However...do you know anything about the other projects mine was used to contain?” I ask her.

“Unfortunately no. I’m as surprised as you are to find out Miss Twilight did that,” CORA answers.

“Well, I guess that is all the more reason that we explore the wasteland. I should be able to recognize the technology. But, figuring out which are good or bad will be a guessing game unless there is any documentation left in the facilities,” I say, gaining confidence again.

“Indeed! Oh that note, Ratchet. Lightning told me to tell you the Elder radioed us. Rose is ready to go home now,” she informs me.

“What, now? But my suit isn’t ready and...why didn’t you tell me sooner?” I ask her in a panic.

“Well, you were listening to the audio log and then were kind of depressed, so I thought it wasn’t the time to do so. As for your suit, like I’ve told you before, even with the three spark battery adapters you added, they will only power the suit for about two hours. It isn’t efficient at all,” she tells me.

“Yea, yea. You keep saying that after I perfect it,” I tell her, rolling my eyes. Such negativity. I knew it would be a power hog to run all the systems. And, I knew I’d have to switch out new spark batteries every so often. “Anyhow, tell everyone to get ready. We’ll head back to Stable 36 once we’ve gathered our things.”

“Will do!” CORA says with an upbeat tone. “Don’t forget to download me before you go, either!” She says in a pouty voice.

“What? Never!” I say, acting offended. We both let out a laugh as I turn off the terminal and head out of my office to gather my things.

A few minutes later we are all at the entrance and CORA is securely back in my PipBuck. We set out for the Steel Ranger’s Stable after locking the doors behind us. “It’s great to finally be back outside and not constantly cleaning…” Thunder says as we exit the shed.

“I agree, but we still have a bit of cleaning and restoration to do before things are up to Ratchet’s specifications,” Lightning says with a chuckle. We begin walking as we talk.

“My specifications aren’t that bad you two...I mean, Arrow isn’t complaining,” I tell them. I motion over towards Arrow, but she looks away as I do so. “What? Not you too Arrow…” I trail off as Thunder and Lightning laugh in unison.

“Arrow rarely talks as it is. She isn’t one to complain, either. We all understand why you’re so strict with how clean it needs to be, but it isn’t like we are researching any new technology or anything,” Lightning explains.

I puff out my cheeks stubbornly as I say, “Yea, but I still like to tinker with things...And what’s wrong with having a clean and functioning home? Besides, it isn’t like we had anything else to do until now.”

As we continue on we continue to discuss the merits of keeping a clean and tidy home. Surprisingly, we manage to talk on the subject until we reach Stable 36. As soon as we enter, I already notice the change in the Stable.

The armor they are wearing has been painted with the symbols of their squads. It also seems like there is more activity than before. Ponies are rushing to and fro as we head towards the command center.

Once we enter, it is a buzz of activity. “Radio Apple Squad and check their status,” Elder Archimedes says with an uncharacteristically loud and authoritative voice. “Then, order Saber Squad back to base,” he calls out again. After giving a few more commands, he notices us approaching.

Almost immediately he switches back to his normal personality. “Ah! If it isn’t my favorite squad! Don’t tell the others I said that though,” he says with a wink. He rests his head on his hoof as he continues, “How did the lab restoration go?”

“Fine sir. We didn’t encounter too much trouble with it. Power has been restored and it has been cleared of collapses. I’d say we only have a few days worth of work left to get it where I want it to be,” I tell him, eliciting a groan from Thunder.

“Good, good!” Elder Archimedes says flailing his free hoof in the air for emphasis. “But, I suppose you’ll be wanting to get down to business. Rose is in the mess hall, I believe. She has been given some basic supplies, and should be ready to leave when you are,” he informs me.

“Thank you,” I tell him. “But first, I have a question. Why do things seem so...busy?” I ask him. He lets out a sigh and lets his head fall to the desk.

“Well, with the takeover of Ponyville, some citizens have moved in there. But at the same time, raider activity has increased as well. I’ve been sending out patrols to both protect the newly forming town and to attempt to discover why raider activity seems to have increased,” he explains.

Elder Archimedes lets out a long sigh. “However, we haven’t found anything out. They seem organized, though. Like somepony is leading them in their attacks. It certainly doesn’t seem random like normal raiders. So far, we haven’t had any encounters that led to anything more than small skirmishes. But, for how long we can avoid a large scale encounter I do not know.”

His mood suddenly changes as he lifts up his head and throws up his hooves, “Anyhow! I suppose you want to head out. So I’ll spare you the details until you get back. Go find Rose and make sure she gets home safely. We’ll hold things down here.”

I nod as I say, “Right. We should get moving while it is still light out.” We bid the elder farewell and go to leave the room. However before I leave I turn back to the Elder and tell him, “You and everyone else be careful, alright?”

I see the Elder smile and nod to me before he goes back to calling out orders. Outside the command center, we head towards the mess hall, where Elder Archimedes said Rose might be. As we walk, I think about just how much more lively the base seems now compared to when I was here last time. Ponies rushing everywhere and almost every room is abuzz with activity.

The pounding of hooves on the metal floors is continuous the entire way to the mess hall. Stepping inside the room, the sound of hooves dies down while the sound of voices increases as the eating ponies talk. It was an odd time of day for a meal, but I suppose with all the patrols the Elder is running, you have to eat when you can.

Looking around the room, I soon spot Rose sitting at a table eating with a few rangers. As we get closer, I can make out their conversation. “...is Friendship City? I’ve never been there, but I hear it is expanding nicely,” one of the ranger mares says.

Rose nods and replies, “The city has been doing fine. The guard keeps the majority of the raiders and riff-raff away from the city. And most of the monsters stick to the ruins. Though, it helps having a natural barrier of water between the island and the Manehatten ruins. As for growth, we’d been getting new citizens almost weekly.”

A ranger buck speaks up next, “And is it true you are actually building into the statue itself? How does that work?” The rangers around her seem to be really curious about Friendship City.

Thinking for a moment, Rose answers, “Well, we started out just building around it, from what I’m told. But as the population increased, we needed more room. Instead of expanding across the water, someone had the idea to expand up and into the statue. We have some crews that scavenge scrap materials from the ruins and we then use them to build proper structures in and around the statue’s framework.”

I wait until the conversation dies down a bit before I clear my throat. Rose and the rangers at the table turn to me as I do so. “Excuse me, Rose if you are ready, we are prepared to escort you home whenever,” I tell her.

She looks at me for a moment before she exclaims, “I remember you! You were there when we were freed from the cages. And you helped me get comfortable here too. Ratchet, correct?” She asks. I nod in confirmation. “I knew it! Well, it has been fun rangers, but I should probably be getting home. If any of you are ever in the area, come say hello!”

After a few ‘awws’ and farewells from the rangers, Rose gets up, throws a bag on her back, and walks up to me. “I’m ready to go when you are,” she says with a smile. “I can’t wait to get back to Friendship City and see everyone again!” With that we make our way out of the Stable and set off to Friendship City.

===~+~===

After hours of walking and the others exhausting all their questions about Friendship City, the sun has almost set upon the horizon. “We should probably find a place to hunker down for the night. Anyone know of a ruin or anything around here?” I ask.

Lightning is the first to speak up, “You know none of us Rangers have gone this far to the northeast. Before the end, I think there were a few rest stops along this route, but who knows if they are still standing now. Rose, you have any idea?”

Rose shakes her head. “I went south to Fillydelphia and followed the rails here. Now, we are on the north side of foal mountain. I haven’t been out this way,” she explains.

“Ratchet,” CORA chimes in, “If I remember correctly, Hollow Shades is about a day's walk from where we are at. But, between here and there I don’t remember many buildings. We might have to set up camp out in the open.”

“While that wouldn’t be the best idea, given the increase in raider activity, I don’t think we have a choice,” Lightning says. “I should also mention that Hollow Shades is all but ghostly ruins. Scouting parties have reported as much.”

I nod my head. “So, camping outside it is. Let’s keep an eye out for an easily defendable place off the rails. We won’t start a fire to avoid any unwanted attention and we will take watch in shifts. Sound good?” I ask apprehensively.

“Sounds good boss!” Thunder says, almost too enthusiastically. “Also, you should act take more confidence in your decisions. Aside from marching through the night, which would be an awful idea, this is the only logical choice at the moment.”

Almost collectively, the rest of us stop, turn, and look at Thunder. Lightning is the first to say, “What is wrong with you? What have you done with my brother?” We all collectively laugh as Thunder just rolls eyes.

“Hey, even I can sometimes be supportive. Now, quit your staring and lets find a place to bed down for the night,” Thunder says as he starts walking again. The rest of us contain ourselves and follow suit.

After a few minutes, we find a place to rest for the night. We decide the order of the watch and I take the first one. While the others lay down to rest, I look over my inventory and PipBuck systems again.

As I do so, I periodically look around to ensure nothing is approaching us. After tinkering with my PipBuck systems and discovering nothing has changed since the last time I looked, I focus on keeping an eye out.

It isn’t long before the shifting of the others’ bodies quiets down and I catch snoring coming from Thunder. Even in his sleep, he’s loud, I chuckle quietly to myself. Though, it is nice to have some noise in the otherwise odd quietness of the wasteland.

Compared to how it was before the end, things are much quieter, and a lot less bright out at night. I suppose the lack of electricity and the dense cloud layer can be attributed to the darkness. But the lack of sounds really shows just how desolate Equestria has become.

Though I feel as if I only just started my watch, as I look at the time, I notice that it is now Lightning’s shift. I want to give him more time to sleep, but it is for the best if we all get as much sleep as we can, and that includes me.

I walk over to his side as quietly as I can and gently wake him up. “Lightning, it’s your shift now,” I say in a whisper, trying not to wake the others. After a few moments he rouses from his sleep.

“That time already?” He says as he gets to his hooves. “I take it nothing happened? That’s good. You get some sleep, I’ll keep us safe.” I would like nothing more than to lay down and sleep, but I have other business that must be attended to first.

“Actually, I have some...business...I need to take care of first. If you know what I mean,” I tell him. He looks at me curiously for a moment without realising what I mean, and I try again. “You know...business?”

CORA chimes in abruptly, “She means she has to pee.” I let out a sigh. Not delicate at all, CORA. And she is suppose to be me? Sometimes I wonder. Lightning of course, is trying to hold back a laugh,

“Yea, that. I’m just going to go over that hill quick and be back,” I tell him as i begin to walk up the hill.

“Be careful, and shout if anything happens,” he says. “As always, I will guard the night,” he follows up with a grin. I facehoof as I continue to scale the hill.

I crest the hill and get out of sight of the others before settling in to empty my bladder. This was the trouble in the wasteland, lack of bathrooms. I quickly finish up and begin to make my way back towards the others.

Before I make it even a few steps, however, I hear some hoofsteps. Did Lightning follow me up here to sneak a peek? Ugh, the perv. I turn towards the sound of the hoofsteps only to be greeted by a beaming white smile and piercing red eyes.

What happens next catches me off guard as it gets closer in an instant and I feel a cloth pressed against my muzzle. At the same time, I sense a hoof hitting buttons on my PipBuck. I can feel myself losing consciousness as I see CORA’s face contort into a look of worry.

A speech bubble appears next to her face that reads, “They muted me!” It is the last thing I see before my vision goes black and I sleep away into unconsciousness.

Chapter 9 - Abduction

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Chapter 9 - Abduction

“Are ponies inherently prone to fight one another? Is it in our nature to seek out confrontation and war? I like to think it isn’t so, but sometimes I can’t help but think it is actually the case.”

===~+~===

The rapping of a hoof on wood brings me out of my sleep. My head is pounding and when I open my eyes the world is blurry. I blink a few times and my vision gradually clears, I then try to get up, but find that my legs won’t move.

Panic begins to rise in me as I remember what happened last night. As I fight against my bonds, the hoof that was rapping suddenly slams down hard on what I assume is the floor. “Finally awake, are you? Good, I was tired of watching over your stupid ass. Hey Shrill! Get the boss, i’m tired of sitting here,” a gruff sounding stallion calls out.

I hear movement in another room as I try to turn to look at the stallion who just spoke. My eyes fall upon a brown coated stallion with a red mane. He leers at me as I look him over. He has a number of scars on his face and is wearing some standard armored barding with a holstered pistol at his side.

He clicks his tongue at me and I begin to look around at the rest of the room. It appears to be a bedroom. Like most of the buildings it is fairly run down and the wallpaper is peeling off the walls. Dust and dirt covers the furniture and windows. This must not be a building the ponies who took me frequent. Perhaps it is just a stop along the way somewhere else.

After a moment, I hear hoofsteps entering the room. “Well done Snarl,” an oddly familiar voice says. “I’ll take things from here. But first, is this any way to treat a guest? Undo her bindings. She’s not a fighter, that much is obvious,” the familiar voice commands.

“You got it boss,” the stallion known as Snarl says as he gets up and walks over to me. He takes a knife in his teeth before cutting a few ropes and loosening my bindings. After he steps back, I sit up on the bed and rub my limbs where the robes were. As I do so, I look up at the ponies in the room.

Two, I don’t recognize. The stallion known as Snarl, and a white mare with a red mane, who I guess is named Shrill. The third and final causes me to go pale as I place his voice to his face. Grimoire, the trader I met back at Stable 36. The one who sold arms to the raiders in Ponyville, the one who caused Iron’s murder.

Despite the anger rising up in me, I know I cannot take on the three of them, even if I was armed. So I simply stare at them, waiting for them to make their next move. Grimoire doesn’t keep me waiting as he tells the other two, “Leave us, she won’t cause me any trouble.” Shrill and Snarl move to leave the room, but hesitate at the doorway. It is like they were worried about me hurting Grimoire, but it seem different. Definitely less friendly, as though they were mercenaries worried they wouldn’t get paid if he died.

Once they leave the room, Grimoire sits down in the char Snarl had been using and smiles at me. For a good minute he just stares at me before saying, “I take it you remember me, Ratchet.” His voice drips with venom as he spits out my name. “I can’t say you were very notable, just another random wastelander. But, even the best machines can grind to a halt if dirt gets into their workings.”

“You have ruined my business. Towns turn me away, guards attempt to capture me, and I have been forced into the shadows,” he says the last bit with a laugh. “My ponies watched the battle at Ponyville, saw what you did in the town hall. I take it Railspike left sensitive information on that terminal of his,” malice fills his voice as he mentions Railspike.

“That fool was never careful enough. And now, because he couldn’t kill you and those pitiful rangers he jeopardised my operation. So, I decided to have my ponies watch over the ranger hideout and wait for you to leave,” he tells me. “But they tell me that you arrived there yesterday and quickly left again, with that mare as an addition to your little group. Meaning, you were gone for about a month,” he explains.

“Now, I don’t care what you were doing, but you kept me waiting. You are going to die today, your rangers have no idea where you are and you can’t hope to escape from us here. So, I am going to take my time and tell you exactly why you are going to die,” he states.

Before he continues I speak up, “You’re going to kill me just because I ruined your business? Because you were trading with raiders? It was your own fault.” I don’t know what i’m saying. If he was trading with raiders, of course he would have no qualms killing me. But I felt I had to buy as much time as possible. I had hope that Lightning, Thunder, and Arrow would come for me.

Despite this, I was shaking in fear. I couldn’t see any of my gear or anything I could use to get the upper hand and I knew I wasn’t strong enough or skilled enough to take them out with my bare hooves. As Grimoire goes to respond, CORA pops up in my vision with a worried, but hopeful expression on her face.

“Do you think me so petty?” Grimoire begins as a speech bubble appears from CORA’s mouth and text begins to appear inside of it. “I don’t care about my business. I care about what my business was for,” he continues as CORA moves her mouth and text continues to appear.

I look at what she is writing and begin reading, ‘Ratchet! I sent an SOS to Lightning. They are on their way. Stall him as long as you can!’ I am about to smile, but I fight to stop it. I can’t let him think anything was wrong. I just have to keep my wits about me and do what I can to keep him talking and myself alive.

“You see, my merchant business was just a cover for me to secure arms and discover the defences towns had. I would sell poor quality weaponry and faulty ammunition to towns I intended to attack and keep the good quality stuff for my gang,” Grimoire explains with a wry grin on his face. It looks like he like to monologue, so I shouldn’t have too much trouble keeping him talking.

“But of course, I couldn’t always sell poor quality weapons. If I did, they wouldn’t trade me. So I conducted normal trade business with targets I didn’t plan to attack at the time,” he tells me.

I think of a question and interrupt him quick. “Then why did you do business with Ponyville? They were raiders, not a town. Wouldn’t they be your rivals or competition? They had some good quality gear on them,” I ask.

“That is because of the other reason I posed as a merchant. I have been trying to unite the raider gangs under a single banner, metaphorically speaking. I want an army and civilians aren’t exactly lining up to fight for me. But raiders? They understand me, and their loyalty can be bought with arms or fear,” Grimoire informs me.

He wants an army? What for? Besides the rangers of Stable 36 there wasn’t a large, unified force that could stand against him. Does he want to take control of everything? What was his endgame?

“I had planned on using Railspike as a puppet, killing him, and bringing his gang into my own. But he was oddly strong willed and his followers highly devoted. I would thank you and the rangers for killing him and his gang, had he not been so stupid as to leave information about me behind,” he snarls.

I take this moment to ask my next question, “But what do you need an army for? Do you plan to become some sort of ruler? If you plan to rule through fear and force, it won’t work.”

Grimoire lets out a loud, hearty laugh. When he finally stops he says, “Me? A ruler? Oh, nothing that grand, love. I just want to cause some chaos. You know there are Stables all over right? I want to break them all open, slaughter the inhabitants, check out their experiments. You know, see what kind of interesting things I can find.”

His answer catches me off guard. “You...you just want to cause chaos? To kill innocents? But, that’s…” I’m cut off as he laughs once more.

“I was always a bit of an anarchist. This wasteland, this is a paradise to me. I can do what I want, when I want, and no one can stop me! I mean, look at you. I abducted you and no one stopped me. So, i’ll kill you, i’ll continue to build up my army, and we’ll loot the Stables. Hell, maybe I’ll find some tech to let us fly above the clouds and I can do the same to the cities the Pegasi are hiding in,” he says with a toothy smile.

“You’re insane,” I tell him. There is no way he can be sane, it isn’t acceptable. A pony like him shouldn’t exist. “Why do ponies even follow you?” I ask, “Surely they don’t agree with your ideas?”

Grimoire laughs once more and shakes his head. “That’s the beauty of working with raiders. They already have low morals. Some are enthusiastic about it, but no, they don’t all agree with what i’m doing. But those that don’t only care about earning money and getting loot, and trust me when I say I can promise so very much of what they desire,” he explains.

I take a breath and ask, “Ok, so let’s say you succeed in your plans and end up razing the Pegasi cities. What then? What’s your endgame? When there is no one left to raid, to kill, what will you do?”

He tilts his head and shoots me a smile. “Oh, of course i’ll have to keep some survivors. Pawns that will create more pawns and live in the chaos that I will rule over for all eternity! You strike me as a knowledgeable mare, surely you remember Discord, the spirit of chaos?” He asks me.

I narrow my eyes and nod. “Very good! Well, he probably died along with the Princesses, meaning that he won’t challenge my rise to take his place. Now, before you ask how I plan on doing that, you should know there are strong magical items in this world. I’ll spend a good amount of time searching for those,” he explains.

“Terrifying weapons and mystic tomes let this chaos happen, and rumors have it that many still exist. Such as a certain Black Book somewhere in Equestria. With the aid of one or more of these items, I shall become immortal and take up the mantle of God of Chaos! But, Discord was a joke compared to what I have planned,” Grimoire’s smile twists and his eyes gleam in the light coming through the window.

“My chaos will be so much more beautiful. But, unfortunately for you, you will not be around to see it,” he says, looking me over. “You know, I was going to kill you myself, that’s why I came here. But seeing how pathetic you are without your friends or the weapons you can barely use, I think i’ll just let Snarl deal with you, I’m quite busy after all,” he says as he gets up from the chair.

He turns to leave as I say, “W-wait! I...I…” I can’t think of anything else to say to stall for time, and he doesn’t even look back as he walks out of the door. A few seconds later, I hear another door open, then close. Immediately afterwards, Snarl enters the room again with my bags and gear on his back.

“Welp,” he says with a smirk, “boss says I get to deal with you. He told me to take my time and do what I feel like. You’re lucky he took Shrill with him, she would have fucked you before doing the deed. Me? I’m a simple stallion, I prefer screams over moans. Unlike my sister, I like torture,” he takes the pistol from his holster and points it at me.

“Wait!” I yell at him, “Don’t do this! I...I can…” Shit! Why can I never think of anything in situations like this. I can see his lips twists into a grin around the handle of the gun. He pulls the trigger and shoots me in the rear left leg. I cry out in pain and collapse onto the bed. My eyes begin to water as I see him holster the gun and draw his knife.

He walks closer and gets on the bed with me. I try to punch at him, but he easily avoids my punches and pins my legs down with his own. His head nears my wounded leg and he stabs the knife into the bullet hole. I scream out sharply before he starts twisting the knife and digging it around in the wound. With every movement of the knife, my screams change in pitch and volume as i struggle fruitlessly under his hold.

After what feels like an eternity, I feel something come out of the wound and then he pulls the knife out. For a moment, I’m able to catch my breath and attempt to cope with the pain. However it is short-lived as he stabs the knife straight into my cutie mark. I call out again as he lets go of the knife and lets out a chuckle.

“Adorable screams, miss. Hope you don’t mind, I wanted to get my bullet back. The material is always useful to have around. Now then, where were we…” He says before grabbing the knife in his mouth again. He pulls it from my wound and places the point against my leg again before beginning to lightly cut down its length.

Gradually, he increases the pressure on the knife and the cut gets deeper. I squeeze my eyes shut in an attempt to shut out the pain. Just as he is about to reach my knee I hear the sound of glass shattering followed by a fleshy squelch. The pressure on my leg increases before letting up completely as I get sprayed with a warm fluid.

As I open my eyes Snarl falls on top of me completely. I blink a few times to clear the tears from my eyes as my coat continues to get wet from the fluid. When i’m able to focus, I see it. The top of Snarl’s head has been blown clean off. I’m shaking as I push off and put a hoof to my wounded leg.

The last cut wasn’t too deep, but the other two wounds are definitely going to be something to worry about. I look over at Snarl’s body and use my magic to open my bags. I should still have some. I poke around in them for a moment before I pull out my only healing potion and my regular bandages. I pour a bit of the potion on the wounds, take a sip, and then wrap my leg in the bandages as best I can.

It might not be the best job, but it will have to do for now. I put the bandages and the rest of the potion back into my bag. As I get up off the bed and gently apply weight to my wounded leg, I find my barding and holster in my bag. I carefully put on my barding and strap on the holster, then quickly put my revolver in it.

I take bags off Snarl and put them on, and quickly look over Snarl’s body. I still don’t know who shot Snarl, but CORA hasn’t said anything else yet. I should get ready for anything. I manage to find some 9mm rounds on his body, and I also pick up his knife, attaching its sheath to my barding. Lastly, I pick up his pistol with my magic and limp over to the wall by the window.

Peeking around to look out the window, I don’t see anything. It looks to be late afternoon, however. I begin moving towards the door. As I reach it, I remember that CORA is muted, and quickly unmute her, but she is still silent. “CORA, anything?” I ask, but don’t get a response.

Taking a gulp, I put my hoof on the door and begin to push it open. Right as I do so, I hear the door on the other side of mine burst open and slam against the floor. Hoofsteps quickly follow, at least two ponies, I think. I take a deep breath as I push open the door as quickly as I can and prepare to fight whoever is in the other room.

As soon as I get the door open, I raise the gun directly at one of the ponies in the other room. However, before I pull the trigger CORA screams, “STOP!” and I freeze mid pull. As the adrenaline clears I see who is in the room.

“T-Thunder? Lightning?” I ask as I drop the gun. Clad in their armor, the twins lower their weapons as well. “I’m so glad to see you two!” I practically jump at them and wrap my hooves around them, much to the displeasure of my wounded leg.

“Damnit Ratchet,” Lightning says, “we were worried sick. When you didn’t come back after a few minutes, and I couldn’t find you…” He trails off as he returns my hug.

“Lightning here woke us up, frantically trying to explain what happened,” Thunder continues for Lightning, “We spent the better part of the night running around looking for you, but didn’t find anything.”

I release them from the hug and ask, “But how did you find me then? CORA?” I see CORA’s face beaming a smile.

“You got it Ratchet!” She declares. “But, since they muted me, I was unable to use the radio properly.” She puffs out her cheeks as she says, “First chance we get, we are disabling the mute feature.”

We all laugh for a moment before curiosity creeps up on me. “So, how did you contact them then?” I ask. If she couldn’t broadcast over the radio, it would be quite the challenge.

“Morse code,” Lightning says. “At first we didn’t notice it, just some beeps over the radio, it happens sometimes. But then we noticed the pattern, and it took us a while to decode what was said. It took even longer for CORA to give us detailed directions to where you were when we finally responded.”

Of course. And that would mean…“Arrow is the one who shot that raider?” I ask. “Where is she, by the way? And Rose for that matter” Rose is our priority, after all.

“As soon as we saw this building, Arrow setup.” Thunder explains. “She’s about half a mile away with Rose. She said she would wait as long as possible before shooting, to give us time to get close. But, was it only that one raider?” He asks.

I shake my head. “No, there were two more, including Grimoire. They didn’t leave too long ago, did you see anything?” I ask them. Both of them shake their heads. Shit. I run out of the door as quickly as I’m able to, ignoring the protests of the twins. I look around quickly, and spot a large hill. I run to the top of it as quickly as I can.

As I’m about to reach the top, Thunder and Lightning catch up to me. I quickly look around at the surrounding landscape as I catch my breath. It isn’t that hilly anymore, and there isn’t much cover. In fact, I can see Arrow and Rose coming towards us in the distance.

“Where the fuck did they go!?” I yell, “They left only a few minutes ago! This isn’t right, there is no way they could cover this much ground already!” No, they could have. If they had a vehicle or...if Grimoire already knows some powerful spells, like teleportation. I fall to my haunches.

Lightning puts a hoof on my shoulder. “Let’s wait for Arrow, and then you can tell us everything.” I nod and we head back to the building.

===~+~===

After Arrow and Rose join us, I explain what happened. Arrow also takes a look at my wounded leg, patching it up a bit better. Once I finish the explanation however, a bit of gloom hangs over our party.

“We need to inform the Elder,” Lightning says. Arrow nods in agreement. “Thunder, get on the radio and…” before Lightning can finish his brother cuts him off, shaking his head.

“Already tried, we are out of range,” Thunder informs us. “We’ll have to go back, at least far enough to get in range. Unfortunately, the range isn’t that great. It will take us at least a day. Thanks to this incident, we are already halfway to Friendship City, Ratchet it’s your decision. Do we continue forward, or go back?” He asks.

As much as I want to get Rose home as soon as possible, Grimoire is more of an issue at the moment. “We go back. I’m sorry Rose, but you’ll have to wait a little longer to get home.” I turn us towards home and we begin to walk.

“I don’t mind. If Grimoire is as much of a threat as you have all said he is, this is more important. I just hope I don’t get in your way,” Rose tells us.

“You’ll be fine Rose,” I tell her. Our pace is a bit slower than usual due to my leg, and the sun quickly sets. I decide that we should push on for a little longer and we continue on in the darkness.

I’m about to give the order to stop for the night when lights suddenly appear around us. Compared to the darkness, it is blinding. “Shit!” I mutter under my breath. I pull out my revolver and I hear the others get into position around Rose. Looking around, I see six light sources.

“To the Rangers and others, drop your weapons immediately. Surrender and identify yourselves or things will get messy,” a mare’s voice calls out. So many thoughts are running through my head, that I almost fail to notice Arrow dropping her rifle.

“Wait, is that…” Thunder says and he and Lightning drop their weapons as well. “Ratchet, just do it. Trust us,” he tells me. I grit my teeth and drop my revolver.

“A good choice!” The mare declares. “Now, identify yourselves.” The lights begin to slowly inch closer to us. As they do, I begin to notice they are in Ranger armor.

“Lightning, Thunder, and Arrow, of Lynx Squad,” Lightning tells the mare.

“Who is your elder?” the mare asks with less of an edge to her words.

“Why, old man Archimedes, of course,” Lightning chuckles. “Come on Lily, don’t make us stand here all night.” Lily? Wait, wasn’t that…

“Stand down Rangers, they’re friendlies,” The mare orders. The blinding headlamps go out and my eyes are able to adjust back to the darkness. “So, where’s Iron at? He let you rascals go out alone?” She lets out a laugh.

“Um, actually…” Lightning begins, but Lily cuts him off.

“What are you all standing around for?” She shouts. “Set up camp!” The Rangers under her command set about unloading gear and lighting a fire. She turns her attention back to Lightning. “Now then, where were we? Let’s chat.”

She leads us next to the fire and begins asking Lightning questions. He answers, with Thunder interjecting occasionally. The subject switches back to Iron, and Lightning tells her what happened.

“Fuck,” she says, shaking her head. “He was the best of us. I always thought he would be too stubborn to die, guess I was wrong. How’s everyone holding up? And who’s leading your squad now?” She asks.

Lightning tells her the status of the base, and says, “As for our leader, let me introduce you to our newest member, Scribe Crusader Ratchet. Yea, I know, it is an odd rank.” With a sudden realization, he turns his attention to me, “Oh yea, Ratchet. In case you don’t realize, this is our Star Paladin, Lily. She was on mission to Friendship City.”

“It is nice to finally meet you, Star Paladin,” I say with a smile. Lily looks me over with an expressionless gaze. Without saying anything back, she turns back to Lightning.

“So what is her deal?” She asks. “Who is she, where did she come from, why does she lack power armor? Why is she leading Lynx Squad?” Her tone is dead serious and her gaze doesn’t leave Lightning’s.

“Uh, well...let’s see, where to begin…” Lightning begins giving her the short version of my story in the wasteland and about my time with them. “So, yea. That’s about it,” he finishes up.

“So let me get this straight. A mere scientist was granted a rank in the Rangers, almost equal to my own, is tampering with our armor, is, well, from your account, quite bad in combat, and she was given leadership of one of the most efficient squads in the Rangers?” She says.

“Wait, what do you mean by ‘one of the most efficient squads’?” I ask. I raise an eyebrow, no one had told me anything about that.

“Oh Goddesses, she doesn’t even know what Lynx Squad is? Oh the Elder is going to get an ear full when I get back…” She says, shaking her head.

“Hey,” Thunder speaks up. “She has come a long way from where she started. We follow her, not because we were ordered to, but because we want to. Who cares if she doesn’t know what Lynx Squad is? That doesn’t matter. She is doing what she can.” Arrow nods vigorously in agreement.

“Be that as it may, a novice leading Lynx Squad is unacceptable. None of you told her what your squad is? How dangerous it is?” She looks right at me, Lightning tries to stop her, but she ignores him. “Lynx Squad is essentially a suicide squad. A squad comprised of troublemakers who don’t work well with others,” she tells me.

“A suicide squad?” I ask. “You mean, they are used like they are expendable?” That didn’t seem right. From what I saw, all the Rangers more or less got along. Why would such a squad exist?

“Indeed. Formerly led by Iron, who was basically suicidal in battle.” Lily says. “Thunder, an over the top loudmouth who doesn’t like stealth. Lightning, basically normal but violently refuses to be on a separate squad from his brother. And Arrow, the mare who doesn’t communicate. I suppose now you as well, the unknown factor.”

“Do not get me wrong, they are all valued as Rangers. Fuck, I think of Thunder and Lightning as little brothers. But some squad has to be the one to take the dangerous missions. They are very good, that is why they are still around. Any other ranger would probably have died from the combat they’ve been in,” she tells me.

“But, I thought you all said you were relatively new to combat when we met? I mean, that does explain why you all work so well together, but...” I trail off. They all look down at the ground.

“We had no clue who you were, why you were there. By the time we trusted you, we decided to just keep up the lie,” Lightning explains. “We’re sorry Ratchet, for lying. About that, and what Lynx Squad is.” Thunder and Arrow nod in agreement with Lightning.

Lily is quietly watching our discussion, which seems odd to me since she started it. I take a breath and shake my head. “It doesn’t matter. You lied to me, but I understand. I still trust you all, and I want us to stay friends. After all, I didn’t tell you about my past right away either. But, moving forward, let’s be honest with each other.”

The three of them smile and nod. Lily smirks as well. “You know, Ratchet. I didn’t like you. I still kind of don’t. I just don’t like it, this whole thing. But, i’m willing to trust you. As a Ranger, and as leader of Lynx Squad. So, with formalities out of the way, what is your mission?” She asks.

I quickly explain to her about Rose, then about Grimoire. As I finish, she let’s out a chuckle. “You’re lucky Lynx Squad is so talented, and that this Grimoire didn’t stick around. You made the right choice, in turning around. But...come morning, continue to Friendship City. My squad is already heading back to base, we can inform the Elder.”

“Really?” I ask her, excitedly. “That’s great! We can get Rose home, and inform the Elder of Grimoire at the same time!”

“Indeed,” Lily says. “Just, one thing about Friendship City. Some snooty ponies are hanging around near the entrance. They asked us to do something, but I didn’t like their attitude, so I blew them off. But, if you are going there, you can hear them out. I think they mentioned something about capturing a building, or something.” Lily shrugs her shoulders.

“I don’t really recall, but if that is the case, and we help them, they might be inclined to let us use that building as a rest stop for future operations. Might be the perfect job for you after you get Rose home safely. We might not be able to move on Grimoire right away, and it is good to stay busy,” she tells me.

“Right, we’ll hear them out,” I tell her. “Oh, that’s right. I think I should go into more detail about exactly what Grimoire said. Are you able to record it?” I ask her.

“Of course,” she says. “Begin whenever you are ready.”

“Alright. This is Scribe Crusader Ratchet, and Grimoire needs to be stopped…”

===~+~===

Level Up!
-Level 5-
+6 Medicine
+10 Small Guns
+4 Speech

New Quest(s):

-The Chaos Crusade
Location: Unknown
Goal: Stop Grimoire
Current Objective: Return to Stable 36

-An Arrogant Request
Location: Friendship City
Goal: Talk to the ponies near the entrance

Chapter 10 - Mixed Signals

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Chapter 10 - Mixed Signals

“The good nature of ponies has been all but extinguished. I can’t do much, but i’ll do my part to ensure that those who want to be good ponies, are given a fighting chance.”

===~+~===

After recording the description of my encounter with Grimoire, sleeping through the night, and parting ways with Star Paladin Lily’s squad, Lynx Squad, Rose, and I make good progress towards Friendship City.

The path we walk must be the exact one Star Paladin Lily came from, as there is no sign of hostile creatures, or ponies anywhere. A few times, we enter ruined buildings expecting to find a fight, but only find recently killed raiders. I’d expect nothing less from Star Paladin Lily though.

We walk for the better half of the day before we encounter our first obstacle. A small town echoing of depraved laughter and shouting. Without a doubt, it is a group of raiders. The town itself appears to be heavily fortified, and the raiders I can see are well armed. With just the four of us, and Rose, we decide to make a detour and give the town a wide berth.

The detour will add a few hours to our journey, but it will be worth not risking ourselves, or Rose. After an hour or so of walking, CORA speaks up, “Hey Ratchet, I’m picking up a signal on the radio! I think I can pinpoint its source too. Here, I’ll turn it on for you.” A second later, my PipBuck’s radio comes to life and plays the last few chords of a song I somewhat recognize.

After a few seconds of silence, a stallion’s voice comes over the radio, “Helloooo Manehatten! This is your ever watchful eye and source of news here in the wasteland, DJ Pon3! Bringing you pre-war hits to break the dreariness of the day! Now here’s the news!” Wait, what? A radio DJ? And DJ Pon3, none-the-less? But, DJ Pon3 was a mare...and would definitely be dead by now.

“I’ve received reports that the raider gang that was terrorizing the Ponyville area has been taken care of. Sources say some Steel Rangers took the fight to them and reclaimed the city. Perhaps there are still some good Rangers out there, fighting the good fight, but reports continue to come in about less than reputable Rangers attacking wastelanders and settlements. Do yourself a favor, and if you see a Ranger coming towards you, turn tail and run. Hide if you can, just don’t let them catch you because the odds aren’t in your favor,” The stallion says.

“In other news,” he continues, “Some wastelanders have decided to set up shop in Ponyville, and it is slowly but surely becoming a town once again. So if you are ever out that way, stop in and say hello. But watch out, because raider activity all throughout the wasteland has become increasingly active. Are more ponies turning to crime? Are the current gangs becoming bolder? Or is there something more sinister going on behind the scenes? Whatever the case is, watch yourselves out there. That’s all for the news, my little ponies, until next time.”

His voice fades and after a moment is replaced with music once again. I turn it back off and turn to the others. “DJ Pon3? Have you heard of them before?” I ask. Lightning, Thunder, and Arrow shake their heads, but Rose smiles and nods vigorously.

“Of course!” She proclaims. “He plays music nonstop and during the day he makes news reports about the wasteland. Though, I guess he only broadcasts to Manehatten. No one knows who he is or where he’s at. But, that’s probably for the best.”

“I see,” I hold a hoof to my chin in thought. If possible, I’d like to meet them. CORA said she could find where he is, but if it is out of the way, I want to get Rose home first. I decide I should ask CORA about her progress. “CORA, have you managed to find out where he’s broadcasting from?”

“Yes I have! Here, let me ping your map...and done! His location is only a short ways from our current route. At the most, it will only add 30 minutes to our travel time. Unless we decide to stop and chat, that is,” she informs me.

I look at the location on my map. She’s right, it isn’t too far from where we are at now. In fact, we should be able to reach it before sundown. “Alright folks, we’re going to make a detour and pay a visit to the DJ.” Rose is clearly ecstatic about my decision, but the others look a bit skeptical.

“You know we’ll follow you, Ratchet, but why?” Lightning asks as we begin walking towards the DJ’s residence. I can understand why the others don’t get my intentions. They never had public radio while growing up and their radios have only ever told them orders.

“Because,” I explain, “if he gets information about the wasteland, he might know something about Grimoire. Even if he doesn’t, we should tell him about the situation, so innocent ponies don’t fall into Grimoire’s nefarious plans.”

“I suppose that makes sense,” Lightning says. “The more people who know about Grimoire, the harder it will be for him to make a move. Sound decision as always, boss.” I roll my eyes. Again with the ‘boss’ stuff.

===~+~===

We make good progress, but the closer we get to the DJ, the more anxious I get. What am I going to do, just burst in through the door and say hello? I don’t think that’s something that ponies do in the wasteland. After a lot of thought, I decide to go with knocking on the door. That’s always good, right?

However, as we get the building in sight, that plan crumbles. The building rests upon a hill in the middle of a clearing of dead trees. It is a small, one story house with a large antenna on the top of it. While the building itself looks mostly intact it fits in perfectly with the wasteland. The windows are boarded up and the paint is flaking from the side of the walls. But what deters me from the knocking plan, is the guard standing out front.

“Well shit,” I mutter under my breath. Plan B, let’s walk up and just say hi. I begin leading us out of the cover of the trees and directly towards the front door, and the guard. It isn’t long before he sees us and readies his weapon. Once we are about halfway between the edge of the clearing and the building, he raises his rifle and calls out to us.

“Stop! Don’t come any closer! Turn around and go back the way you came,” the guard stallion shouts. I bring us to a stop so I can attempt to talk with the guard.

“I want to talk to the DJ, we don’t mean any harm,” I tell him. Unsurprisingly, he doesn’t seem to accept that. He tells us to turn around once again. As I refuse, a second guard comes out from the building and joins the first one. Well, this just keeps getting better.

“Please, I just want to talk with the DJ. It is important!” I plead to them. But they don’t seem to be budging. I’m about to say something again, when CORA turns my radio on.

“--but, ah...excuse me, my little ponies. Seems that I have some visitors. I’ll cut this news section short so I can make sure my guards don’t get into too much trouble. Here’s some music for you in the meantime,” he says, and shortly after music begins playing. CORA turns the radio off, and a few seconds later, another stallion comes out of the door.

He’s wear lighter armor and carrying only a pistol in his magic. “Alright, I’m sure my guards here have made it clear that you shouldn’t be here. Since you still are, I want to assure you, we don’t have any valuables. The only thing here, is broadcasting equipment. If that is what you are looking for, i’m sorry, but i’m using it. Now, please, turn around and go on with your lives.”

He has to be the DJ, maybe I can get somewhere now. “I don’t want anything, I just walk to talk to you, Mr. DJ. I know you aren’t the real DJ Pon3, but I want to ask you about some things. It is important,” I tell him.

I see him raise an eyebrow as he replies, “Of course I’m the real DJ Pon3, why do you think i’m not?” Uh, ok. This isn’t going exactly the way I thought it would.

“Because the real DJ Pon3 was a mare? I mean, that’s my primary reason why you aren’t the real one. That, and she has probably died of old age by now,” I tell him. What were we talking about? This wasn’t important.

His eyes go wide for a moment before he says, “No one...knows that anymore. How do you know about her?” He has an odd expression on his face. Like a mix between confusion and suspicion.

“I uh...kind of knew her, well not knew, knew her, but knew of her back when she was...well...uh…” Shit. Come on Ratchet, use your words. I couldn’t think of how to explain it without sounding crazy.

After a long pause, he says, “You and you alone, come in. I want to talk to you, give any weapons you have to my guards. If your friends try anything, it’s over. Got that?” I nod in agreement before slowly walking up the hill and giving my weapons to the guards.

The DJ leads me inside and motions for me to sit on a chair across the room from him, all the while not taking his gun off me. Once i’m seated, he sits down on the other side of the room. “Alright. Tell me how you know about DJ Pon3, and be honest. I’ll know if you are lying to me.”

I don’t know what makes me tell him the truth. Perhaps it is the gun, or perhaps it is something else entirely. But for some reason, I tell him everything. How I knew about DJ Pon3, Vinyl Scratch, in the past and about how I was frozen and am here now. As I finish, I am almost certain he is going to kick me out, maybe even kill me.

“I believe you,” he says. “It is an odd story, but not many ponies now know her real name. It’s been lost to time. You even described her appearance. It is quite a bit to wrap my head around, but I believe you,” he tells me as he lowers his gun.

“Wait here,” he tells me as he gets up and exits the building again. After a moment, he enters again followed shortly after by a guard and after a minute or two, my friends. “Go ahead and make yourselves comfortable. You’re all welcome to stay the night. Ratchet, you had something to discuss with me, right? Oh, and Slick, give her her weapons back, will ya?” he says.

“Sure thing boss,” Slick says as he floats my things back to me. “I’m heading back to bed boss, I’ll be up when it’s my shift again.” With that, Slick walks into another room and shuts the door.

“Alright Ratchet, let’s go into my room and we can talk. Your friends can stay here and get some rest,” he nods at them and gestures me towards another door. I follow him and he closes the door after us.

The room is small. It is a broadcast room that has a bed and table in it. The table has an assorted collection of things on it, but like the DJ said, nothing valuable. The room looks like the pictures i’ve seen of radio rooms, with soundproof walls and the like. The broadcasting switchboard itself is a complex thing with hundreds of buttons, switches, and dials. It has a record player and a microphone wired into it.

“Sorry it’s so cramped, I don’t usually have visitors. If I remember correctly, this place was an old forest ranger station,” as he says this, he takes off the light barding he was wearing and the helmet. I’m able to see more clearly see his black coat and dark blue mane. And, fittingly enough, his cutie mark is a microphone and turntable.

“Oh, it’s fine,” I tell him as he sits on the stool in front of the broadcast table. He motions me to sit on the bed, and I do so, trying not to make a mess of anything.

“Now then, you said you had some important things to discuss?” he asks me. Wow, straight to business. That caught me a little off guard. He seems so trusting now that we discussed DJ Pon3. Speaking of…

“Before that, can we talk about the whole, you being DJ Pon3 thing? Are you just using the name, or what? You definitely could have been alive during her time, but you’d have been a teenager, right?” I ask him.

He chuckles a little before saying, “Yea, I suppose you would want to know about that. Well, back before the Megaspells hit, when I was around 10 or so, I ran away from home. I’ll save you the minor details, but one day I met Vinyl. I quickly became obsessed with her and her music, and after a year or so, I met her again.”

With a wide smile he continues, “I begged her to make me her apprentice. I followed her around for about a week before she finally agreed. She taught me, fed me, and basically raised me. For five short years, until the Megaspells hit. I don’t know what happened to her, but we didn’t make it to the same Stable.”

He shakes his head. “When my Stable opened a few years ago, I began journeying the wasteland. Seeing the chaos, the carnage. After a while, I settled down here to do what I can to help the innocent wastelanders stay informed. I found guards, and used my connections to form an information network. I have runners who go from town to town and collect info for me.”

“I decided to pick up Vinyl’s monocure as DJ Pon3, and be the voice this wasteland needed. After all, without her, I wouldn’t know how to do half of this stuff. It is my way of showing respect and honoring a great mare,” he tells me. “But, enough about me. You had something to discuss?”

“Oh, yes.” I was so wrapped up in his story I forgot the whole reason I came here. “Have you ever heard of a trader named Grimoire?” I ask. DJ Pon3 shakes his head. “Ok, so, here’s the thing...he’s kind of…” What? A crazy pony bent on turning the world into chaos incarnate? Sadistic? Just plain insane? I decide to settle for, “an evil villain. Not like in the comic sense though! Wait, maybe actually a little bit, but not so much like…” I start losing traction as the DJ holds up his hoof.

“Settle down Ratchet, we have all night,” he tells me. “Why don’t you start from the beginning? Don’t gloss over anything.” Once again, I don’t know what compels me to tell him the truth of exactly what happened, but I do. I tell him everything.

How I exited the lab, met the Rangers, fought against the Rail Gang, discovered Grimoire’s underhanded deals, and how he later abducted me and told me everything he was planning. DJ Pon3 only sits across from me nodding every so often for me to continue. When I finish, I realize what all I said to him.

“You...uh...wouldn’t happen to be using some sort of truth magic on me, would you?” I ask him, half joking. I didn’t even tell the Rangers about my past this quickly, but I’m telling some DJ who claims to have known the original DJ Pon3. What was wrong with me?

He chuckles and waves a hoof, “Nothing of the sort,” he says with a smile. “Apparently a lot of ponies get that impression from talking with me. Ponies tend to really open up to me for some reason. Well, aside from raiders and the like.” He crosses his hooves, “That aside, that is one grand tale you have. If you were anyone else, I’m not sure I’d believe it.”

The DJ puts a hoof to his chin and smiles at me, “But you being you, I have no reason to doubt it. So, now that you’ve told me this, what do you plan to do?” His smile fades and a look of contemplation replaces it.

“Well, I was sort of hoping you could warn ponies of him, using your radio and what not. As for me, i’m escorting Rose home to Friendship City. But, other than that, i’m not really sure what to do. Wait for Grimoire to make a mistake or for the Rangers to catch him, I guess,” I explain.

The DJ nods. “I suppose if you don't know where he's at it would be sort of hard to deal with him. I'll do what you ask, And if I find any information on this Grimoire fellow I'll be sure to broadcast it over the radio, just make sure you're listening,” he tells me.

CORA speaks up, “I can monitor the radio even if you are not listening to it, Ratchet. So if I hear anything important I'll be sure to let you know. There's no need to worry about missing anything.”

“Ah, so she finally speaks,” DJ Pon3 says with a smile. “It is a pleasure to meet you miss CORA. Though, there is one issue and as the range of my broadcasting equipment. unfortunately I'm limited to the Manehatten area. Anything further to the south or east and my signal can’t be picked up.”

“Why didn't you select a place I could broadcast to a wider audience then?” CORA asks him. The DJ just shrugs and lets out a sigh.

“When I first emerged into the wasteland I did a bit of exploring. Finding out what's what and what was left of Equestria. Through my journeys this is the best broadcasting station I found, one that works anyway. There were a few other possibilities, even some that had a larger range. However those were not as secure as this location, or they tended to be overrun with Raiders and other wasteland monsters.”

The DJ put on a smile, “But it's not all bad, I did manage to get a large population center inside the scope of my broadcast. So as long as the people of Friendship City can hear me I don't think I'm doing too bad.”

“That makes sense,” CORA replies, “I suppose any of the old military relay stations would also be a bit of a pain to get into, what with all the guards and security systems.”

“Right you are miss,” The DJ confirms. “So for as long as you're in the area I can provide you with any information that I receive. But since you live in the east and say you're heading back that way soon I don't think I'll be able to keep in touch for long,” he tells us.

“Not a problem,” I tell him. “Any help at all is better than no help, can you warning ponies will do a great deal of good,” I add, causing him to grin even wider than before.

“Very good point. If there’s one thing I aim to do, it’s to do a great deal of good. As much as possible anyway, sitting behind this radio. I just wish I could do more, it is quite nightmarish out there. I just hope I'm bringing a little bit of hope to everyone's life in the bleak wasteland,” he says.

“Well I can't speak for everyone but Rose seems to enjoy your work. She practically freaked out when I mentioned we were going to see you,” I tell him, smiling back.

“You don’t say?” DJ Pon3 says with a chuckle. “Well, perhaps I’ll give her an autograph or something before you all leave. Speaking of, I assume you’ll be leaving in the morning?” he asks.

“Yes, I’d like to get Rose home as soon as possible and return home to see if the Elder has found anything out about Grimoire yet,” I say.

“I understand. Well then, unless you wish to talk about something else, i’ll let you get to sleep. Your arrival interrupted my last broadcast of the night, so i’ll have to throw something together before I turn in myself,” he tells me with a sly grin.

After a bit more talking, and exchanging good nights, I leave his room and rejoin the others. Rose is already asleep on one of the couches and my friends are all clustered on the other one.

“Ah, Ratchet,” Lightning says as I close the door behind me. “How did things go with the DJ? What is a DJ anyway? You said he uses a radio? Does that mean he is like the Elder and has a group of ponies he relays orders to?” I chuckle as I walk over to them and take a seat at an empty chair.

As I explain to them the finer points of what a radio DJ is and that he doesn’t order anyone around, I also take the time to examine the room. It isn’t anything lavish, but seems to be in fairly good condition compared to the rest of the wasteland.

The carpeting and wallpaper is a bit discolored and damaged in places, but it seems to be holding out fairly well. Aside from the broadcasting room and the room the guard went into, there seems to be another smaller room that has a tarnished restroom label on the door. The main room consists of two couches positioned in a L shape with a coffee table in the center of them. Across from the couch my friends are on, are two chairs, one of which i’m sitting on.

In addition, there are a few lockers, crates, and a card table that has its own chairs. Before the war, the main room was probably used by the forest rangers as a lounge in their downtime. I assume the room the guard is in has a few bunks that they would have slept in as well.

Once I wrap up my explanation of what a DJ is what detail all I told him, I tell the others we should get some sleep while we can. After assuring them that none of us have to keep watch, Arrow and I sleep on the couch while Thunder and Lightning sleep in the chairs. It wasn’t the most comfortable place to sleep, but it sure beat sleeping on the floor or outside.

After a few minutes, I can hear the others snoring softly. I fiddle with my PipBuck a bit before turning on the radio to a quiet volume and catching the end of a song. After a moment, the DJ’s voice comes on.

“Hello Manehatten! This is DJ Pon3, and it is time for the last news of the day. Previously, I was interrupted by some visitors. Turns out, they were friendly and are staying the night with me. What’s more, is they appear to belong to the Steel Rangers, the very ones that reclaimed Ponyville! I spoke to their leader, an odd, but lovely mare named Ratchet, and my little ponies, she told me a story,” he announces.

“It turns out, these Steel Rangers are here to help. They are from a Stable, number 36. They have been taking the fight to as many raiders as they can and trying to make the wasteland a safer place. But in their fight to take back Ponyville, they uncovered a devious plot. A trader by the name of Grimoire is attempting to put together an army of the raider gangs and bring chaos to Equestria, and the world,” he continues.

“Ratchet asked me if I could help spread this information, and warn everyone listening of this crazy buck. So do me a favor, tell everyone you know about this madpony, tell them of the Rangers of Stable 36, and stay safe out there. That’s all for tonight, my little ponies. Make sure to wake up bright and early to catch the morning news,” he concludes.

After a moment, the music starts back up and I can feel my eyelids growing heavy. As the radio continues to play, I quickly descend into slumber.

===~+~===

The following morning, we thank DJ Pon3 for his hospitality and bid him farewell. He gives Rose a signed piece of paper, and she surprises him with a hug in return. After a few minutes, we get ourselves back on the road to Friendship City. If you can call the woods a road. After a few hours without anything eventful happening, we reach the edge of the forest.

For the first time in a while, I bring up my PipBuck’s map. Surprisingly, new locations have been added. Three back the way we came and three more in front of us. One was the raider town we passed around noon yesterday, marked Raider Camp. Another in the middle of the forest read Hollow Shades Irradiated Zone, it was just a bit southwest of the location called Ranger Station Delta. I assumed Delta was the DJ’s radio station.

In front of us were Manehatten Ruins and Friendship City. South of us is the Fillydelphia Crater. I was a bit curious how all these locations showed up without me having gone there. “Hey CORA, why are all these new locations here?” I ask her.

“Oh, well, the major cities were easy enough to mark. And ponies have said that Friendship City was on the Statue of Friendship,” she explains, beaming me a smile in my vision.

“What about the descriptive names? Manehatten ‘Ruins’, Fillydelphia ‘Crater’, Hollow Shades ‘Irradiated Zone’?” I ask. That really seems more like a visual description of a location.

“Manehatten Ruins was an easy one, after all, some of the Rangers mentioned it as being in ruins. But for Fillydelphia and Hollow Shades, it was a bit more challenging. I was playing with some Spritebots and went to investigate them,” CORA explains.

“What do you mean, you were playing with Spritebots?” I ask her as I turn off my PipBuck screen and continue walking towards the Manehatten Ruins.

“Using radio signals, I was able to hijack them and move them around. Even getting close to Hollow Shades sent my geiger counter off the scale. Fillydelphia did as well, but the most notable thing about it was the giant crater. I did look at Manehatten a bit, and aside from some small pockets of extreme radiation, most of it seems pretty low on radiation,” CORA tells me with a smile.

“So, is that why you are so quiet all the time? You’re riding around on Spritebots? I thought you were just being shy or something,” I tell her.

“Yep! You asked about information on MAS research facilities that might house projects that used your technology a while ago, after all. I thought I might be able to find some. If nothing else, it’s good to know our surroundings. I also have been getting to know some of your PipBuck’s programs, just so you know. I DO have a social life,” she says, rolling her eyes.

“Wait, what? You have a social life with my PipBuck’s programs?” I ask, curiously and slightly concerned.

“Ugh, you remember our conversation on senses and how you couldn’t explain them to me? This is kind of like that. You just wouldn’t understand,” she says, nodding her head as if affirming her own logic.

“Alright then,” I say, not sure what else I could say. “Anyhow, good work. If you do find any of those facilities, just let me know!”

“Of course,” CORA says with a smile. “But I think it is going to be more difficult than either of us realizes. After all, they were secret research projects. Honestly, I wouldn’t expect anything. In all probability, we are more likely to stumble across them than I am to find them by looking,” she explains.

“Noted,” I tell her as we continue walking. “So, what do you all think,” I address my friends, “another day until we reach the Manehatten Ruins?”

“I’d say, at the pace we are going, we’ll reach them by nightfall,” Lightning answers. Arrow nods in agreement.

“Yea, lucky for us Star Paladin Lily tends to clear out a large path when she travels. It should be a bit before creatures fill in the gap she carved out,” Thunder says.

“Now that you mention it, I have noticed quite a few dead things since we meet with her,” I realize. “She really kills everything in her path, doesn’t she?”

“Anything that’s a threat,” Thunder explains. “However, once we enter the Ruins, that’s another story. From what the other Rangers say, that place is full of creatures and raiders. Lily could be five minutes in front of us, and we would be encountering new enemies,” he says.

“Is it that bad?” I ask. The wasteland itself was crazy with all the raiders and random creatures wanting to attack you. Were the Manehatten Ruins even worse?

“Well, to put it in perspective, there are multitudes more places to hide and breed in the Ruins than there are out here in the wasteland. More sources of loot and sustenance as well,” Lightning tells me. “We just have to make sure to avoid Manticores. They like to nest in the city and the last time the Rangers ran into them, it was only thanks to Iron that we escaped,” he explains.

Oh yea, I remember Iron saying some of his scars were from Manticores. If even Iron had to run from them, I surely don’t want to meet them. I’d like it if we could just make it through the city without any fighting, but if what Thunder and Lightning says is true, this will be a fight for survival.

===~+~===

As the sun begins to set, we near the edge of the Manehatten Ruins. We stay a fair distance away to avoid drawing unwanted attention and prepare ourselves for the night. My plan is to spend the night here and enter the city in the morning, instead of risking entering in the darkness.

Darkness could be both good and bad for us. It would hide us from some enemies, but the worst of them, predators, wouldn’t care about the darkness and we wouldn’t see them coming. Luckily, no one has any arguments with my decision, in fact the seem to wholeheartedly agree with it.

As we settle around the small fire, and pass around the remains of my box of Sugar Apple Bombs and drink some water, I draw the 9mm pistol from my bags. I look it over a bit before I replace the missing bullet and fish out the remaining 16 bullets. Then, I float the pistol over to Rose. “Take it,” I tell her.

“But I’ve never really used a gun before, you should keep it,” Rose says, shaking her hooves in front of her.

“Just take it,” I tell her again, “I have another gun, I like the other one better anyway. Besides, you are unarmed. That’s been fine up until now, but if the Manehatten Ruins are as dangerous as everyone says they are, you should carry a gun.”

“I...I suppose,” She says, grabbing the gun in her hooves. Nodding with approval, I float the ammo into her bag. “I hope I don’t have to use this,” She says as she stares at it.

“Same here,” I tell her. “You only have about two clips for it, so don’t use it unless you absolutely have to. We’ll try to do all of the fighting,” I say, looking to the others who nod in agreement. “Just pull it out if we get into a fight, but don’t fire unless you are in danger. Oh, and Lightning, can you show her the finer points of it?” I ask him.

He nods and sets about telling Rose about the safety, how to properly shoot the weapon, and how to effectively reload. I honestly hope she doesn’t have to, but it is better to be safe than sorry. As the final bit of light fades from the wasteland, I turn to look at the Manehatten Ruins.

The once thriving city of Manehatten, reduced to ruins. The famous skyline had been turned into a mar on the horizon. It used to be a place full of life, but now was a place of death. What would happen in those ruins tomorrow? Would we come out the other side together, or be destroyed in the process?

Chapter 11 - Ruin

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Chapter 11 - Ruin

“Follow the plan...just follow the plan.”

===~+~===

Two hours. That is how long we have been in the Manehatten Ruins. I wish I could say that we’ve made good progress, but we have barely made it three blocks into the city. In the first hour, we encountered a group of six raiders, about four bloodwings, twelve bloatsprites, and three sentry bots. Luckily, not all at once and we managed to fight through them easily enough. Managed to score some good loot as well.

In hour two, we found out that the raiders had friends. Apparently, we wandered into the middle of raider territory. During this second hour, we were set upon multiple times by the raiders of this territory, we managed to fight off the first few, but eventually they halted our advance. Now, we are holed up in a two story apartment building hoping that the raiders get bored of looking for us and wander off.

Miraculously, we have sustained no injuries. Though I think that is mostly due in part to most of us wearing power armor. Rose and I were clinging to cover like our lives depended on it. Speaking of Rose, she appears to be quite shaken, but hasn’t had to fire a single shot yet. Which is good, considering my revolver was out of ammo within the first hour.

Thank the Goddesses that between Lightning, Thunder, and Arrow, they had an armory worth of ammo for their own weapons. A perk of being born in the Rangers, I suppose. But, they did let me keep any loot we came across, which means I now have quite a few spare guns with plenty of ammo. At least, for now.

The six raiders we took out used two shotguns, two assault rifles, a 10mm submachine gun, and a machete. After loading all the weapons while holeing up in the apartments, I have 67 shells, 35 5.56 bullets, and 13 10mm bullets to spare. I also picked up some medical bandages, food, and some Sparkle Cola from the raiders. And around 100 caps, can’t forget the caps.

“Well, they are tenacious, i’ll give them that,” Thunder mutters, checking over his weapons. Lightning and Arrow are doing the same. Outside, I can hear the echoing calls of the raiders as they shout derogatory remarks while looking for us.

“Yea, and such a cheery bunch,” Lightning adds. Some random gunfire in the distance followed by more shouting. How did ponies live on the other side of all this? It was like never ending chaos. Did we just pick a lousy route? I let out a sigh as I take a moment to look at the inside of the apartment we are in.

As you would expect from a city hit by a Megaspell, half the building was crumbling, the paint on the walls has all but peeled off, and there is so much dirt and dust everywhere I wasn’t sure if it could ever be clean again. This particular apartment, which would have consisted of three rooms, has had its interior walls destroyed, allowing the bedroom and bathroom to be seen from the living area and kitchen. Any personality or furniture the room might have had was either reduced to rubble or buried.

It certainly wasn’t the most luxurious apartment building, even before the war. But, I bet it was cheap and served its purpose. As i finish surveying the room, my eyes fall on Rose, who is shakily looking at the floor a little bit apart from the others. I quietly move over to her and put my hoof on her shoulder.

“It’s going to be alright, Rose. Sure, things have been chaotic so far, but no one’s been injured yet. We have that going for us, right? We’ll make it to Friendship City,” I tell her with a small smile.

Rose looks up at me nods her head and says, “Y-Yea...I’m just not...used to all this, I suppose.” I can completely understand that. I, myself don’t know how I’m handling this as well as I am. Perhaps my inquizitive spirit is keeping me going?

“Right?” I reply with a brighter smile. “While we are stuck here, let’s come up with a plan,” I declare. I open up my PipBuck’s map screen as the others gather around. I switch to the Local Map setting and zoom out as far as possible. Even though most of the area not to our west is missing from my map’s data, it does show a good two blocks in every direction from our current location.

“Ok, let me see...I wonder if I can…” I trail off for a moment as I concentrate my magic on my PipBuck. After a moment, a larger projection of the map appears above the PipBuck. “Awesome! It worked! Alright, so, using my magic to make it easier to see, we are currently here,” I put a blue colored dot on the magical projection where we are currently at.

“Now, judging by the direction the raiders were chasing us from, and the sound of their voices, I’m guessing they are around, here, here, and here,” I say, as I add three new red dots to the north of the blue one. “Of course, these aren’t exact locations. My EFS doesn’t work, remember,” I add.

“Since Friendship City is quite a bit south and a little ways east of us, them being in the north works for us. Assuming that door leads to a hallway and more of the building, we should be able to find an exit on the south side, or use a window if nothing else,” I tell them.

“From there, judging by the terrain mapping, a lot of the surrounding streets are blocked by rubble. So, I think we should follow this path,” I pause for a moment and draw a blue arrow on the magical projection. “Going through as many buildings as we can and only using the streets if necessary. This way, it will cut down on our exposure to anything hostile,” I decide.

“Assuming there is nothing hostile inside the buildings,” Thunder says with a hint of concern in his voice. “This also assumes we’ll be able to find entrances and exits in those buildings to follow this path. I don’t know anything about architecture, but i’m pretty sure not every building has an entrance on each side,” he says.

“True,” I reply with a nod, “but most have windows we can use. As for hostiles, I think i’d rather take our chances inside than outside. Especially if any of the raiders have a sniper rifle. That’d spell the end for Rose or me. If they had a high enough caliber, you three might be in trouble as well.”

“Fair enough,” Thunder nods. I look over the projection one more time and confirm everything in my mind.

“Alright then. As soon as the raiders settle down, we’ll move. This building here,” I mark a building with a blue X, “will be our destination. Once there, we’ll come up with another plan and move again.” After receiving nods from everyone, I continue, “By the way, Rose, how did you make it through these ruins the first time? Some sort of special route?”

Rose tilts her head and puts a hoof to her chin. “Something like that,” she says. “A few of us planned to head west to see if we could make contact with any other settlements. We had some guards who knew the city well guide us through it. The way we took, it was about two days, but we managed to avoid a lot of combat,” she informs us.

“But, I don’t remember it well enough, and with everyone else who came with me having…” she trails off for a moment, “...died...I…” I hold up a hoof to stop her. It looks like she is about to start crying, and that is something we can’t afford right now. Sadness can wait.

“That’s fine,” I tell her. “I was just curious, is all. We’ll get you back home safely,” I say, giving her a broad smile. She wipes a tear from her eye then nods and smiles back at me. Right, now I just need to make sure I can keep that promise.

===~+~===

“Let’s move!” I declare after the raider activity has died down a bit. We exit the apartment through a door opposite the gaping hole in the wall that we came through and enter a hallway with multiple doors along it. Moving southward, we enter through an unlocked door and enter another apartment.

This side of the building appears to be in better condition than the other, but is still a complete mess. Since the wall is intact, we break a window and carefully exit the building into a narrow alleyway. Directly across from us is a brick building, but the only entrance is windows about a pony’s height off the ground. “I got this,” Lightning says as he takes position under one of the windows. “Climb on up!”

Thunder is the first to climb up, break the remaining glass around the window and climb inside. After a moment, he sticks his head out again, “All clear, let’s go.” Arrow is next, followed by Rose and then myself.

Once inside, I look down to Lightning. “How do you plan on getting up here?” I ask him. Even if Thunder and Arrow use their power armor to attempt to pull him in, the position of the window would make it difficult to get a good grip.

“Just stand back away from the window,” he says as he turns his back to us and faces the wall opposite. I look at him in confusion for a moment before I see him run directly at the wall, jump at it, twist himself around and plant his rear hooves on it. A split second later, I dash to the side as he flies through the remains of the window and lands on his hooves with a metallic crash.

“Gotta love the extra power the suits give, right?” He says, surely hiding a smirk under his helmet. I roll my eyes and survey the room. It looks like some sort of filing room. Cabinets line all available wall space except for a door leading out. Papers have been scattered on the floor long since forgotten.

“Right, we must be in an office building of some sort,” I mutter. “Let’s keep going.” Opening the door leads to another hallway and the door across from us leads to a meeting room of sorts. A large table is in the center with numerous chairs around it. Resting in each chair, is a skeleton. Ignoring them as best I can, i approach the large bay window that has long since had its glass busted out.

After busting through some of the remaining rotted wood to make room for us to exit, we dash across the street and stand against the next building. A multiple story office building. The doors are locked, but against the power of Thunder’s armor, they splintered into a thousand pieces with minimal effort on his part.

The inside is a large open lobby with a decayed fountain in the middle. Between us and it was a reception desk. I could just make out the words ‘Humble Law Firm’ engraved on the front of it. I think I remember hearing about them. I never had much use for lawyers though. The first floor had a few doors to our left and right, and on either side of the fountain was a curved staircase leading to the second floor.

“If I remember correctly, the building south of us was rubble on the map, so we should probably try heading east for now. Wait a moment…” I say as I pull up my map. Just like I thought. “There appears to be a walkway linking this building with the one across the street. Let’s head upstairs and look for it,” I tell the others. After scaling the staircase and turning down a hall, we find the door to the walkway.

Carefully, I push it open and take a look. Towards the center, half of the walkway has been blown away, but the rest looks solid enough. However, sitting in the midst of a pile of sandbags holding a sniper and looking out the gaping hole is a raider. Even without an EFS, I can tell. They were covered in similar armor the raiders wear and clearly had blood smeared on his face and body.

“Those fucks, how did they lose the targets? Well, they won’t get past me. I’ll kill them and take all their loot for myself!” The raider says with a laugh, clearing any doubts that they were in fact, a raider. I hold up a hoof to the others, draw my knife, and make my way towards him.

About halfway there I suddenly hear a beeping. Without skipping a beat, I charge at the raider who begins turning towards me. The beeping stops as I magically throw my knife at the raider and pierce his eye before he has a chance to get a single shot off or yell. His head jerks back and then falls forward to rest on the sandbags.

I turn back towards the others, only to see a landmine magically floating near where the beeping started. Arrow is waving at me happily. She floats the mine to me as the others walk up. “You know, you’re lucky Arrow is good at disarming mines with her magic,” Lightning says. “Otherwise, you’d have been blown to bits,” he adds, unnecessarily.

“Yea, yea,” I tell him while rolling my eyes. Facing Arrow, I say, “Thanks, saved me again.” I give her a smile as she falls to her haunches and frantically waves her hooves in front of her. “No, no, seriously. Thank you Arrow. I should pay more attention to my surroundings,” I say, feeling slightly disappointed in myself.

“That you should,” Lightning chimes in. I roll my eyes again as I begin to loot the raider. His sniper is the same as Arrow’s, although in worse condition. He also has a few caps on him, but no spare ammo. As I’m about to move on, I notice a box under him. I push him aside and discover an ammo box. Inside, I find a large amount of .308 bullets for the rifle.

I pick up the case and hold it up to Arrow. “Here, it’s the same type of ammo as your rifle,” I tell her. She shakes her head. I frown. “Look, I know you all have your own supply, and you’re letting me have all the loot we find, but seriously. You use this ammo, and you just saved my life. Take it,” I repeat.

She stares at it for a moment. “...half…” she says quietly. I set the case on the ground and roll my eyes.

“Fine!” I say, as I scoop out about half of the rounds and add them to my bags. My inventory reads I got 43. “Happy? Now, take the rest,” I tell her. She nods and picks up the case in her magic then adds it to her bag. “Alright, let’s move,” I say and begin to walk to the other side of the walkway.

Suddenly, a frag mine floats directly into my face. I stop before I smack into it. The magic around it disappears and I quickly pick it up with my own. As i do so, Arrow walks past me and floats up another mine near the door. Like the other one, she deactivates it and floats it over to me. I let out a sigh as I put them both in my bag. “Thanks...again,” I mutter as we continue through the door.

Into another hallway of what looks like more offices. While looking for the stairs down to the first floor, we pass an open door. As I look inside, I lock eyes with one of three raiders playing cards around a table. “Oh come one!” I shout as I draw the shotgun and level it at one of the raiders.

As they go for their guns on the table, I pull the trigger and send buckshot at my target. However, despite the close range and the spread of the shotgun, the raider only gets nicked as I quickly move to get out of the doorway as gunfire erupts from the room. I take up position right around the corner and Lightning takes the side opposite. The others stay a good distance back.

“Gee Ratchet, you always us something good, don’t ya?” Lightning says sarcastically just as the raiders’ storm of bullets stops. Simultaneously, Lightning and I peek around the corner and open fire. His shots inevitably hit his target while I still manage to only lightly pepper mine. Well, that’s six wasted shells. We fall back against the wall as the raiders finish reloading and open up on us again.

“Yea, yea. Less snark and more shooting,” I tell him. A moment later, their fire stops and we fold around the doorway once again. Again, Lightning drops his target, while I waste my shotguns remaining clip. “Are you kidding me!?” I yell as I throw the empty shotgun at the raider. By some odd stroke of luck, it knocks the gun from his grip and catches him off guard.

“Really Ratchet?” Lightning says as he charges into the room. “Who throws their weapon at the enemy?” He drops his SMG and draws his knife, ending the raider moments later. With the threat dealt with, I enter the room as well and retrieve my shotgun.

“It was empty!” I say, blushing slightly. “But I mean really, how did I manage to miss at this range with all eight shots! Well, not miss, but only slightly hit him. Ugh, guns and their shitty accuracy!” I declare.

“Well, first of all you just suck,” Lightning says in his usual snarky tone. “It isn’t the gun’s fault you can’t aim it properly,” he adds with a laugh. “But, you actually hit him quite a bit. It just seemed like you didn’t,” he says, picking up an odd looking needle contraption. “He was using Stampede.”

“Stampede?” I ask stupidly. “Wait, no, don’t tell me. I think it was...a combat enhancing drug developed before the war?” I suggest, looking at the empty drug casing before going back to looting the bodies.

“Very good!” Lightning says. “It’s effects include increased aggression and a numbing of pain. He just didn’t seem like he got hit, when in reality, you did quite a number on him.” I finish looting the first two raiders and finally get a look at the one i’d been shooting at. His left side looks like it had been through a grinder.

“So I don’t suck!” I say with a smile as I proceed to loot him. Lightning just chuckles. “Hey, what’s that laugh for? Are you saying I still do?” I question. He just shakes his head and walks out of the room. “No, seriously! You think I do, don’t you!” I call after him.

I finish looting and return to the others outside the room. “...so she throws the shotgun at him,” Lightning says, getting a laugh from Thunder and a quiet giggle from Arrow as she holds a hoof to her helmeted muzzle.

“Yea, yea, laugh it up,” I say, as I reload the shotgun. Eight shells and I didn’t even bring down one. Yet Lightning brings down two with a single clip of his SMG and a third with his knife. I let out a sigh. “Alright, let’s keep moving,” I say as I start leading us down the hallway once again.

“They have anything good on them?” Thunder asks.

“I wouldn’t say good. Just some poor quality SMGs. I did get a good sum of bullets for them though. I suppose I can sell these three and use the good quality one I already have, if necessary,” I tell him. “I also found some more of that Stampede drug on them, and some Dash.”

“Since the other two had the Stampede, I think they might each be carrying one, at least. The others didn’t take it though,” I say. “Even during the war it was highly addictive and dangerous. I expect this crude looking manufacturing hasn’t done it any…” I’m cut off as some shouting echos down the hallway.

Hoofbeats quickly follow the voices and I begin to make out what they are saying, “Like I said, I heard shooting from up here. The fucks must have found a way inside behind us,” a mare’s voice calls out.

“Good!” shouts a buck. “I hope the others didn’t finish them off, i’ve been itching to kill something all day!” The sounds get closer until they seem just around the corner from us. I motion for everyone to hug the walls, except for Thunder who I have stand in the center. In this formation with Thunder at the center, Arrow, Rose and I are on his left and Lightning is on the right.

“Hey, don’t kill them all! I want to have some fun with them first!” Calls another mare. Shit, how many were there? In seconds, the first one comes around the corner, followed by four others. “Oh shit!” the mare in front calls out as Thunder’s minigun spins up.

Arrow shields Rose with her body as I drop to the floor and make myself as small a target as possible. Meanwhile, Lightning and Arrow open fire. Arrow’s bullet finds a buck’s left legs, piercing through both unarmored hunks of flesh.

Lightning sprays the pair closest to him as they fumble to bring their weapons to bear on us. I aim into the center of them and start pulling the trigger right as Thunder’s gun begins to roar to life. Arrow’s target falls on his side and receives a second bullet through his skull. One of Lightning’s falls to the ground with a thump as the other starts shooting madly at him.

The remaining two see Rose and myself, unarmored and focus their efforts on us, but as they do so my buckshot and Thunder’s swarm of bullets plows into them, causing them to shoot wildly as they trip over each other to get back around the corner.

Arrow sends a bullet through the rear leg of one right before they disappear from sight along with the one that was shooting at Lightning. “Fuckers!” I hear one call out from around the corner. A moment later, three metal apples fly around the corner and land in front of us. “How do you like them apples?” Another of the raiders calls out.

“Oh shit!” I scream as I drop my shotgun from my magic and scoop up the nearest grenade. I throw it out the nearest window. Arrow picks one up with her magic and throws it back around the corner. The third grenade is in the middle of us right in front of Thunder. Without hesitation, he throws his side onto the grenade.

Immediately after, all three blow up. Mine sends glass and brick spraying back into the hall, Arrow’s receives a chorus of “FUCK!” as red splashing into the hall and against the walls. The grenade under Thunder explodes, launching him a few inches in the air. I hear him call out as he crashes back down and red starts to seep out around him.

“Thunder!” I call out as I rush over to him. The others follow immediately after me. Surrounding Thunder, Arrow takes off his helmet and Lightning tries to help his brother up to his haunches. Thunder’s face is twisted in pain as he gets into a sitting position.

At this moment, I can see the slight smile on his face. “What? You think a grenade is going to take me out?” He says. “Grenades are my thing, remember?” Despite his encouraging words, the entire right side of his armor is crushed inwards, and from the cracks seeps blood. The minigun mounted on his side has been ruined, its barrels twisted at odd angles.

Arrow begins stripping the armor off his side and bandaging him up. Lightning separates the destroyed gun from his brother’s armor, and slams his hooves down in the dented metal, popping it back out the way it should be. While not in peak condition, it wouldn’t stab at Thunder’s side this way.

Somehow, Thunder manages to only have some cuts from the jagged edges of his armor when it got dented. Unfortunately, his only plausible weapon has been destroyed. But, it is a minor sacrifice as long as he is still alive. “Don’t do something like that again, alright?” I tell him. “There’s no need to sacrifice yourself for us.”

“It wasn’t a sacrifice,” Thunder replies while wincing from Arrow’s treatment. “Our armor is made to be able to take a grenade or two. Though, a rocket might be a different story. I wasn’t in any real danger.”

“He’s got a point, though I will agree, it was rash to do,” Lightning adds, finishing with his brother’s armor. “Good as new,” he says, kicking it back towards Thunder.

Arrow finishes up and Thunder gets to his hooves with a grunt. “Thanks,” he says as he puts his armor back on, except for his helmet, which he puts in his bag. “Sorry, Ratchet, but I think i’ll be needing to take one of their guns. I think i’ll take...this one,” he says, as he picks up a fairly good condition assault rifle and continues to loot the raider for more ammo.

“If you find any 5.56 on the others, toss it to me, will ya?” he says as he puts the rest of the raiders ammo into his bags and kicks me over a dose of Stampede. I pick it up, and proceed to loot the others. Two others have rifles and a good sum of 5.56 on them. I float it into Thunder’s bags and take everything else.

Like the others before, each one has a dose of Stampede on them, i’m up to seven now. Other than that, I find some caps, another SMG, two 10mm pistols, and plenty of 10mm ammo. As I get it all together and stand up, I say, “You know, I appreciate you letting me take all the loot, but honestly, I don’t think I can carry much more. Rose, you want anything?”

She shakes her head as she says, “If you can’t carry something, i’ll carry it for you. My bags are pretty light at the moment. But I don’t need anything.” I shrug my shoulders as we continue on, finding the stairs right around the corner.

===~+~===

We make it to our first stop without any more issues. I project the map once again, and plot us a course through the ruins. If we keep following my plan, we should reach the city in a few more hours. As we proceed through building after building, and cross street after street, we only find minor resistance from mutated animals such as bloatsprites.

We repeat my mapping process three times before coming to a large, crumbling overpass. It is a larger road than we’ve crossed before. “Stay sharp, we’ll be more exposed than usual crossing this road,” I say as I begin to lead us across.

Halfway across, and nothing has jumped out as us yet. Three-fourths of the way there, and nothing. Two feet from the next building, and a loud crack echoes through the city. An instant later a bullet pierces through my rear right leg. I trip mid-step and fall flat on my face as the others run to shield Rose and I as we move to the side of the building. Lightning grabs me with a hoof and drags me to my hooves, pulling me along.

Limping, I make it to the building with the others. Another loud crack, followed by a chunk of concrete exploding right next to my head, sending it cutting across my face. I flinch as the concrete dust gets in my eyes and the fresh cuts begin to send blood running down my muzzle.

Without wasting a moment, Thunder kicks in the door to the building and Lightning drags me inside while I remain dazed. The others follow and shut the door as best they can. I’m rubbing my eyes trying to clear them of dust as Arrow attempts to work on my wounded leg. “Shit, you good Ratchet?” Lightning asks as he looks around the room.

“Y-yea, i think so,” I reply. “Well, kind of. I can keep going,” I tell him. I mean, I did just get shot, but we can’t afford to sit around, they know where we are at. “Let’s keep moving,” I say as Arrow finished up on my leg, tying the magical bandage neatly around the wound. Down to one of those, I suppose. I hope I won’t need more.

The cuts on my face aren’t too bad, they should stop bleeding pretty quick. I frantically look around at the destroyed building we are in, some sort of hotel I think. I get my bearings, and begin to lead us south through the building, and into the alley between this building and the next. As soon as we are outside, however, a rocket detonates a foot away from us.

Lightning is closest to where it detonated, and as the dust settles, I can tell he is alright. “Keep moving!” I yell, as we smash through a window while another rocket is on its way. We pile in through the window seconds before it detonates, sending glass and mortar cascading down upon us.

“Well, this is going from bad to worse,” Thunder mutters as we run through the building. I thought we lost the raiders, what happened? Are they the same ones we lost earlier, or a new group?

We crash through the door leading to the street, only to be ambushed by four raiders. Thunder, Lightning, and Arrow quickly stand between Rose and I and the raiders. I peak around Lightning and fire a few shots of buckshot at a pair of the raiders. It strikes them and staggers them, allowing Lightning and Arrow to finish them off.

As I look to the other side, I see Thunder and Arrow just drop their opponents as well. Meanwhile, Rose is shaking behind Arrow, gun drawn and eyes wide. No time to loot, “Across the street!” I call out and begin charging towards the building across the street.

Gunfire begins to break out as we break into a department store and slam the door behind us. “Fuck! Do we just have bad luck, or do they know where we are going,” I say as I look around quickly. “We have to go, now!” I begin walking to the back of the store with the others close behind.

I reach the other side and start to open an employee entrance to the street beyond. Before I even get the door fully open, a hail of bullets start to ping off the door. I slam it shut and step away from it. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” I scream. This wasn’t good. Did they have us trapped? “We might be stuck here,” I tell the others.

I stare at the door for a moment, eyes wide in panic, before Arrow puts a hoof on my shoulder. I turn to look at my friends, two wearing helmets with unreadable expressions, the terrified Rose, and Thunder, looking ready for orders. I relax for a moment and take a deep breath.

I close my eyes and think. After a moment, I open my eyes and give them a determined look. “Alright, they have us trapped. But, we aren’t done. Thunder, watch this door,” I say as I float out one of the mines, arm it, and place it in front of the door. Thunder nods, throws a table on its side and takes up position behind it.

“Lightning, watch the door we came from. Put this in front of the door,” I tell him, as I float the other mine over to him. He nods and takes off for the other entrance. “Rose, I think there is a circular sales desk in the middle of this floor. I want you to go and hide behind it. No matter what direction they come from, you’ll have protection,” I tell her.

She stares blankly at me for a moment, before blinking, nodding, and running off. “Arrow, you take the west side and make sure there are no other entrances there. I’ll look to the east. If you find one, yell...or, well, give me a signal or something I guess,” I say to her. She gives me a salute and takes off.

Alright, we can do this. We’ll hold this position, get our bearings, and take out any that try to get in. We need to rest, to catch our breath. Get our hooves under us again. I nod to myself, confirming my plan and begin to search the east for any other entrances.

After a quick trot along the wall, I confirm that there are no windows or doors. As I recall the map, that makes sense. No doubt Arrow found the same. If I remember correctly, this building is attached to the ones on either side of it. I return to Rose in the center. A few moments later, Arrow comes back and confirms that there are no entrances.

“Alright, they have two ways to get in. If we watch them, we should be fine,” I declare. I turn my attention to Rose, who looks quite shaken. “Rose, everything will be alright. We’ll make it. Just a few blocks more, and we’ll be there,” I tell her. She shakily nods, but doesn’t say anything. “Arrow, stay with her. I’m going to check in with the others,” I say as I begin walking over towards Thunder’s position at the south.

As I approach, I notice he has overturned a few more tables and fortified his position. I go over the plan with him, he gives me his approval and I head north of talk with Lightning. Similar to his brother, Lightning agrees and has fortified his position. Multiple tables overturned. Though, Lightning’s has a little more finesse in its design than his brother’s.

I return to Arrow and Rose in the center of the building and give Rose a bottle of Sparkle Cola. She takes it gratefully and begins sipping it. I pocket the bottle cap, of course. We sit in silence as we wait.

===~+~===

After two hours, the raiders still have not made an attempt to enter the store. They do, however, continue to holler at us. Thinks like, “Just come on out, we only want to play!”, “You’ll have to come out eventually!”, or even “Get out here you fucks!” A large variety of obscenities have been thrown at us, but nothing more.

From the amount of voices I manage to distinguish, I estimate at least a dozen at each entrance. An hour ago, Arrow and I went to the second floor windows in an attempt to find their positions and take a few out with our rifles. However, as soon as we approached the windows their snipers kept us from looking outside for more than a few seconds.

“Fuck…” I sigh as I slump against the desk. I figured they would at least try to come in and we could thin some of them out. But, it seems they are attempting to put us under siege. I roll my head back and look up at the ceiling, losing myself in thought.

My wounded leg was starting to hurt, causing me to snap back to reality. “Alright. Hey, Lightning,” I call over to him. “Come here. It’s not like they are going to come in anyway. Even if they do, we’ll know right away,” I say in a more relaxed tone that I should have in this situation. After a moment, Lightning hops over the desk with us.

“What’s up?” he asks. I look at him with a blank expression and shrug my shoulders. “What does that mean? You called me over, remember?” He says with a hint of irritation in his voice.

“I got a plan. A stupid plan,” I say, as I roll my head to the side. “Let’s go meet up with Thunder, I’ll explain it then,” I say, rising to my hooves and climbing over the desk. After a few moments of hesitation, the others follow.

“Hey Thunder,” I say as I approach. “I think it’s time we leave,” I say with little emotion in my voice. I sigh. It is almost like I am depressed. But, I know I’m feeling this way because this is a really stupid plan, and I really don’t want to do this.

“Whenever you’re ready boss,” Thunder replies. “But, how do you plan on doing that?” He asks. I nod my head as everyone gathers around. I let out another sigh as I prepare the details in my head.

“We go out guns blazing,” I tell them flatly. Well, that’s part of the plan anyhow. Now, for the sucky part. “But first, lend me some of your grenades, Thunder. About five will do. I’d like six, but I don’t think I could pull that off,” I say, muttering the last part quieter than the rest.

“Sure thing, but what do you plan to do with them?” He asks, digging out five grenades from his bags and setting them in front of me. I pick them up in my magic and float them beside me.

“I’m going out first,” I say as I draw the poor quality shotgun from my bag along with two doses of Dash. “I’ll shoot off the door’s hinges, drop this shotgun, grab the door in my telekinesis, and use it as a shield as I charge outside. Once outside, I’ll take one of the Dash and then find out where the raiders are positioned. I’ll then use the grenades to attempt to kill them, or catch them off guard,” I declare.

If I could see their faces, besides Rose’s, which was looking at me in shock, I bet they would be wearing the same expression. But I wasn’t done explaining yet. “Once I toss the grenades, I’ll slam the door into the ground and use it as cover, freeing up my magic to use my SMG. At this point, the Dash should wear off, which is where the second dose comes in,” I pause as I look them over.

“As soon as I pick up the door, you four will count to seven and follow me out. Keep Rose between you. Rose, pick up the shotgun I drop, if you can. Once in the street, engage any raiders you see while moving towards me. Once we are together, I’ll pick the door back up and use it as a shield for us as we move across the street and into the next building. Got it?” I ask.

Lightning is the first to speak up, “You are fucking crazy if you think that we’ll…”

“Shut up!” I yell at him. “I know, this is going to suck. I could even die, in fact, if I don’t i’ll be surprised. So listen, whatever it takes, I will make sure you all make it across the street safely. So do as I say,” I say, almost pleading with them.

Lightning sits and crosses his front legs. “No,” he says simply. However, Thunder and Arrow walk past me towards the door, Arrow deactivates the mine and floats it back into my bag. They take up positions on either side of the door.

“Whenever you’re ready boss,” Thunder says in a pained tone. Arrow nods in agreement.

Lightning lets out a sigh. “Idiots. But,” he rises to his hooves, “when they are like this, there’s no talking sense into them. He walks up to me and mutters, “I won’t forgive you if you die, Ratchet,” before taking his place next to Thunder.

Rose looks confused between us before she runs over to Arrow’s side. I walk a few feet from the door, close my eyes and take a deep breath. Slowly, I open them again and look at the ponies next to the door, looking at me, waiting for me. I grit my teeth, and float the shotgun up next to the bottom hinge.

Now! I pull the trigger, shattering the rusted hinge as I float the gun up to the top one and repeat the process. As soon as the door is free, I charge at it, drop the shotgun from my magic and pick up the door up. Heavier than I expect, but that just means it will be a good shield.

Already, bullets are bouncing off the door and building as I sprint through the doorway. One second, I make it a foot from the building. Two seconds, I take the first dose of Dash. Two and a half seconds, I pull the pins from all five grenades. Three seconds, I toss the first grenade at a pair of raiders to my left. Three and a half seconds, I toss the second grenade at three raiders at my 10 o’clock. Four seconds, the third grenade flies at a four of ponies behind some sandbags directly across the street.

Four and a half seconds, the fourth grenade is sent express to a pair nearing 3 o’clock. Five seconds, the fifth grenade soars for three raiders to my right. Six seconds, I reach the middle of the street. Six and a half seconds, I jam the door in the road horizontally. Seven seconds, the others charge out and begin shooting as I feel a bullet penetrate my flank. Seven and a half seconds, the grenades explode as I draw my SMG.

Eight seconds, I open fire at the ponies across the road from me as the flee the explosion. Nine seconds, I confirm the grenades killed five as I shoot to my right. Ten seconds, my friend make it a third of the way to me and have taken out two raiders. Eleven seconds, I feel the Dash about to wear off and put the second dose in my muzzle, pushing down on the injector.

Eleven and a half seconds, I toss aside the empty dose as I exhale a pink mist and level my SMG at my 3 o’clock. Thirteen seconds, I finish off the pair at my 3 o’clock. Fifteen seconds, I feel another round punch into my left foreleg as I reload the SMG. Seventeen seconds, I finish off the group in front of me as my friends reach me.

Nineteen seconds, and I turn my head just in time to have a bullet fly through my mane. Nineteen and a half seconds, and I point the sniper out to Arrow. Twenty one seconds, Arrow takes out the sniper as my second dose of Dash wears off. “FUCK!” I cry out as the pain of my wounds finally reaching my brain.

I wince as i pick the door up once again and swing it to our left. It seems all the raiders on our right have been dealt with and only four raiders remain. With the metal door between us and the raiders, we reach the building without further injury while the others take shots at them. I move to open the door, but find it to be a metal door chained shut with a sturdy lock.

I raise my shotgun to shoot off the lock as I hear the raiders from the north side of the previous building just reaching this street. I pull the trigger, but the buckshot only ricochets off the lock and hits me in the chest with a few pellets. I call out as I drop the shotgun from my magic and stagger back.

Shaking my head, I look behind us, from both sides of the street, more raiders have appeared. Thunder, Arrow, and Lightning move to stand between Rose and I and the raiders on the side opposite the makeshift door cover. “I can’t get the door open!” I say as I hold a hoof to my bleeding chest.

Fuck, could this get any worse? I think to myself. As if on cue, a loud roar echoes through the street. I hear the beating of wings right as a giant beast lands in the middle of the street. A lion’s head, wings of a bat, and the tail of a scorpion. “Oh fuck,” I mutter under my breath as my eyes go wide.

“Don’t move,” Lightning says as our group stops shooting all together. At the same time, the raiders stop shooting at us, and begin to shoot at the manticore. It lets out another roar and charges towards the nearest group, slashing its mighty claws and cleaving two raiders in half instantly.

I swallow hard as I watch it mercilessly attack the raiders. Within seconds, it kills the raiders on that side of the road and with a mighty rush of its wings, flies across the street into the other group. I keep watching until a metal hoot strikes my cheek.

Blinking a few times, I realize that Arrow hit me. I shake my head to collect myself and think. “Get away from the door,” I say, as I float out the remaining frag mine and set it on the chains holding the door closed. I arm it and back away from the door before covering my face and shooting it with my shotgun.

A metal rending explosion resounds before quickly dying down. As i look at where the door once stood, now a gaping entryway remained. “Inside, now!” I yell as I look towards the manticore. It has finished with the raiders and is now flying towards us.

I sprint through the doorway, followed by Rose, Arrow, Thunder, and...Lightning! Right as he is about halfway through the doorway, the manticore reaches out with its claws and catches him in the rear legs. I watch in horror as chunks of metal fly from the beast’s claws and Lightning is sent flying into the building and against a wall.

For a moment, I think the monster is about to descend upon us, but then I realize it is too big to fit in the doorway. It flails its claws around just inside the doorway and growls at us, but makes it no further. I fall to my haunches along with Rose and Arrow and Thunder run over to help Lightning.

I want to join them, but I can’t bring myself to move right now. I look down and see the blood pooling under me. Oh yea, I had been shot. My head begins to spin as I fish out the remains of the healing potion from my bags. I drink it as quickly as i can and then use my remaining regular bandage to wrap my injured foreleg.

It is a pretty shitty job, and Arrow would have done much better, but considering my vision kept flashing white, I think I did a pretty good job. White, normal, white, normal, white, and then darkness.

===~+~===

Level Up! x2

+17 Small Guns
+13 Medicine
+9 Explosives
+3 Melee Weapons

New Perk!
-Skittish - You’ve proven to be quite unpredictable under pressure. When under the effects of Dash, you have a 25% chance to enter a SATS-like state

Chapter 12 - New Magic

View Online

Chapter 12 - New Magic

“In order to win this war, we must challenge the fundamentals of magic. We must change it, and make it something new.”

===~+~===

My eyes shoot open and I look frantically around. Lightning is laying next to me with Arrow sitting next to him. Thunder and Rose are on my other side. I steady my breathing and ask, “What happened?”

“You passed out from blood loss,” Thunder informs me. “Luckily, while we were dealing with Lightning, you managed to patch yourself up to stop from losing any more. We’ve haven’t moved from this building since then. The sun has already set, so it looks like we are spending the night here,” he concludes.

“What about Lightning,” I ask. “Is he alright?” I look over at Lightning’s sleeping form. His chest rises and falls steadily. It looks like they took his armor off and patched him up. His rear legs are covered in bandages and his armor’s rear leggings have been completely shredded.

“Well, he’ll be gimping along for a while, but it isn’t anything too bad. Iron had similar injuries the first time he encountered a manticore and the only lasting sign of that was some scarring. He’s lucky he got as far through the doorway as he did,” Thunder sighs.

“I see,” I mutter, recalling Lightning being tossed through the air by the manticore. I shake my head and look around to distract me from the thought. It appears as if we are in an office. It has a sturdy metal door and a reinforced glass window looking out into the rest of the building. The office itself consists of a metal desk with a wooden chair and a single filing cabinet.

On top of the desk is a terminal, a worn calendar, and a few sheets of yellowed paper. “Have you looked at anything in this office yet?” I ask them.

“No, we’ve just been watching over you two,” Thunder replies. “If you want to loot, go right ahead, we saved it just for you,” he says with a smirk. I roll my eyes, but turn my attention to the filing cabinet.

I’m still a bit shaky as I get to my hooves and walk over to it. However, upon opening it I find it oddly empty. “Huh, not even files,” I mutter. I look at the papers on the desk, but they are just are too worn out to decipher. Then I notice the metal wastebasket next to the desk. It is full of ashes. “Did they burn all the files? Why would they do that?” I question, though to no one in particular.

Next, I begin digging through the desk drawers. I find a whole lot of nothing, aside from a keyring with two keys on it. I pocket them and plop down in the wooden chair, inspecting the terminal. Other than a bunch of dust, it doesn’t seem damaged. I hit the power button and wipe away some of the dust on the screen with my hoof.

As it boots up, I stretch my limbs. I let out a soft moan while doing so. “Damn, I don’t think i’ve ever felt this bad,” I mutter. Two wounded legs, a bunch of buckshot in my chest, and a bunch of small cuts on my face and body. What I wouldn’t give to just sleep for a week.

The logo of the M.A.S. flashes on the screen momentarily before going to a list of options. “Wait, MAS? Hey CORA, you there?” I ask, looking at my PipBuck. I don’t see her in my vision at the moment. “CORA, can you hear me? I have a question,” I say again.

After a few moments, her face appears in my vision. “Hey Ratchet, sorry, I was over near Fillydelphia. Nothing to report! Though, I do think someone else is using the Spritebots, but that isn’t too important. Anyone with a decent knowledge of them and radio signals could do so,” she says with a dismissive smile. “So, what’s up?” She asks.

“This terminal had a MAS logo on startup. Can you tell if this is an MAS facility?” I ask her, using my PipBuck’s cable to hook into the terminal. Her face moves from my vision onto the terminal. It looks around for a moment before smiling.

“It appears so,” CORA reports. “Oh yea, since it is night, I suspect you’ll be staying here, right?” She asks. I nod, and she rolls her eyes. “You know I can’t normally see gestures, right? Luckily, the facility has multiple cameras throughout. Anyway, boop!” she declares as an option highlights.

The option marked ‘Facility Operations’ is selected which brings up another list I barely read ‘Lockdown’ before it is selected and lights begin flashing through the window. I hear grating metal as the lights flash for a few moments and a voice comes over an intercom, “Facility Lockdown has been initiated. All exits have been sealed.” The flashing lights turn off once again.

“If you don’t plan on leaving, and since you left a gaping hole in the facility, I thought a lockdown would be effective at keeping you all safe,” CORA says as she returns the terminal’s selections back to the main menu.

Thunder gets up and walks over beside me. “But that also means that we are trapped with anything still in here. If this is a MAS facility like you say, i’m sure there are defences and the like, correct?” he says, concern clearly visible on his face.

“Indeed! However, I’ve already overwritten their targeting parameters. There shouldn’t be anything hostile to you in here. Even if there do happen to be the odd raider or radroach lurking around, the turrets will take them out for you,” CORA replies.

“Nice work,” I tell her. “So, what all does the facility consist of? Because it looks like a normal factory on this level,” I ask. That’s not to say that a simple factory couldn’t be a MAS facility. In fact, the MAS owned, or took over, quite a few factories to produce specific items for them during the war.

CORA scrunches up her muzzle as she quickly changes directories on the terminals faster than I can read them. “It says the factory was used to make water talismans. Though, this report states they shut down production a week before the war ended. No stock remains of them either, so no loot there,” she says sadly.

I roll my eyes, “You know, i’m not obsessed with loot.” Geez, what was with everypony. They are all, ‘Oh hey, here’s some loot, better give it to Ratchet.’ “What else you got,” I ask CORA.

“Hmmmmm,” she says, flicking through more files. “There are two levels below us, but I can’t find any information on them. They don’t even show up on the building schematics. But, I’m able to access their cameras and turrets, so I know they are there,” she answers, confused. “There’s also a large dark spot I can’t access at the center of the bottom level. A large cylindrical area in the middle of it,” she says.

“Do you know how we can get down to those levels?” I ask her.

“There appears to be a freight elevator at the far end of this floor. But according to this, it only goes up to the roof for deliveries and shipments. Nothing of note up there, either,” she tells me.

“I see. I’ll go take a look,” I say, getting up off the chair. “You coming back into my PipBuck, or are you going to hang out in there for a while?” I ask CORA.

“I’ll stay in here. I can keep an eye on you with the cameras. If I change my mind, you just have to find another linked terminal. I’ll talk to you over the intercom system,” she says. I remove my PipBuck’s cable from the terminal and open the door to the factory floor. Thunder gets up to come with me.

“You stay here,” I tell him. “CORA can cover me with turrets if anything happens. Since the only entrances are up here, I’d feel better if you are up here with everyone else if something decides to try and break in,” I say, giving him a reassuring smile.

“Whatever you say, boss,” Thunder replies, sitting back down. “Stay safe down there,” he tells me as I walk out of the door.

Now that I have time to look around at the factory floor properly, it looks like a normal factory. Large machines with conveyor belts take up much of the space, including an arcane imprinter used to imprint the talismans with magic. Empty crates line the sides of the building. They probably used to hold raw materials for the talismans before production was shut down.

I make my way towards the back of the factory, and find a large freight elevator, like CORA said. It is essentially a large platform with four large beams going up to the ceiling, where a sealed hatch would normally be. Now, a thick steel door has closed over it.

I get onto the elevator and look at the single button on the raised console. Beside the button, is a keyhole. “Well, worth a shot,” I mutter, drawing out the keyring and trying the first key. Not even close. The try the second key, and after some negotiating, it slides into place. I turn the key and nothing happens.

I wait for a moment and then shrug and press the button. The platform lurches and rises up a few inches. I think it is going to keep rising, but it stops. Suddenly, the concrete below the elevator moves down and slides back into the floor revealing a dark hole. Once the floor is out of the way, the elevator moves back down and proceeds into the darkness.

After a moment, lights begin to kick on and illuminate a rectangular concrete room with a single door. Once the elevator reaches the bottom, I notice the two turrets on either side of the door. I take the keys with me as I get off the elevator and walk up to the door. Locked. I try the other key, and it opens.

Beyond the door is a long concrete hallway with various doors along it. As I begin to walk down the hall, I peek in a few of the doors. They look like bedrooms. The entire hall is filled with bedrooms. As I reach the end and make a right turn the hallway continues. I notice a few cameras and turrets on the ceiling as I walk.

“CORA, how big is this level?” I ask her. It seems like just a bunch of living quarters.

“This floor isn’t that big. The one below is about four times as big. You’ll reach another corner up here,” she says, and right as she does, I take another right turn. “At the end of this hall, you’ll find a staircase. This level is all living quarters, it looks like,” She tells me.

After a few minutes, I reach the stairs she mentioned. It is a long metal staircase. I begin to descend and my hoofs echo loudly on the metal stairs with each step. One flight, two flights, three flights. “I HATE STAIRS!” I yell, receiving a resounding echo in return. Climbing back up these was going to be a pain.

Two more flights later, I reach the bottom. I open the door to exit the staircase and the concrete surroundings I had gotten used to turn into an almost blinding white. I say almost, because with all the dust it has dulled quite a bit. The semi-circular room is filled with desks, terminals, and chairs. It looks like an office, but a lot more scientific. On the opposite side of the room, a rounded convex wall exists. On my left and right, as the room rounds, I can see doors on both sides.

Seeing nothing spectacular in this room, I decide to head to the door on my right. As I walk towards it, I look around the room. Random papers scattered everywhere, empty filing cabinets, and bins full of ash. “More destruction of files?” I mutter. Even some of the terminals appear to have been destroyed.

I’d expected to see bones somewhere, but i’ve not seen a single one since entering, not even in the factory. It is like this whole place was abandoned, but left running. It has power and everything. I reach the door and proceed through it. This room is less like an office and more like a library. Various desks full of books lay scattered about and shelves lined the room. The left wall, was also convex.

It was like CORA said, there is a cylindrical shape in the middle of this floor. I look at some of the books, wondering why they weren’t destroyed along with the files. But they are just random books on magic. Even some on zebra magic and other magic i’ve never heard of. Just then I recall Grimoire’s plan. Finding ancient and destructive magics.

“Oh no, I’m going to have to destroy all these, aren’t I?” I ask no one in particular, setting down a book I was looking at called ‘Imagination and You!’. I resolve to deal with the books later, and head through the next door. Judging by the length of these rooms, the next room would be directly across from the first one.

I open the door and take in the next room. It appears to be a medical room of sorts. There are shelves that would have probably contained medical goods, but they are now bare. In the center of the room, is a single padded chair that was more than likely used for treatment. I riffled through some drawers, but they are all empty. Not even a single bandage remains.

As I near the door on the other side of a room, I notice an odd looking metal case to the door’s right. It looks to be some sort of dispenser. There is a button on the front of it, with a retrieval tray near the bottom. I shrug, and push the bottom. After some whirring of gears the sound of plastic crumpling reaches my ears. I reach down with a hoof and pick up whatever it is the machine dropped.

Wrapped in plastic, preserved from before the war, is one, beautiful, sexy, brilliantly white, lab coat. I let out a squee of delight as I tear the plastic open with my magic while throwing off my bags. I pull the lab coat from the plastic, unfold it, and quickly slip my front legs into the sleeves. I look around frantically for a mirror and find one, though a bit dusty to the right of the machine.

I rear up on my rear hooves and put my front hooves in the coat’s pockets while striking my most badass scientist pose in front of the mirror. I look at myself in the mirror, beautiful white lab coat, blood covered barding, dirty silver coat, singed ice blue mane, and a face full of small cuts, caked with blood. My smile disappears as I slowly fall back onto my front hooves.

I sigh and look back over the room. Specifically at a small rectangular room I overlooked that is marked ‘Restroom’. I walk over to it, open the door, and walk inside. A toilet, a sink, and a mirror. Simple, but good enough. I turn a knob on the sink. “Please, please, please…” I mutter. The faucet sputters to life and spits out some brown gunk before it runs slightly dirty water.

My PipBuck clicks softly and I hold my hooves under the water and splash water on my face, being careful not to make a mess of my new coat. I wipe my face with my hooves for a while before I’m satisfied with my reflection in the mirror. It want to strip down and take the time to clean my entire body, but I don’t want to keep the others waiting longer than I have to. A clean face will have to do, for now.

I exit the bathroom, return to the machine, and put my bags back on. I’m about to go through the next door, when I look back at the machine. I look suspiciously back and forth before hammering the button a few times. The machine spits out three more lab coats before a red ‘Out of Stock’ light comes on. Whistling to myself, I put them in my bag and head into the next room.

This room, I would equate to a classroom. There was a single desk in the middle and two chalkboards in front of it. A few chairs sat at the other side of the room, facing the desk. I also see numerous chests behind the chalkboards. My attention is drawn to something on top of one of these chests. I walk over and inspect it.

It was armored barding, heavier than the one I was currently wearing. The armor was dusty, but other than that it appears to be perfectly fine. As I pick it up, a piece of paper falls from it. I float the paper up to read it. ‘Instructor use only,’ it read. I toss the paper aside along with my bags. I then take off my lab coat and very carefully make sure to keep it grasped in my magic and not touching anything as I take off my current armor and put on the new set.

I put my coat back on, along with my bags, and look over my old armor. Covered in blood, multiple holes in the front from when the buckshot hit me, and a few holes elsewhere. It served me well up until now, but it wasn’t designed to be used in prolonged combat. Originally, it was supposed to be used in the event my lab was attacked.

That being said, it wasn’t in horrible condition. It might be worth keeping to sell at some point. I put it in my already bulging bags and open the chests. Empty. No surprise there. The rest of this facility has been starkly devoid of loot. I turn my attention back to the rest of the room. The door opposite I came in would just lead back to the first room. However, this room has a third door. This door leads into the center area. I walk past the chalkboards and the desk and up to the door.

It is far sturdier than the other doors, and appears to be locked. To the left of it, is a terminal set into the wall. I look back at the desk for a moment, wondering if there might be a password laying around somewhere. That’s when I notice the chalkboard’s contents. Diagrams of weaponry. Not just simple drawings either.

One was a 10mm SMG, shown torn down into its individual parts. Each part was then broken down into the specific materials that make up the part. On the other board, was a diagram of a 10mm bullet. Like the SMG, it was torn down into parts, and then those parts broken into specific materials. It was like, what you would need to know to make the items from scrap.

I turn away from the strangely specific diagrams and look in the desk. Nothing, no passwords. Turning back to the terminal, i hit a few keys to wake it up. After a moment the displays a login screen.

>Hello M.A.S. Personnel
>Only Authorized Individuals Are Allowed Beyond This Point
>Please Input Credentials
>
>Username: _

For some reason, I shrug and go with it. Typing in my name and pressing enter.

>Username: Ratchet
>Password: _

Again, I type in my M.A.S. password and hit the enter key.

>Access Granted.
>Welcome, Chief Researcher Ratchet

>Unlock Door

With there only being one option, I unlock the door. As i do so, I hear the sound of metal grinding on metal and the hiss of air. I pull the door open and step inside the center room. My eyes go wide in surprise.

Inside the cylindrical room, right in the center, is a cryogenic pod similar to my own. While slightly different in design, I can tell what it is immediately. “Is this one of those projects, Twilight?” I mutter as i step further into the room. Other than the pod, I notice a desk with a terminal on it as the only other furniture in the room.

But the room itself is crazy in design. It isn’t made of the same material as the rest of the rooms were, but is instead thick reinforced concrete covered in some sort of rubbery black material. In places, large chunks of this black material have been blown away, almost as if something explosive hit it. There are also various bullet holes of varying size all over the room. “What is this?” I question.

I swallow as I approach the terminal and turn it on. There are two options.

>Research Records
>Chamber Operations

I open the records entry and a large amount of files are displayed. The one at the top is titled ‘READ FIRST’. I open it and begin reading.

===~+~===

Years! No, decades of work for nothing! We were making progress, but now the higher-ups have declared this project “Too dangerous”. Can you believe that? Our project has the ability to change the tide of this war. No more need to manufacture weapons, no need for unicorns with magic megaspells, with our research, anything is possible!

But no, here I am, being told to write a final log. Why, I don’t even know. Bureaucracy at work. It isn’t enough that they shut down my facility a week ago and removed my subject to the Fluttershy Medical Center to be kept in stasis while they did SOMETHING to my facility. Now, I can’t even get into the central chamber. OF MY OWN FACILITY!

The last time I saw my subject, when they brought him back here after renovations to my facility, he wasn’t happy. Those stasis chambers are insane. Keeping a pony alive indefinitely, but all the while they are still conscious? He must have heard something about what they planned on doing, because he had to be sedated, and even then he was kept gagged.

No matter what he did, he didn’t mean to. He just couldn’t control it yet. I told them I only needed time. But, apparently three deaths was too many. Even though hundreds, thousands more die in the war. I don’t know what they are planning for him, they aren’t telling me anything. I will get him back, I will get my facility back. Even if I have to take this up with Miss Twilight Sparkle herself!

Consider this my last entry, UNTIL I GET MY FACILITY BACK!

-Doctor Andromeda

===~+~===

Ok, that didn’t really tell me too much. I begin to read entry after entry.

Entry #1 - I’ve been granted funding for my research! This is the greatest moment of my life! I really hope my wife never sees this. Anyhow, my research seeks to find a way to combine various ideas of magic in order to create a new type of magic that can create anything and give it physical, if temporary form.

Entry #21 - My original theory to create anything, is a bit much. I have revised it to creating anything that exists currently, as it is hard to imagine that which does not already exist in a physical form. Harder yet to give said imaginary item actual, physical form.

Entry #57 - I have determined that it is impossible to simply learn this new form of magic. Despite how many spell matrices and inscriptions I create, nothing works how I want it to. I have recently obtained some Zebra books, as well as some, strange, foreign books about types of magic i’ve never heard about. According to some of these, it is possible to infuse body parts with magic. I will begin testing immediately.

Entry #60 - Despite attempts to infuse my own body with various magics, I have failed. My body rejects it, and the effects wear off almost instantly. There is one thing I have left to try. It may take a few years, but I think I might be onto something. Using my own DNA, I will create a clone, so to speak. I will infuse this clone with this magic while it is still developing. Hopefully in the developmental stages, the cells will be more likely to accept inscription.

Entry #81 - The inscription process has been a success! The cells are retaining the magic and developing. I wonder about how I can enable my clone to control this magic, but I will begin working on that while they develop.

Entry #227 - Today is my clone’s fifth “birthday”. Cygnus has grown up healthy, despite not developing a horn. Odd, considering he is made from my DNA. He is more Earth Pony than Unicorn, but he seems to understand how magic works when it is explained to him, despite being able to do any himself. Tomorrow, we will begin testing my theory which will allow him to control his latent magical ability.

Entry #231 - The runes have been tattooed and infused with the proper magic. It took a while, especially the one on his tongue. Cygnus was quite brave, however. Despite how much it must have hurt, he toughed it out. Like father, like son, I suppose? Once he recovers a bit, we shall begin testing.

Entry #235 - A spark! A brilliant spark! I don’t know how, but when Cygnus stuck out his tongue, electricity seemed to crackle around it. In front of him, something was taking shape, I saw the ghost of a doll we were using as a test subject, but it remained transparent and never took form. The whole event only lasted for a few seconds. But still, it is progress.

Entry #257 - Words! Words! Oh, I have been blind! It was all in that foreign book! Words ARE power! But words only seem to be part of it. While attempting the doll test again, I had Cygnus describe the doll as he focused on forming it. What color it was, how big it was, if it had a smile, that sort of thing. The doll became more opaque than usual, but my hoof passed right through it. There has to be something else.

Entry #301 - Of course, it was so simple. I can’t believe I didn’t see it earlier. Words and descriptions are only part of it. What he needs to know is KNOW an object. Not just what it is, what it is made out of. Down to the last detail. Is it iron or steel? Exactly how heavy is it? A doll might be too complex. I am going to start him off simpler tomorrow.

Entry #302 - Success! Cygnus was able to create a sheet of paper! After telling him the weight, dimensions, and the materials that made it, he was able to make an exact copy while reciting the information. I picked it up, wrote on it, and even cut my leg with it. However, after a short time, it disappeared. The lead from my pencil fell to dust and remained, as did the cut on my leg, however the paper itself was gone.

Entry #371 - Despite countless attempts, we have been unable to permanently keep an item Cygnus creates. We even attempted to constantly infuse it with magic, but to no avail. Instead, we are working on his endurance, as making a single item takes a large toll on him.

Entry #503 - Given that Cygnus is now in his late teens, we have begun teaching him the makeup of weaponry. He is able to create knives and armor, and the time these items exists in our world is getting longer and longer.

Entry #505 - Tragedy has occurred. While summoning a grenade, Cygnus mistakenly added a volatile component, it exploded instantly, killing the Tulip, who was observing the test today. Cygnus was horribly shocked and kept apologizing over and over again. I will give him a while to rest, while I deal with arrangements for Tulip.

Entry #-621 - A second death has happened. During a live fire exercise in the central chamber, Cygnes appeared to have lost control while shooting a rocket launcher. The blast did significant damage to the wall, but the destruction from the blast sent chunks of concrete flying at Pond, who was struck in the head and killed instantly. Cygnus was inconsolable. We have decided to ban tests on explosives for now.

Entry #679 - We are being shut down. A third death occurred while Cygnus and Static were in the central chamber today. The details are unknown. We heard a scream and found Static dead with multiple bullet holes in her chest and Cygnus was holding his head, rocking back and forth in the center of the room. For whatever reason, he had the strangest expression on his face. It was almost like a smile, but I think I was seeing things, as tears were streaming down his face. He wouldn’t talk about what happened. Regardless, when the higher-ups found out about it, they declared my testing over, and took control of my facility and Cygnus. I’ll fight them on this. Three deaths are a small price to pay for the key to winning the war.

===~+~===

That is the final entry. Luckily, most of the entries were short, but I still manage to eat up a large chunk of the night. I had to go out and assure CORA I was safe at one point, though. She started calling for me, worried since I had been in the room for so long. I stretch my limbs as I exit to the main menu of the terminal. I select Pod Operations and two options display.

>Open Pod

>Purge Pod

I swallow. Purge as in...kill? I recall Twilight’s words about the projects. Some were dangerous, some were not. But if there was a kill switch for a dangerous project, why not dispose of it in the first place? Why keep it frozen in time? I shake my head. “No point thinking about that now, this comes first,” I decide.

Cygnus, that was the name of this subject, this pony. From the logs, he didn’t sound bad, just unable to properly control his ability or making mistakes. But that last entry was of some concern to me. What happened that last time? Did Cygnus do it on purpose? Or, was it actually an accident?

I take a breath and close my eyes, thinking things over. Opening my eyes, I select ‘Open Pod’. I get up from the chair and walk towards the pod. I couldn’t just kill a pony without seeing them myself, I also couldn’t just walk away. Anxiety rose in me as the pod swung open, and after a moment a sharp breath came from the pod.

A hoof reached over the edge, then another. After a moment, Cygnus got to his hooves, shaking his head and blinking his eyes. After a moment, he looks at me. “H-Hey, I know this is going to sound odd, but,” I trail off as he sticks out his tongue. Electricity begins to spark around it as he glares at me.

“Tempered steel, flat, sharpened to a point. Handle, bound in leather from cowhide. Total weight, 28.34 grams. Total length, 22.86 centimeters,” Cygnus says so fast I barely catch it all. As he does so, a combat knife begins to take shape and solidifies in front of his muzzle. I take a step back as he bites down on the handle.

He charges at me, so quick I can’t move in time. He plants the knife right against my neck, his right eye inches from my face, but stops. I can feel the blade cut me and blood dribbling down my neck. “Who are you,” he says through the handle.

“R-Ratchet. My name is Ratchet,” I tell him, staring into his eye and not daring to move.

“Why are you here?” Cygnus asks without skipping a beat, applying more pressure to the knife.

“I want to help,” I say, regaining my composure.

“Where is my father?” he asks.

“You mean, Doctor Andromeda? He’s…” I hesitate for a moment before saying, “dead. I’m sorry.”

He applies more pressure to the knife. “Did you kill him?” he says with anger apparent in his voice.

“No, but..” I start to say, but he cuts me off.

“Then why are you apologising?” he counters.

“Because...you’ve been frozen,” I tell him, giving him a serious look. “For a few decades, using technology I originally made. If you, put the knife down, I can explain further,” I suggest.

He continues looking into my eye for a few moments before he blinks for the first time and pulls the knife away from my neck. He takes a few steps back and the knife disappears completely. I fall to my haunches and lift a hood to rub the cut on my neck.

“Alright. Start talking,” he demands.

Chapter 13 - Frantic

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Fallout Equestria: Icicle
Chapter 13 - Frantic

“Run, run as fast as you can. Don’t look back, just focus all your strength on moving forward.”

===~+~===

“So, Cygnus, was it?” Thunder asks, receiving a nod from Cygnus. “Can you, uh...do the thing?” Thunder smiles brightly. Cygnus lets out a sigh, sticks out his tongue, and says a few words. In a moment, a knife appears. He hoofs it to Thunder.

Thunder takes it in his hooves, and even bites down on the blade. “Huh, it is real. That’s crazy,” He says, continuing to inspect it. “So, you can make anything?” Thunder asks.

“As long as I know what it is made out of and how it goes together, yes,” Cygnus answers. “I can’t make something I’ve seen for the first time, or things that don’t exist. But, as long as I can take the time to figure out what an object is made of, I can recreate it,” saying this, the knife disappears from Thunder’s grasp.

“I can also make them disappear whenever I want. Though, after a time, they disappear anyway. Also, if I go unconscious while an object is summoned, it will disappear as well,” Cygnus explains.

“I see,” Thunder says, rubbing his chin. “What if you make ammo for a weapon, and I use that ammo in a weapon that you didn’t create? Would that work? And what happens when you shoot someone with bullets you make anyway?” Thunder asks.

“My ammo will work with any weapon. It is actually physical, after all. Though, once the time limit is reached, it will vanish. Similarly, if a pony is shot with ammo I create, they will be injured, however, any bullets that remain inside them will vanish when the time runs out,” Cygnus answers.

“What is this time limit you keep mentioning? How long can your objects exist in physical form?” Thunder asks. A good question, one I wanted to ask myself.

“The longest I’ve managed to keep an item manifested is ten minutes. However, the more items I create at the same time, the less time they can exist. For example, a single knife will exist for ten minutes. However, ten knives will exist for less,” Cygnus explains to us.

“And before you ask,” Cygnus continues, “I don’t know if there is some sort of math behind the time in relation to the quantity of the objects, we never got that far in testing. For all I know, it is a random time. Though, I can tell when an object is going to vanish before it does.”

“That’s good,” I say. “It gives you time to prepare something else and doesn’t leave you out in the cold, so to speak” Cygnus nods in agreement. “Anyhow, if we are done with all the questions,” I look over to Thunder, “I think we should get some sleep before morning. The few hours we have left, anyway.”

“I’ve got plenty more questions, but sleep does sound good,” Thunder says. “Though, are you even tired, Cygnus? After being frozen all these years? It is just like sleeping, basically, right?” He asks.

“Basically,” Cygnus answers. “It is like I just woke up. I’ll keep watch, though with the lockdown in place, it hardly seems necessary. Besides, I can keep miss CORA company,” he says, smiling at the terminal.

“Oh you charmer, you,” CORA says. Charmer? I can’t even begin to imagine that sort of relationship. “I’ll be happy to tell you anything you want to know. You’ve been asleep for a while after all,” she explains.

“Alright you two, we’ll see you in the morning then. Stay out of trouble,” I tell them as I lay down beside the already sleeping form of Arrow. I close my eyes and think of sleep. As CORA and Cygnus talk about what the world outside is like now, I slowly drift off into unconsciousness.

===~+~===

The following morning, Lightning got the surprise of meeting our newest member. Like Thunder last night, Lightning was as interested about Cygnus’s ability. While they all got acquainted, I borrow a few grenades from Thunder and head back into the facility, specifically the room with all the books.

I glance at a poster of Twilight that says, “Knowledge is Power”, and mutter an apology as I pull the pins from the grenades and toss them into the room, closing the door behind me and walking back up to rejoin the others. It was a shame to lose so many books in such good condition, but I couldn’t risk such books falling to Grimoire’s hooves.

I offer my old barding to Cygnus, but he declines. Saying he can make his own if necessary and stating, “It is covered in way too much of your blood, anyway.” I really couldn’t argue with him there. But it was just strange to have a member of our little group completely unclothed.

Without even bags, Cygnus’s spotless black coat and gray mane were a stark comparison to the rest of the wasteland. Though, undoubtedly he would be covered in filth like the rest of us soon enough. But, his odd markings really stood out.

Instead of a cutiemark, large runes adorned his flanks. A line of runes ran down his spine from mane to tail, and more circled each of his legs near the hooves. I haven’t the slightest idea what the red runes that almost seem to glow mean, but they look, well, fucking awesome. The black rune on his tongue was also undecipherable.

I once again attach my PipBuck to the terminal and pull CORA out of it while lifting the lockdown. As the system did its work, I look us over. Me, with my wounded legs, Lightning, leaning against Arrow due to his rear legs, and Thunder with his messed up side.

Though none of us three complained, it was clear our injuries were putting a strain on us. If we get into a fight like yesterday...I’m not sure what will happen. With Lightning’s speed all but nullified, Thunder’s minigun out of commission, and my own body aching with each movement, I hope that we’ll be able to get through anything we come across.

We set out from the facility following the path determined yesterday. After going through a few buildings without running into anything, I feel like the worst is over. Which is of course, why the wasteland just had to shit all over my hopes and dreams. Inside the next building, gunfire suddenly erupts.

At first, I’m not sure we are the ones being shot at, but then bullets start hitting the floor around us. We are standing in the atrium of a two story library. Two pony tall shelves surround us, along with tables and chairs. Most of the shelves have fallen into one another and their books have been scattered.

The second floor, which is essentially a balcony that runs all around the building allows those on the second floor to look down at the first. In each corner of the building is a staircase leading to the second floor. This second floor, is precisely where we are being shot at from. Not just from one side, but from all four sides. It seems we walked right into an ambush.

Arrow and Lightning quickly take cover under one of the bookcases resting against another. Rose and Thunder find a similar position on the other side of the aisle of books. As for Cygnus and I, we sprint towards the checkout desk a few feet in front of us and dive behind it. While we run, I hear Cygnus muttering behind me.

Once we are safe behind the desk, I notice he is wearing armored barding. The shooting around us dies off to a few shots at a time. I pull out my SMG and check the clip. About half the bullets are left. I hear Cygnus whispering again, “10 millimeter steel barrel…” A few sentences later, an SMG of his own appears.

He looks over to me, and I nod over to the left. He nods, and together, we peek out over the desk and start shooting at the enemies to our left. I confirm two raider there and start shooting at one of them. After emptying the clip at my target, they are unscathed. Cygnus manages to take out his target without issue. However, my target begins to return fire and we both duck back behind the desk.

I begin to reload my SMG when I notice Cygnus staring at me. “What?” I ask him, a little defensively.

“Your aim is terrible,” He explains. “You didn’t even come close. I’m just wondering how you’ve survived this long.”

“Well sorry!” I exclaim. “Not all of us were trained to use weapons from when we were young,” I tell him as the raider continues to riddle our cover with bullets. I hear the others returning fire as well.

Cygnus’s empty clip disappears, he says something I don’t catch and another one appears. “You know what, here...10 millimeter drum magazine…” Another barrage of bullets causes me to miss the rest of what he says. As the raider reloads, a drum magazine appears and he hoofs it over to me.

“Since your aim sucks, use this. Mind the recoil, these rounds will kick more than normal,” he explains before I jam the magazine into my SMG. A moment later, more bullets rain upon our cover. The raider must be using an assault rifle, judging by the accuracy and rate of fire.

Once they reload again, Cygnus and I pop up and shoot once again. This time, he takes the remaining one shooting at us, and I aim at three new targets directly across from us. I line up on the middle one and let loose a burst of fire. My shots go just over them and strike the bookshelves behind them.

What happens next catches me off guard. The shelves explode where my bullets hit and begin to start on fire. Cygnus looks over after finishing his target off and sees my jaw practically on the floor. He chuckles and says, “High-explosive incendiary rounds. They aren’t normally used for infantry, but seeing as you miss so much, I figured you could at least scare them a little.”

Like he said, the raiders turn around and are looking at the flames crawling over the shelves and books. “Ok, these are pretty cool. But, you do realize we are in a very flammable library, right?” I tell him. As I do so, the fire continues to spread and the raiders begin running for the stairs.

“Yes. Well, let’s try to deal with them before we burn up, shall we?” He counters. “Though, with your aim it might take a while. I hope your friends can hit their targets.” He turns away from me and shoots at one of the running raiders, catching them in the leg and sending them crashing through the railing and falling to our level.

A large billow of dust erupts from where the raider lands. I turn my attention to the other two fleeing in the opposite direction and open fire on them. Going fully automatic was a bad idea, as it bounces up faster than I can correct it, sending a trail of explosions and fire arcing up and onto the ceiling.

Flaming debris falls from the ceiling and rains upon the very flammable library below. “I told you it kicks. Are you trying to burn us alive?” Cygnus says, putting a hoof to his face. “Maybe I shouldn’t have given you those rounds…”

“You think?” I yell at him. First he gives me this crazy ammo, and then he yells at me for using it. Sheesh. There was no pleasing him. I look around at the second floor as Cygnus shoots at the two I was aiming at. It looks like the others have managed to take out a few of the others. I count three more in addition to the two Cygnus is shooting at. There are also a few above us, but I can’t see them at the moment.

The ones above us don’t seem to be moving, and they have Arrow and the others stuck under their cover. “Time for a stupid idea,” I mutter as I point my SMG directly up at the second floor where the raiders are shooting from. I pull the trigger and riddle the floor with bullets. Explosions ripple across it and flames begin to eat away at it.

“Cygnus, move!” I call out as I just out from behind the desk. The raiders above us have stopped shooting, but they are too late to flee. Right as Cygnus climbs out from behind the desk, the floor collapses and three raiders fall through onto the ground into a pile of flaming rubble. I look back over the desk and take aim at them before they have a chance to recover.

I pull the trigger, but nothing happens. “Yes, right. Enough of that,” Cygnus says, walking up to me and shooting the fallen raiders. “No more special ammo for you,” he tells me, turning around and reloading his SMG.

I puff out my cheeks like a filly who has had their favorite toy taken away. “That’s not fair,” I say, as reload my SMG with normal, safe, ammo. Well, safe in a relative sense. “I didn’t even get halfway through the drum,” I complain.

“Yes, well, I would like to leave before we burn to a crisp,” Cygnus replies. “Just look around at the flames already eating away at everything.” I look around at the library, and as he says flames are everywhere. I didn’t notice with all the gunfire, but the sound of the flames has turned into a roaring inferno.

“Ok, point taken,” I tell him. “So, we should probably get the others and leave.” He turns to look at expressionlessly, blinks a few times, and then turns to look at where the others are at. “What?” I ask.

“Yes, let’s leave, quickly,” Cygnus says somewhat irritatedly. “Hey, you folk, you good to move? We’ll lay down cover fire, get over here,” he shouts out towards the others. He begins shooting at the four remaining raiders in the far corner of the second floor, near the stairs. After a moment, I join him.

We shoot as we move into the cover of a bookcase. The four raiders turn their attention to us and I see the others making their way towards us. We take out one of the raiders before Thunder and the others make it to the case across the aisle from us.

By this time, a great deal of the library has been engulfed in flames. I peek around my cover to shoot at the raiders, only to see them jumping out of a window on the second floor. “Alright, that simplifies things,” I mutter. “Ok! Let’s get out of here! To the back door, quickly now!” I call out to the others.

We begin sprinting for the door, avoid the roaring flames and dropping debris. Thunder reaches the door first and bucks it open. The fresh rush of air into the building fans the flames higher as we run outside one by one. Without skipping a beat, we run across the street and catch our breath in the alcove entrance way of the next building.

“Alright Ratchet, Cygnus gave you something, didn’t he?” Thunder asks. “I know he didn’t do that himself, because only you have such shit aim,” he adds. I roll my eyes.

“Yes, he did,” I answer, “but he was the one who gave me incendiary ammunition in a Celestia-damned library! And my aim isn’t shit!” Sure, I miss a bit. Ok, maybe more than a bit. Fine, I can’t aim. I’m a scientist damnit!

“I thought you aim had gotten better when we were crossing the street into the MAS facility, but apparently that was just luck and an effect of the Dash,” Thunder says, shaking his head.

“Anyhow,” Lightning says while leaning against Arrow. “We should keep moving. This fire is going to attract unnecessary attention. Being out in the open isn’t good, considering our current situation.” He motions to the door and Thunder kicks it open a moment later.

“Right, let’s go. Quickly and quietly,” I say as we shuffle into the building. Cygnus and I are the last two to enter.

As he passes me to enter the building, he turns and says, “You know, your aim does suck. If you ever want a lesson, let me know.” He winks and continues into the building. Yes, we all get it, my aim sucks.

===~+~===

Lightning was right. The library fire is attracting a lot of unwanted attention. Drawn by the smoke, raider activity has increased. We begin moving at a snail’s pace to avoid unnecessary combat. With only Arrow and Cygnus at full strength, and Arrow looking after Lightning, we aren’t in any state for a firefight.

Rose has been relatively quiet, sticking close to Thunder. She hasn’t put the pistol away since we entered the MAS facility. Not that I can blame her. Cygnus on the other hoof, seems rather chipper. He is looking around like a foal in a candy store, taking in every little detail.

“The world has really gone to shit, hu?” He says nonchalantly, almost as if it doesn’t really involve him. He doesn’t really seem to grasp working as a group or stealth operations either. It is like he isn’t worried in the slightest about being attacked, like this is just a game.

Most ponies I’ve met so far seem to be afraid of everything, worried about what will happen next. I can’t say I blame them, I quickly became the same way once in the wasteland. It is a natural reaction, given that at any moment you can be attacked. You are never really safe. But Cygnus doesn’t seem to feel like the rest of us.

“If you keep staring, Ratchet, a buck might get ideas,” Cygnus says, looking back at me. “Something on your mind?” He asks.

“Nothing particular, it is just that you seem rather calm and composed,” I tell him. He lets out a sigh and shakes his head.

“No reaction at all, no fun,” I hear him mutter. “Well, when you are a test subject for a secret government project, you don’t have much freedom,” Cygnus explains. “I wasn’t allowed to leave the facility much. My father only took me out a few times, mostly when I was younger.”

“So, after being cooped up in that facility for twenty-two years, well, I suppose it is around sixty now, isn’t it? I’m quite happy to be outside, even if we do occasionally get shot at. Even if a sniper were to put a bullet through my skull, at least I would have had some freedom before I died,” Cygnus tells us.

“All in all, I would rather enjoy the present than worry about the future. Otherwise, it would be hard to enjoy my freedom,” he concludes. “Being free with worth anything this, wasteland, can throw at me.”

I nod. “I can understand that. But, you could stand to be a bit quieter when we are trying to sneak around,” I tell him with a smile. At that moment, an object crashes through a window next to us. We stop and I move to see what it was. It is a small cylindrical object with holes around the middle, it looks like another cylinder is inside.

“Ratchet, look away!” Lightning yells as a blinding flash of light and an insanely loud bang occurs. I immediately fall on my ass and begin rubbing my eyes, trying to regain my sight while my ears ring. I blink a few times and the world around me is filled with white spots, seeming to move in slow motion.

At this moment, I feel a force pushing me into the wall on our left and i’m pelted with brick and mortar. I shake my head to regain my senses and look around. A large hole has appeared in the wall that was on our right side, leading out to the street. Despite the ringing in my ears, I can barely make out the others calling out, but i’m unable to tell what they are saying.

Arrow is taking Lightning down the hall the way we were going, Thunder is shielding Rose and pointing for her to go after them. Cygnus is bent over me, trying to help me up. He lifts me and sets me on my hooves. I sway slightly, and look out of the new hole.

Raiders. At least ten of them, one appears to be holding a rocket launcher. I keep blinking, trying to get my vision to clear fully. Cygnus starts pushing me down the hall after the others, and I wobbily go in that direction. “...o...atch...ee….ovin…!” I hear Thunder saying. It is broken and I can’t make it out properly.

Cygnus keeps pushing me and Thunder starts to follow us. “Go! ...ep...ving” He calls again, shooting his rifle through the windows we pass. I keep walking, not fully able to grasp what is happening. I look around at the others in a daze.

Thunder overtakes Cygnus and I and catches up to Rose, who is a few feet behind Arrow and Lightning. A moment later, another rocket slams into the hallway next to Arrow and Lightning, sending them sprawling against the wall. Thunder cuts in front of Rose and shields her from the blast and rubble. I stop.

Cygnus runs into me and stumbles, but catches himself and gets in front of me, looking directly into my eyes. I stare at him blankly. “Snap...t...it!” I yells and slaps me across the muzzle. I shake my head, blink at him a few times, and then begin to dart my eyes around the room.

“Right, yes, um,” I say, the ringing in my ears almost gone, but still causing me to talk slightly weird. “Thanks,” I tell him. Cygnus nods and turns back towards the others. “Arrow, Lightning, are you two alright?” I call out as they struggle to get to their hooves. Thunder moves up to the newest hole in the wall and starts laying down fire with Rose hiding behind him.

“I...Think so…” Lightning says. He looks at Arrow. “Arrow, you…” But he is cut off.

“Fine,” Arrow says bluntly. She puts Lightning's arm around her shoulders and continues towards the doorway. Cygnus and I catch up to Thunder and help keep the raiders pinned while Rose crosses over to the other side. The three of us follow after her as Thunder tosses out a few grenades at the raiders. From the screams, a few got taken out.

We enter the door after Arrow and Lightning into the rear of the building. It is storage of some kind, with two large bay doors for loading and unloading. A number of pallets filled with large crates line the walls and large iron shelves.

Once inside, with the door closed firmly behind us, we gather near one of the bay doors. “Ok, I think the pallets against the walls should provide us with a bit of time if they decide to rocket the walls. The door behind us is of concern, however. We can hole up here and try to deal with the remaining raiders, or we can make a run for the next building,” I tell them.

“I think we should try to get to the next building. We should be able to make it and better fortify our location,” I say.

Lightning gets to his hooves and turns to me. “No, we need to hold here. At least for a bit,” he says. “Arrow needs to,” again, she cuts him off.

“Let’s go,” Arrow says without looking at us. She stares at the bay door, waiting to leave.

Lightning stumbles over to her, grabs her shoulder, and turns her to look at us. She fights him, but eventually she faces us. The left side of her helmet is dented up. I couldn’t imagine how her head could fit in it like that.

Cracks ran across various places and blood seeped from them. It ran down her helmet and drips onto the floor. Looking at the floor, there is a visible trail from where we came from leading to her. I turn my eyes back to her. “Arrow, we can’t continue with you like this, we need to stop the bleeding, at least!” I tell her.

She shakes her head, sending blood flying off her helmet. “No,” She says.

I slam my hoof down. “Arrow! I will not let you continue on in the state you are in. We are all injured enough as it is, we need you at your best, not wounded and bleeding!” I yell at her. “Thunder, Cygnus, find a way to block that door, and any other entrances. Lightning, Rose, help me with Arrow,” I command them.

“Ratchet...we need to, no, stop,” Arrow says as we corner her and Lightning takes off her helmet. Cuts cover her face and her left eye is swollen closed with a large gash across it. Using some alcohol and bandages from her bag, we patch her up.

Lightning secures her helmet back on and helps her back to her hooves. She appears a little woozy, she has probably lost a bit too much blood. Suddenly a rocket hits the wall sending some brick and mortar raining down into the storeroom. Luckily, one of the crates is between us and the hole, and it appears to hold up pretty well. A bit of the wood has splintered on our side and sand is pouring from the crate.

“Sand?” I mutter, staring at the crate. Turning my focus elsewhere, I see that Thunder and Cygnus have blocked the door with a smaller crate and piled a few others in the middle of the room to use as cover. The two of them are standing behind it, facing the door. Their cover extends to protect their left from the side the raiders are currently shooting rockets at.

The rest of us move behind one of the large shelves in the middle of the room, into an aisle between two of them. From here, we can see Thunder’s and Cygnus’s exposed side and the wall that is currently being attacked. I find a few smaller crates and pile them up on our left, to provide cover should the raiders decide to break in through the large bay doors.

With our cover as good as it is going to get, we wait. Another rocket slams into the damaged crate and sand blows into the room, showering Thunder and Cygnus as it pours into the floor. The more sand that pours out, I see more and more of the dimming light of outside. Once half the sand is out, I can see the raiders smiling in at us.

As the first raider mare steps in through the create, she yells, “Now!” A moment later, another rocket slams into the door we came from, blowing the light metal door off its hinges. However, due to the crate blocking it is pushed back a few inches, but then falls over and continues to block the doorway. It leaves the top half of the doorway open, and the raiders use this to begin shooting into the room from there as well.

Arrow is the first one of us to shoot back, her bullet grazing the first mare’s cheek. Normally, she would have killed her immediately. Arrow’s injuries must be throwing off her aim. The others begin to return fire a moment later, peeking around their cover and targeting the nearest raider. My group has to aim carefully, as Cygnus and Thunder are in front of us.

I see heavy barding appear on Cygnus as he slumps behind his cover. I aim my SMG at the hole in the crate and unload the remains of my clip into the raiders attempting to enter. Given the narrow tunnel they have to enter through, a manage to actually hit a few of them. As usual however, quite a few of my shots hit the wall or pass through the hole without hitting anything.

As I reload, I notice Cygnus summon an odd looking weapon, point it at the doorway, and begin spewing flames at the raiders. Screams mix with the smell of burnt hair as fire from the doorway stops abruptly. He shoots the flames in small bursts while Thunder takes alternates with him between the bursts.

With that entrance covered, Lightning, Arrow, and myself focus on the hole in the wall. The raiders, having learned from their failed attempts, have taken cover outside and are shooting in towards us instead of trying to enter. They shoot at us a few times, then there is a break in the fire. A new raider appears in the doorway with a rocket launcher. Arrow attempts to take them down, but her bullet grazes off the launcher.

The raider fires, but the impact from Arrow’s bullet diverts the rocket from hitting our cover, and it instead impacts Cygnus and Thunder’s. The crates of sand explode into wooden shrapnel and a sandstorm, sending the two of them falling towards us. Cygnus’s flamethrower vanishes and a moment later raiders appear at the doorway again.

With their cover from the hole in the wall gone, Cygnus and Thunder scramble to join up with us. “You two alright?” I ask as they come around the corner.

“Yea, just got knocked down,” Thunder replies. “The sand seems to have cushioned the impact.” He aims through a gap between crates are fires at a raider who was attempting to climb over the busted door, only to fall down dead from Thunder’s shots.

“You know, as much as that rocket launcher is giving us trouble,” Thunder says as he shoots, “I fucking want it. I call dibs, sorry Ratchet,” he says with a smile. I roll my eyes, of course he did.

“Sure, whatever. It isn’t like I could carry it anyway,” I reply, joining the others in shooting at the raiders. “How many more of them are there? We’ve killed what, like seven already? In this group anyway,” I ask. I’ve lost track of exactly how many raiders we’ve put down just trying to go through the ruins.

Cygnus, having summoned up an assault rifle, shoots at the raiders and answers, “I counted at least five more in the hallway. Assuming there are at least two on either side of that hole in the wall, and that one using the rockets, eight more? Though, I’d round up to ten for the sake of always expecting more.”

“It was a rhetorical question, Cygnus,” I say, shaking my head. The raiders continue taking shots at us and we return fire. “Toss some grenades?” I suggest to Thunder.

“I’ve got three left. You want me to use them?” Thunder replies, a hint of concern in his voice.

“Use one for each entrance. Besides, we might find more on them once we take them out, and you’ll be getting a rocket launcher, anyhow,” I answer. Assuming the launcher has any ammo for it left.

“Alright, sounds good,” Thunder says as he throws a grenade into the doorway and one through the hole in the wall. A second or so later, they both explode and we are rewarded with a fair amount of screams. “Sounds like we took down a fair amount,” Thunder mutters.

“Indeed, good work!” I tell him. Just as i finish, a rocket slams into one of the bay doors. The sound of rending metal reaches my ears as gunfire follows from the new, gaping hole. “Great, another entrance. I’ve got it,” I say to the others as I move to take cover behind the crates I set down earlier.

A few raiders manage to get in before I’m in position, but before they can find cover of their own I empty my clip into them. As more gunfire streams in through the hole, I reload my SMG. I’m running real low on ammo for it, I note. Given the proximity to the doorway, I put the SMG away and pull out my shotgun.

“This is getting us nowhere,” I call over to the others. “We are just wasting ammo, we need to either draw them in, or go to them.” I look back at the others and then through the gaps in the crates towards the other entrances. “Hey Lightning, take over for me for a moment,” I tell him.

He staggers over to me and I walk to the center of the aisle. I set down the shotgun, and concentrate on the large crate at the top of the shelf. After a moment, I begin floating it through the air and towards the gaping hole in the wall. I place it directly in front of it, sealing up the hole. I repeat the process for the door to the hallway, except first I pry the top off the crate and dump the sand in front of the doorway, making it inaccessible.

“Ok, that should buy us some time. Let’s get out into the street!” I call as I hit the buttons on the wall that should open the two large bay doors. They both begin to lift up, distracting the raiders as we break from our cover and run to the wall the doors are on.

The damaged door as a passenger, however. A raider who was halfway through the hole is stuck in it as it lifts up. Slowly, the buck is lifted further into the air until his back reaches the top of the entryway. The door, not fully open, continues trying to open. The motors lifting up the door whirl loudly as it fights against the blockage and in moments the raider splits into two as the door finishes opening fully.

Blood rains down from above in a shower, but the raiders pay it little mind as a few enter through the opening only to be gunned down by Cygnus. “Ok, out the other door then!” I say as I start for the opening. Once outside, I quickly see three more raiders and shoot some buckshot at them. A bit catches one of them, but luckily Thunder is behind me and finishes them all off moments after they begin returning fire.

One of them is the one that has been using the rocket launcher. As Thunder walks over to it, I survey the street. Nothing around us, but there could be more raiders around the corner. Thunder picks over the raider’s body as I walk past him and peak around the corner. Four more raiders heading towards us.

I poke my shotgun around and take a few shots, sending them scrambling but not hitting any of them. As Cygnus comes up to join me, he puts a few rounds into them and they fall over dead. “You make it look so easy,” I mutter.

“I just aim, that’s all,” Cygnus says with a chuckle, before he walks around the corner and over to them. “Let’s see...I think i’ll be taking these,” he mutters, pulling some bags off of one of the raiders and dumping out all the useless junk. “My kills, my loot. Find your own, Ratchet,” he turns and tells me with a wink.

I roll my eyes and walk up to him, searching the other raiders that he didn’t kill. Large splatters of blood and body parts lay around the hole the raiders blew in the wall, but I manage to find a few guns that aren’t damaged. Some of the raiders have an assortment of ammo that I picket. I also find four Stampede, six Dash, nine bobby pins, and a single roll of bandages.

I linger outside the hole in the hallway, but given the amount of blood and the smell of burning hair and flesh, I decide not to take a look inside. Any loot there, I don’t want to deal with. I turn back around as Cygnus finishes up his looting and we walk around the corner together with the others. “What did you find?” I ask Thunder as I begin to pick over the bodies.

“The rocket launcher is in ok condition. It isn’t great, but it won’t break after a bit of use. She had two rockets left, and I found a single grenade on one of the others. I should be able to mount the rocket launcher where my minigun was,” Thunder answers.

“Better than nothing,” I say with a shrug. Picking over the rest of the raiders yields a bit of ammunition. The others’ weapons are basically falling apart, so I elect to leave them to the ruins. I look at the sky and surroundings and realize it is getting dark outside. Our stealthy detour really ate up a lot of time. But, we are only two blocks from the city, we should make it before night fall. “Let’s keep moving,” I tell them.

===~+~===

There were times that I hated to be wrong. When I spent all night working on a theory only to have it turn out to be useless. When CORA corrects me on her programming, that I wrote myself. This time, it was when I thought we would reach the city before nightfall. We came close, in fact I could see the city from this building’s window.

I can also see around thirty raiders. On this side of the building. In front of us was a harbor area with a good thirty feet or so of flat land with no cover. Behind us, a street with probably around twenty more raiders that chased us in here. The sides of this building probably has even more raiders hanging around, waiting for us to go out.

The longer we wait, the more raiders seem to be joining up with the rest. Some fires have been lit and the raiders are gathered around them. They seem to be watching our building in shifts. We need to move, now before more come. Yet we have been fighting another battle other than the raiders.

Lightning, Arrow, and Thunder’s wounds are beginning to take their toll. Thunder has been coughing, leading me to believe something is messed up inside him. Arrow is clearly getting dizzy, she probably has a killer headache as well. Lightning’s legs appear to be getting stiffer and causing him more pain.

I personally, am not doing so hot either. The blood loss from yesterday has me tired, and my shot up legs were quite stiff. Add on to that the shot in my ass, the cuts on my face, and the buckshot wounds in my chest, and I’m quite sore. I want a bed, a doctor, and well, I want a lot of things right now. Equestria to not be such a shitty place is pretty high on my list.

But for now, I am determined to get that bed. In order to do that, we need to leave right now, before more raiders show up. “Let’s go,” I say, getting to my hooves. “We can’t stay here any longer. I’ll take point, you all follow me out. I will try to draw their attention, you all stay in a wedge formation,” I pause for a moment, thinking.

“Arrow, Lightning, you will be at the front. Thunder, take the left side, Cygnus the right. Rose, you’ll be in the middle,” I tell them. With Thunder’s right side torn up, having his good side facing the enemy will be best. Arrow’s and Lightning’s combined firepower should be sufficient to protect the front. Having them set the pace will also work in to keep the group together.

“You’re going to do what you did last time, aren’t you?” Lightning asks with a note of concern in his voice.

“Three of you are injured, Cygnus is the only one who can fight at his full potential, and I made a promise to Rose to get her home safely,” I answer.

“You are injured too, Ratchet,” Lightning replies. “You’ll be torn to pieces if you rush out alone!”

“Not quite,” I say, floating out an injector of Stampede and an inhaler of Dash. “I have plenty, and I seem to actually be able to hit things when I use Dash,” I add. Lightning starts to reply, but I raise a hoof and stop him. “This isn’t open for discussion. If we don’t do it this way, I’ll basically be useless, and we will be an even larger target. I’ll distract as many as I can, and you guys will make a run for the city,” I tell him.

Lightning lets out a sigh. “We’ll be talking about this later, so don’t you dare think about letting them kill you,” he says, shooting me a glare. I nod, resigning myself to a lecture later. We check our weapons and take position at the door.

I kick it open and charge out into the area. It seems to catch the raiders by surprise. I inject the Stampede and after a moment, I’m overcome with a boiling rage. I find myself grinning as I yell, “Time to die!” I grasp my shotgun in my magic as I inhale my first dose of Dash. Time slows to a crawl and I aim at the closest raider. Pulling the trigger, I blow his head into tiny pieces.

The other raiders quickly turn their attention to me as my friends begin to make their way out of the building. Three raiders run at me with pool cues, three shots later and they are taking a dirt nap without heads. By this time, the raiders have begun shooting at me, but I can easily see their bullets and avoid them.

Another raider nearby gets a chest full of buckshot and I aim at another and pull the trigger, empty. That’s right, I didn’t reload the last time I used it. The raider I was about to shoot, shoots me instead as the Dash wears off. His shot hits my barding, knocking the wind out of me, but not penetrating.

I quickly use another Dash and begin reloading my shotgun as I float out my SMG as well. I pump a few SMG rounds into the raider and put him down as I finish reloading the shotgun. Aiming at two different raiders, I unleash a hail of lead and buckshot at them. Two more dead raiders. Not as accurate as the last dose of Dash, but at least I still hit.

My friends are full out of the building and have begun to engage the raiders as well. Without any cover, it is nothing but an exchange of bullets. The ones with the better guns and armor will last longer. Thunder throws a grenade, killing a group of three raiders. Cygnus appears to be shooting an assault rifle and wearing heavier barding than I am. It looks similar to military grade riot gear. Arrow and Lightning do their best to stagger forward while shooting as well.

With them moving forward, I mostly ignore the few stragglers at the sides and charge straight ahead. I empty my shotgun into two raiders while spraying a burst at a raider coming at me with a knife. I quickly reload the shotgun as I empty the rest of the SMG’s clip into a raider carrying a hunting rifle.

At this point, the raiders are beginning to keep away from me. I see most of them using Stampede of their own. The initial surprise I had seems to be wearing off and they are getting more organized and focused. My Dash wears off and I catch a burst of bullets on my left side. Luckily, none of them penetrate.

Taking another dose of Dash I just manage to avoid a sniper’s round as it whizzes past my head. I look around the few rooftops and find a few raiders. Unslinging my sniper from my back, I take aim at the first one. As I do so, I spray the SMG in an arch at the ponies on the ground to keep them off me for a moment. I fire a round at the sniper, and take his head clean off.

I spin to look at the other snipers, and see Arrow shooting at one. Her aim is off, but it is keeping that one from looking up over the ledge he’s behind. I aim at the other one, and put a round directly into his chest, arching with the SMG again as I do so. I pull the rifle’s bolt back and eject the spent cartridge and cycle in a new one. Aiming at the barely exposed top of the last sniper’s head, I pull the trigger, sending the bullet into the back of his skull. A mist of blood explodes, indicating his death.

I put the rifle back onto my back and quickly reload the SMG, only half a clip left. I turn back to the ponies in front of me, apparently I hit a few of them with my random shots, but nothing lethal. The Dash wears off, so I take another dose and pull my knife from its sheath. I charge into the ponies in front of me, using the remaining SMG ammo to keep them from shooting me as I approach.

I manage to take one out with my remaining ammo, and quickly stab my knife into the closest raider’s throat. Out of ammo, I put my SMG away and draw out two of the shitty ones I looted earlier. I unload them into the crowd of ponies, dodging bullets and stabbing another raider in the eye. With those SMGs spent, I put them away and draw out the last two I picked up. I empty them into a few raiders as my Dash wears off.

Quickly, I draw out another inhaler and put the SMGs away. I come really close to getting my head taken off by a sword but manage to duck just in time and jab my knife into its owner’s gut. “Come on you fucks! You can do better than that!” I yell at the raiders around me. I pull out my shotgun again and begin unloading it into the closest raiders.

Halfway through the shells, I hear Thunder yell for me. “Ratchet, we have a situation here!” I carve out a path back to them, using up the rest of my shotgun’s clip. I then notice the stream of raiders coming from the sides of the building we were just in. Around ten from each side. More appear in the building itself, probably having come through from the other side.

By this time, we are about half way into the clearing and the raiders are surrounding us. With them flanking us like that, Rose will be exposed. Gritting my teeth, I run past my friends and take up position behind her, turning my attention to the raiders coming in behind us. “Keep moving!” I call out.

Thunder throws out his remaining two grenades and the rest of us pour ammo into the crowd of raiders surrounding us. “I’m down to my last clip,” Lightning mutters.

“Ha, you too, eh bro?” Thunder says in response. “I could start using the rockets, but at this range, it might hurt us more than help us.”

“Same,” Arrow chimes in.

“Well, I could summon us all some ammo, but given the quantity I doubt we’d have the chance to use,” Cygnus tells us. He keeps shooting all the while.

My Dash wears off along with the Stampede. “Out,” Thunder and Lightning say in unison. I hear a click from Arrow’s rifle, I guess she’s out as well. Fuck. The raiders don’t relent and continue shooting at us. I hear the bullets pinging off my friend’s armor as we group up tighter around Rose.

After a few moments, I hear Thunder grunt and mutter, “Shit, I think some of them have armor piercing rounds.” Seconds after he says this, I feel a round impact my chest, penetrating my armor. I stagger for a second, but I don’t think it hits anything vital. The longer we stand there, the more bullets find their way into or through us. The raider’s gunfire lights up the night so much, it could almost be day.

Suddenly, I hear a whistling in the air and seconds later a large explosion erupts from the raiders between us and Friendship City. The raiders stop shooting as spotlights illuminate the ground. There is silence for a few moments before a buck’s loud voice comes out of thin air.

“Attention raiders! You are on the doorstep of Friendship City, our guns are trained on your position. Cease any hostile actions, and withdraw or be blown to bits like some of your friends just were. You have ten seconds to comply. Ten...Nine...Eight…” The buck counts down.

When he reaches seven, the raiders begin to frantically run away and back into the ruins of Manehatten. The six of us remain where we are standing as the last raider leaves the area and the buck stops counting at two. After a moment, he speaks up again.

“The six of you, stay where you are, and lower your weapons. Security is coming out to check you in,” he says. Not wanting to bring down the wrath of the gun that killed around fifteen raiders, we don’t move. I wish I can say the same for the blood flowing from our wounds. I am getting light headed again.

After around five minutes, a group of ten ponies come into the light. They are armored in barding similar to my own and wearing riot helmets. Each one of them carries an assault rifle. They stop at the edge of the light, and one steps forward. “My name is Wrecker, chief of security,” a buck with the same voice as before says. “Welcome to Friendship City.”

It is at this moment that my body decides that it has lost enough blood and I pass out.

===~+~===

Level Up!
-Level 8-

+10 Small Guns

+7 Melee Weapons

+7 Sneak

Chapter 14 - The Veil of Death

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Chapter 14 - The Veil of Death

“What would you do if you knew somepony was going to die? Help them? Ignore them? What if I told you, your actions are of no consequence. They will die, and you can do nothing.”

===~+~===

I begin to regain consciousness and blink a few times at the ceiling of...my lab? I was laying on one of the beds, but how did I get here? There was no way I have been unconscious the entire time it would have taken to carry me here. I sit up in the bed and my eyes fall upon a figure cloaked in a spotless black robe standing at the end of my bed.

I feel my pulse speed up as the figure just stares at me. “Who...who are you?” I ask it. For what feels like minutes the figure doesn’t say or do anything, it just stares at me blankly. But then it finally speaks with the voice of a stallion.

“I am known by many names, but you know me best as Death,” he says with a steady tone. “Do not worry, you are not dead. I just wish to take a moment to speak with you. It is easiest when a pony is at my door, and your recent escapade in former Manehatten put you there,” he tells me.

Clearly, this buck is crazy. Death isn’t a physical being, just a fact of life. My skepticism must be showing, as he continues. “Of course, you are skeptical, but I assure you,” he says, enveloping his hood in magic and pulling it back. My mouth hangs agape at the sight before me.

He isn’t like the traditional representations of Death, all skeletal, but instead only his muzzle is. Where the skin begins, it is jagged, as though having been eaten away by an acid of some sort. His eyes are almost glowing red and his horn is long and white horn. He then pulls off the rest of the robe and unfurls his...wings?

The tips of them are bone but they are mostly covered in black feathers. Getting a better look at the rest of him, I see that his legs are skeletal as well up to around the thigh, where the skin begins resembling that of his muzzle. His black torso is mostly intact aside from some scars here and there and other than the singed look of his tail, it and his white mane look normal. His cutie mark is that of a two serpents slithering up a staff with a skull adorning the top.

“I am the Alicorn of Death,” he says, his jaw snapping open and closed as he speaks “This is not the real world, just a place for us to talk. In reality, you are in the clinic of Friendship City, very much alive,” Death informs me.

I swallow before I say, “Ok, let’s say you are Death. What do you want with me, other than my soul?”

“You interest me, Ratchet,” Death tells me. “You see, I am able to tell when every single living being is going to die. Do you want to know when you are going to die?” He asks me, but I quickly shake my head. “Even if you want to, I cannot tell you. Before the Megaspells fell, you were supposed to die with the rest of your staff. But, that time is past,” he says, narrowing his eyes.

“You are an abnormality, someone whose death I cannot see. Your machine should have failed, yet here you are and it is still functional. Everypony wishes to cheat Death, but you actually did it. Was it a fluke? Dumb luck? Past, present, and future, I’ve never been wrong about a death before,” he says with a...grin?

“I could just take you now, be done with it, but I see promise in you. When the balefire fell, I expected any living beings left after the blasts would die off after a hundred years or so. My sight foretold it. But now,” he says, sounding excited, “even thousands of years from now ponies continue to die.”

“My sight stopped until your miracle happened. I have seen everything there is to see from the beginning of time, to the end, but I have never experienced a miracle like this,” Death says. “I suppose you can say, I’m rooting for you. I want to see what you do, how you will help shape the future.”

His grin disappears as he says, “But do not fool yourself into thinking I will not take you when your time comes. You have a little bit more leeway than others, since I cannot see the moment of your death. I will keep my eyes on you and should you cross the line, your soul is mine. However, my sight is blurry enough that you might be able to take a bit more than other ponies before you actually cross that line.”

“Shape the future?” I ask. “What do you mean? Am I supposed to do something great or what?” Help shape the future, he says. I want to, I plan to. But, so far it is like i’m playing catch up with a lead jacket on.

“I cannot see your future, Ratchet, but by glancing into the future, I can see holes. Little pockets I know nothing of. I suspect you are the cause, at key moments throughout the near future,” he tells me.

“You will change nothing alone, but others will help you cause change, even if it is indirectly,” he says. “I believe I have time for one more question, so think hard.”

I can think of all sorts of things to ask. But something he said earlier has me curious. “If the world was going to end, why didn’t you try to stop it?” I ask. His expression shifts back into a grin, of sorts.

“Excellent question. I am one of four ponies, the Apocalypse Ponies, I believe most of you have called us,” he explains. “We have two jobs, ferry souls to the afterlife, and prevent this world from ending. The emphasis is on ‘World’. The races and species on it, are of no consequence, the planet itself is what matters,” Death tells me.

“When you ponies began your war with the zebras, you began an arms race that would have ended with this world’s destruction. Through subtle coaxing and manipulation, we orchestrated the use of the Megaspells to wipe the slate clean, so to speak,” he says.

“With everything in the world dead, nature could return balance and start anew. Though, I have to say, the Megaspells weren’t all our idea. Your ministry mares certainly were inventive. They began this road, we merely guided their hooves. Our plan was for everything to die off shortly after unleashing the spells,” he explains.

“However,” he says with a chuckle, “you’ve made things interesting. Perhaps nature can recover alongside the races of this world? Time will tell, and we can always usher in another apocalypse if things head down the wrong path once again.”

Death lets out a sigh, “Well, time is up. This little experience will have some effects on you. You may see me or the others in your world, but we will be like ghosts to you. When you near death, you may even hear our voices. And should you end up like this again, perhaps we can talk again. Until then, Ratchet.”

He pulls a scythe out of nowhere and pokes me in the forehead with it. Once again, my world fades into the darkness.

===~+~===

I awake staring up at a scrap metal ceiling. It is rusted and full of holes, and judging from the water entering through them, it must be raining. My body aches as I try to sit up in the...bed? Oh, right. I should be in Friendship City now.

“Ah, so you are awake,” an old buck’s voice says. A moment later, a buck wearing a patchy leather jacket comes around a corner. “Ratchet, right? I was wondering when you’d finally decide to come to. You’ve been asleep for a day and a half,” he informs me.

I sit up properly and take a look around the room. It appears to be a cobbled together structure made of wood and metal. I see a few chairs along the opposite wall and on my left is a nightstand and curtain separating me from the rest of the room. I can see the end of a bed around the other side of the curtain, and judging by a groan, it is occupied.

Clearing my throat, I ask, “I take it I am in a clinic of some sort and you’re the doctor?” The buck gives me a smile as he approaches the side of my bed.

“You are correct,” he replies. “Welcome to the Friendship City Clinic, I’m the resident doctor, Clamp. Now then, since you were out for a while, let me ask you a few questions to make sure your memory remains intact.”

I nod, and he continues, “First of all, your name is Ratchet, correct?” I nod. “Very good. Moving on, how many were in your group, and what were their names?” He asks.

“Five,” I tell him. “Arrow, Lightning, Thunder, Cygnus, and Rose.” He nods in approval.

“Alright, it would seem that your memory remains intact. If you find you have any issues with it, any fuzzy bits, let me know. It isn’t often I get to take a look at a pony’s brain, and I would hate to waste an opportunity,” he says with a casual smile. Ok, creepy. But he seems normal enough besides the whole brain remark.

“Speaking of my group,” I start, “where are they? Are they alright?” He lets out a chuckle and gives me another smile.

“They are all perfectly fine. Well, maybe not 100%, but they have been up and about longer than you,” he tells me. “Miraculously, Rose managed to escape unscathed. I suppose we should thank you and your friends for that,” he says, giving me a grateful smile.

“Think nothing of it,” I reply, shaking my head. “I promised to get her here safely, I’m glad I did just that. But, can you tell me a bit more about my friends’ conditions? Last i knew, we were all pretty banged up.”

He grimaces a bit, but nods. “All of you had numerous bullet wounds, scratches, and the like. Given the condition you were all in, I’m surprised you managed to stay on your hooves for as long as you did. You all practically collapsed from exhaustion once you set hoof in my clinic.”

Continuing, he tells me, “The left side of Arrow’s face was a mess. I managed to clean it up, dress most of the wounds, and save her eye from complete blindness. However, she’ll be left with numerous scars and the sight in her left eye will never fully recover.”

How aweful. Given that she is a sniper, I hope it doesn’t effect her aim too much. She takes such pride in it, it could destroy her if she was unable to shoot properly.

“Your friend Lightning is...cocky. Despite his mangled rear legs, he expects a full recovery. I can promise no such thing, especially since he refuses hydra to heal them. I did what I could, but he’ll more than likely never move as fast as he did before and may even have a permanent limp,” Clamp explains.

I figured his legs would be bad news. He always prided himself on his speed and agility, something a frontline soldier needs to survive. I hope his cockiness isn’t an act to hide how scared he is.

“Thunder had a few broken ribs, a broken leg, and a large gash in his right side. How he was still standing, let alone walking around, I’ll not know. Unlike his brother, he accepted hydra and his bones reformed. But, they’ll be a bit brittle for a week or so,” Clamp says with a nod. “He’s a hearty fellow.”

Honestly, I was expecting worse. I didn’t know he had a broken leg, however. How long was he walking and running around on it without showing any sign? Thunder is built like a tank, but for him to essentially walk away from this unscathed I’m honestly surprised. Though, knowing him, he’ll be upset he couldn’t have done more.

“Now then,” Clamp continues, “The final member of your group, and the luckiest of them all, Cygnus. From what he says, he joined up with you all halfway through. Even so, he only had a few bullet wounds on him. For someone without armor, I’m quite surprised.”

I let out a slight chuckle. Cygnus’ conjured armor must have disappeared before he got here. To normal folk, he must seem quite lucky indeed.

“And then there is you,” Clamp says with a sigh. “Addictions to Dash and Stampede, major blood loss, so many bullet holes you were practically swiss cheese, buckshot covering your chest and neck, and a few minor sprains. Honestly speaking, you should not be alive, let alone conscious.”

I crack a slight smile. “But, I am alive. I guess I just got lucky,” I tell him. He shakes his head and lets out a sigh.

“Yes, something of a guardian angel. But Ratchet, this is serious. I did what I could, but you need rest. You should remain in town for a while so I can monitor you. And make sure you don’t do anymore drugs. It would appear as if you become easily addicted,” he tells me with a look of concern.

I let out a defeated chuckle, “Yea, before today, the worst drug I ever took was Mintals. And only when I needed a little extra umph for my research. But I understand, i’ll rest up and take a look around town for a while.”

“Good,” he tells me. “Now then, get some rest for now. I’ll let you leave here tomorrow morning. If you need me, i’ll just be in the other room.”

I nod and tell him, “Alright, thanks.” I slowly lay back down on the bed, running what Clamp told me over and over in my head. We all survived, somehow, and Rose is safe. My body is sore, and despite just waking up, I find myself quite tired. After a few minutes, I eventually fall asleep.

===~+~===

My friends stop by while I am in bed, after hearing I am awake. They all appear to be fine, but don’t stay around very long.

As it turns out, the Rangers paid for all their own medical treatment. However, Cygnus being capless, I have to pay for our patch up job. But Rose and her father come to see me, her father says he will cover the cost of our treatment and give me an additional 100 caps. I thank him, and he says he only wishes he could give me more. His name is Slick, he tells me.

He doesn’t stick around for long, but tells me I should stop by his bar for a drink before I leave. I agree and the two leave me to sleep for the rest of the night. The following morning, Clamp lets me leave. He shows me to my belongings and I sadly pull on my bullet hole-riddled labcoat. At least someone washed most of the blood from it, but a few stains linger.

As I’m about to leave, Clamp tells me the chief of security wants to talk to me. Wrecker, I believe his name is. I thank Clamp for all he’s done, but pause as I glance at another patient. It is a buck who is coughing. I’ve seen him a few times while I’ve been awake, and he frequently coughs up blood.

But what draws my attention is the translucent figure cloaked in green that follows him around. I think to say something, but remember Death’s words, ‘You may be me or the others in the world, but we will be like ghosts,’ and keep my mouth shut. Instead, I decide to ask Clamp about the buck.

“Hey Clamp, what’s wrong with him?” I ask, motioning towards the sickly buck. Clamp grimaces and lets out a sigh.

“Cancer,” he mutters. “Caused by prolonged exposure to radiation. Sadly, it is progressed too far for me to do anything about it. All I can do is make him comfortable, but I fear his time is running short,” Clamp tells me, shaking his head.

“I see,” I say quietly, furrowing my brow. So, disease? I suppose that would make that figure...what is the name? Pestilence, I think it is. If he’s there, the poor buck must be on the verge of death. I swallow, turning away from the figure. I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep seeing them without losing my mind...I walk out of the door.

Once it shuts behind me, I look up, only to see Pestilence’s ghostly figure before me. “When you see us, you may feel that you can prevent a pony’s death, Ratchet. But let me dissuade you from wasting your time. Deaths are set in stone, you cannot prevent them.” He tells me before walking through me and back into the clinic.

My breathing has gone ragged. Yes, I will definitely never get used to this. If what Pestilence says is true, that I can’t prevent deaths, but I can see their ghosts lingering behind them...To know a pony is going to die and not be able to stop it? Can I...handle this?

I shake the thought from my head and compose myself. I take a deep breath, and continue walking, looking around the town. It is little more than a collection of shacks at the moment, but as I look at the piles of building materials around me, I can tell they have big things planned.

The statue itself has been cut into and some buildings constructed inside, from the archway leading inside, I can see the bar and a few shops, including a restaurant of some sort. Looking up the statue, I see various platforms and staircases leading up it. Some of the platforms have sparks coming from them. Judging by the shouting and the sounds, they are cutting into the statue and welding more supports.

They really are trying to create a bastion in the wasteland. Raising a town up around the statue...I can’t wait to see how it progresses. I smile up at the statue as I continue on my way around town. After passing a large amount of wood and scrap metal shacks, I finally come to what appears to be the security barracks.

I enter through the front door and am greeted by a mare sitting behind a desk. “Hey there miss, how can I help you?” She asks. I look around the building. To my left are more desks with ponies in armor sitting behind them writing on papers. Beyond them, are two doors. I see one labeled “bunkhouse” and the other “armory”. On my right is a wooden door with the words “chief” scrawled into it.

“Uh…” I begin. “My name is Ratchet, I heard Chief Wrecker wanted to talk to me, or something?” I tell her. She looks up from a book she was reading while I was looking around.

“Ratchet you say? Just a moment,” she gets up and knocks on the chief’s door. “Chief, Ratchet is here to see you,” she says. Then turns back around and sits down again. After a moment, the door swings open and an Earth Pony buck, who I assume is Wrecker, steps out.

“Thank you Dolly,” he says to the mare. Then he looks back over at me, “Ratchet, right? Come on in, I’ve been waiting for you.” He turns and head back in the door, waiting till I am inside before shutting the door. “In case you don’t recall, my name is Wrecker,” he tells me as he sits behind his desk. He gestures at a chair opposite his for me to sit in.

“I remember,” I tell him. “You saved us from the raiders, right before I passed out. Thanks, for that, by the way,” I say, giving him a slight smile.

He shakes his head. “Think nothing of it!” He says, “What kind of security chief would I be if I let guests be attacked right outside my town? But, I digress. We have some business to take care of.”

“Business?” I ask, unsure what exactly he means. I can’t think of anything he would need from me.

“Indeed,” Wrecker mutters. “First of all, thank you for escorting Rose back to town. And, unscathed none-the-less. But, I must say, you are either stupid or brave,” he chuckles. “Perhaps both. You went straight though raider alley, so I take it you aren’t from around here,” she says with a smirk.

“Raider alley?” I ask. “And no, I’m not from around here. It is actually my first time here since...yeah…” I trail off.

“I getcha. Raider alley,” he pauses, making a grand gesture with a hoof. “The southwestern area of the Manehatten Ruins. It reaches from the edge of the wasteland to a few blocks from us. And that’s only because they fear our artillery, but they do poke at us occasionally,” he says with a wry smile.

“Yea,” I mutter. “That was some impressive artillery. I’m surprised we didn’t get caught in the blast. You and your guards must be good at aiming. Where did you get those guns at anyway?” I ask him.

“Ha, thanks for the compliment. As for where we got them, the Manehatten Ruins. Mainly from fallen military vehicles. We have only one howitzer working at the moment, but we plan to get the rest of what we scavenged working soon. We managed to get some more howitzers, cannons and flak, in case those Pegasi bastards ever decide to come back down,” Wrecker informs me with malice in his voice.

“Wait, what do you mean if the Pegasi ever come back down? Come to think of it, I haven’t seen a single Pegasi,” I mutter. “And why aren’t they taking care of the clouds?” Grimoire also mentioned something about razing their cities and what not.

“You really aren’t from around here, are you?” He says, narrowing his eyes for a moment. “Living under a rock, were you? Once the balefire fell, the closed up the skies and haven’t come down since. The whole Enclave is up there. I’ve heard rumors though, of some descending from the cloud cover and abducting ponies, but no solid proof on that,” He tells me.

“They...are still up in the clouds and won’t come down?” I confirm, confused.

“Are you going deaf? That’s what I said, so much for their loyalty, you do see the occasional Pegasi down here on the surface, however. Some ain’t so bad, but watch yourself around them. You never know which might be Enclave spies,” Wrecker tells me.

“But, why wouldn’t the Enclave come and help us?” I ask him.

He shakes his head. “I’m the wrong person to ask. I’ve never actually met one, only heard rumors. They are cowards, they think they are better than us, they don’t trust us, all rumors. Find one and ask them yourself, if you are so curious,” he tells me.

“Right,” I mutter. It doesn’t make any sense. Why would the Pegasi not help out the surface? Looks like I’ll have to find someone who knows more about them.

“Anyhow,” Wrecker continues, clearing his throat. “On to the business at hoof, from Rose’s account, you took out dozens of raiders on your way here. You also took their gear when you could, which is always a plus. Less equipment for those left alive. They aren’t the best equipped, but the fewer guns they have, the better,” he says with a sly smile.

“So, taking your work into consideration, and you returning Rose to us, I’d like to give you 500 caps,” he says, picking a bag up off the floor and setting it on the desk. “You are probably low on ammo and other supplies, think of this as a reward for clearing out some of the raiders. It will make scavenging easier for us,” he gives me a beaming smile.

“Thank you!” I tell him, floating the bag of caps into my bags. “But, there are a lot more raiders where those came from,” I tell him with a look of concern.

“True, but a few dozen is nothing to shake a stick at. The last order of business I have with you, is your sleeping arrangements. The council rented your group out a few rooms at the hotel, as long as you’re in town,” he tells me. “Just let the front desk know who you are, and they’ll show you to your room.”

“This is...more than I could ask for,” I tell him. I’m unsure how I should react to this, it seems like they are giving me a lot.

“Nonsense,” Wrecker tells me with a shake of his head. “You’ll still have to pay for your food and supplies while you are here. And if you ever come back, you’ll have to pay for your own room,” he says with a chuckle. “Kind and helpful folk are a rarity these days, many simply turn to crime and take what they want. The council has seen what you’ve done and is thankful,” He informs me.

“You keep talking about a council,” I say. “Does that mean a council governs Friendship City?” I ask.

“Indeed,” he tells me. “Us founders decided it was the best way to keep things civil. Doc Clamp, Rose’s father Slick, and myself are among its members. Rose is set to take over for Slick, which is why it is so great a feat that you returned her to us,” Wrecker informs me.

“I see,” I mutter. “I didn’t know she was so important.” To think, Rose is a councilor's daughter.

“Everyone who doesn’t try to kill you or steal from you, is important,” Wrecker mutters. “But, yes, she is important to the future of Friendship City. She is quite popular around town, if a bit sheltered.”

“Yea...Speaking of,” I begin. “You may want consider training her in the use of a firearm. If something should happen like this again, her being able to defend herself will be useful. Hopefully, she can aim better than me though,” I chuckle.

“You are right,” Wrecker agrees. “This incident has shown us as much. Especially if she is to lead, she should know how to defend herself. I’ll begin training her myself soon. Well, that concludes our business,” he states. “When you wish to leave, let me know. I’ll draw you a map of the safe ways in and out of the city. Well, safer than raider alley, at least,” he tells me.

“That sounds great,” I say with a smile. “For now, I’ll focus on recovery and explore the town a bit. I think we could all use a little rest anyhow.”

“I do not doubt it,” he agrees. “If you have any more questions, feel free to drop by. I’m usually here.”

I make my way over to the door. “Sounds good,” I tell him. “See you around,” I say as I close the door behind me.

===~+~===

Quest Complete:

-Prisoner Rescue

New Perk:

-Junkie - You have discovered you have a low tolerance for drugs and become easily addicted. You are now 50% more like to become addicted to Chems.

Chapter 15 - Recovery

View Online

Chapter 15 - Recovery

“Everyone needs a moment to catch their breath every once and awhile.”

===~+~===

I quickly got the lay of the town after exploring it for a few hours. Over the next few days, my friends and I spend most of our time in Slick’s bar, playing cards and listening to the scavengers and other visitors of the town. Occasionally, one of us will leave and return to Clamp’s clinic so he can replace our bandages and look us over. Our bodies are recovering at a good rate. Cygnus is recovering rapidly, probably an effect of the magic in his cells.

It feels good to get a break from the constant walking around and training I’ve been doing since I woke up in my lab. I can tell the others feel the same, with the exception of Cygnus. He seems a little stir crazy, but I suppose that is natural, given that he just woke up a few days ago after being locked away for decades.

On one particular day, Cygnus decides to sleep in so it is just the Rangers and I in the bar. After a while, Arrow and Lightning leave for the clinic, leaving Thunder and I alone. I decide this is as good a time as any to ask how he and the others are doing. “So,” I begin, “how are you holding up?”

Thunder rubs his chin for a moment before saying simply, “Better than the others.” I can hear the concern in his voice, but he cracks a grin and adds, “Besides that Cygnus fellow. He sure does heal fast. Another day, and I think he’ll be at one hundred percent.”

I bite my lip. So, the others aren’t doing so well after all. They’ve been acting so cheery, I have been concerned about them. “Nothing on your end then? No lingering pain or concerns about anything?” I ask him, wondering if he can be hiding something like the others.

“Nah. You know me Ratchet,” he says. “I say what’s on my mind and my body’s tough. Thanks to the Hydra, I should be ready for combat at the end of the week. I just wish I could have been of more use once my gun got destroyed,” he mutters.

I knew it, beating himself up over not being able to do more. Despite his blunt crudeness, he is a team player. “Don’t worry about it,” I tell him. “We all made it here and are still standing. You were even walking around on a broken leg. We couldn’t have asked anymore of you. You fought valiantly.”

He smiles, rubbing the back of his neck with a chuckle. “Thanks. I guess I feel a bit better,” he says.

“Good. I know if I had a broken leg, I’d have been a big foal about it the whole time. You’d probably have to carry me,” I tell him, grinning like an idiot. This gets a laugh out of him.

“Yea, you sure can’t take pain, can you?” He teases me.

I roll my eyes and sigh dramatically. “Please Thunder, I’m a scientist, not a soldier. The worst pain I had to deal with until recently was getting a cavity filled,” I tell him with a grin.

We banter back and forth about my low pain tolerance for a few minutes. After a round of laughter, Thunder composes himself and puts on a serious look. “In all seriousnes Ratchet, I’m worried about the others. They act fine, but I’ve seen Arrow glancing at the mirror a little bit too long and caught Lightning staring at his rear legs in disgust. They might be getting better physically, but mentally, they are still pained. I don’t know what to do, Ratchet. I’m not good with words. Do you think you can talk with them?” He asks me.

I can tell by the look on his face, that it pains him that he can’t help them himself. He’s good at humor and cheering them up, but he isn’t the type to help sort out delicate situations. I’m worried about them myself, so my answer is obvious. “Of course. I’ll do everything I can for them,” I tell him.

He relaxes and puts on a weak smile. “Thank you, Ratchet,” He tells me. After a few more words, we join a few scavengers playing poker. A few hands later, and Lightning and Arrow return. We deal them in as a few of the scavengers leave for the ruins. I decide that I should talk to them one-on-one, and we continue the game as Cygnus arrives and joins us as well.

The night progresses, and after talking with Thunder, I’ve been watching Arrow and Lightning closely. Little things do appear to be off with them. Quick, little frowns when no one else is looking. Arrow staring at her reflection in her drink. Lightning, occasionally glancing down under the table at his legs.

I make a note of all of this as the night goes on. Eventually, we decide to turn in for the night. We head to the hotel and go to our respective rooms. Thunder, Lightning, and Cygnus to theirs, and Arrow and I to ours. It is the perfect opportunity.

As I bid goodnight to the others, I enter the room and catch Arrow looking into the mirror. She lets out a sigh and takes off the rest of her armor and climbs onto her side of the king-sized bed. I take off my armor and do the same. She is laying on her side, facing away from me.

“Hey Arrow, could we talk for a bit?” I ask her, still sitting up in the bed. She doesn’t say anything or turn towards me, but she nods her head. I hesitate, thinking about how to continue. “I, uh, well...I’ve noticed that you haven’t quite been your usual self lately, Arrow,” I tell her, watching her for any movement.

After a few moments of silence, she hesitantly nods her head. “I want to help you,” I tell her. “However I can, with whatever you need. I’ve seen how you look at yourself in the mirror, with a look of forlorn disgust. I know that you are worried about how you look, and if your aim will be affected, but you are still you,” I say, putting a hoof on her shoulder.

I can feel her start to shake and can hear a few sobs coming from her. I really hope I’m not making her feel worse. She nods again. “Listen Arrow, even if your face is a bit scarred up, you’re still adorable. Even if your aim is off, you're an expert, you’ll adapt and be back to normal soon!” I tell her, trying to convey my sincerity.

She shakes her head, causing me to frown. “Arrow, I can only tell so much from shakes and nods. You’ve got to talk to me. How can I help you?” I ask her. She takes in a few shaky breaths before she sits up and turns to face me.

Tears are running down the right side of her face, but not the left side. “You can’t,” she says quietly. “My eye...it’s not...my face...I can’t...you’ll never…” Arrow falls into a fit of sobbing. I can’t do anything but wrap my hoof around her and pull her in close for a hug. She cries into my shoulder, tears staining my coat.

“I’m here for you,” I whisper into her ear. “I’ll help you. We can go practice shooting with the guards tomorrow, I’m sure they won’t mind. Cheer up, Arrow. You’ll get through this, and I’ll be there every step of the way. So be yourself, don’t worry about how you look, or if you can’t hit your targets right away. I’ll be there for you whenever you need me,” I tell her.

I feel her nodding her head as she continues to cry. The minutes pass and the two of us remain in an embrace. Her crying fades to sniffles as we both lay down to go to sleep. She continues to hold onto my hoof with her own as we both drift off to sleep.

===~+~===

The following afternoon, Arrow and I head over to see Chief Wrecker and ask his permission to use their shooting range. He agrees instantly and says we are welcome to it any time. With his approval, we head into the firing range and Arrow takes position with her rifle. “Ok, just do what you normally do,” I tell her.

Arrow aims through her scope with her good eye and after a moment, puts a bullet through the target at the end of the range, fifty feet away. She looks unhappy with it. “What’s wrong? You hit the target,” I ask her.

“Missed,” she says simply. I furrow my brow. I guess a sniper’s definition of hitting a target, and my own are different. “Non-lethal,” she adds. I blink in confusion for a second, looking at the target. It is an outline of the side of a pony with a hole through the body. I look a bit closer and think about anatomy for a moment, and realize she’s right. It passed through an area with no vital organs.

“Oh, I see,” I mutter. Then follow up with, “Where were you aiming at?” She might not be that far off if she was aiming at the heart, or something.

“Head,” Arrow answers. I flinch. Ok, that was definitely a miss then. I scratch the back of my head with a hoof.

“Well, it was just one shot, try again,” I suggest. She nods, and readies another shot, I keep a close eye on her as she fires and I notice something. I look down the range, and don’t see any indication of a hit anywhere. She must have missed completely. “Hey Arrow, why are you shooting with both your eyes open?” I ask her. “Shouldn’t you only be keeping the eye looking through the scope open?” I suggest.

She shakes her head. “No, hu?” I mutter. “But given that your left eye can’t see as good anymore, does it matter?” I ask. She shakes her head again, looking down at her rifle. After a moment, one of the guards walks over to us.

“Your friend is right, Miss Ratchet. The proper way to shoot is with both eyes open,” the buck tells me. “My name is Lock, by the way miss, nice to meet you,” he says with a smile.

I nod with a smile. “Nice to meet you too. So, why does it matter? Keeping both eyes open, I mean,” I ask him.

“Well, for one thing it puts strain on the open eye and can change the way that it sees. If you are just shooting once and a while, it’s fine. But, when it comes to extended periods of shooting, or precision, it matters,” Lock explains.

“Not only that, “ he continues, “but with both eyes open, you can keep an eye on your peripherals so you are aware of what is happening around you and your target. Given that your friend here is a sniper, she needs to keep her eyes opens.”

“If a sniper focuses on their target alone, they are easy to sneak up on. It is also easy to lose a target without keeping an eye on the target’s surroundings. Even if you aren’t a sniper, keeping an eye open to pick out your next target is a good idea,” Lock concludes.

Nodding, I say, “I see. Thank you, Lock.” I turn to look at Arrow, who is still looking at her rifle. “I’m sorry Arrow, you’re doing fine. Just keep at it!” I encourage her. I catch Lock frowning while looking at Arrow.

“Miss Arrow,” Lock addresses her. “Shoot the target once more for me, if you’d be so kind,” she asks her. Arrow nods, and prepares to shoot. Lock’s eyes don’t leave her, nor do they blink. Arrow fires, and hits the target in the rear leg.

“Can I see your gun?” Lock asks. Arrow nods, and Lock picks it up. He inspects it, then points it at the target. In rapid succession, he shoots it, ejects the cartridge, and does this two more time. All of his shots hit the target directly in the head, close together.

“As I thought,” Lock mutters. “Miss Arrow, your problem isn’t your gun, and it isn’t your eyes. You are hesitating, you are questioning if you bullet will hit where you are aiming. Your doubts are causing you to miss,” he tells her.

Arrow looks at him in shock, then quickly at the ground. “Miss Arrow, I am a sniper as well. You have good instinct, good eyes, and you are more than likely a better shot than me. But you have lost confidence. If you think losing a little bit of sight in your eye is a reason to quit being a sniper, then you should quit. Because if you keep hesitating, if you keep missing, your friends will die,” Lock glares at her, pushing her rifle into her chest.

Shakily, Arrow grabs the rifle and falls to her haunches, cradling it. Lock shakes his head and walks away. I stand there with my mouth open, shocked and unsure what to do. I look from Arrow, to Lock as he walks away. “Stay here, Arrow. I’ll be right back,” I tell her, as I chase after Lock.

I catch up to him in their locker room. “Lock!” I call out at his back. “What the fuck was that?” I ask, anger blazing inside of me. “How could you tell her that? You asshole!” I yell at him.

He turns around to face me with a stoic expression on his face. “Because she needs to hear it,” Lock says. “Because it is the truth, and it is the only thing that can help her,” he tells me.

“Bullshit!” I snarl. “You tell her she should quit? That her friends are going to die? How is that suppose to help her?” I question. My hooves are shaking under me as my anger continues to rise. Other guards that were in the locker room begin to watch us.

“She’s a soldier,” Lock replies. “Her actions carry weight, she needs to remember that. If she continues to hesitate, and stubbornly continue to snipe with that hesitation, either you, or your friends, or Arrow will die. It isn’t a matter of if, it is a matter of when,” he explains.

“How can you say that? You know nothing about her! About us!” I shout at him. “You don’t know what she’s going through!” He flinches for a moment, and then gets angry himself.

“You don’t know anything,” Lock mutters. “If you were actually her friend, if you actually cared about her and the others, you’d understand why she needs the truth,” he tells me. His words hit me like a lead pipe.

“Of course I care about them! But this is just cruel!” I yell. He shakes his head and lets out a sigh.

“You are the cruel one, Ratchet,” He tells me. “Right now, she has forgotten that others depend on her, that she is part of a team. She’s focused on what she lost, and what she’s going through. That’s why she needed the truth, harsh as it may be. To make her realize she can’t hesitate!” He growls at me.

I take a step back from him. “H...How do you know it will work?” I ask him, my anger starting to wane.

He lowers his head, and calms his voice. “Because I’ve been where she’s been. I’ve experienced it first-hoof. I was dealing with my own issues, I hesitated, and a friend died because of it. So trust me, I know what i’m talking about,” Lock says with a sigh, shaking his head.

I fall to my haunches. “I...I’m sorry,” I tell him as I look down at the floor.

Lock shakes his head. “No, I understand, Ratchet. You really do care about her, about your friends. She’ll need you to get through this, but you can’t coddle her. You have to tell her the truth when she needs it. Now go,” he says with a smile, “help her.”

I look up at him, at the others watching us, smiling themselves, and I smile back. “Of course,” I say with a nod, rising to my hooves. “Thank you,” I tell him, as I turn and leave the locker room.

Returning to the shooting range, I see Arrow still sitting while clinging onto her rifle. She isn’t crying though, but seems to be in thought, which I hope is a good thing. I walk up to her and sit down in front of her. “Are you ready to keep going?” I ask her. She nods, and stands up. I do the same.

She sets up her rifle, and aims down the sight. I take a deep breath, wondering if this will really work. “Remember what Lock said, Arrow. Imagine the bullet hitting, don’t hesitate. Don’t shoot for yourself, shoot for us. That target wants to hurt us, to take us from you, you’re going to stop it,” I tell her, not looking at her, but at the target.

Arrow lets out her breath, and a moment later she pulls the trigger and her bullet strikes the target, just below the ear. She looks up from her scope at the target, smiling. I smile as well. Perhaps she just needed the proper motivation to get her mind off things.

“Good job,” I tell her. “But, you can do better. I’m pretty sure that’s not where you were aiming,” I say. “Let’s keep going, now that you’ve got things down again, you can refine your aim.” I look at her with a smile. She smiles back, looking determined, and nods. “Alright, just like last time.”

===~+~===

After another few hours, Arrow is confident in her aim again. She hits every spot she is aiming for and even begins to shoot at the further targets. Her accuracy still amazes me. The sun is beginning to set and Arrow shoos me away saying simply, “Night practice.” I guess she wants to make sure she can still hit things in the dark, as well.

I bid her goodnight and head back to the hotel. I’m glad she’s gotten her confidence back, even more so than her getting her aim back. Even if she couldn’t shoot, I’d still want the normal Arrow keeping me silent company. I do wish she’s talk more though, sometimes communication is hard.

As I near the hotel, I see Lightning standing alone on the second floor balcony. I wave at him, but he either doesn’t see me or is lost in thought. With no one else around him, I decide now would be a good time to talk to him. I make my way though the hotel and onto the balcony. I walk over to him and join him leaning over the balcony railing.

“Enjoying the night air?” I ask him. He jerks, like he didn’t hear me arrive. Recovering quickly, he puts on an easy smile.

“Indeed,” Lightning says, looking up at the statue. “They work around the clock, you know? Constantly expanding the city...it’s quite the sight to behold,” he mutters.

“Really?” I say with surprise. “That’s impressive,” I agree. There is a pregnant silence as I’m unsure how to jump into the discussion. Luckily, Lightning sets me up perfectly.

Letting out a sigh, he asks, “What do you want, Ratchet?” I let out a light-hearted chuckle.

“That’s obvious, hu?” I ask. He rolls his eyes. “You know, I spent the afternoon with Arrow today. Helping her with some target practice. At first, she was doing pretty bad. But now, she’s gotten her aim back. She’s actually going to spend the night shooting, making sure she can do it properly in the dark,” I tell him with a smile.

“Is that so?” He mutters. “That’s good, she was looking pretty down recently,” Lightning points out.

I nod in agreement. “She’s doing much better now. So, how are you doing, Lightning?” I ask him, hoping that he’ll be open about it.

He smiles. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy. “Doing fine, Ratchet. Still recovering a bit, but I’ll get there. I’ll be ready to head out when you are,” Lightning tells me.

I let out a sigh. “Don’t lie Lightning, it won’t help anyone. I’ve been watching you, looking concerned and staring off into space, glaring at your legs, I can tell something isn’t right. Thunder suspects as much as well,” I tell him.

Lightning shakes his head and sighs. “Makes sense he’d know, bring my brother and all. Well Ratchet, you want the truth?” He asks, turning to me. I nod. “I’m terrified. I’m sure the Clamp told you, my legs might not fully recover. But it is more than that. My legs...they shake sometimes. I can’t control it, but being in power armor makes it a bit more bearable,” he confesses.

“They...shake? Does it hurt when they do so?” I ask him as concern builds up inside of me.

He smiles slightly. “No, thankfully. It is just annoying, for the most part. As the day progresses though, my legs get tired and ache because of it, and all I’ve been doing lately is lounging around. Once we actually start moving, and fighting, I don’t think I’ll be able to keep up,” Lightning says, looking down from the railing.

“What does Clamp say about it? Have you told him?” I ask.

“Of course, but the only thing he can determine is that it might go away eventually. He says it might be nerve damage, or it could be a mental thing. Me subconsciously recalling the manticore attack,” he says. “I don’t know, Ratchet. I just don’t know. But, I don’t think you can help,” he tells me with a sad expression on his face.

“Bullshit,” I tell him. This rouses a surprised expression from him. “We are friends, a team, it is our job to help each other. So you know what? If your legs are giving you trouble, let us know. If we have to take a few more breaks on our journeys, so be it. If we have to throw you on our back, we’ll do it,” I explain.

He smirks, but says, “I don’t want to be a burden to you all. I’ll keep up, you don’t have to coddle me.” You idiot Lightning. You just don’t understand.

Lock’s words run though my mind, ‘you have to tell her the truth when she needs it.’ I’m sure that can be applied to Lightning as well, and he needs the same truth as Arrow needed. “Shut up,” I tell him. “You understand that if you ignore your issue, if you push yourself for us, that we could all die because of it, right?” I say, giving him a serious look.

He’s taken aback, that much I can see. His eyes go wide for a moment and he mutters, “W-What?”

“If you push yourself, and we don’t know it, and we get caught in a battle unaware of that, it could cost us our lives. Not only yours, but your brother’s, Arrow’s, Cygnus’s, and mine,” I say, locking my eyes onto his. “If we know, we can work around it. We can be ready. This isn’t just your problem, it is our problem,” I tell him.

When I finish, Lightning looks away, out into the night. He rubs his face with a hoof for a moment before turning back towards me. “I suppose you are right. I would be a burden if I decide to be stubborn about things. I’m sorry. It’s just...my legs were my pride and joy,” he mutters.

“About that,” I begin. “Don’t hate your legs now, don’t be disgusted with them. They served you well, and they probably saved your life from the manticore. Just because they might be a bit slower, and shake occasionally, you shouldn’t be upset with them. You’re still standing, they are still strong, and they are the only ones you got,” I tell him with a smile.

He stares at me blankly for a moment before erupting into laughter. “The only ones I’ve got, hu, Ratchet?” Lightning says, laughing some more. “That’s so...so...corny,” he tells me, continuing to laugh.

I puff out my cheek and glare at him. “I thought it was good…” I mutter, giving him a smile.

Lightning pulls himself together enough to say, “Yea, yea. Oh Celestia, Ratchet. Thank you. I...I feel much better now. Tomorrow, I’ll tell everyone about my legs. You are right though, they are the only ones I have. I’m going to think about things for a little longer. You should get some sleep, it is getting late.”

“I suppose you are right,” I say with a smile. “I’m glad you are feeling better, Lightning. Remember, if there’s ever something you need to talk about, we’re here for you,” I tell him.

“I know, thanks,” He says with a smile. I return inside and leave Lightning to his thoughts. He probably needs some time to get things straight in his head. I decide to take his advice, and head to my room for the night.

===~+~===

The next day, Lightning tells us all about his legs. He also mentions that after our talk, the frequency of their shaking seems to have gone down. It might be a mental thing after all, at least part of it. I hope that once they fully recover, the shaking goes away completely.

My friends and I spend the better part of the morning playing cards. Both Lightning and Arrow seem a lot better. I don’t notice either one of them spacing out or frowning, unless they get a bad hand. Around mid-afternoon, I get a bit bored of cards and decide to go for a walk around the town. The others keep playing, wanting to get to know Cygnus better.

On the northern side of the town, is a sort of clearing. From what I hear, traveling traders set up here to sell their wares. Now, however, it is empty aside from the occasional citizen walking through it. I decide to sit on a bench facing the statue to watch the construction for a while.

As I watch the workers move steel beams into place and weld them, I can’t help but smile. There are various systems of pulleys that lift the beams up into place. Earth Ponies on the ground haul them up, and Unicorns guide them precisely where they need to go. It is a beautiful thing to see.

The wasteland is a barren and desolate place. Seeing a brand new city rising in front of my very eyes in defiance of the wasteland makes me hopeful for the future. Maybe things will get better. As long as ponies work hard, and are good to each other, the future will always have hope.

While I continue to watch, one buck on the ground catches my eye. He is walking under the construction. But what really draws my attention and moves me to action, is the ghostly figure behind them, cloaked in black. I leap from the bench and run towards the buck.

I glance above him, seeing one of the steel beams being lifted directly above him. As I get closer, I see a small part of the rope holding it is beginning to fray. No one else seems to notice as I run towards the buck. I see it snap as I’m a few feet from him and a Unicorn tries to hold it up with their magic, but it seems to be too heavy for them.

The beam breaks free of their magic and hurtles towards the ground. I leap at the buck just as the beam is about to strike him, tackling him out of the way. The beam falls just inches behind us. He stares at it wide eyed as I pant for breath. Not this one, Death, I think with a smile, looking at his ghostly figure.

Death just stares back at me as the buck thanks me vigorously and goes on his way. Death walks up to me, looking at the back of the buck that got away. “Pestilence told you, right?” He asks. “Deaths are set in stone, and you can’t prevent them,” he says.

I smile. “I just saved that buck, didn’t I? I guess you wasted a trip here,” I tell him.

“Keep watching,” Death says, still looking at the buck. I turn from him, and look at the buck as well. He looks fine.

But then I see it, from one of the platforms the workers are on, a tool falls off the ledge, heading straight for the buck. “Look out!” I scream at him, but it is too late. The tool hits the buck square on the head, dropping him instantly.

I run over to him and feel for a pulse, but get nothing. I call to my haunches, muttering, “No...How…” Death walks up behind me.

“Had you not saved him, the steel beam would have killed him. But since you intervened, he was killed by a falling tool. If you had known about that, and saved him again, something else would have got him,” Death explains. “When it is a pony’s time, it is their time,” he tells me.

“You can’t save them, Ratchet,” he says as he brings out his scythe. “Save yourself the trouble and heartache, just let it happen,” he advises me as he slices something I cannot see. He turns to me and says, “Stay strong, Ratchet.” Before he disappears. A few moments later a few of the workers on the ground arrive.

I’m too stunned to talk or react, so I just kind of wander off while they are distracted. This isn’t going to work. I’ll go mad...I saved him, only for him to die. How many more times will something like this happen? Can I just turn a blind eye to it, like Death suggested? Or will I keep trying to save them?

===~+~===

A week goes by, and luckily I don’t witness any more deaths. My friends and I make a speedy recovery, and decide we will leave tomorrow morning. Today, we will stock up on supplies and get ready. We go our separate ways to get what we need, but I end up giving Cygnus 500 caps so he can get some gear.

I’ve cut up my soiled lab coat and make some bandages out of it. They aren’t magical or anything, but they’ll help stop some bleeding if we get into a tight stop. Putting on one of the pristine coats, I make my way to the gun store.

The gun store, which is a good sized shack inside the bottom of the statue, is owned by a buck named Bloodshot. He’s got a...peculiar attitude, keeps trying to get me to buy explosives. But, I decide to leave those up to Thunder. I really didn’t want to miss with something that could really cause some damage.

First, I decide to sell Bloodshot my excess guns and ammunition. As I pull gun after gun out of my bags, he doesn’t seem surprised, it is like ponies bring in a ton of guns to sell all the time. I sell all the spare guns I looted and the 9mm I got back from Rose. He gives me 470 caps for the lot of them. I try to haggle, but, he says, “Most of these are shit. Nothing but parts.”

I begrudgingly accept the caps, just grateful for the bag space they freed up. I look over what I have left. The sniper, shotgun, SMG, and revolver. Given my record for hitting my target, I decide to sell the sniper and SMG, along with all their ammo and the 5.56mm I have as well. He gives me 133 more caps for them.

He won’t buy my old armor or the machete I have though. Since I’m done selling things, I decide to stock up on ammo. I buy enough shotgun shells to get me to 56 extra, and 108 .32 caliber for my revolver. This sets me back 331 caps.

I’m about to leave the store when he calls out to me, saying he can sell me a drum magazine for my shotgun, and possibly improve my revolver a bit. I ask for the drum magazine as I give him my revolver to look at. The drum magazine is another 200 caps.

He inspects the revolver for a moment, then gives it back to me, telling me to, “Aim it for me, let me get a look at you.” I raise an eyebrow, but do as he says and aim it like I usually do with my magic. He nods and takes it back. He disappears into the back of his shop for a few minutes, then returns and asks me if I want to name it.

I think for a moment, and smile as I say, “Forgiveness.” He raises an eyebrow, but shrugs and returns to the back. After a few more minutes, he returns with my revolver and sits it on the counter. It looks...different.

“Since you use magic, I lightened it and decreased the amount of pressure needed to pull the trigger. The new grip should feel better in your magic as well. And the name,” he says, showing me the left side of the gun, “is inscribed on the barrel.” He smiles and concludes, “450 caps.”

My eyes go wide at the price, but he gives it to me to test out. It definitely feels...better. I let out a sigh and mutter, “Here.” As I count out the caps. He smiles, and thanks me for my business as I leave his store.

I was really not expecting to spend so much there. I have 400 caps left, hope that is enough for medical supplies. But first, I need to sell this extra stuff. I head into the general store, hoping they’ll buy my old armor and machete. I’m in luck, and gain an additional 73 caps. Why was everything so damn inexpensive when I sell it?

Next, I make my way to the drugstore to stock up on medical supplies. As I approach the counter, I see Lightning standing there. “Oh, hey Ratchet,” he says as he notices me. “Stocking up as well? I made sure to leave some for you,” he tells me with a grin.

“Here you go sir,” a gravely voice says from under the counter. From behind the counter, rises a…

“ZOMBIE!” I yell, drawing my revolver. Lightning quickly puts a hoof out in front of me.

“She’s alright Ratchet, she isn’t a zombie. I guess she’s the first ghoul you’ve seen, hu?” Lightning says with a chuckle. He turns to the zombie, “Sorry about her, first time for her, ya know? Here’s the caps, you two play nice now.” Lightning then walks out of the shop without another word.

The zombie shakes its head and grabs the caps from the counter. “Every time with you smoothskins,” it says.

“Uh...so…” I stammer. “You’re a...ghoul? Not a...Zombie?” I ask stupidly.

“Yea,” it says. Though, it resembles a mare, so I guess...she says? “Though you smoothskins usually don’t care about the difference. The name’s Scarlet,” she informs me.

“Nice to...meet you, Scarlet,” I tell her with apprehensive smile. “Sorry about the whole, trying to shoot you thing,” I appologize.

“Oh, no worries. It happens with you smoothskins sometimes,” Scarlet says with a shrug. “So, I’m your first ghoul hu? I bet you have questions, go ahead and ask so I can start trading with you,” she says.

“Oh, uh. Let’s see. What is a ghoul, I guess?” I ask her.

“Fair enough. We are normal ponies who got exposed to just the right amount of radiation. Not enough to kill us, but enough to turn us into this. Some of us have been around since before the war, though I came after that,” she explains.

“I see. Does that mean you have longer lifespans due to the radiation exposure?” I ask, my curiosity piqued.

“Who’s to say. Hasn’t been that much time to know for sure. Though I know a few that are over 100 years old, and still doing fine. We might be able to live forever, assuming we don’t rot away into nothing,” Scarlet says with a raspy chuckle.

“Right...Does it hurt? Are you physically the same, or did you mutate?” I ask, getting excited.

“Oh naw, it feels pretty normal. Aside from our looks, our ability to heal with radiation, and our lack of needing sustenance, we’re pretty much the same,” she explains.

“That’s interesting. So, are there any negative effects to being a ghoul?” I ask, adding, “Aside from ponies thinking you are zombies and trying to kill you.”

“Yea,” she says with a sigh. “We can go feral, lose our minds. Once that happens, we might as well be zombies. So not all of us are safe to be around. But!” Scarlet declares, “That doesn’t mean you should go around shooting every ghoul. Ferals, sure. But not those with intelligence left.”

“Ferals, hu? Good to know. I’ll try to refrain from shooting ghouls just for being ghouls,” I say, giving her a reassuring smile. “I think that’s all the questions I have for now, thanks.”

“Good. Now, you here to buy?” She asks. I nod, and tell her what I need. She tells me the prices, and I tell her what I can afford. Scarlet shakes her head and pulls out two healing potions. I think for a moment, considering if i have anything else to sell.

I remember I have drugs i should probably get rid of. I bring out the stampede and dash, but hesitate for a moment. I put the dash back in my bags, deciding to hang onto it for emergencies, since I can actually manage to hit things while using it.

With the stampede I have, she agrees to sell me a total of 3 healing potions and one magical bandage for the cost of 450 caps. I agree to the price, and pack up the items and give her the caps.

With 23 caps to my name, I leave the store and head back to the hotel to wait for the others. Tomorrow, we’ll head back out into the Manehatten Ruins. I hope we are prepared.

===~+~===

New Perk!
Companionship - When your companions are in your presence, they gain +10 to their Damage Threshold.

Chapter 16 - The Request

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Chapter 16 - The Request

“Let’s retake the old world.”

===~+~===

The following morning, gather in the hotel lobby. As I look us over, you wouldn’t guess we came so close to dying almost two weeks ago. The Ranger’s armor looks clean and shiny, no damage to it anywhere. There is some welding marks where I can tell it has been repaired, however.

Thunder once again has a minigun at his side, but he’s also added that missile launcher to his other side. It looks belt-fed from inside his armor too, like his minigun. Lightning and Arrow also seem ready to head out.

Cygnus, thankfully, has a new set of light armor. I told him that I wanted him to at least have some protection if we get caught off guard. He also seems to have picked up a 10mm pistol and is wearing the holster at his side. Last, but not least, he exchanged his makeshift bag for actual saddlebags.

That leaves me, clad in my stitched up barding and wrapped ever so lovingly in my lab coat, with Forgiveness at my side. I join up with the others, having just returned from talking with Chief Wrecker regarding the safer routes though the ruins. He offered to send some guards with us, but I turned him down.

We are a team, and if we get attacked, we need to make sure we can handle it before we get too far. Lightning’s legs are still occasionally giving him trouble, but they seem a lot better, and Arrow’s aim isn’t as precise as she’d like it to be. However, we can’t put off returning any longer and we are as healthy as we are going to get.

After double checking we have all our gear, we thank the Hotel staff and leave. We walk though the town towards the dock the ferry sits at that will take us back across the water and into the ruins. As we near the dock, I see a few finely dressed ponies standing around.

We approach them when one of them calls out to us. “You there, Steel Rangers,” a buck says. He sounds really...prissy. We stop and turn towards him and two associates. “Ah, yes, good. We have a job for you, yes,” he tells us.

“Yes, yes, just for you,” a mare at his side says in a sing-songy voice. “We do hope that you will accept,” she says with a smile.

“Yes, darling, we do,” the buck coos at the mare. “You see, my good ponies, we need you to clear out a building for us. Just that, remove the inhabitants and tell us when the job is done,” he informs us.

“They are a bunch of ne’er-do-wells. Monsters, really,” the second mare chimes in. “Positively dreadful, disgusting,” she says, turning up her muzzle.

“Oh quite!” The buck agrees. “You’d be doing both us, and society a favor by removing them really,” he tells us. “We won’t even make you clean up after you are done, we have ponies for that,” he says with a smile.

They are kind of...obnoxious. We haven’t been able to get a word in edgewise, until now. “What exactly, do you want us to do?” I ask them, raising an eyebrow. They all roll their eyes.

“We just told you, clear out Tenpony for us,” the second mare says with a sigh. “This is why commoners are so dreadful,” she mutters.

“But you never said…” I begin, but am cut off by the buck.

“Yes, Tenpony Tower, you know it, right? Only building in Manehatten still standing in pristine condition?” He says as though talking to foals.

“Actually, that’s the…” Again, I’m cut off, this time, by the first mare.

“Of course they know, Darling. Everyone knows,” she says, shaking her head. “They are just being difficult.”

“Ah yes my love, I’m sure,” the buck says to her. “Will you do it or are you like the rest of these commoners in this so called town, content with this sad excuse for living arrangements?” He says.

“Why don’t you clear it yourselves?” Cygnus asks, clearly getting annoyed by them.

They all scoff and look horrified at the though. “Us?” The buck says. “Are you saying we should get our hooves dirty when you commoners can do it for us?” He asks us. And with that, there is no doubt in my mind these are the ponies Star Paladin Lily was talking about.

“We’ve sent ponies there before,” the second mare says, shaking her head. “Of course, we paid them a portion of the caps ahead of time, but they never returned. Common thieves, they are. Cut and run, no doubt,” She says, shaking her head as the other two do the same.

“Alright, I’m out. These ponies are pissing me off,” Cygnus says, walking down to the dock. The others go to follow him, but I stay there, thinking. They said, Tenpony, right?

“Just a moment everyone,” I call after them, then turn to the prissy ponies and say, “Give me just a moment, I need to find something out.” They roll their eyes as I walk a short distance away and pull my PipBuck up.

“Hey CORA, you remember anything about Tenpony? Could it have survived a Megaspell?” I ask her. I don’t recall it having any sort of defences like that.

After a moment, CORA appears in my vision. “Hmmm, I don’t think so, Ratchet. If it is still standing, and in pristine condition like they say, I can’t say why,” CORA tells me.

“That is what I thought. But if it is...it could be useful as an outpost in the ruins, right?” I mutter. Then thought strikes me. “Hey CORA, Tenpony has broadcasting equipment, right? It should cover a large area, shouldn’t it?” I ask her.

She’s quiet for a moment, but answers, “I believe so, if it remains functional. It may even cover a good portion of Equestira. The signal could also be bounced around using other towers to expand the range,” she informs me.

“Ok, good. Thanks, CORA,” I tell her. She smiles, then blinks out of my vision again. I turn back to the prissy ponies and walk over to them.

“I’ll help you,” I tell them. They roll their eyes again. They seem a little, ungrateful that I agreed to help.

“It took you long enough. Very well, return to us when Tenpony is safe, and collect your 2,000 caps,” the buck tells me. “And don’t try to lie about it, we have a mercenary watching the building, so we will know if you do,” he says, narrowing his eyes.

“Yea, yea,” I tell him. “But I have one condition,” I begin. “Once I clear it out, you let DJ Pon3 move into the broadcasting station up top,” I say.

They look between each other, and the buck shrugs. “We have no use for that equipment, and the DJ seems like a decent follow. We agree to your condition,” he agrees.

“And just so we are clear, he is a permanent resident as long as he wants to be, right? You can’t just kick him out on a whim,” I tell them. They roll their eyes, but nod. “Good. Well then, we’ll return once we have some good news,” I say with a smile.

“Yes, yes, on your way. If you don’t hurry, we’ll hire someone else. We have waited long enough,” the second mare calls after me as I join the others at the dock.

Cygnus glares at me as I catch up. “Really? We’re going to help those stuck up snobs?” He asks.

“Well, helping to secure a safe haven in the midst of the Manehatten Ruins will be helpful for future travel. Not to mention, it will give the DJ a wider audience. Tenpony is outfitted with a broadcasting station, so he’ll be able to give the news to more ponies, and that means things can be safer,” I explain.

“Yes, but,” Lightning cuts in. “If those ponies are going to be in charge, I don’t see things going as smoothly as you think. They might try to set up their own personal paradise,” he suggests.

I furrow my brow. “That is always a possibility. But, even if they were to do that, they’d be hiring security to protect the tower and themselves. Meaning, the area around Tenpony should get safer,” I say, trying to find a silver lining.

“Anyhow,” I say as we board the ferry, “we should probably check it out first.”

===~+~===

The route Wrecker gave me is completely uneventful. I guess since the scavengers use it frequently, they clear away most of the threats. Because of this, we make good time though the city. We approach a fallen highway, that slopes up and has a pretty good sight over the surrounding buildings. I think Tenpony is only a few blocks away now.

“Let’s go up this highway and scope out Tenpony, see what we are up against,” I suggest. We walk up the road and look out across the destroyed city. Just as the prissy ponies said, a lone tower rises above the other collapsing buildings. It looks almost pristine, aside from the decay of time. It is like the Megaspell blast didn’t touch it at all.

“Can I borrow your rifle, Arrow?” I ask her. She nods, and hoofs it over to me. Cygnus summons a rifle of his own and the two of us look through the scopes at the tower. “Let’s see…” I mutter, looking around. “The outside looks pretty clear, nothing there. Oh damn, are those...ghouls in the first floor?” I ask.

“Ratchet,” Cygnus says in a serious tone, “look at the second floor.” I move the rifle scope up and look at the second floor.

“There’s no way,” I mutter. “There has to be a dozen ghouls in there,” I say in disbelief. “That’s just what I can see, too.” From where we are, we are looking at a corner of the building, so we can see though windows on two sides of it.

“Keeping looking up,” Cygnus tells me. I move the scope up and look at floor after floor of the tower.

“Every floor!?” I call out. “How are there that many on each floor?” I ask, not expecting an answer. “There as to be at least one hundred of them in total. I think we might need more firepower,” I tell them. I let each of the Rangers take a look through the scope as well.

“Even with this new missile launcher, this will be a bit of a workout,” Thunder mutters. “What’s the plan, boss?” He asks me.

I look out towards the tower, thinking about it. “It’s not going anywhere, let’s go back to Stable 36, see if they have anything on Grimoire yet. Then, I can also finish up my armor and that will give us a good edge,” I decide. They nod in agreement, and we begin walking back down the ruined highway.

The rest of the journey out of the ruins is relatively uneventful. We spot a few creatures here and there, but nothing that poses an actual threat. With such a smooth journey, I fear we might get too lax. Remembering the raider-town we encountered on our way here, I decide we should check it out, and possibly clear the raiders from it.

When we arrive on the outskirt of the city, something seems off about it. A lot more smoke is rising from the city than there was before. We climb a nearby hill and peak over the wall. What we see, none of us expect.

The town’s buildings are on fire and dead raiders cover the streets. Other raiders hang from the flaming roofs and some are dangling from spikes planted in the ground. Often, the raiders have been decapitated or disemboweled. It is a gruesome sight, and no one seems to be alive in the town.

“Let’s make sure no one is still alive,” I tell the others as we make our way down the hill towards the town. “They could have had captives, like the raiders from Ponyville,” I add. The town’s gates are open and we walk through without an issue.

We split up to search what buildings we can, but it soon becomes apparent that there are no survivors. As we begin to regroup, I notice Cygnus off on his own, staring at the side of a building. The rest of us head over to him.

As I near the building, I can see words on the building. Once fully in sight, I can read them properly, “They refused to join. -Discordia”. As I look over the characters painted in red, it become apparently they were written with the blood of the raiders.

“What in Tartarus…” I mutter as I contemplate the words, the dead raiders, and the burning town.

“What is, Discordia?” Cygnus asks suddenly. He brings up a good point. Was it some name? A pony? A gang? No, wait…

“I think it might be what Grimoire calls his army. He said he wants to replace Discord, so it is kind of fitting,” I suggest.

“If that’s the case,” Lightning begins, “I don’t think it is his army’s name. It sounds more like a nation, like Equestria. Didn’t you say he wants to take everything over and what not? You don’t take over the world as an army, but as a nation. An army is just part of it.”

“So, Grimoire’s Discordia, hu?” I mutter. “Well, I think it is safe to assume he was attempting to get these raiders to join him, but they refused and killed them all,” I conclude.

“Seems that way,” Thunder agrees. “Why burn the town, though? Wouldn’t he want this message to be seen? This building isn’t on fire yet, but it won’t be long with all these embers.” He states.

I look closer at the building with the words on it, the only building in town not yet on fire. It looks almost...wet. I though a hoof to the wooden building, and my hoof grows damp. “They covered the building in water, or something. It’s completely wet, they must have done it to keep it from burning down, or at least keep it around long enough for someone to see the message,” I tell them as I wipe my hoof on my barding.

“They wasted water just so they could send a message?” Lightning mutters, appalled by the thought.

Thunder chuckles. “Ratchet did say, ‘or something’, they could have spit or pissed on it. Anything to get it wet, right?” He says with a grin.

Lightning rolls his eyes. “Whatever the case, this had to have been done recently. The town hasn’t burned up too bad yet. I’d guess they left less than an hour ago,” Lightning says. “What should we do, Ratchet? Burn this building too?” He asks.

“What do you mean?” I ask him.

“Well, this is meant as a scare tactic, something to intimidate ponies into joining up with Grimoire. Do we want to leave it and let knowledge of him, and his intimidation spread? Or, should we destroy it to keep ponies from panicking?” Lightning elaborates.

I contemplate this for a moment. Not many know of Grimoire or is plans yet, this might help get the word out. But, it might also move ponies to join him. However…”The DJ’s reach covers this area. He agreed to tell his listeners about Grimoire, so they won’t need this warning. Let’s get rid of this,” I decide.

“Alright boss,” Thunder says. “How we gona do it? Whole building, or just the words?” He asks.

Cygnus coughs, and mutters something way too fast for me to catch. “I got this,” He says, as a flamethrower appears in his hooves. “I’ll pour on the flames till the message is gone, then what happens to the building, happens. You sure about this, Ratchet?,” He asks, glancing at me and waiting for confirmation.

I nod and tell him, “Burn it down.” He nods, and flames erupt from his flamethrower, covering the words on the wall. After a few minutes, the wood dries and begins to catch fire. As we leave the town, the building has a flaming hole where the words once were.

===~+~===

“And now the news!” DJ Pon3’s voice comes over my radio. We are nearing the edge of his range, and I wanted to listen a bit before we left it. “Remember the mare I met a week or so back? The one who strolled through Raider Alley and came out on the other side? Well, my sources say she’s heading back into the wasteland, and no raider is going to stand in her way. You remember that town of raiders, off to the west of the Manehatten Ruins? Our friend has apparently cleared the raiders out and burned their town to the ground!” He declares.

What? I didn’t do that, and we just left there a few hours ago, how did I know about it already?

“Not only that, but she did it in style, sporting a spotless white labcoat. Labcoat...hey, I like that. I think I just found her new nickname folks! So, if you are traveling west of Manehatten and come across the ashy remains of a town, thank Labcoat for making your travels just a little bit safer. That’s all for the news, my little ponies. Stay safe out there,” he concludes.

“Why did he say that? And he didn’t mention any of you either…” I mutter in confusion.

Cygnus shrugs. “I can only assume, but from what he’s been broadcasting, and what you’ve told me of him, he is trying to give ponies hope. It is possible that he missed Discordia’s display in the town, and only saw us walk out of it. Putting two and two together, it would make sense if we were the ones who did it,” he tells me.

“I guess, but why not say ‘her and her friends’ or something? It make it seem like you all aren’t here,” I ask.

Lightning chuckles. “What sounds better,” he asks, “a lone pony taking out a town of raiders, or a group of ponies including three Steel Rangers? I can see why he does it, and you are the leader here.”

I furrow my brow. “It still doesn’t feel right,” I mutter. “He’s making me out to be some sort of...hero. Some amazing pony that I’m not. I can barely hit my shots!” I point out. “I wish he would just tell ponies about Grimoire, like I asked,” I shake my head with a sigh.

“What you seem to be forgetting,” Cygnus says, “is that we are barely one generation from when the world almost ended. Some of us are old enough to remember what it was like before. I only knew a small part of the world, but for others, it might seem like this world is hopeless.”

Thunder nods. “He has a point,” He agrees. “The three of us were born after, so we are used to this. But the elders, our parents, sometimes they look like they are slowly losing hope. I’m sure plenty of raiders turned to crime because they thought normal life was hopeless. The DJ seems to get it, ponies need hope,” Thunder states.

I blink at him in shock. “Thunder...that was...unusually deep for you,” I say, giving him a teasing grin.

He smirks and shakes his head. “Even I can get lucky with words sometimes, Ratchet. But, don’t worry about the whole DJ thing. It isn’t anything you should fret over, Labcoat,” he says the nickname teasingly.

The others laugh as I put a hoof to my face. “Labcoat...really? That’s just an observation on what I’m wearing…” I say, puffing out my cheeks.

“But a fitting name, never-the-less,” Lightning tells me. “You were a scientist before, right? And your labcoat does make you stand out. Seeing it might even make some raiders run away, if they heard the DJ’s broadcast,” he suggests.

“I guess…” I mutter as we keep walking. Resigned to the fate of the nickname Labcoat, we continue on with only the sound of the music from the radio between us. After a bit, the music starts to get staticy, and soon turns into complete static.

===~+~===

Our trip is long, but relatively uneventful. We never see another pony as we make our way back to Stable 36, and only run into a few easily dealt with creatures. It is as though we are the only ones in the wasteland. But I can’t help fighting off a growing feeling of dread.

Are we alone because no one is here, or did Grimoire kill or assimilate everyone already? I really hope that Grimoire has nothing to do with this, and I’m just being paranoid. Lost in thought, I barely realize we are about to pass my lab.

I shake myself from my thoughts and bring us to a halt. “Hey, do you think you guys can go on ahead to let the Elder know our status and see if he’s found out anything about Grimoire? I’d like to finish my armor quickly so we can clear out Tenpony. I’ll bring Cygnus with me, the other Rangers might not like us bringing another stranger home,” I say.

“Not a problem,” Lightning says, nodding his head. “We’ll head to your lab if Elder Archimedes hasn’t found anything on Grimoire yet. If he has, we’ll radio you and you can head over to us. Sound good?” He asks.

“Perfect,” I agree. I bid them goodbye and lead Cygnus to the nearby shed. We enter the lab’s tunnel entrance and pass through the bulkheads.

“Huh, this is a lot more fortified than my lab is,” Cygnus points out. We continue and eventually end up in the chamber with my cryo-pod. “This is...one of those, isn’t it?” He asks, stopping at the room’s entrance.

“Yea, my prototype. The one you were in was modified and improved by Miss Sparkle, but the concept is similar,” I tell him as I plug my PipBuck into the system. “Hey CORA, we’re home. You want to take control while we’re here?” I ask her.

After a moment, the system’s monitors all display her smiling face. “Ahh, it’s good to be home!” She declares as she smiles at us. “I’ll run the routine checks and make sure everything is up to code!” She declares as text starts scrolling behind her face.

“Thanks, as always,” I tell her, and turn back to Cygnus, who is still standing in the doorway. To be honest, I want CORA in the system as a security precaution. This is the first time I’ve been alone with Cygnus since getting him out. I still am not sure if I fully trust him, the last incident in his lab lingering in my mind.

This will be a good opportunity to clear that up, but first, he looks a bit, uncomfortable, and I think I know why. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to put you in there. If you want to sleep, we have sleeping quarters. Besides, this pod is mine, and mine alone,” I declare, putting a hoof to my chest, proudly.

He smiles a bit at that. “Thanks, those pods kind of make me...nervous.” Cygnus tells me.

“Understandable, since you were put into one by force. I got into mine of my own volition. For now,” I suggest, “let’s go to my workshop. I want to get started on my armor.” He nods, and I lead us though the halls, pointing out the various rooms along the way, until we get to the workshop. I sit down on my stool and point to another for Cygnus to use. I look over the armor for a moment, before facing him.

“Say Cygnus,” I begin, “I can trust you, right?” I ask him, raising an eyebrow as I look at him. He tilts his head, looking surprised.

“Of course, you are the one who let me out, after all. And I’m following you because I want to,” Cygnus explains.

I let out a sigh and purse my lips for a moment. “It’s just…” I trail off for a moment. “I read about the incidents that led to your project being shut down. The first two seemed like accidents, but the last one was different,” I say. Cygnus shifts on his stool uncomfortably. He clearly doesn’t like this subject.

“I don’t like to talk about them...” Cygnus tells me, looking away.

I nod. “I understand, but I’m not sure I can trust you unless I clarify something. Your father said it seemed like you, were happy after the last incident. You were smiling, but still crying. He wrote it off as him imagining things, but I’m curious if that is the case,” I tell him. “Cygnus, what really happened?” I ask.

“And you won’t...trust me...unless I tell you?” Cygnus asks, looking at me sheepishly. I nod and he looks at the ground between us, taking a deep breath. “I killed Static, on purpose. I was happy that she was dead,” he tells me, not moving his eyes off the floor.

I swallow. I thought this might be the case, but what comes next is what’s important. “Why?” I ask him. He shakes momentarily at the question.

“She…” Cygnus pauses, taking another breath. “She was one of the initial staff. Everything was fine at first, when I was physically young. But, after a few years, once my body and mind matured to what would roughly be a teenager, things changed,” he says with a shaky voice.

“Static...she was always so kind, probably because she was the youngest of the staff, in her late twenties. But one night she...forced herself on me,” Cygnus tells me. My eyes grow wide as I process this information.

I clear my throat. “So, she raped you?” I ask him. He nods.

“I was young and naive, I had no idea what was going on. But as I learned more, I realized what she was doing. I asked her to stop a few times, but she got angry, threatened to start giving me bad reviews on my tests if I refused or told anyone, and if I didn’t do what she wanted, she would hit me. But, she never left any marks,” he tells me.

“The first incident is when I learned about what she was actually doing to me. The second, is when she began threatening me. I couldn’t think straight, and lost control. Finally, when I was no longer able to deal with it, I killed her. I knew father would think it just another accident,” Cygnus explains, never taking his eyes off the ground.

“I can understand if you don’t trust me anymore,” He tells me. I get to my hooves and walk over to him. “And if you think I should be killed for what I’ve done, I’ll let you,” he adds. I put my hooves around his head, and pull him into a hug.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper to him. “I’m so, so sorry. I shouldn’t have asked, I should have just trusted you. But it is alright now, I trust you. Everything will be alright now, it wasn’t your fault,” I tell him, hugging him tighter.

“Ratchet…” Cygnus mutters. “Thank...thank you,” he says, hugging me back. After a few moments, and a bit of awkwardness, we finally get back to normal.

“So,” Cygnus says, clapping his front hooves together, “what are you working on exactly?”

“Power Armor,” I reply. “More precisely, a custom model for me. The framework is done, I just need to finish the wiring and then test the system to see if there are any bugs in the coding. I’ll also have to get CORA so we can test out Raptor Blood,” I explain.

“Raptor Blood?” Cygnus asks, raising an eyebrow.

“It is the name of that gauss rifle mounted on the back. Well, that plate on your side that should swing over the back and set into place along with the rest of the armor,” I tell him.

“Huh, so, this all folds up to look like the other Rangers?” He asks. I nod, gluing in some of the wires along the armor’s interior. “Are you sure it will, you know, fit together?” He asks. I roll my eyes.

“Of course!” I say, but add, “Probably. I started out with it being a whole suit that I modified, and just cut it apart so it could close around me and my PipBuck. But, I’ve not tested it closing yet,” I admit.

“Uh-hu. Don’t you think, you know, you should test that before you deal with all the wiring?” Cygnus asks. Geez, was he always this full of questions?

“I could, but I am 99% sure it will work. I have a knack for this sort of thing,” I tell him.

He seems to ponder this for a moment. “Well, you did make the cryo-pods…” Cygnus mutters. “It just seems like a waste of time and effort wiring the whole thing up if it isn’t going to close properly. Just saying,” he comments.

“I told you, I’m like 90% sure it will work. Seriously, let it go,” I tell him, getting annoyed.

“Didn’t you just say you were 99% sure? Are you starting to doubt yourself? Maybe you really should test it before…” Cygnus mutters.

“Alright! That’s it!” I yell. “Why don’t you like, go...do...that...well….ANYTHING ELSE!” I shout. “Clean or something, poke around, make something useful, I don’t know. You’re not helping,” I tell him as I glare at him.

He tosses up his hooves and slides off his stool onto the ground. “Alright, I’ll go find something to do, maybe I’ll take a nap. Good luck with your armor, Ratchet,” Cygnus tells me as he walks away.

I shake my head and keep working. “It is going to work! You’ll see!” I call after him.

“Whatever you say!” Cygnus calls back. Oh. It. Is. On. I can’t mess this up now, time to work twice, no, thrice as hard! I pour myself into my work.

===~+~===

A few hours pass, and I’m close to finishing up. As I’m about to, Lightning pokes his head in. “We’re back, Ratchet. No word on Grimoire’s movements yet. Though, Elder Archimedes confirmed our theory about Discordia being his nation. He sent Senior Paladin Twinkle out with her squad to search for more clues to his plans or location,” he informs me.

I stop working and turn to face him. “I see. Well, that gives us time to deal with Tenpony,” I say.

“Indeed,” Lightning agrees. “Elder says good initiative on that, by the way. Anyhow, about Discordia, apparently their influence has spread quite a bit. No large areas so far, but pockets of them here and there. From Los Pegasus to Baltimare, a number of raider gangs have joined him. Others have simply disappeared completely,” he tells me.

“That means he will be hard to pinpoint,” I mutter. “If it was centered around a certain area, we would at least have a place to start,” I sigh.

“Yea. Twinkle suggested we attack the nearest group and interrogate them, but Lily made the argument we would be showing our hand too early. As you can see, the Elder agreed with Lily. It will be rough, but we’ll find something,” Lightning says with a smile.

“Of course!” I smile back. “Now, would you mind getting everyone together here? I’m almost done with the armor, and I want to show it off. Especially to that neigh-sayer Cygnus,” I ask him with a slightly sadistic smile.

Lightning lets out a chuckle. “No problem, I’ll be right back,” he tells me, turning and walking down the hall.

Excellent. Now, first thing’s first. I need CORA. I walk over to the nearby terminal and bring her back into my PipBuck. “You ready for this?” I ask her as I sit down on the stool once again.

“Of course Ratchet! I estimate you have an 89% chance of success!” CORA tells me with a smile. I flinch, the percentage went down again…

I quickly finish the interior, covering the wiring with padding and checking over everything one last time. I nod at my handiwork as the others arrive. “Ah, just in time!” I declare, as I turn to greet them. “Prepare to witness the amazing technology of the great and brilliant Ratchet!” I yell as they gather around me and the armor.

“Here we go!” I say as I put my rear hooves into the back of the armor and fall forward into the rest of it. My torso falls into the padded chestpiece and my front legs slip into their places. “Alright, and…” I say as I put my head into the bottom half of the helmet and press a button with my tongue.

Suddenly, the armor begins to move as it is supplied with power. First, the top two halves of the helmet snap together, followed by the neck plates. Since the right front leg isn’t in multiple pieces, only the other three legs move as they cover my limbs. The front left fits snuggly around my PipBuck. Finally, the back sides up from the sides and connects everything together.

For a moment, nothing else happens. Then, my visor kicks on and displays me a pantheon of new information. Briefly, text scrolls across my vision regarding the firmware/software versions and it even displays the status of my various armor pieces. This information disappears and is replaced with what is the visor’s actual HUD.

In addition to what my PipBuck normally displays, I see a power gauge for the current spark batteries, and remaining ammo for my miniguns and Raptor Blood. The PipBuck’s compass feature also now shows four blue, friendly bars, thanks to the armor’s targeting spell matrix.

“CORA, status check,” I order her.

“All systems green, spark power seems stable, sort of, and my manual overrides appear functional. Unlocking Raptor Blood,” CORA announces, her voice amplified through the armor’s speaker.

“Thank you CORA,” I tell her as I begin to move around the room. “Let me know of any power fluctuations or any other abnormalities,” I tell her. While I test out the mobility and flexibility of the armor, CORA tests out the range of Raptor Blood, rotating it as I move to make sure she can avoid hitting me with it.

“Ratchet, duck!” CORA says, and I lower my head to the ground as she sweeps the barrel over my head. “Perfect. 360 degree horizontal mobility is confirmed. Angle of elevation is 63 degrees. Angle of depression is 41 degrees. All within estimated parameters,” she concludes.

“Good,” I tell her. Things seem good on my end. “Now then, one last thing to test out. CORA, begin manual transition.” I command her.

“Manual transition initiated,” CORA states. “Download complete, ejecting pilot,” She says as the armor opens and I step out of it. It closes once again and a blue glow shines from the visor. “Manual transition successful, I have complete control,” CORA says as the armor moves around.

“Wait, wait, wait!” Lightning calls out. “How it is moving on it’s own?” He asks.

“Oh, that’s easy,” I tell him as I walk up along side everyone, turning to face the moving armor. “CORA’s moving it. As you can see, she can’t move it as freely as I can,” I nod to the armor, moving around slowly.

“I went ahead and added in some basic robotics to it so she could move it. But, due to the lack of proper space for both me and the components, I had to sacrifice the ability for her to be able to move it quickly or in difficult positions,” I explain. “She can walk, climb stairs, and recover from a fall, but she won’t be able to run or jump,” I inform them.

“I see, that’s impressive,” Lightning says, blinking at CORA walking around. The others appear to be in just as much shock as him.

“This addition was actually CORA’s idea. She wanted to be able to help us out more. She did most of the coding and design, I just put it together,” I tell them. “Ok CORA,” I call out to her, “Let’s leave it at that for now.”

“Aww, ok Ratchet. Pilot Transition initiated,” She says sadly as the armor opens back up. I attach my PipBuck to it and retrieve CORA from the armor.

“Ok,” I say. “Let’s go over what we learned. First,” I look over as Cygnus, “is that I rock,” I tell him. He rolls his eyes with a chuckle. “Second, due to the weight as size, I will be less mobile than you three in your armor, but I will be more protected and pack more firepower. Lastly, CORA, what was that about the power stability?” I ask her.

“Well, we go through power quite quickly. Almost quadruple what we estimated. The usage is stable, but it is just excessive. I can’t seem to find the cause of it yet, but with time, I think I can get to the bottom of it,” CORA replies.

“Quadruple? Any idea how long it will take to fix?” I ask her.

She shakes her head. “No, it looks like it will be tough. Perhaps a week or two?” She suggests. “Given the current power usage, and the state of our spark batteries, we can power the armor for two hours,” CORA tells me.

“Two hours hu?” I mutter. “Well, that might be just enough to clear out Tenpony,” I conjecture.

Thunder clears his throat. “Yes, aside from the fact it takes a few days to walk there,” he points out. “Unless you course you plan on having one of us carry...it...for...you do, don’t you?” He asks me with a stoic expression.

I smile at him. “Thank’s for volunteering Thunder! That’s just the kind of can-do attitude I like! We’ll head out the day after tomorrow, so take tonight and tomorrow to rest up. CORA and I will tinker with the armor, see if we can get some better energy useage out of it,” I tell them.

Thunder sighs, resigned to his fate. “Fine, but you owe me,” he says.

“Of course!” I tell him, beaming a smile. “Anything you want, as long as you don’t drop it,” I add. After a few more questions about the armor’s innerworkings, the others to back to what they were doing.

“Alright CORA, let’s get the armor ready for its field test. I think we need some nice detail work on it. I’m thinking...an icy blue stripe down the middle? Maybe touch up the Lynx Squad logo a bit too? Hehehe, this is going to be fun…”

===~+~===

Quest Updated!

An Arrogant Request:
Target: Tenpony Tower
Goal: Clear the Tower of Hostiles

Chapter 17 - Annihilation

View Online

Chapter 17 - Annihilation

“They all fall down.”

===~+~===

“I can’t believe you actually made me carry your armor all this way,” Thunder complains for practically the hundredth time.

“Oh please,” I tell him. “You’re the strongest and toughest, of us,” I say. “If you couldn’t handle it, I wouldn’t have suggested it. Besides, you could have asked Arrow or Lightning to carry it for a while, you didn’t have to carry it this whole way alone,” I inform him.

I stares blankly at me, well, I think. It is hard to tell with his helmet on. “You never told me that!” He yells. “You told me to carry your armor and not to drop it, that’s what you said,” Thunder declares.

“Well, yes, I did say that,” I tell him. “But I never said you couldn’t give it to someone else for a bit,” I say with a shrug. “Regardless, we are here now,” I point out. “There is no need to argue about what’s already done.”

“Yea, fine, whatever,” Thunder grumbles. “So, remind me why we are on the highway we scoped the building out on before and not at the front door?” He asks.

I roll my eyes. “I told all of you before, remember? Since it will be close quarters, Arrow and Cygnus will stay up here and provide us with sniper support where they can. Meanwhile, Lightning and the two of us will clear the building floor by floor,” I remind him.

“Alright. But why leave Cygnus up here? He doesn’t have a rifle...oh yea, he can do that whole summoning thing he does,” Thunder mutters.

“Indeed. Not only that, but leaving Arrow here alone doesn’t sit well with me. Raiders or creatures could sneak up on her. Cygnus can help cover her if that should happen,” I inform him.

Lightning chuckles. “You’re finally getting the hang of this whole leadership thing, aren’t you, Ratchet?” He says.

“I guess,” I mutter. “But really, it is just logical thinking. It is like chess, you want to use your pieces to attack, while also keeping them safe from your opponent. In this case, Arrow would be a queen, and Cygnus a knight,” I state. Cygnus nods, but the other three just stare at me blankly.

I facehoof. “Chess? You three don’t know what chess is? Really? You rangers didn’t have a chess board in that Stable of yours?” I ask. They shake their heads. “I’ll explain that latter, then…” I grumble.

“So, if Arrow is a queen, and I a knight, what does that make you three?” Cygnus asks.

I think about it for a moment. “Well, Thunder is strong but not very mobile, so a rook? And Lightning is mobile and can get around opponents, so a bishop?” I suggest. “I would be a...pawn, I think. Given my inability to really hit anything,” I mutter.

Cygnus laughs. “Of course you think yourself a pawn. But, I suppose it does fit. Though, I think it would be better to call you the player, than an actual piece,” He tells me.

“Well, chess comparisons aside, are we ready to begin?” I ask them. They all nod. “Very well, Cygnus, Arrow, you two get set up, Thunder, Lightning, let’s go knock on the door,” I say, walking back down the highway’s slope.

The three of us make our way to the edge of the plaza that surrounds Tenpony. No ghouls appear to be outside, but through the glass doors I can see quite a few of them staggering about. “Well, at least they don’t appear to be intelligent,” I mutter.

We walk though the plaza and reach the stairs. “Let’s try to do things quietly for as long as we can,” I suggest. “No point having them swarm us, and there don’t seem to be many on the first floor. We should be able to take them out without guns,” I think.

“That’s great and all, Ratchet, but what do you want me to do with your armor?” Thunder asks, shifting under the armor weight.

“Just set it right inside the doors for now,” I tell him. “I don’t want to use power unnecessarily,” I say. He nods and we walk though the first set of doors, and then the next, being as quiet as possible.

Thunder sets the armor on the floor as Lightning and I stab the two closest ghouls in the head. Luckily, they aren’t aware of us yet. “HELLO NEW TEST SUBJECTS!” A gravely, buck’s voice calls out. The voice seems to be playing over a PA system. It is causing the ghouls to get stirred up. It seems like our luck is out.

Ghouls begin to rush at us and Thunder and Lightning start shooting. I dash for my armor and start to get in. “My name is Doctor Hearty, and you might be thinking, ‘Doc Hearty, how did you know we were here?’ and that is a good question!” The buck continues.

“Sensors, my dear visitors, sensors rigged to the doors and every other entrance to my tower!” Hearty explains. “My subjects seem a bit hungry, but if you surrender now, I’ll stop them from devouring you! Not only will it save you from a gruesome death, but I will be able to run tests on living subjects!” he proclaims.

My armor seals and I join Thunder and Lightning in dispatching the encroaching ghouls. Mixing in with our bullets is Raptor Blood’s red beam, blowing holes into the ghoul and dismembering them. “No, no, no! My precious subjects!” Hearty screams out. “How dare you! Fine, no holding back then, get them, kill them all!” He shouts.

The ghouls that until now seemed to be hesitating begin swarming towards us with vicious ferocity. My miniguns whirl to life and cut a small group down. “I’ll just run my tests on your dead, rotting flesh! Either way works for me! Die, die, die!” Hearty curses at us through the PA system.

After a minute or so, the lobby is empty of ghouls trying to attack us. “What!? You’re still standing? I might get to experiment on your living tissues after all!” The doctor laughs at us. We spread out and check the rest of this floor, but all the ghouls appear to be dead. “Here, here, let me welcome you up to the second floor!” he calls out, and I hear the sound of an elevator ding.

The three of us gather around it. “This seems like a complete trap,” Thunder mutters. I wholeheartedly agree with him, but…

“I didn’t see any other way up,” Lightning says, echoing my own thoughts. “The stairs are barricaded and it would take far too long to clear them, even with explosives. Not to mention, we should try not to do too much damage to the building,” he adds.

I nod. “So then, into the Doctor Hearty’s elevator, I guess…” I mutter, stepping inside. The brothers file in behind me. I stand near the front of the doors, my armor being the strongest.

“Excellent! Excellent!” Hearty proclaims as the elevator doors shut and it begins to rise. “Now, try your hooves at floor two! Do me a favor and die fast, I have tests to run!” He says, and the doors begin to open. I spin up my miniguns, but as the doors fully open, no ghouls are on the other side.

I stop my guns and hesitantly walk out into the second floor. The hall I walk into is empty of ghouls. Before we leave the elevator, we try to go further up, but it seems to be locked out. We begin walking down the hall at random. Shortly, we emerge into a large, open area. A lounge, of some sort it looks like.

It is dusty, but well preserved furniture is placed around the room and on the walls hang a few paintings, most of which aren’t too badly damaged. One side of the lounge has large ceiling to floor windows. Still no ghouls. We reach the center of the room and look around. “Now my minions! Kill them, kill them all!” Hearty’s voice yells out.

Suddenly, I hear the beating of hooves from all around us. After a moment, I see ghouls approaching from the various halls branching off from the lounge. The three of us waste no time as we begin to put them down. The number of ghouls appears to be greater than those on the first floor, and they seem more organized.

It is almost as though Hearty is somehow controlling them, having them focus on us. My miniguns make short work of a group charging down a narrow hallway, and Thunder cover another hall equally well. Lightning is taking the remaining hall we came from, but I can tell he is getting overwhelmed.

With more ghouls pouring from the halls, Thunder and I are unable to help. A few ghouls make it into the room and near Lightning, but before they can get too close, one of the windows shatters and two of the ghouls drop immediately. Seems like Arrow and Cygnus can see us now. I really doubt those stuck up ponies are going to like the fact we broke a window, but that’s an acceptable loss.

Ghouls continue to come at us for a few minutes, but they eventually stop completely. Hearty let’s out an irritated growl. “You bastards! How dare you kill my minions! Just die already! Do you have any idea how long it took to get this many minions?!” He shouts. “Get back in the elevator, the next floor will finish you off!” He commands.

We ignore him and search the second floor for anymore ghouls or another way up. When we discover the stairs once again blocked, we reluctantly return to the elevator and ascend to the next floor. We progress up the tower in a similar fashion. The number of ghouls increasing at each floor along with their ferocity. All the while, Hearty talks over the PA system.

Third Floor: “The stray scavenger would wonder in every so often, and I would experiment on them. Years and years passed as I continued my tests!” Hearty explains. “Soon, mercenaries began to show up trying to kill me and my minions,” he adds. For whatever reason, Hearty was rather chatty. But we mostly ignore him and kill the ghouls. “Blast! Curse you lot, the next floor will get you!” He calls out as we proceed to the fourth floor.

Fourth Floor: “Most mercenaries found themselves in over their heads, and my ghouls managed to kill them without too much damage to themselves. As a result, my minions have grown in number exponentially!” Hearty yells in triumph as we kill the last ghoul on the floor. “Ack, again!?” He curses as we enter the elevator once again.

Fifth Floor: “As time went by, my tests yielded results, but not what I wanted. The first of my ghouls grew more powerful! Thus the mercenaries and scavengers began to shy away from my tower,” Hearty says with a hint of sadness in his voice. His voice quickly turns to anger as we clear the fifth floor and use the elevator to go up to the sixth.

Sixth Floor: “With new flesh to experiment on dwindling, I sent my ghouls out to abduct ponies for my tests! And so I spent years experimenting while my ghouls would bring me new subjects,” The doctor says with a crazed laugh, which cuts off abruptly as his minions on the sixth floor stop moving.

For the next few floors, Hearty is rather quiet, only ordering us to the elevator when we finish killing the ghouls on the current floor. Undoubtedly, he is getting nervous with us encroaching on his position. We file into the elevator to proceed to the next floor.

“Well, this is going smoothly,” Lightning mutters as the doors close. “Though, with each of us covered in armor, it is hardly fair,” He adds.

“I guess none of the mercs before were Steel Rangers,” Thunder chuckles. “What can ghouls really do against us? Beat themselves to a pulp on our armor?”

I look us over. A few dents here and there on our armor from when the ghouls got a bit too close, but nothing major. We are covered in quite a bit of blood, ichor, and bits of flesh. “Cleaning our armor is going to be a pain,” I mutter, thinking about all the small parts of my armor that I’ll have to painstakingly look over.

The elevator stops and lets out a ‘ding’ as the doors open. “Alright, let’s get this one done,” I say as I take a step out of the elevator. Like the rest of the floors, nothing. Hearty will probably wait for us to fall into his ‘trap’ before we see any ghouls.

We wonder around and eventually Hearty springs his trap on us. Like the other floors, the ghouls swarm at us. CORA and I dispatch any that come our way, but I hear Thunder mutter, “What the fuck?” I turn to see what he’s looking at while CORA keeps the ghouls coming towards us.

A short distance from Thunder is a ghoul like the others, but emitting a slightly glowing aura. It has numerous bullet holes in it already and Thunder focuses fire on it. The ghoul barely reacts and continues charging towards him. It lunges at him as I spin up my miniguns. Thunder dodges to the left and the ghoul lands on the ground just beside him.

It seems dazed for a second, but quickly gets back up as my guns start hitting it with lead. The ghoul gets closer to Thunder, and I stop my guns to avoid hitting him, but the ghoul grabs onto Thunder despite his minigun hitting it point blank in the abdomen. Thunder headbutts the ghoul and punches it with his hooves, but it clings onto him tightly.

After about a minute, the ghoul’s body rips in two and the rear half falls to the ground limply. Just seeing it with the entrails hanging from the front half is enough to make me gag. “Not in the armor Ratchet!” CORA yells at me. I fight down my urge to vomit as the ghoul hangs around Thunder’s neck trying to bite his armor.

“Damn it, get...off...of...me,” Thunder yells at it, punctuating each word with a punch to its head. After a second, Lightning walks over with his knife and stabs the ghoul in the head. The ghoul lurches a bit and attempts to bite Thunder weakly a few more times before it slides to the floor with a thump.

Thunder stomps on its skull. “That one just refused to die,” He says, breathing heavily. I look around us, and it seems that all of the ghouls are dead.

“Ahahahaha!” Hearty laughs. “How did you like fighting a Reaver? It is one of the more ferocious and durable ghouls. Enough radiation, and some unknown factors, and ghouls get a whole lot more powerful!” He declares, laughing some more. “Quickly now, into the elevator, let me turn the tables on you!” He shouts.

As usual, we ignore him and search the rest of the floor. Finding it empty, and the stairs blocked, we reluctantly get into the elevator once more. We quickly clear two more floors, encountering even more Reavers. It also seems like Hearty has realized we have snipers outside, as the last few floors we’ve been ambushed in rooms without windows.

“I must congratulate you,” Hearty says as the doors open to the next floor. “You’re the only ones who have reached this far. Since I blocked up the stairs, anyway. But this floor will spell your death! No escape from this nightmare you foals!” His laughing punctuates his point.

“Is it just me, or does it seem like he is getting cocky?” Lightning asks.

“Oh no, he definitely is,” I agree. “Ever since those ‘Reavers’ of his. Are there Reavers elsewhere in the wasteland?” I ask them.

“First time I’ve seen one,” Thunder answers. “But, we have had reports of some ferals being stronger than others. Just never really a name for them,” he explains.

“I see. I really hope new kinds of ghouls doesn’t become a thing, those Reavers are difficult enough to deal with. What’s next? Ferals that can use guns, or breath fire?” I mutter.

Lightning chuckles. “I’m pretty sure they can’t use guns anymore. Feral unicorns don’t seem to have control over their magic, and the others sometimes lack jaws and the like to work them,” he says.

“Good point, I guess,” I agree as we continue walking. We pass by a locked door that seems to lead into a hall with stairs at the end of it. I can see though the glass that it seems to lead to the upper and lower floors. There also appears to be windows on one side of it, and I think the others are on that side. I’ve gotten sort of turned around since entering the tower.

“Hey,” I say as I stop. “I don’t think he blocked these stairs, maybe we can get up from here, without having to deal with his elevator business. If we can sneak around and take him out, the ghouls might lose their organization,” I suggest.

Lightning inspects the door. “We might as well try,” he agrees. “But the door looks pretty sturdy and the lock is pretty complex. Unless you can pick it, we won’t be able to get through without blowing the door, and I doubt our clients would like that,” he tells me.

“Yea, let me try the lock,” I say as I fish out a bobby pin and begin to work my magic. “Cover me, this might take a bit.” We are standing in a hall, so there are only two directions the ghouls can come from, if they do at all. I begin working on the lock.

“Hey!” Hearty suddenly calls out. “Stop that! That is against the rules, don’t open that door!” He yells. He sounds panicked, which must mean that the stairs really aren’t blocked. I chuckle a bit. Did he only block the stairs up so far, expecting no one to get this far up?

“I mean it! Uh, er...Minions, get them!” He yells. In moments, ghouls begin swarming down the halls towards us. Thunder and Lightning start shooting and CORA helps out with Raptor Blood when any of the ghouls get too close.

“Anytime you’re ready, Ratchet,” Thunder calls back at me. “You know, this would be a whole lot easier if you let me use my rockets,” he adds.

“Don’t even think about it,” Lightning cuts in. “That would make an even bigger mess of the place,” he explains.

“Almost...almost…” *snap* “Whoops,” I mutter as I float out another bobby pin and get back to work. I’ve narrowed things down a bit, but I’m having difficulty getting it just right in the lock. I adjust the bobby pin and twist the lock with my magic and…*snap* “Oh come one!” I yell as I pull out another pin.

“Third time’s the charm,” I mutter as I carefully turn the pin and then slowly twist the lock. Nope, not there...I release the lock and move the pin a smidge to the left. “How about…” *click* “Ah ha!” I exclaim as the lock opens. I put the bobby pin away as I open the door.

“It’s open, let’s go!” I tell the others as I head inside the hall and trot over to the stairs. Lightning is the first to follow, and then Thunder. The hall is so narrow, Lightning can barely shoot around the mass of Thunder’s armor. The brothers slowly back into the hall and to the stairs as I check to make sure they are unblocked.

“Looks like the Doc didn’t barricade up any further,” I tell them. “But the stairs going down are blocked up,” I add. I look back from the stairs at the ghouls that are continuing to pool into the hallway. Thunder’s minigun cuts them down only for more to enter into the room.

“You two keep going,” Thunder tells us. “This hallway is narrow enough, I can keep them from getting past. If we all go up, they will just start coming up behind us,” he explains.

“He’s got a point,” Lightning adds. “The number of ghouls and their ferocity is increasing. Our armor is keeping us safe for now, but if we start letting them come up behind us, we might get overwhelmed.”

I think about it for a moment. They do have valid points. “Alright, hold them back here Thunder. Hearty might also try to send some down in the elevator to come up behind us. Lightning and I will clear out the rest on the upper floors. I don’t think we have far to go,” I tell him.

Lightning and I start up the stairs, but I pause and call back down, “You can use grenades if you have to, but no rockets!” I hear him laugh as we reach the next floor and open the door.

We are immediately set upon by ghouls and shoot our way though the doorway. After killing six, nothing else is moving. The two of us start exploring the floor, being extra careful since it is now just the two of us. We find a few more ghouls, but none are Reavers so things go suspiciously smooth.

As we walk back towards the stairs, I ask CORA a question. “CORA, we’re near the top now, right? That crazy doctor has to be in some sort of security closet where he can see cameras and what not. You recall anything about Tenpony’s construction that would tell us what floor he’s on?” I ask.

“It would make sense, but I’m not sure where he would be exactly. I think Tenpony has a few security rooms, but the ones we’ve passed were empty. The top floor is the broadcasting station, so he’ll be somewhere on the next three floors,” CORA suggests.

I blink. “We are that high already? Only three floors left, excluding the roof and radio floor?” I ask. CORA mutters confirmation. “Alright then, let’s finish this up!” I say with enthusiasm as we enter the staircase again.

I can still hear Thunder’s minigun shooting ghouls. Were there that many ghouls on that floor, or did Hearty send more down after us? “Thunder!” I call down. “The next floor is clear, we’re moving up!”

“Sounds good, I got this covered!” Thunder’s voice returns from below. I nod and we continue up to the next floor. The door to this floor isn’t even locked. Seems like Hearty never expected anyone to make it up this far. We exit the stairway and begin searching the floor.

The lighting on this floor seems to have gone pretty bad. Dark spots are all over and only a bit of light illuminates the halls. Fading light comes through the windows we pass, it seems like the sun is beginning to set. If we waste anymore time, Arrow and Cygnus won’t be able to provide us with support. Not to mention my suit’s power is starting to get really low.

We check room after empty room, but find nothing on this floor so far. When we reach the elevator lobby however, the room is pitch black aside from a green glow. For whatever reason, no windows are in this lobby. Unable to find the source of the glow from the hall, we enter the lobby cautiously, our lights cutting into the darkness.

Nearing the center of the room, I hear a faint, but frequent clicking. “Is that...the geiger?” I mutter, and look at my HUD’s radiation monitor. Something is causing the needle to rise almost halfway up the meter! I look around for the source and my eyes fall on a glowing green lump along the wall.

Despite my light on it, I can’t make out what exactly it is. “GET THEM NOW!” Hearty yells suddenly. Instantly, I hear snarls and guttural sounds all around us. I quickly look around and see ghouls surrounding us. Were they hiding behind the furniture and along the walls? Lightning and I flank each other as the ghouls slowly circle around us, as though they are waiting for something.

I can see a few Reavers in the group of ghouls as well. “Open fire!” I yell as I spin up my miniguns. I hear CORA and Lightning begin shooting, and a moment later lead starts flying from my guns. The ghouls instantly charge at us, the only thing illuminating them is our headlamps and the flash of our guns.

The normal ferals go down easy, but as usual the Reavers are the issue. Raptor Blood punches holes through them, and my minigun tears off their limbs, but they keep coming. “Ratchet, we are running low on ammo,” CORA informs me. “Spark batteries are also nearly exhausted, using the lamp isn’t helping,” she adds.

Just as the words fade away, the lump of glowing radioactivity suddenly moves. It stands up and I am able to see the outline of a pony, a glowing, ghoulish pony. It stares directly at me, takes a few steps towards me, and then lets out a loud, horrible scream. At the same time, radiation seems to explode from it, causing my needle to spike even further.

“What the hell is that?” Lightning says in surprise from behind me. I’m about to reply, but stop as I notice the dead ghouls start to move again. Most of them are lacking limbs, but they start to pull themselves across the floor towards me.

I let out a scream as I open fire at the newly revived ghouls, tearing their bodies to shreds before focusing my guns on the glowing ghoul. It takes my hits like a Reaver would, and I even see it’s body slowly healing the bullet holes. CORA stops shooting the other ghouls, and focuses on my target.

One of her shots takes the ghoul’s right legs off mid charge, causing it to fall and skid to a stop directly in front of me. I keep both my guns on it as I get closer to get better accuracy and keep pouring more lead into the monster. After a few moments, it’s head bursts into a spray of blood and brain and it seems to go still. I keep shooting for a few seconds to make absolutely sure.

While I’m distracted shooting the hopefully dead ghoul, CORA shoots a few of the other ghouls around me. When I finally stop firing, everything is silent except for my heavy breathing. I slowly look around the room. Dead ghouls are everywhere, torn limb from limb with blood and gore sprayed all over the walls.

Lightning is covered in even more gore, and I assume the same of myself. “What the FUCK, was that?” Lightning yells. “Did that thing somehow revive the ghouls we already killed?” He asks.

“I...I think so,” I mutter in shock. “It was even healing itself as I was shooting it…” The light around the glowing ghoul dies down and along with it so does the chirping of my geiger counter. “Radiation…?” I question.

“I hear ghouls can heal with radiation,” Lightning says. “Did that ghoul absorb so much radiation that it could heal others around it though? Even bringing them back from the read?” He stammers.

“I have no idea, I just really, never, want to fight another one of those,” I say with a sigh as we step over the bodies and start to check the rest of the floor.

Our search turns up nothing, so we head back into the staircase. I don’t hear gunfire from below. Did Thunder finish them all up? “Thunder, are things alright down there?” I call down as we start to walk up the stairs to the next floor.

After a moment, he calls back with, “Just fine! They’ve stopped coming in a bit ago. I’ll keep guard here, you two keep going!”

“Alright, be careful!” I reply as we reach the next floor’s doorway. “Let’s do this, just three more floors and then the roof and we’ll be done,” I tell Lightning as we open the door. Two floors, the broadcasting station, and the roof. We got this. I’ll have to be extra careful around the broadcasting equipment.

“Let’s,” Lightning agrees as we walk into the hall. It looks pretty identical to the last few floors and we begin going door to door like usual and checking all the rooms. Empty, one after the other. “Seems that doctor has run out of things to say,” Lightning mutters.

“Yea. Either that, or he left and ran away,” I say with a grin. I let out a forced chuckle as I realize Lightning can’t see the grin through my helmet. Still not used to wearing a helmet. We finish up one room and step back into the hallway. Immediately, hoofsteps approach us from both sides of the hallway. “Oh,” I mutter.

Ghouls have us surrounded, trapped in the center of this hallway. “Ambushing us in a narrow hall? He realizes that our guns will tear through them since they can only come at us from two directions, right?” Lightning says as he begins shooting at the ghouls the way we came from.

“Looks like he is getting desperate,” I say as I spin up my miniguns and start cutting down the ghouls in front of us. “You know, this carpet is going to be really gross once we’re done,” I yell over the roar of my guns.

“No kidding,” Lightning agrees. “Maybe they’ll pull it all up and just use whatever is under it?” He suggests as he takes out another ghoul. “Hey, Ratchet, a thought occurs to me. Why are these ghouls coming up from behind us?” he asks. I can tell there is a hint of worry in his voice.

“Maybe Hearty sent them down a floor using the elevator and they came up the stairs behind us without Thunder knowing?” I suggest. “If Thunder saw them, he’d have put a lot more holes in them than these have.”

“Good point,” Lightning agrees. “I hope they aren’t attacking him from two sides then,” he mutters.

“He’ll be fine, Arrow and Cygnus are cover--Reavers!” I yell as two appear in front of me. I push myself to the left side of the hall as CORA swings Raptor Blood at the nearest one. Lightning spins around and the three of us quickly dispatch the two Reavers before he spins around again.

“They seem a lot more desperate this time,” I say, as empty 5mm casings rain down from my guns.

“Perhaps Hearty is on this floor then,” CORA suggests, taking a ghoul’s head clean off with her gun. “He might be pooling his resources in a last ditch effort to take us out,” she explains.

“Well then,” I begin, as I cause a ghoul to lose its right legs, “let’s go say hello.” I begin walking down the hall and Lightning walks backwards after me. “Careful of the bodies,” I tell him as I carefully step over them.

We make our way down the hall, pausing to occasionally open doors we pass to check if Hearty is lurking inside one of the rooms. The empty rooms continue as the ghouls keep coming at us from both sides and we reach the elevator.

The elevator opens and a glowing ghoul steps out of it. It looks at us curiously as I turn to shoot at it. “Ratchet!” CORA yells just before the glowing ghoul screams, sending a shockwave of radiation towards us and the ghouls. The already dead ghouls begin to rise once again, and those we’ve hit begin to heal their wounds.

“Ratchet, your…” CORA tries to say again, but the sound of my miniguns firing drown out the sound of her voice. After a few seconds her face appears on my screen along with a flashing phrase, ‘LOW AMMO’. I read the text and glance down at my ammo readings right as both of them reach zero and my miniguns start spinning without shooting anything out.

“Fuck,” I mutter, taking a step back from the glowing ghoul as CORA shoots at it. This is bad, I don’t think I can get a gun out through the armor, like I could a bobby pin. With the ghouls getting close to us and only CORA and Lightning shooting, I start to panic.

I clench my eyes shut and reach out with my magic. I grab a ghoul missing its lower body that is crawling towards me and throw it at the glowing one. The glowing ghoul is knocked over and the other one can’t seem to get off of it. The glowing one bites at the other, trying to pull it off.

I look at the room of ghouls and find a severed leg. Picking it up in my magic, I start smacking the closest ghouls and beating them back while the CORA and Lightning finish them off. Before the glowing one can recover, we manage to dispose of most of them.

“Quick! Kill it, kill it now!” I yell as I start hitting the glowing ghoul on the head with the severed leg. The other two shoot it and eventually it stops moving. I keep hitting the ghoul with the leg for a bit longer, just to make absolutely sure it won’t be getting up again.

“I HATE THESE THINGS!” I yell as I drop the leg from my magic. The rest of the ghouls are dead and no more seem to be coming for us. I clear my throat. “Ok, now them. Let’s find Hearty,” I say as I continue down the hall.

“Uh, Ratchet, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but…” CORA starts to say, but is interrupted when a message flashes up on my screen, ‘insufficient power, ejecting pilot’. A moment later, the armor stops moving mid-step and opens up.

“Oh come on!” I shout as I get out of the armor. “Seriously, we are so close to being done! Damn glowing ghouls kept us too long…” I growl angrily. I grind my teeth. “Fuck it, let’s just go,” I sigh.

“I’ll take point now,” Lightning says, stepping up in front of me. “If anymore ghouls come, you’ll be vulnerable now, so just stay behind me if you can.” I grumble, but agree and let him take the lead. We search a few more rooms before we reach the end of the hall and the last door.

The door seems sturdier than the others, and is made of metal instead of wood. I try the handle, but it is locked. I float out a bobby pin and knock on the door. “Hearty! Just open the door and give it up!” I call through the door. “Make this easier on yourself!”

No response, so I begin picking the lock. After a few moments, the lock lets out a satisfying *click*. “Alright Hearty, we’re coming in!” I say and begin to open the door, but Lightning stops me.

“Let me go first,” He mutters and pushes me aside. “Armor, and all, you know,” he explains. I nod and he opens the door. As soon as the door is fully open, I hear the sound of a shotgun fire, followed by the buckshot hitting Lightning’s armor. “Bad idea,” Lightning says, and another shot is fired at him. “Come on in Ratchet, he’s out of ammo,” Lightning calls back.

I enter the room, it is little bigger than a usual closet, but contains a desk with a terminal on top of it, a microphone, and numerous monitors. The room itself has plain walls and a linoleum floor. Sitting with his back against the far wall, clenching a double barrel shotgun, is presumably Hearty.

“S-stay back!” Hearty orders us, waving the empty shotgun between us. “I’ll...i’ll summon more...yes, more minions! Stronger, more ferocious!” He yells, grinning sheepishly.

“You’re out of ammo, and if you had more ghouls, I think you’d have already summoned them here,” Lightning says, walking over to the ghoul, taking the shotgun in his mouth, and throwing it across the room.

“My friend has a point,” I tell him. “This is checkmate.” Lightning looks back, probably wondering what I just said means. I roll my eyes, “We win,” I explain. He nods and turns back to look at Hearty. “So, you’re a ghoul too?” I ask him.

“Y-yes, of course! How else would I control and experiment on the others?” Hearty replies. “You fools, you ruined all of my research, decades of tests, ruined!” He yells. “What’s a few lives in comparison to my research!? You could have just left me in peace!” Hearty says with a snarl.

“No research is worth the lives of innocents,” I tell him. “No matter what you were doing.” He gives me a nasty look, then laughs.

“Even if it could reverse or prevent ghoulification?” He asks. “My research could have stopped it, perhaps. At the very least, it might have stopped us from going feral!” Hearty explains. “Mr. Tenpony is going to be quite upset with you lot,” He grins at us.

“Mr. Tenpony? So, someone else other than you is still alive?” I ask him. Mr. Tenpony, the owner of Tenpony Tower. He was still alive? If he was, he would have to be a ghoul.

“Of course! I’m the Tower’s resident doctor, it is my duty to serve Mr. Tenpony and he wants a cure to our ailment,” Hearty explains. “He will be quite cross with you, might even kill you himself because of the trouble you caused,” he laughs.

“If that army of ghouls didn’t get us, what makes you think he can do that?” Lightning asks. Doctor Hearty only laughs. “I’m pretty sure the doctor is losing it, Ratchet,” Lighting says, turning to me. “Shall we take him out and finish up?” he asks.

“No, we shouldn’t kill him, he isn’t a feral. We can have Friendship City punish him or something, we aren’t here to kill unarmed ponies. Do you have any rope? We can tie him up for now,” I suggest.

“Of course,” Lightning says and brings out some rope from his bags. “Now then, stay still Hearty, or I’ll have to hurt you,” he says as Hearty backs further into the wall. After some grunting and swearing, Lightning gets Hearty tied up to the desk in the room. While he does that, I take a look at the terminal, and return manual control to the elevator.

“Alright, let’s make sure the rest of the tower is clear, and then we can leave,” I say. We exit the security closet and make our way back to my armor. “And get my armor before we leave, of course,” I add before continuing on.

“Sorry we couldn’t get the power working better, Ratchet,” CORA says, popping up with a sad face in my vision.

“No worries, I was working on it too, after all. We’ll have time to tinker with it once we get back,” I tell her. We reach the stairs and walk up to the next floor. Once I open the door, I can immediately tell this floor is different than the others.

“Wow, this floor is pretty swanky, don’t you think?” I ask. The other floors weren’t unimpressive or anything, but this floor is a lot more posh and high-class looking. Fancy red carpeting, numerous portraits, occasional busts or vases on marble pillars. Even the doors appear to be elegantly carved wood.

“Indeed, it is like stepping into a completely different world,” Lightning agrees. We check the first few rooms, much bigger than the rooms on the lower floors. They also look mostly untouched due to the dust, almost like no ghouls have wondered into them.

The next room we come to, I faintly hear something on the other side. I signal to Lightning, and he carefully opens the door and enters through first. “It’s fine,” he calls back. “You might want to see this,” he says as I enter the room.

It is another apartment like the rest of the rooms, but multiple times more extravagant, even compared to the other rooms on this floor. On the bed on the far side of the room, is a fancy dressed ghoul, chained to the bed with a collar. It stares at us, growling and making sickening noises.

“That looks like…” I walk closer to the bed. His skin is rotting, a lot of his hair is missing, and he lacks any form of manners, but… “Mr. Tenpony?” I ask. The ghoul tilts its head at me, before lurching forward and snapping his jaws. The only thing keeping it from biting into me, is the chain keeping it on the bed.

“Someone important?” Lightning asks, as he approaches the bed.

I nod. “He was rich, back before the war. He is the one who owns and built this tower. In the past, he was an influential member of the Manehatten social elite, and held sway over various decisions and businesses. But…” I trail off.

Lightning looks at me for a moment, and finishes what I am thinking. “Why wasn’t he in a Stable? If he was that influential, shouldn’t he have been high on the list of admittance to one?” he asks.

“That’s what I thought. But, given the state of the tower, I don’t think the Megaspells even damaged it. Time did this, not any sort of attack,” I say, scratching my head in thought. “But how? As far as I knew, it was just a normal high-rise building. Could he have done something to it that saved it?”

“Hmm. Well, never mind how the building still stands, we should probably, you know,” Lightning says, nodding his head at the ghoul of Mr. Tenpony.

I blink a few times, but then nod. “Yea, yea. Of course,” I say and pull out Forgiveness. “Sorry, Mr. Tenpony,” I mutter and pull the trigger. Mr. Tenpony’s head jerks and he falls limp on the bed. I put Forgiveness away and turn back to the door.

“Let’s finish this floor, then make sure the broadcasting equipment is good,” I tell Lightning and we exit the room. The rest of the floor is uneventful. It seems that Hearty kept the other ghouls off this floor in respect for Mr. Tenpony.

I wonder if Hearty knows Tenpony is feral, or if he is so far gone himself he can’t tell the difference anymore. Either way, Hearty is insane, using innocents to conduct research. I understand his want to help others, but that isn’t the way to go about it.

Lightning and I reach the final floor before the roof, the broadcasting floor. We enter into a large lobby with a huge fountain in the middle of it. The water has stagnated, the fountain looks magnificent. This floor looks just as untouched as the previous, and after searching through the rooms, my assumption is confirmed.

“So, that’s it then,” Lightning mutters as we look over the large switch board in the recording room. “All this looks is good condition, it should function properly,” he tells me.

“Good, let’s just make sure nothing is on the roof, and then we can head back down,” I tell him. After making our way to the roof, we discover the roof is empty of hostiles. We turn around begin to head back down to my armor.

“I should tell Arrow and Cygnus we’re done so they can meet up with us at the entrance,” I mutter as we walk. “CORA, tune the radio, would you?” I ask her. She nods and switches the radio over. “Hey Arrow, Cygnus, you two there? The tower is clear, you can meet us down at the entrance,” I say over the radio.

Static greets me in return, and I can faintly hear something within it. Breathing, but heavy and jittery. “Arrow, Cygnus, are you two alright?” I ask again, worry welling up within me. I wait a few moments, and say again, “You two there?”

A second later, Cygnus’s voice comes over the radio. “We’re fine, Ratchet. We’ll meet you at the entrance,” He says in an odd voice. Nothing else comes over the radio. I shrug and we continue to my armor.

Lightning picks up my armor, and we make our way down to the floor Thunder is on. We hit the landing and I announce, “All clear Thunder, let’s…” but I trail off when I don’t see him in the hall. Dozens of ghouls litter the hall, including a few reavers and a glowing one.

Countless bullet casings are on the ground and I can see a number of holes in the wall across from the windows where Cygnus and Arrow were shooting into the hall. I can tell a few explosives have gone off in the hall and the attached hallway to this floor.

“Where do you think he went?” I ask Lightning. But he doesn’t respond, instead he stares at a large hole in the windows. He slowly walks over to it, and after a moment's hesitation, he peeks over the edge down to the ground.

“No...no, no, no, no, no,” Lightning mutters as he stumbles away from the window and falls against the wall. He sits with his front hooves clenching his head.

“Lightning, what’s the matter?” I ask him, as I look out the window. I see a few ghouls laying dead on the ground, and the setting sun is reflecting off of another object. I squint at the object, “What is…” My blood runs cold. “No way…” I mutter.

I take a step back from the window. The image flashing into my mind again and again. Steel Ranger armor, crumpled and broken. “It can’t be…Maybe he, got out and used it as a decoy?” I mutter.

“No, I saw the blood coming from his armor, he is inside,” Lightning says as he stares blankly. “My brother...Thunder...He’s gone…” He stammers. “I’m going to...I need a bit, Ratchet. Just let me...think...for a moment,” he tells me.

I nod. “I’ll be in the elevator, take your time,” I tell him and leave the hallway. I walk to the elevator deep in thought. What happened? Did the ghouls rush him and force him out the window? Could I have prevented this? I sit in the elevator, and cry, as undoubtedly Lightning is as well.

After a few moments, I get angry. Hearty did this, he is the one who sicked his ghouls on us. It is his fault, his, that Thunder is dead. Forget having Friendship City punish him, we should do it. I glance at the elevator buttons and press the one for Hearty’s floor. The doors close and the elevator rises.

The elevator stops and the doors open. Immediately I shoot out of the elevator at a brisk trot towards the security closet. My anger and determination rising with every step. I kick open the security door and draw Forgiveness from its holster. Hearty’s eyes fly open and stare at me as I advance towards him, pressing the barrel against his head.

Hearty begins to make noises through the gag we put in his mouth and attempts to move away from me to no avail. I stare into his eyes with hatred as I start to pull the trigger. But I stop shy of fully depressing the trigger. Forgiveness trembles in my magic as I feel my eye twitching.

“No,” I mutter, pulling the gun away from his head. “You don’t deserve it,” I tell him with a sigh. I put Forgiveness back in its holster. Hearty seems to relax a bit and his eyes go back to normal. I dig through my bags and pull out my shotgun.

I put the shotgun to his head. “You don’t deserve Forgiveness,” I say as I glare at him expressionlessly. His eyes start to go wide again, but with a pull of the shotgun’s trigger, any expression he makes is wiped away forever. The wall is painted with his blood and brain, and I feel something wet hit my face.

I place the shotgun back in my bags as I wipe my face with a hoof. “Forgiveness is a courtesy,” I say to his corpse. “Something that you don’t get to have.” I turn and head back towards the elevator, closing the door behind me.

===~+~===

Level Up!
-Level 9

+15 Big Guns
+10 Lockpicking
+3 Repair

Chapter 18 - Deeper Despair

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Chapter 18 - Deeper Despair

“They fell like dominos, one after the other.”

===~+~===

When Lightning and I finally make our way down to the ground floor, Cygnus and Arrow are near Thunder’s body. I can tell that Arrow is just as torn up about Thunder’s death as Lightning is. No doubt, Arrow was crying while waiting for us. “All clear then?” Cygnus asks as we approach them.

“Yea,” I nod and glance at Thunder’s body. The armor is bent and twisted in horrible ways. I’m afraid to imagine what his body looks like inside it. Lightning walks over to him, and sits down beside him after setting my armor aside.

Arrow approaches him after a moment. “I...I’m sorry…” She mutters. “It’s my...fault. I was suppose to...cover him…” I can tell by her voice she is really shaken up by his death. Lightning shakes his head without looking at her.

“It isn’t your fault, Arrow,” Lightning tells her. “I saw that glowing ghoul in the hall, I saw the amount of bodies. There was no way you two could have done anything more. He should have retreated up after us. Thunder was always prideful when it came to holding the line.”

I step up to them. “If it is any consolation, I killed Hearty,” I tell him. Lightning turns abruptly to look at me, I’m sure his face is showing surprise. “Turned his head into mincemeat,” I explain. “He caused Thunder’s death, it was our duty to judge him for it.”

Lightning nods and turns back to his brother’s body. “Thank you,” he mutters. After a few moments, he speaks up again. “Arrow, can you carry Ratchet’s armor? I...I should carry Thunder,” Lightning asks. Arrow nods as Lightning puts Thunder’s body on his back.

Once Lightning and Arrow get situation under their burdens, Lightning turns to me again. “What now, boss?” He asks sadly. “We...I want to bring his body back to the base as soon as possible.” I think for a moment, but the answer is obvious.

“We should split up,” I state. “You and Arrow head back to the base, Cygnus and I will let those ponies know the job is done and meet up with you. CORA can use a spritebot to keep an eye on you two. Cygnus and I should be able to catch up with you two before you get home,” I explain.

Arrow and Lightning nod, but Cygnus just looks on in concern. “Arrow,” I start, “if you two run into trouble, drop my armor if you need to. CORA can track its location if necessary.” I think for a moment and add, “I should also probably stop by the DJ’s and let him know about the radio station in the tower.” They both nod and we go our separate ways.

After Arrow and Lightning are out of sight, I finally ask Cygnus, “What?” The question seems to catch him off guard. “You were looking at us worriedly earlier, and you’ve been awfully quiet this whole time,” I say.

Cygnus looks deep in thought for a moment before saying, “Are you sure it is wise to send them off on their own? I know they are Rangers, but it could still be dangerous,” he tells me.

“They need some time alone. Those three were comrades even before I came into the picture, so I’m sure they have some things they want to discuss in private. If they get into a fight, they’ll win. Not because they are Rangers, but because they are angry. They won’t fall before they get Thunder home, of that, I am certain,” I tell him.

“If you say so,” Cygnus mutters. “I don’t know how I should feel at the moment,” he says. “Thunder was a decent buck, but I didn’t really get to know him well enough to feel sadness over his death. I suppose all I can do is honor him by remembering him,” he explains.

I nod as we walk. “I kind of understand. I’ve only been with them for about a month, which is why I let the others be alone. Thunder was a good friend, and an important member of the team. Which is why…” I trail off.

“You killed Hearty?” Cygnus asks. I nod. “Did killing him make you feel better?” He asks.

“I’m...not sure. My anger subsided, but I still feel...empty,” I explain. “I keep thinking about kill him too. Was it the right thing to do? Should I have let Lightning or Arrow decide, or at least asked them about it?”

“All valid questions,” Cygnus mutters. “But I think killing him was the right thing to do, I’m sure the others would agree. Perhaps you are upset with how you killed him?” Cygnus asks. “You did say you turned his head into mincemeat, and he was unarmed after all.”

I furrow my brow. “He deserved it, he was a monster,” I explain. “Conducting experiments on ponies, trying to get ghouls to kill us…” I trail off.

“He did deserve it,” Cygnus confirms. “But the method of his demise is what is wrong. He was unarmed, non-combative, and you just put him down. I’m not condemning you for it,” he explains. “I did the same to Static, after all. Killing her was liberating, justified, but killing her the way I did was wrong.”

I think about what he just told me and think about how I killed Hearty. He was bound and unable to defend himself, not even able to beg for his life. I just decided that he should die, no trial, no discussion. I even gave him a moment of hope, only to dash it in the blink of an eye. I was cruel, hateful, and no different than a murderer.

I’ve only been in the wasteland for little over a month, and I’ve killed so many ponies, but never any that weren’t trying to kill him, until now. Has the wasteland corrupted me? Made me so self righteous in my own thinking that I thought I could justify cold blooded murder?

I stop walking and fall to my haunches. “What...have I done?” I mutter, staring blankly at the ground. Cygnus stops and looks down at me.

“What you thought was right, Ratchet,” Cygnus states simply. “No one will fault you for what you did, especially anyone in the wasteland. You just need to remember what you’re feeling now, keep your head about you, and keep going. If you dwell on it, it will consume you, trust me,” he says, offering me a hoof.

I look up at him, the slight smile on his face. “Cygnus…” I mutter. I nod, and take his hoof. He pulls me to my hooves. “You’re right,” I agree. “I’ll remember, and try to keep my wits about me. I’m trying to help the wasteland recover, killing ponies who aren’t a threat anymore isn’t the way I will do that. But, Cygnus...I’ll need your help,” I tell him, returning his smile.

“And I will be there to help you,” Cygnus replies. “We’ll help each other,” he adds. “The wasteland might consume us if we are alone, but together I think we have enough sense about us that we can change things.” With our immediate mental issues taken care of, we continue on our way to Friendship City.

===~+~===

Cygnus and I cross the water on the barge and enter the city as the sun finally finishes setting. As we walk around the entrance, I wonder if those prissy ponies will be here this late. But soon my question is answered as I see the same three standing next to a wall. They seem to be talking to a rugged looking buck wearing decent leather armor.

As we approach, they notice us and the buck steps aside. “Ah, and so the mare in the labcoat returns!” The fancy buck declares. “Knot here just finished informing us of the completion of your job. Very good, very good,” he says with glee.

“Indeed, and it took them long enough too,” The mare, who I assume is his wife mutters, looking rather unpleased. “Tenpony isn’t that far from here, I bet they went and slacked off,” She says.

“I had to pick up some gear,” I tell her, trying to maintain a positive attitude and really hoping to finish things up here quick. She rolls her eyes.

“Now, now, darling, the fact of the matter is that the job is done and the tower is ours now,” the buck says, putting his hoof around her. “Now then, I do believe we agreed on two thousand caps?” he asks, addressing me.

“That was the plan,” I confirm. He looks over to Knot, who nods back at him.

“Well, Knot here informs us that in the process you shot out quite a few windows and made a complete mess disposing of those monsters,” The buck tells me. “You’ll understand if I can’t offer your the full amount, yes? After all, we must replace the windows, very hard to find, mind you, and hire workers to clean up the mess you made. We will give you half the agreed upon amount,” He says flatly.

I hear Cygnus let out a sigh and I can’t blame him. These ponies really piss me off. “Of course we made a mess, how else were we supposed to get rid of all those feral ghouls?” I ask them. “The windows, I can understand, but the mess is hardly our fault. Look, I’ll settle for 1,500, will that work?” I suggest.

The other mare rolls her eyes and mutters, “Typical uncivilized ponies, always wanting more than they should receive.” I narrow my eyes at her, and she flinches.

“That is hardly our problem, you could have led them all outside,” The buck tells me. “We will give you 1,100 caps, and honestly that is uncomfortable for me,” he says. My anger rises, I can’t help it.

“Uncomfortable? Paying a fair price makes you uncomfortable?” I ask, raising my voice. “One of us fucking died! Even the full amount can’t make up for that,” I growl at them. Knot steps up between us and them, glaring at me threateningly.

The buck coughs. “It is fine Knot, I understand. Look miss, we are sorry for your loss, and we will offer your 1,250 caps. You knew the risk that the job carried, just one death is fortunate,” he says with a smug expression.

I am about to lose it. “One thousand two hundred and fifty caps!?” I yell at him. “Thunder’s death isn’t…” Cygnus steps in front of me and cuts me off.

“We will take your offer and conclude our business,” Cygnus tells the buck, who pulls a small bag from a pocket and gives it to Knot. Knot then gives the bag to Cygnus. “Thank you, we’ll be leaving now,” Cygnus says and begins to walk away.

I stare at his back and then at the other ponies, narrow my eyes and mutter, “Don’t forget the other part of our deal, the DJ is moving in.” With that, I turn and catch up with Cygnus who is already halfway back to the barge.

“Why did you do that?” I ask him, my anger still bubbling.

Cygnus sighs. “You saw them, right? Not a speck of dirt on them, other than their bodyguard, Knot. Expensive looking clothing too, before the war. And the way they acted, as though they were nobility? Not to mention they never gave us their names,” He tells me.

“Yea, so what? Does that mean they can be cheap and rude?” I ask.

“It means they think they can be,” Cygnus says. “They don’t care about ponies like us, ‘commoners’, as they say. I doubt they would ever agree to a price you suggested, they wanted to have the last word because they think they are better than us. You could have been the only survivor, and they wouldn’t take pity on your, they’d still fight to keep as many caps as they could,” he explains.

“And we are going to give them control over a place like Tenpony?” I ask him, considering returning the caps and giving the tower to the DJ alone.

“We are, because if we go back on our word, we would be no better than them,” Cygnus says. “Like them or not, they might be best suited to running Tenpony. More than likely, those three were just a few of a collection of ponies like them, ponies with resources to restore and keep Tenpony working,” He yells me.

“But if they were that rude and indifferent to us, do you think they will help anyone, or just stay locked in the tower, safe from the world around them?” I ask him, trying to see his reasoning.

“They don’t seem that stupid, and their resources aren’t limitless. They will more than likely allow trade and new residents to live in the tower. It won’t necessarily be the best place ever for those who aren’t one of them, but it will be one less hostile place,” Cygnus tells me.

I let out a sigh. “I guess you are right,” I say with resignation. “We’ll have to see what happens as time goes on. Maybe I’ll have to go yell at them later on,” I chuckle. “Now then, let’s go tell the DJ the good news.”

===~+~===

The two of us make our way back through the ruins along the safe routes and reach the DJ without incident. We inform him of the good news, which he is pleasantly surprised by. He says he will send someone there to check the place out before he move over there himself. With that taken care of, Cygnus and I begin heading towards the lab.

After about half the night, we catch up with Arrow and Lightning, who given their burdens, aren’t walking as fast as usual. Once we are all together again, we rest for the rest of the night.

In the morning, we forge ahead. At around mid-afternoon, CORA gets my attention. “Ratchet, I’m picking up a radio signal, you should listen to it,” she says as she adjusts the radio. The DJ is in Tenpony already? That was fast. I wonder what he has to say now.

CORA gets the radio on the right frequency and it starts playing. “five seconds,” it says, before stopping. I’m about to ask her what it was, when it continues. “This is Elder Archimedes of the Stable 36 Steel Rangers. This message is for all Steel Ranger operatives within range. We are under attack. All Rangers within range are to return immediately. Message repeats in five seconds.”

I feel my blood run cold, my face going pale. “You all...heard that as well, right?” I ask the others. Arrow and Lightning have frozen on the stop, and Cygnus looks on in concern. “We need to go, Arrow, drop my armor. We can’t have you lugging it around if we get into a fight,” I tell her.

She nods and drops it. “Lightning, move as quickly as you can, Arrow, provide him with cover as we get closer. Cygnus and I will run up ahead and scout things out,” I say, and the others nod. I begin running towards the stable with Cygnus right on my hooves.

After a while, I see the farmhouse that the stable lies under. However, the farmhouse is burned to the ground and still smoldering. I scan the horizon, but don’t see any signs of life. “Let’s go, keep your eyes open,” I say as we move closer to the ruins. Within moments, we are standing right beside them.

The foundation looks solid, and the cellar entrance looks functional. I don’t think the basement collapsed. They must have made it extra reinforced. “Ok, looks like we can still get in,” I mutter. “Let’s wait for the others,” I tell Cygnus, who nods in agreement.

Roughly ten minutes later, Arrow and Lightning catch up with us. Lightning looks a bit out of breath. “We should be able to get in, Lightning, I think you should set Thunder’s body down before we enter. There is no telling how many enemies we are going to find,” I say. He nods, and carefully sets Thunder down beside the entrance.

After giving him a moment to catch his breath, I pull open the cellar doors with my magic. A wave of stench strikes us, a mix of iron and gunpowder. Carefully, we enter the cellar. At the bottom of the stairs, I stop dead.

Corpses are everywhere, at least a dozen. Many are raiders, but a few Rangers lay slain in the basement entrance. Blood is on every surface and spent casings litter the ground. In a few places on the walls ‘Discordia’ is been painted in blood. The door to the hallway has been blown off its hinges.

The others are equally caught off guard. “We need to get inside, now,” Lightning says, anxiety evident in his voice. I nod, and we carefully make our way across the bloodstained floor. It is hard to avoid stepping on anything as we reach the hallway.

More raiders are dead in the hallway, the turret at the corner clearly gave them some trouble, but the turret now lies smoking on the floor. We turn the corner and see the Stable entrance. The large gear-shaped door has fallen back into the Stable, explosives were clearly used to open it.

In the entranceway, a few more raiders lay dead with another Rangers among them. Judging by the scorch marks and the state of the bodies, both sides are using explosives and laser weaponry. “These raiders are way too well armed,” I mutter. “Is this what Grimoire has been up to?”

“They appear to have poor armor and training though,” Cygnus says. “Numbers are the only thing giving them an advantage here,” he adds. We continue deeper into the stable, finding more bodies as we go. The raider corpses outnumber the Rangers.

“This is bad,” Lightning says. “We haven’t seen anyone or heard any sign of fighting. They couldn’t have...killed everyone, could they?” He asks.

“No, we just haven’t found them yet,” I tell him, more trying to reassure myself than him. “We just need to keep looking.” The armory is locked up tight, which seems like a good sign. If the Rangers were all dead, the raiders would have tried to get into it. We have already searched most of the Stable. All that remains is the command center, the residential area, and medical.

We quickly move through the halls and approach the command center. Dead rangers are outside the door along with a number of raiders. “This is bad,” Lightning mutters. “If they’ve made it this far…” He trails off as we enter the room.

The monitors and terminals in the room have all been destroyed, the largest monitor has the word ‘Discordia’ scrawled across it in blood. The command center’s staff looks to have fought valiantly to defend the room, but since many were scribes they were easily overwhelmed. We approach the Elder’s desk.

Peeking over the top, I see Elder Archimedes’s body, full of bullet holes. A final shot placed in his forehead. Beside him lies a 10mm pistol and countless spent rounds. He went out fighting, doing all that he could. He even recorded that message and broadcasted it. As I look down at the Elder, I hear Lightning walking off towards the hall.

I turn and look after him. He is walking at a brisk pace. “Wait, Lightning. Don’t go off on your own!” I call after him. Arrow looks between me and him before trotting after Lightning. “Damn it, come on you two, we can’t get separated, what if there are still more raiders lurking around?” I ask as I begin to follow after them.

Cygnus follows after me. “I don’t think they are going to listen to reason, Ratchet,” He says. “No doubt, they are seeking vengence. This will be bad if we get into a fight,” Cygnus tells me.

“I know, I know…” I bite my lip. “We’ll just have to let them take the lead and cover them as best we can,” I say. Cygnus lets out a sigh, but we keep following after the others. As we go through the residences, we find nothing but death and destruction. ‘Discordia’ is painted in various places. After a few minutes, we reach the doors to medical. The last place we haven’t checked.

Lightning works the door controls and slowly the doors slide open. We stare down the barrels of multiple guns and return those stares with our own guns. But slowly, realisation dawns on both parties. “Lynx Squad?” Star Paladin Lily asks as she lowers her gun. “You’re alive?” She says shakily before adding in a much sterner voice, “Did you encounter any raiders in the Stable?”

“None that were alive,” Lightning replies. At this point, everyone else has lowered their weapons and we enter the room and close the door behind us. Once we get the details of our arrival out of the way, Lightning asks, “How did this happen?” Lily removes her helmet and sets it on her back.

While she does so, I look around the room. Besides Lightning and Arrow, I count twelve Rangers. Seven of which are lying on cots without armor and bandaged up pretty heavily. The other five, including Lily, look like they’ve been put through the ringer as well. As Lily begins, Senior Paladin Twinkle joins us.

“The raiders attacked in mass and with a ferocity we’ve never seen before. It was like they did not care if they died. The guards gave us warning and we went into lockdown, the Stable was sealed and we armed ourselves,” Lily explains.

“Our guards were instantly overwhelmed,” She continues. “The raiders crowded into the basement and began mutilating the guards, writing on the walls. Some began to set explosives on the door and within minutes, they were in the hall. The turret gave them some pause, but one of them finally shot it with a missile.”

“The Stable door held them back for an hour, they tried various ways to enter, but none worked until Grimoire showed up,” Lily scowls in anger. “He took some C4, teleported on the other side of the door, and destroyed the mechanism. It was easy enough for the raiders to push it open after that,” She explains.

“What’s crazy, is that we were there when Grimoire appeared on our side, but none of our weapons did anything to him. They hit him, but he instantly regenerated from our attacks. But at that point, everything went south. The raiders quickly spread through the Stable, and no matter how many we killed more would take their place,” Lily says.

She lets out a sigh. “We kept being pushed back, and soon arrived at the command center. Elder Archimedes recorded an SOS for the rangers who were away at the time, Senior Paladin Twinkle’s squad, Paladin Beam’s squad, and your squad. He then used his override to deadlock the armory, filtration, and reactor chambers. At that point, the raiders reached us again,” Lily took a deep breath.

“Elder Archimedes ordered me to fall back with non-essential command center personnel. I didn’t want to, but he simply told me that he had a duty as Elder to remain in the room. He knew he would die, but he just kept shooting. I was the last to leave the command center. I saw him bleeding, bent over his desk, but still shooting. I saw when another bullet caught him in the chest and he fell to the ground…” Lily trails off.

“I saw him get back up, and put in a command on his terminal. I saw the Scribes do so as well. The Elder hit a final button, and all of the terminals and monitors exploded. He coughed up blood, turned back to the raiders, and began shooting, along with all the scribes. They fell, one by one, but no matter how much they show him, Elder Archimedes kept shooting back,” Lily says, choking up a bit. But I could tell she had pride in her voice, for the Elder, and her fellow Rangers.

“Before I closed the door, I saw a bullet catch him in the shoulder and he fell behind the desk. Those of us that remained, kept fighting, creating choke points, firing lines, and traps where we could. But they kept coming, and never stopped. Half of us were dead, and our injuries increased by the minute. Then, Paladin Beam and Senior Paladin Twinkle returned,” Lily says with a nod to Twinkle.

“Their squads began hitting the raiders from the rear, forcing them into a two-sided fight. An hour passed before our two sides met up in the command center. Paladin Beam had fallen along with most of her squad, but only a dozen raiders remained. Grimoire was sitting in the Elder’s chair the whole time as we killed the rest of the raiders and circled around him,” Lily tells us, but doesn’t seem pleased.

“That bastard muttered something about how he should have brought more of his troops, laughed, and then teleported away. Those of us remaining combed over the Stable and brought anyone still breathing here. We fifteen are all that remain,” Lily concludes. A realization seems to dawn on her and she asks, “Where is Thunder, by the way?” I can see Lightning’s features darken, and Arrow hangs her head.

This seemed to be enough for Lily and she let out a sigh. “Thunder too? We are down to fourteen then,” She mutters. “We need to bury our dead and treat our wounded, the rest of the base is secure, yes?” She asks Lightning. He nods. “Good.”

Lily looks over at Twinkle, who nods and walks over to her squad. “Come on boys,” Twinkle tells them, “It is time to dig graves and burn the raiders. They might try to attack us again, so keep your eyes open for anything on the horizon while we’re out.” She sounds content, not like how I’d expect someone who lost more most of their friends and family to sound.

As Twinkle and her squad leaves medical, I hear her saying happily, “Eberron has had his fill this day. Now, we must honor our fallen.” With them gone, ten of us remain in medical, more than half wounded.

Lightning looks after Twinkle and says quietly, “I’ll join her, I want to bury Thunder myself.” Lily nods and Lightning leaves after them.

“Now then, Arrow, will you help tend the wounded?” Lily asks and Arrow nods. Lily then glances at Cygnus and I. “You two do what you like,” She says with a hint of disgust in her voice. Lily turns begins tending to the injured as well.

Cygnus steps up beside me as I stand in the middle of the room. “She didn’t acknowledge our presence until just now. Is she always this indifferent to you?” He asks.

I shake my head. “This is only the second time I’ve met her. The last time, she was suspicious of me. This time, most of her friends have been killed or injured. I can’t blame her. We should go help Twinkle and Lightning outside, give her some space,” I tell him.

He nods and we head out to join the others. Cygnus, Lightning, Twinkle, her five squad members and I split into two groups. Twinkle, Cygnus, Lighting, and I start digging graves while her squad members begin carrying out their dead. We dig next to the graves already present, including Iron’s.

It is hard work, digging so many graves. The first Ranger we lay to rest, is Thunder. His body and armor are too twisted together to separate completely, so we bury him in his armor. Lightning waves the rest of us away as he slowly shovels dirt over his brother’s body. Once finished, Lightning sits beside the grave for a few minutes, head hung. None of us bother him.

As night falls, we aren’t even half done. We do not stop, however. The Rangers turn on their headlamps, Cygnus summons a lantern, and I turn on my PipBuck’s blue light. With only our lights illuminating the darkness, we continue digging and bringing out the fallen. By midnight, all the fallen Rangers are outside, waiting to be laid to rest.

The others that were bringing them out, begin digging as well. The nine of us dig and bury as quickly as we can, but exhaustion is apparent in each of us. As the sun rises, we manage to bury the last of the Rangers. Each of us nearly collapses from exhaustion, but we enter the base once more.

We return to the living quarters to rest, while Twinkle reports our progress to Lily. I sleep for a few hours before I wake up once more. Some of the other Rangers have woken up before me, and have started to carry the raider bodies out of the Stable. Others are still sleeping, including Lightning. Cygnus is awake and talking to one of the Rangers that is showing him one of their weapons.

I decide to help get the raider corpses outside. Without power armor, it is tough, especially since I’m running on only a few hours of sleep. Since we aren’t digging graves however, just tossing the bodies in a pile, it doesn’t take nearly as long, despite their numbers. By noon we get most of them out, and have started four pyres ablaze. The stench is awful. I have never smelt the stench of burning flesh before, and I really hope I never do so again.

While heading back into the base, I see Senior Paladin Twinkle standing outside, looking at the burning bodies and smiling at them. I walk up and join her, as much as I don’t like the sight of burning ponies, I feel like I should talk with her. “Hey Senior Paladin, how are you holding up?” I ask her.

“Gloriously, Scribe Crusader. This combat, this fight, my lord Eberron is pleased at all this death,” Twinkle says with glee. “I would say it is a shame we lost so many of our own, but lord Eberron does not discriminate in his choosing of victims, and regretting the deaths of my comrades would diminish their sacrifice and the honor of their deaths,” She tells me, adding, “By the way, it isn’t Senior Paladin anymore. It’s Star Paladin.”

I raise an eyebrow. “But isn’t Lily Star Paladin?” I ask her. If I remember correctly, there could only be one Star Paladin per Ranger division, but there could be multiple Senior Paladins.

Twinkle shakes her head. “Lily is the Elder now, never thought I’d be calling her ‘Elder Lily’,” Twinkle says with a chuckle. “I was the logical choice to become Star, and she Elder. Old man Archimedes would be pleased with his replacement, but…” Twinkle trails off, her smile shrinking slightly.

“But what?” I ask.

“Lily doesn’t understand the glory of Eberron, she sees this combat, and despairs in it. I think it might have changed her, and despite my attempts to adviser her, she has ignored me. She plans to destroy the stable and have us leave our home. Says it is compromised,” Twinkle shakes her head.

“I told her we should say, keep fighting, not shrink down from Grimoire and his army,” Twinkle smirks. “She wants to stop pursuit of Grimoire, to lay low, to survive. There is no honor in running away. Eberron would not approve, but, she is my Elder, and I will follow her, till it is my time to replace her, and I will lead till it is time for another to replace me,” Twinkle explains.

“By the way, she doesn’t think of you very favorably. Lily thinks you are the one who brought this down upon us, but she’s wrong. It is our duty to protect, one way or another, we would have gotten into this ourselves,” Twinkle tells me. “I just have one question for you, you who lead Lynx Squad when Thunder fell. Did he die with honor?” She asks.

I nod. “He protected Lightning and I from a swarm of ghouls. Stopped them from getting behind us. You should have seen how many he took out before he fell. He died with honor, he was brave, loyal, and he will be missed,” I tell her, choking up a little.

Twinkle closes her eyes as she listens, and nods her head. “Eberron will see Thunder honored, and I shall remember him to the moment I join him. You are alright in my book, Ratchet. I’m sure lord Eberron looks favorably upon you as well,” She says with a smile, looking at the burning corpses once more.

It has been bugging me for a while, since the first time I met her. “Why do you follow Eberron? An old god? Most ponies believe in Celestia and Luna now,” I ask her.

She smiles even wider. “Celestia and Luna,” Twinkle chuckles. “They aren’t Goddesses, anypony who was alive before the war ended knows that. Just powerful magical beings with extremely long lives. I might not have been born before things went to shit, but I’ve read books, heard stories. The assassination attempt at Shattered Hoof Ridge is enough proof that they aren’t Goddesses,” She explains.

“A Goddess can’t be assassinated, they wouldn’t fear death. But the old gods, lord Eberron, they exist,” Twinkle tells me. “If Goddesses or Gods were truly upon this earth with us, they would not have allowed those Megaspells to fall. No, the gods don’t live in our world, but they help us occasionally,” She says.

She really seems to believe that. “I agree that Celestia and Luna weren’t Goddesses,” I tell her. “But, why do you believe so completely that the old gods exist?” I ask.

She turns to look at me, giving me an odd smile. “They talk to me, sometimes,” Twinkle says. “Eberron especially. He grants me power in exchange for the evil I wipe from this world. Some of the others think I’m crazy, imagining things. Lily told me I suffer some multiple personalities and that’s the reason. But I know better,” She explains.

“When you walk through a battlefield, bullets, grenades, and rockets flying around you, but nothing hits you, nothing hurts you, you keep walking out in the open, expecting to be hit, but you aren’t...that is how you know you are protected by the powers of a god,” Twinkle says.

“In all the battles I’ve fought, I can count the number of times I’ve been hit on my hooves. Bullets might ping off my armor, but nothing ever penetrates,” She tells me. “You can doubt me, if you want. But I can tell, lord Eberron, the God of Death, watches over you.”

I could feel a shiver go up my spine. I recall the bony figure cloaked in black, Death. I recall his words about watching me, supporting me. I wonder if Death ever went by the name Eberron. “I...believe you,” I tell Twinkle, who smiles back at me.

“I knew I liked you, Ratchet. Now then, we should return to the others. I think Lily is getting restless to leave,” She says and turns to head back inside. I follow after her, and we walk through the halls until we reach medical.

Other the last few days, going through healing potions, drugs, and a lot of bandages, all the injured are now on their hooves. Twinkle and I enter just as they are putting their armor back on. They seem sore still, and it takes them awhile, but they eventually squeeze into their armor.

“That’s right, everyone get armored up, we are moving out tonight,” Lily declares, standing in the center of the room. “Under the cover of darkness, we will destroy anything we cannot carry, and leave,” She states, watching as the Rangers put on their armor. Lily notices Twinkle and I approaching.

“Ah, good, Twinkle. Have your squad rig explosives in the armory, the cellar basement, the Elder quarters, and the Maneframe and other Stable systems. We don’t want raiders moving in after we leave. We will destroy everything,” Lily orders.

Some of the others look skeptical about leaving, but they follow their orders never-the-less. “We are leaving, so soon?” Twinkle asks. “Our injured could use a bit more rest, there is no honor in fighting so wounded. Please, reconsider, Lily-” Twinkle begins, but is cut off by Lily.

“Elder, Lily,” Lily emphasises, glaring at Twinkle. “And no, I have told you already, we need to leave. The enemy knows where we are, they know our defences. If they attack again, we will be wiped out,” She says harshly.

I step up. “If you want, you can all come to my lab. It has plenty of room, and it isn’t too far away. We can even transport all of your equipment there, so you don’t have to destroy it all,” I offer.

Lily looks disgusted at the thought. “Absolutely not. I have had enough of your help, Scribe Crusader,” She says, saying my title with venom in her voice. “I want nothing more to do with you, and from henceforth, you are no longer leader of Lynx Squad. Arrow and Lightning will leave with us,” Lily declares.

This snaps Arrow and Lightning to attention, and they walk over. “Elder Lily, Ratchet has been a huge help,” Lightning explains. “She is one of us, we can’t just abandon her,” He says.

Lily shoots him a glare. “Remember she is the one who got Thunder killed, she was leading. Not even trained to lead, yet we gave her a squad. Elder Archimedes was too trusting, she is nothing but a civilian,” Lily spits. “No, we will have nothing more to do with her, and the two of you will be coming with us. We can not spare anyone now, not that I would even if we were greater in number,” She says.

“But what about Grimoire?” I ask. “You’re still going to help stop him, right?”

Lily rolls her eyes. “I want nothing more to do with him, it was a mistake to get involved in the first place,” Lily says.

Twinkle takes a step closer. “A mistake? Grimoire is responsible for Iron’s death, for the death of most of our friends!” Twinkle declares. “Are we going to just turn a blind eye on what he’s done to us? Are we going to run and hide?” She asks.

“Yes.” Lily says adamantly. “We cannot stand against him, he has hundreds more. We are but fourteen. We must survive, continue fighting where we can. But if we fight against him, it is suicide,” She hisses.

The other Rangers hang their heads. We’ve become quite the spectacle, standing in the middle of everyone. “She’s right,” one of them mutters. From there, the murmuring spreads and echoes of agreement can be heard. Only Twinkle, Arrow, and Lighting seem opposed.

“This is cowardice, Eberron will frown upon this!” Twinkle shouts, but once Lily glares at her, Twinkle just grits her teeth and says. “You are our Elder, we will follow you, but know that I do not support this decision,” Twinkle says.

Lily nods. “Now, you two, follow orders and get ready,” Lily says, addressing Arrow and Lightning. “And you two,” She says, looking at Cygnus and I, “get out of here now.”

Cygnus stands motionless beside me, Arrow shifts around nervously, her eyes darting between me and Lily, and Lightning scowls, clenching his teeth. “Ratchet,” Lightning finally says. “We have to. We are Rangers. I don’t want to, I know Arrow doesn’t either, and Thunder wouldn’t like this, but we have to. Just know, we will always be friends, comrades. If you need us, you know our frequency. It was an honor, Ratchet,” he says and puts his helmet on, sealing it with a hiss.

Arrow looks between him and me, then glances at Lily, who glares at her. Arrow looks at the ground for a moment, then rushes to me and embraces me in a hug. It catches me off guard, but after a moment I return the hug. “Take care, Arrow,” I mutter. She nods, and pulls away slightly.

Arrow bites her lip, and then suddenly kisses me. My eyes go wide in surprise, and she stops after a moment and mutters, “I love you.” Before pulling away and putting her helmet on. I didn’t think she felt that way, she was always hard to read though. I regain my senses and feel Lily’s glare on me.

I let out a sigh. “Lily, this is the wrong course of action,” I tell her, staring back into her eyes. “But I understand why you feel this way. If you change your mind, if you need my help, anything, you know where I live,” I tell her. “I’ll stop Grimoire, with or without your help,” I add.

Lily just shakes her head. I give one last smile at Arrow and Lightning, and give a slight nod to Twinkle before heading to the door. I stop just before I leave, and turn to the Rangers. “Thank you all, for everything,” I tell them, and leave. Cygnus follows silently, and after a while, we are in the openness of the wasteland.

Halfway to my lab, I hear the sounds of multiple explosions, and I know, Stable 36 has been sealed forever.

===~+~===

Quest Complete: An Arrogant Request
Quest Updated: The Chaos Crusade - Current Objective: Search for more information on Grimoire.
New Perk! - Protected by Eberron - You are favored by the God of Death. Sometimes in battle, bullets that seem destined to hit you will miss completely.

Chapter 19 - Doubt

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Chapter 19 - Doubt

“Do my choices even matter? If I just disappeared, would anyone even notice?”

===~+~===

Choices. We all have them and the magnitude of them varies. Some choices are as inconsequential as what should I eat for breakfast? What color ribbon should I wear in my hair today? Choices that don’t really effect much at all. Other choices, choices no one is ever ready to make, can shatter the lives of dozens, hundreds, thousands, even millions.

The choices of the Ministry Mares and the Princesses, of the Zebra Caesar, had led to the destruction of Equestria, if not the rest of the world as well. We don’t always see the outcomes of our choices. There is no doubt in my mind that they made the decisions they felt best. If the Princesses and the Ministry Mares, ponies greater than I, could ultimately fail in their decisions, am I making the right ones?

Did the choices I made lead to the slaughter in Stable 36? To the fall of the only Steel Rangers that wanted to help the wasteland? Is Thunder’s blood on my hooves? What about Iron’s? Eventually, will my choices catch up Lightning? Arrow? Cygnus? Any of the countless others I’ve met in my travels?

I am terrified. As terrified as I was when I first awoke in the wasteland. The Steel Rangers will no longer help me, Elder Lily wants nothing to do with me. My friends were forced to go with her, and I don’t blame them for that. The Rangers are their family. Now, Cygnus and CORA are my only support in this wretched wasteland.

Only two of us have bodies, and neither Cygnus nor I are actual soldiers. Grimoire has an army. I know he has to be stopped, but can I do anything? The only force that was capable to opposing him was the Rangers. With Stable 36 destroyed, and the other Rangers hiding in their bunkers or just hoarding technology, I doubt I can get the kind of sizable force that is required.

Such thoughts distract me as Cygnus and I work on getting my armor back to my lab. We try dragging it for a few minutes, but eventually Cygnus summons a sort of cart. It makes things easier, aside from having to haul the armor onto the cart. Which we have to do multiple times, as the cart would disappear once his magic wore off.

After much of the day wastes away, we get it back safely. I download CORA into the system once again and Cygnus and I take a well deserved nap. I wake up after a while, and realize I’ve been asleep for around fourteen hours. My PipBuck tells me it is just after noon. As I stretch and rub the sleep from my eyes, I notice Cygnus hunched over sitting on his bed.

I walk over and glance over his shoulder. He’s looking at some notes in a book. It looks like technical specifications. Measurements, materials, and more are listed along with rough drawings. The two I see are a rocket launcher and a rocket. “What’s all that?” I ask him.

He turns his head to look at me. “Oh, finally awake? This here,” Cygnus says, closing the book and tapping it with a hoof, “is a book I’ve made. It is where I keep specifications of various equipment I can summon. I study it from time to time, keep the information fresh in my mind. One slip up, and my summons fail. In battle, that can be fatal. If I mess up a length, miss an ingredient, nothing will happen.”

I look at the book. “So, what kind of stuff is in that book?” I ask him.

“A lot. It holds info on things from knives to miniguns, small carts to large field artillery pieces. I even have the schematics for a Balefire Bomb. It would take almost two hours straight to speak the words to summon that, though,” Cygnus explains. “It is too powerful to be summoned by material description alone. I have to describe the magic, the effects, the changes it will cause to the landscape.”

I raise an eyebrow at that. “The strength of what you summon effects what you have to say to summon it?” I ask him.

“Indeed. The more complicated an object is, the harder it is to summon. For example, Iron Ingot,” Cygnus says, and an iron ingot appears, falling to the floor with a clang. “For a simple object, no description is needed. I can manifest it with thought alone and call it forth using its name. Similarly, Combat Knife,” he says and a knife appears in his mouth. He smirks around the handle before he sends it away.

I blink at him in surprise. “But when you first woke up, you had to describe that before it was summoned,” I stammer.

He nods. “When I first woke, I was groggy, confused, unfocused. But now, in perfect condition, the name is all I need. More complex items, like ammunition, guns, and chemicals, require descriptions. Basically, if it is a synthetically manufactured item, I need to describe it. This knife? Iron and hide, two things that appear normally in nature, just molded into a shape. Understand?” He asks.

I nod. “Great,” Cygnus says, setting the book on his bed. “So, now I have a question for you. What are we going to do now?” He asks.

I frown. “I have no idea. I’m not sure I should do anything. The two of us can’t fight Grimoire alone,” I tell him.

“The three of us!” CORA declares over the PA system.

I chuckle. “But you can’t really help us fight, you don’t have a body, after all. Even if you did, three of us against an army wouldn’t work out,” I tell her.

“About that...I have some...plans...for things. I don’t want to ruin the surprise, so come to the workshop!” CORA says happily. I exchange a glance with Cygnus, and the two of us walk to the workshop. Upon entering, CORA says, “Alright! Now, turn your attention to the monitor.” We turn to look at the terminal that flickers to life and begins running through lines of code.

After a moment, it displays an image of my power armor. Then it slowly deconstructs it until only the components that provide power remain. Suddenly, all the wires, circuitry, and spell matrices shift. I look at the picture, but can’t make sense of it. I don’t understand how this would work at all. “CORA, what is this?” I ask her.

“This is a more efficient arrangement that will yield a fifteen times spark battery life!” She declares with glee.

“But, it doesn’t make any sense. Why would you route power like that and use a matrix there? And that circuit near the tail? What is this?” I question her.

“It makes perfect sense! When I was in the armor last time, I asked the matrices how to increase efficiency, and I did like they said! Do you really not get it?” CORA asks.

“You talked to the matrices? As in, the spell matrices? Is that more of that, you talking to computers thing?” I ask.

“Yep!” She replies happily.

“Of course. Well, I suppose we can try it, if nothing else,” I say, looking over the plans. I have no idea how this will work, but if I just follow the plans, it should work, according to CORA.

“I have a few other ideas,” CORA speaks up, stopping me as I’m about to start gutting the armor.

Cygnus clears his throat. “I’m going to go...do something else. This is confusing as hell,” He says, and leaves the workshop. He can memorize all sorts of materials that make weapons and armor, but a little tech talk confuses him? Well, I suppose it is easy to learn things that already exist, but things that are brand new? Heck, I’m even confused.

“Anyhow,” CORA continues, “since you are going to gut the armor anyway, and we’ll need to hammer out the dents anyway, I was thinking we should lighten it up, make it less bulky and hard to move. Maybe exchange some armor for some more joints, for when I’m the only one inside, allowing me to be more maneuverable?” She suggests.

I shrug. “I suppose. Without someone else in power armor to carry it around, making it lighter would be ideal. But...you seem to have an ulterior motive. What is it?” I ask her.

She giggles. “We really are the same, you know me so well. The lighter weight will help the power last longer. With the modifications I have in mind, a single spark battery will last approximately two and a half days,” CORA informs me.

“That is a heck of an increase,” I tell her. “From going through a few batteries in a matter of hours to going days on one.” I look at the armor, then up at the camera in the room as I let out a sigh. “There’s a catch, isn’t there?” I ask her.

CORA laughs nervously. “That obvious, hu? Yea. Two and a half days, is if the armor is piloted by me. If you are inside, well, the single battery will last just twelve hours,” She tells me.

“Twelve hours!?” I shout. “Am I that heavy? My weight drops the time by two whole days?” I ask.

“Yea…” She replies. “I also want to remove a minigun, or both, and possibly add on a simple rifle, maybe a sniper,” She suggests.

“What? But the whole purpose of the armor was originally to provide overwhelming fire support! Like when Twinkle used four miniguns at once!” I tell her. “Wait…” I narrow my eyes at the camera. “You want this armor to be your body, don’t you?” I ask.

“What!?” She stammers. “No, what would make you...yes…” CORA admits. Well, that explains her determination to extend the battery life as long as she can. And her suggested mobility upgrades.

I let out a sigh. “Alright, it is yours. As long as I can still get inside when I need to,” I tell her. “So, no doubt you have plenty more suggestions. Tell me what you want,” I say with a smirk.

“Well...I’ll need to work the other guns as well, not just Raptor Blood. Additionally, I’ll need a way to connect to terminals. And I have some plans for a rechargeable spark battery, though I think we only have the supplies to make one. Also, the paint job…” She trails off.

“What? But we picked out the paint job together! You liked it! Right?” I ask her.

“Well...I was kind of just going along with what you wanted. But now, I’d like some individuality in it. I’ve never had a body of my own, you know,” She says sounding slightly guilty.

I sigh. “It’s alright. So, weapon integration won’t be too hard. I think we still have some rifles lying around. We should also have some cabling I can use to allow you to connect to terminals, that shouldn’t be a problem. Paint is still left over from last time, too. About that rechargeable spark battery then, what do we need?” I ask her.

“That’s the issue,” CORA tells me. She flashes some things up on the terminal. Most of which we have. Ports for recharging using unicorn magic and recharging from syphoning generators. A few spare spell matrices I’ll have to rework. But, the crucial component is missing. A spark battery that still has charge, and here we are fresh out.

“Well, aren’t ponies moving into Ponyville again? Maybe one of them has one they can trade us,” I ponder. “I’ll start on the other upgrades for now. We can do the spark battery thing last. Ready for some work?” I ask her with a smirk.

“Of course!” She replies. “By the way,” she starts, “that DJ seems to be broadcasting again. He’s just been playing music so far, want me to broadcast the radio? This song is just about over.”

“Sure, why not. Some music while we work would be nice,” I reply. A moment later, music starts playing over the system. It is a song I vaguely remember from my teenage days, though the name of both the song and artist escape me. After a few more seconds, the song ends.

“Good Afternoon Wasteland!” DJ Pon3 says with a chuckle. “You can’t believe how long I’ve been waiting to say that. Today is the first of many that I broadcast to not just the Manehatten area, but to all corners of Equestria! I owe it all to one gal, so if you are listening in, thank you, Labcoat!” He declares.

“Now, let’s get on to the news! For those of you who aren’t from Manehatten, I have news of a buck who wishes all of the wasteland harm. Grimoire is his name and he brings trouble with him. He poses as a trader, but don’t let him fool you, he commands an army of raiders and he is hell bent on destroying everything in his path,” DJ Pon3 says with a snarl.

“If you know him, you should stay away. If he’s been to your town, arm yourselves. Cuz’ he isn’t there for your caps, he’s just scouting for when he’ll take your lives. And if you meet a mare in a white labcoat, do yourself a favor, and help her if you can. She’s taking the fight to Grimoire. Watch yourselves out there,” he says with concern.

“In the Manehatten area,” He continues in a more relaxed tone, “civilization is rising from the ashes. Friendship City continues to expand and not too long ago, Labcoat tore through Raider Alley taking out a few dozen raiders in her path. Not only that, but I hear she’s responsible for wiping out the ghouls that inhabited Tenpony Tower. Dozens, if not hundreds of ghouls inhabited the building, now, Tenpony is becoming a new haven in the wasteland. If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by and say hello. Though if you’re a raider or there for trouble, all you’ll get is a bullet in return.”

There he does talking me up again. Though, it does make Manehatten sound like a safer place, and from the sound of things, those snobby ponies that took over Tenpony plan to allow visitors. Perhaps things will work out up there after all.

“In other news, the former raider town of Ponyville is turning into a thriving little town. So if you have been steering clear of it, concerned about raiders, put those worries to rest. Stop by, give the town some business,” DJ Pon3 says.

That’s good. I’m glad the town is still there and hasn’t been taken over by raiders again. All the more reason for me to stop by and see if I can trade anything.

“I’ve also heard reports of explosions to the north of Ponyville, across the mountains. While this area is mostly barren ruins of former croplands, it would be wise to steer clear of this area for the time being. Let whatever caused the explosions settle down. That’s all for now, children. Stay safe out there. Here’s classic from Sweetie Belle,” He finishes and the voice of Sweetie Belle replaces him.

Well, it is good to know the DJ has settled in. Now then, let’s settle in and work my magic on this suit of armor. I have a lot of work to do.

===~+~===

Many hours later, the armor is completely gutted and the frame of it has been reworked to be lighter. A few servos and gyros have been added to increase the mobility. All that is left now, is to add some of the other upgrades, and then it is off to Ponyville to get a spark battery, hopefully. But for now, it is time for a nap.

I go to the living quarters and plop down on my bed. Cygnus is already sound asleep on his bed. From the look of things, he fell asleep studying that book of his. Well, I am more than ready to join him in sleep, and in moments I do just that.

The following day, I go through the process of hooking up the armor’s interior wiring and add the new upgrades to the armor. A terminal access port for it, allowing her control over the other guns, which have been replaced with a belt-fed assault rifle and and .308 sniper. Neither are the best quality, and ammo for either is low currently. Just need to pick some more up in Ponyville, I suppose.

I spend most of the day referencing the schematics on the terminal so I get the wiring right. A few times I catch myself doing what seems right, but then I look at the diagram again and see just how wrong I am. I end up having to undo my work multiple times and continue again. But finally, I get it right. “That should do it,” I say, stretching my limbs. They’ve gotten quite still from hunching over the armor all day. “So, what kind of paint do you want on it?” I ask CORA.

“I was thinking a nice light brown or tan. Something that will blend in with the wasteland easy enough. It would be nice to paint the mane and tail of it a similar shade to your own, as well. And...let’s keep the lynx paw. Though, we’ll need to add another color around it to prevent it from being obscured by the tan paint we will add,” CORA says.

I nod in agreement. “Sounds good, I think we should have enough tan paint. As for the blue, I’ll have to mix some white in and make it a bit lighter. We’ll use some of the black to outline the paw, make it stand out,” I tell her.

I go to the supply room and get all the paint I need. I use some turpentine to remove the old paint we added, all except for the Lynx mark. Then, it is just a matter of making sure it looks good while I’m painting it. About an hour later, I take a step back and look over my handiwork. “I think it looks nice, what about you, CORA?” I ask her.

“Perfect!” She declares. “Now we just need to get a spark battery and work on the upgrade for that!” She says happily.

“Yes, and see if we can get some more ammo for your guns. How is Raptor Blood doing on 2mm EC rounds?” I ask her.

“It’s good. Still have around 300 rounds. Railspike certainly stocked up on them when he bought the gun from Grimoire. Also, I’ve been thinking, my designation is kind of...outdated. Cryogenic Observer and Rehabilitation Assistant. We don’t do much observing or helping with rehabilitation anymore.” CORA says.

“In fact, once I have this body, I’ll be able to support you in combat. I think a new designation is required. I would like to suggest Combat Operations and Research Assistant. Same acronym, so it won’t be too confusing,” She suggests.

I think about it for a moment. She does have a point, and with her body she will be able to help us in combat. Not only that, but she thought up these plans for the armor and its wiring, so the research part fits as well. “Alright,” I tell her. “It sounds good, and we can still call you Cora anyway.”

“Now then, I suppose I should get some rest before we set out to Ponyville tomorrow. No sense in going out now and having to spend the night there. I’m not sure we could afford a room to spend the night in,” I mutter. A spark battery and ammo will be hard enough to swing. “I’ll download you into the PipBuck in the morning and we’ll set off,” I tell her, as I leave the workshop.

“Sounds good, Ratchet!” She replies. “I’ll run diagnostics on the lab’s systems and think of more ways to further increase the efficiency of the armor in the meantime.”

“Good, good. Keep up the good work, Cora,” I say with a yawn. I wonder if we’ll find a battery in Ponyville. I should also probably ask around for info on Grimoire. At the very least, maybe they have a problem I can help with. I need something to do other than staying cooped up in my lab. The longer I stay in here with my own thoughts, the more I’ll start doubting myself. I need to stay strong, keep after Grimoire.

I prepare my things so we can leave for Ponyville tomorrow, and lay down to sleep.

===~+~===

Cygnus, Cora, and I set off to Ponyville in the morning. After a few hours, we reach the town. Much of the fortifications the raiders put up remain, but the townsfolk seem to have fortified them a bit more and repaired what the Rangers destroyed in their assault. The gates to the town are open and a single guard is standing watch on top of the wall.

They don’t say anything as we enter, but keep an eye on us. It seems like only the area inside the walls is inhabited, I didn’t see any one wondering around outside. But inside the walls, it is just like a normal town. Well, a normal wasteland town. I see a few guards, at least ponies with armor and weapons, walking around amidst the others.

A few are standing around talking. I approach one of the guards. “Excuse me, do you have a moment?” I ask the buck. He stops walking and turns to me, looking me over.

“How can I help you miss?” He asks. “You’re a traveler, right? Or perhaps you are looking for residence?”

“Just a traveler. Does anyone in town trade? I’m looking for ammo and a spark battery,” I tell him.

He nods and gestures toward a building. It has a...cap? Painted on the front, near the doorway. “Ingot is currently our only trader. He sells a little bit of everything. Not sure if he has any spark batteries, but if anyone does, it will be him,” he tells me.

“Thanks,” I reply. “Also, who’s in charge here? Like, a guard captain or town leader?” I ask. “I need to get some information.”

“Gunsmoke is who you want then. He’s in the town hall, organizes the guard and is the defacto leader,” he tells me.

“Alright, thank you very much,” I say and begin to walk away. But he speaks up again before I get too far.

“Miss, mind your manners. We might be a small town, but each one of us serves in the guard. All of us are trained to fight and protect the town, even the children. They just don’t serve in the guard yet. So if you are thinking of starting any trouble, think twice,” He tells me sternly.

Now that he mentions it, all the ponies I’ve seen don’t seem like normal civilians. They have a certain air about them, like they are keeping an eye out for trouble. “Don’t worry,” I tell him, “I’m just here for trade and information.” He nods and continues on his way.

So, Gunsmoke and Ingot. I suppose I should see Gunsmoke first, see if there is anything I can do to earn some quick caps. Not to mention, I want to get information as soon as possible. Cygnus and I make our way to the town hall. It is a lot cleaner and less filled with bodies than when I last visited. Though, I’d be concerned if they left things as they were.

A unicorn mare is sitting behind the desk in the lobby and I notice a guard standing near the stairs. They both turn their attention to us as we walk in. I approach the mare and say, “Hey, I was wondering if I could talk to Gunsmoke?” She eyes me carefully with her blue eyes.

“Applying for residence, or are you here for something else?” The crimson coated mare replies.

“I was looking to get some info, and perhaps see if I can help out any?” I suggest. She narrows her eyes, but nods.

“Very well, go on up. I’ll let him know you are coming,” She tells me, gesturing to the stairs.

“Thank you,” I say and head for the stairs. Cygnus and I make our way up to the mayor’s office, and I knock on the door.

“Come in,” A gruff voice calls from inside the room. I open the door and we step inside. The office is much like I left it, aside from a new, relatively speaking, couch in the room. A gray earth pony buck sits behind the desk and glares at us as we approach. We get about halfway to him and he says, “That’s far enough.”

He looks each of us over in turn, lingering on me the longest. After a moment, he speaks up again, “Eve tells me you want some info and are looking for work. Is that so?” I nod. He adjusts his sitting position placing a hoof to his chin. “You wouldn’t happen to be Labcoat, would you?” He asks.

“I prefer Ratchet, but that’s what the DJ calls me. I take it you’ve listened to him on the radio?” I ask.

“You could say that. Well, Ratchet, you and your associate, take a seat,” He tells me, nodding to the couch. As we make our way to it, he continues. “That DJ’s broadcasts are a double edged sword. Sure they get us more traffic from ponies looking for trade or a place to call home, but it also tells raiders where to find us,” He says, shaking his head.

“Has that been much of an issue?” I ask him as I sit down.

“Not particularly, only a hoofful of raiders have come so far, and the whole town is trained in combat. But, enough about that. I’m Gunsmoke, the...leader, chief, whatever you want to call it, of Ponyville now. I suppose I somewhat owe you for clearing this place out,” Gunsmoke says with a smirk.

“Not at all,” I tell him. “They were raiders, I couldn’t just let them continue hurting ponies.” He chuckles at that.

“Too bad not everyone shares your sentiment. Plenty just run the other way instead of helping another. But, you want info, and a job perhaps? So, how can I help you?” He says with a serious expression.

“Well, before we jump into that, I’m curious how you all found your way to Ponyville in the first place,” I ask him.

“Not a pleasant story, but what the hay. Most of us lived in a town out west near a railway junction, we called it Railyard. Was essentially where maintenance was done on trains before the war. Well, one day some raiders came in force. Gave us an ultimatum. Join them, or die. Well, we didn’t rightly want to join them, and we didn’t want to die. So we hunkered down and fought,” Gunsmoke explains.

“Though back then, I was only in charge of a hoofful of guards, and the mayor and I never saw eye to eye. Long story short, most of the town got slaughtered when the raiders broke through the rear. I managed to rally the guards that remained and we got away with a few civilians,” He tells me.

“We went east from there, and eventually got here. Once we found this place, I took charge and threw down a declaration that everyone who lives here must know how to fight. With the small amount of us left, we would need everyone to do just to keep watch around the clock. No one argued, I think they learned the mistake of having only specific ponies knowing how to fight,” Gunsmoke shakes his head.

“Place was gruesome when we got here though, but I think you know that. We cleaned it up, and fortified it a bit, and here we are now. But you’re not here for a history lesson. Shall we get down to business?” He asks.

I nod. “First of all, you’ve heard of Grimoire, right?” I ask, he nods. “I’m looking for information on him and his army. ‘Discordia’ he calls it. Have you heard or seen anything about them?” I ask. Gunsmoke raises an eyebrow.

“Discordia, you say?” He asks. “If I remember correctly, the raiders that attacked our town yelled something like that. Never heard the name Grimoire mentioned by them though. He might not have been there himself,” He mutters.

I blink in surprise. I didn’t expect him to have run directly into Discordia. “And you said Railyard was west of here?” I ask, he nods. “I wonder. Does that mean his base of operations is west of Canterlot?” I mutter.

“I don’t know,” Cygnus chimes in. “If that is the case, his army went pretty far to hit that town near Hollow Shades. As of this moment, we know four locations he has attacked. Railyard, Ponyville, Stable 36, and that town near Hollow Shades. Most are west, but it is hard to say with just four places,” He says.

Gunsmoke nods. “Your friend is right. For all we know, he could be inside Canterlot mountain, up north, down south, Everfree maybe. But they are too spread out. Unless he has enough raiders to cover almost all the wasteland, he has to be based somewhere,” Gunsmoke says.

Thinking back to the raider dead in 36, and the fact Grimoire said he could have brought more, I really hope he doesn’t have a massive army covering the wasteland. “Maybe they were just the gangs he has absorbed, and not his primary force?” I suggest. “He does pose as a trader, so he has gotten around. Maybe all the gangs he absorbs doesn’t necessarily join with his main force, but remains in their area to strengthen his hold there?”

“If that is the case, he will be even harder to pin down,” Gunsmoke says. “I’m sorry I can’t be of more help. I want this bastard dead for what he did to Railyard, but we aren’t an army or anything. We can ask travelers about him, but we don’t have the resources to search around,” He says.

I shake my head. “Yea, that is for the best. I don’t expect you to help fight him, I just want to know where he’s at,” I tell him.

Gunsmoke rubs his chin. “Keep listening to that DJ. His informants come through here often enough. If I get any info on Grimoire or Discordia, I can pass it along to him. You’ll be able to hear it that way,” he tells me.

“Right,” I say. This isn’t a huge step to finding Grimoire, but it is a step in the right direction. I didn’t expect to find his location right away, so finding any information is better than none. “Switching subjects, would you happen to have any work? I could use some caps for some ammo and what not,” I ask him.

Gunsmoke looks thoughtful for a moment. “There isn’t much, but I think Ingot, our trader is working on a couple of automated turrets. We managed to bring two with us from Railyard, both pretty damaged. If you think you can help him out with those, I’m sure he’ll give you a discount or something,” He informs me.

I nod. “That sounds just up my alley. I need to see Ingot anyhow, so that’ll work out. Alright,” I get up from the couch. “I’ll be going now, but I’ll stop by another time,” I tell him.

“Sounds good. Just let Eve know when you stop by, I’ve got plenty of work to do here, between fixing things up, managing resources, and training the guards, so I won’t always be in the office,” Gunsmoke tells me.

“Of course,” I nod. “Till next time,” I say and Cygnus and I make our way to the door. Gunsmoke bids us a final farewell as I close it behind us. “Alright, to Ingot’s I guess,” I mutter as we descend the stairs.

“Gunsmoke seems like a decent buck,” Cynus says. “Has a tactful mind as well. Though, I’d find his willingness to help us odd, if not for his previous town being overrun.”

I nod in agreement. “Yea, Grimoire is a threat, and Gunsmoke knows it. I’m not entirely sure of his intentions, but if he’s willing to help us look for Grimoire, I don’t mind too much. Anyhow, let’s go fix up some turrets!” I declare. Cygnus just chuckles in reply.

===~+~===

“You’re here about the turrets then?” Ingot asks in confirmation. He is an eccentric older buck. His mane and beard gray with age and his brown coat is shedding in places. “Very well, come and take a look. Can’t figure them out myself, but if you think you can get them running have at ‘em,” He says, leading us to the back of his shop.

Ingot’s shop is a regular home, just with tables full of stuff in the living room that is right inside the door. Behind a few tables made to look like a counter, we enter into the kitchen. I doubt anything is actually cooked here anymore, however. Parts and tools cover the counters, and on the table in the center of the room are two turrets.

Honestly, it is more of a workshop than a kitchen. I can see odd combinations of guns and strange machines on the counter, all half built, or half taken apart? I can’t really tell which. “What is all this….stuff?” I ask him, avoiding calling it junk.

“Just some of my tinkerings,” Ingot explains. “I’m something of an inventor. Though, when it comes to high-tech fancy gizmos like magical components or complicated electronics, I’m a bit out of my element.”

“Why are you working on the turrets then? Isn’t someone else more qualified?” I ask. Ingot walks over to the turrets, eyeing them suspiciously.

“Used to be, back in Railyard. But now, I’m the only folk in town who’s good with his hooves, when it comes to tinkering, anyhow,” He replies. “I fixed up most of the hull damage, but the inner working really get my goat, so to speak.”

“I see,” I mutter, stepping up to the turrets and looking at them. I’ve never seen this model of turret before. It is basically a cylinder on a tripod with a barrel pointing out of one side. Though, my experience with turrets is pretty minimal to begin with. Mostly ceiling mounted turrets, really.

Ingot opens a compartment on one of the turrets, exposing the interior components. Lots of wires, a few spell matrices, that’s the targeting talisman...I look more closely at the wiring. “Did you happen to rewire this one?” I ask him.

“Yes ma’am. Was a hell of a job too, this turret got shot up quite a bit, cut most of the wires in half. No idea if they are going where they need to be, or if I added extra wires,” He replies. Yea, that makes sense.

“Ok, let me see here…” I trail off as I grab some wires in my magic and begin to trace them. I run into ends that aren’t hooked up a few times. After a few minutes, I basically start pulling out useless wires. “Did you just throw wires in here?” I ask him with irritation.

“Well, I wasn’t exactly sure when a wire was split in two or when it was just disconnected. So I kind of took all the lengths of wire and replaced them with a new one,” ingot explains.

“Yea...I’m pretty sure half of these aren’t even,” I pause as I yank out a ball of wires. Not attached to anything, mind you. “Scratch that, most of these wires aren’t even necessary,” I finish. “Can you get me some glue?” I ask, looking at the roomy interior. “And some tape, perhaps?”

Ingot goes to a counter and gets a bottle of wonderglue and some duct tape. “Thanks,” I say. “Now then, this goes here...and this one here, I think this goes here. Cora, any thoughts? No? Ok. Uhh…” I trail off as I glue and tape some wires, making them run more efficiently through the casing.

After a few minutes, I think I’m finished. “Ok, try switching it on?” I suggest. Ingot nods, and hits a button on it. It shudders and begins to vibrate. Then, it slows down and starts to sweep the barrel back and forth. “I think it’s working. Right?” I ask him in confirmation.

“Should be. We’ll need to hook it to a terminal and add some targeting info to it, but that’s Gunsmoke’s knowledge base. He’s also got the ammo,” Ingot chuckles. “Dono why he didn’t trust me with it.” I can’t imagine why.

“On to the next one then,” I mutter and open the casing of the other turret. I narrow my eyes as I look inside. “Did you take wires from this one and put them in the other one?” I ask Ingot.

“Yep. I figured if I couldn’t get them both working, I might as well try for one,” He replies.

“Well, that explains why there are no wires in here at all. I look at the working turret’s insides and compare them with the empty one. “At least all the major components are here. Though...Do you have any circuit boards?” I ask him.

He looks around the kitchen, wanders back into the living room and shouts back, “Got two!”

“Bring me one,” I call back out to him. “What a pain,” I mutter. The first turret was just a wiring issue, this one seems to just be missing a circuit board and all of its wires. Ingot brings in the circuit board and I hook it into the turret. “Ok, give me like 30 minutes and I’ll have this one working too,” I declare and set to work.

Thirty minutes later, filled with a lot of comparing the other turret to this one, and I manage to get this one running as well. “Alright Ingot, the turrets are up and running!” I declare. He inspects the work and nods in approval.

“Now, I think you mentioned Gunsmoke said I should give you a discount?” He asks, I nod. “Alright, 10% off everything,” Ingot says.

“Ten percent?” I ask disappointedly. Well, I mean it wasn’t like the job was that hard.

Ingot looks at me curiously, pulling at his beard. “I suppose I can also part with one item for free, if ya want. Regardless of price. Help yourself,” he tells me with a slight grin.

Well, that is better than nothing, I suppose. I nod and begin poking around the tables. Spark battery, spark battery...Here! Wait, not, that one’s dead. I look through the contents of three more tables before I find one. “I’ll take this,” I tell him, holding up the spark battery.

“Very well,” Ingot nods. “Anything else I can help ya with?” He asks. I explain I’m looking for ammo of the 5.56 and .308 variety. He pulls out some ammo cases from under one of the tables and opens them up. Tons of bullets are in both, thankfully sorted according to type, unlike the tables with stuff laying on them randomly.

“How much for each round?” I ask him, hoping that it isn’t too expensive.

“Well, a 10% discount is fairly hard to apply to ammo, unless they are rockets. I’ll just take a cap off each. That’ll be 3 caps per 5.56 round and 5 caps per .308 round,” Ingot decides with a nod.

That’s not too awfully bad. Shouldn’t need a lot of .308, and Cora should be more accurate than me anyhow, I hope anyway. “I’ll go with forty rounds of .308 and, let’s say three hundred rounds of 5.56?” I tell him. He nods and starts counting them out, one by one.

“One...two...three...four…” Ingot says, setting them on the counter as he goes. It is agonizingly slow. After a while though, he reaches 40 rounds of .308. I give him the 200 caps and he gives me the ammo. He then starts counting out the 5.56 rounds.

I stop him as he gets to three. “Say, how much for just the entire case of 5.56?” I ask him, really not wanting to stand around waiting for him to count to three hundred. I pulls at his beard as he inspects the case.

“I’d put it around five thousand caps,” he tells me with a nod.

“Five thousand? There is no way there are one thousand five hundred some rounds in that case,” I shout. He just raises an eyebrow.

“Well, you said you wanted the whole case. Ammo is 3 caps each, but the case itself is more than three thousand,” he says.

“Wait, wait, wait, you were figuring the cost of the case into the total? I don’t want the case, just all the ammo in it. And why is the case worth that much?” I stammer.

“It is a very nice case,” Ingot mutters. I hear Cygnus snicker behind me. “You should have said you only wanted the ammo in the first place,” he tells me, looking at the case once more. “I guess around one thousand two hundred for all the rounds?” He says. “That’s with the discount,” he adds.

That would amount to around 400 rounds, if we cost each one at 3 caps each. “Deal,” I tell him. I give him the caps, and pour the rounds into my bags. Using my PipBuck’s inventory manager, I see the number of rounds is 413. I think for a moment, and count out 39 more caps, and give them to Ingot. “There were 413 rounds in the case, don’t want to rip you off, you know,” I tell him.

He gives me a smile and he sweeps of caps into a sack. Well, now I’m basically broke. I’ll have to find some place to loot, or some way to earn some caps. But for now, I got all I need to fix up that armor! I bid Ingot farewell and Cygnus and I leave his shop.

“Well, this was a pretty productive day. Relatively normal, compared to the previous week,” Cygnus says. “We didn’t get shot at, do any shooting, nor did we discover the scene of a massacre.”

I groan. “Don’t jinx it. I mean come on, who points out how normal a day has been? Especially now. Hell, especially since our definition of normal is back before the war. Something bad is going to happen now, I just know it,” I mutter, shaking my head.

Cygnus chuckles. “I didn’t take you for the superstitious type,” he teases. “Black cats creep you out too? What about walking under ladders?”

“Yea, keep laughing. But I’d rather not tempt the wasteland. With all the crazy stuff we’ve seen, who knows, maybe some of those superstitions came true,” I tell him as we exit Ponyville.

He smirks. “I’ll tell you what, if something happens, I’ll buy you a drink or something,” Cygnus says.

I snort. “Yea, with whose caps? I don’t remember you picking any up, nor selling stuff,” I reply.

“I could always just summon some stuff to sell and make some caps that way,” He chuckles.

I frown at him. “Absolutely not. That’s basically stealing,” I tell him sternly.

He sticks out his tongue. “I was only joking, Ratchet. No need to get so heated,” He says. We keep chatting as we walk, and soon reach the foothills of the mountain. We start climbing our way up, when a bright light suddenly blinds me.

I raise my left leg to shield my eyes as I yell, “Damn it Cygnus, what did you do?”

“You mean that wasn’t you?” Cygnus replies. “I can’t see shit.” For a few moments we argue back and forth, but a deep laugh suddenly erupts from close by. I blink a few times as my vision begins to clear and return to normal. It is still a bit spotty, but I can make out another figure near us.

The outline is that of a pony. My vision slowly gets better as the figure approaches. I quickly realize this isn’t good and begin to draw my pistol from its holster. But as I do so, the figure get right up in front of me, causing me to hesitate. At that moment, my vision clears enough to see the figure.

Brown coat, gray mane, and the red piercing eyes. “Grimoire…” I mutter as my eyes grow wide. His mouth twists into a smile.

“Hello, Ratchet,” Grimoire replies venomously. With those words, his horn flashes again, but instead of blinding light, all I see is darkness.

===~+~===

Quest Updated:

The Chaos Crusade - New Objective: Escape.

Chapter 20 - Tongue Twister (Dirty Version)

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Chapter 20 - Tongue Twister

“I bet you can’t say that ten time fast.”

===~+~===

When I wake up, I’m...tied to a fucking bed again. Ugh, my head is killing me. “Hey, Cora, what happened?” I ask her. Her face appears looking concerned.

She doesn’t speak, but instead pops up speech bubbles, “You were abducted...again. I saw Grimoire among them. This building is a lot bigger and has a lot more raiders in it, with only Cygnus looking for us...It doesn’t look good.”

“Lovely,” I mutter. “You able to hack into a spritebot and lead him here? If I can somehow find my way out of these ropes, maybe together we can fight our way out?” I ask her.

Cora nods, “There are a few bots nearby I can use. I’ll find him and get him close. I’ll be back when we’re in position. Be careful, Ratchet.” With that, she disappears from my vision.

“Ok,” I mutter. Now then, let’s just untie these ropes and…” I’m unable to use my magic. It seems...fuzzy. Did they drug me with something? Shit. Plan...B? I try and stretch my neck to the ropes around my forehooves, but I can’t quite reach them. Fuck. Now I need to come up with a Plan C…

While thinking, I tug at my bindings and survey the room. I’m on an oddly clean and comfortable bed, each of my limbs tied to one of the bedposts. Undoubtedly, this is a bedroom. Opposite the bed is a window with a dresser underneath it. A few lit candles are on top of it. Some tattered paintings are on the walls, and a door is to my right.

Speaking of which, I hear hoofsteps on the other side of it. “Oh ho, she’s finally awake, is she?” A mare’s voice asks.

“Sounds like it,” a buck responds. “I take it you will want to have your...fun now?” He asks.

“Indeed,” the mare says with a hint of excitement in her voice. “So, be a good buck and get lost. And make sure to remind anyone who would peek what happened to the last poor fellow, will you?” She says with a giggle.

“Y-yes ma’am. T-take your time,” the buck replies nervously. I hear his hoofsteps leaving the door as it slowly swings open.

A familiar mare enters the room with a beaming smile on her face. “Remember me?” She says as she closes the door silently. Shit, I do remember her. “The look on your face tells me you do! Oh, I’m so glad. You recall my brother too, right? Snarl? The one you and your friends killed?”

Oh yes, this was bad. The buck who wanted to torture me to death last time, Snarl. Which means, this must be his sister, “Shrill, right?” I ask, attempting to buy time like I did before with Grimoire.

“Oh you do remember me! And just between us girls, Snarl wasn’t really my brother. We just grew up together in the same orphanage. Everyone just thought we were siblings because of how close we were. You know how siblings are, giving each other a hard time and the like,” Shrill explains.

“But, while his teasing and tomfoolery was playful, mine was genuine hate. I never really liked him, so you did me a favor getting rid of him. And I wanted to play with you too, so it all works out!” She tells me, fidgeting on her hooves.

“How did Grimoire even find out I was still alive?” I ask her.

She rolls her eyes, “Well, Snarl not coming back was a good indication, not to mention that DJ Pon3 seems to be singing your praises. You’re asking the wrong question. You should ask, why are you still alive now, if anything.”

I give her a slight smile, “Ok then, why am I still alive?” She lets out a giggle, stepping up to the bedside.

“That was my doing. Grimoire wants you dead, he wants to study your physiology. Thinks you might have something special inside you that keeps you alive,” Shrills says with a shake of her head. “But I said I wanted revenge for Snarl. Truthfully, I just wanted a chance to play with you. So, I’ll play with you and then turn your body over to Grimoire!”

“What, you’re going to torture me to death like Snarl?” I ask her, my pulse starting to rise.

She scoffs. “Of course not, I’m nothing like that barbarian. I have a refined taste, miss Ratchet,” she says, drawing out my name as she climbs onto the bed. She gets on top of me, bringing her muzzle inches from mine. “You see, I like pleasure as opposed to pain. The two of us are going to have some fun together,” she tells me before licking my cheek.

Keeping her tongue on my body, she moves it down my neck and onto my chest. I swallow, “You don’t mean…” I trail off as her tongue continues down my abdomen.

“Oh yes, Ratchet,” she says, with a heavy breath as her head positions itself between my thighs. She brings her head close and licks me. In reflex I try to close my legs and keep her away, but I’m unable to move them any measurable distance. “Where Snarl liked torture, I like rape,” she mutters before continuing to lick me.

I fight it for a few minutes, but after a while a moan slips from my lips. “Oh ho, I knew you’d have a cute voice, Ratchet,” Shrill teases. She draws her head from between my thighs and turns around over me, putting her flank in my face.

“Now, I know you can’t use your magic, but I assume you can still use your tongue, right? You’ve been talking with me, after all. So, lick,” she says with a giggle. I stare at her rump as she begins licking again.

“You want me to…” I start, but she cuts me off.

“Ratchet, lick. I don’t like inflicting pain, but if you don’t do as you’re told, I’ll make this unpleasant for you,” she tells me. “So, lick.” She sways her hips above me. “Come on Ratchet, I’m waiting,” she sings.

I close my eyes as I contemplate this and mentally prepare myself for either pain or performing cunnilingus. I feel drops of liquid strike my muzzle. I open my eyes sheepishly, and stare up at her. She is excessively wet. “Last chance, Ratchet. Get licking,” She coos, sounding slightly irritated.

I swallow and stick out my tongue. I tentatively give her one, long, lick. She moans as I do so, and her hips shake. “Good girl, keep going!” Shrill tells me, lowering her herself closer to me. I continue, apprehensively.

After a few minutes, my body can’t take anymore and I shake uncontrollably and Shrill proclaims, “Ah ha! It looks like I win round one! Though, I’ve had plenty of practice.” She’s panting fairly heavily. “It was, a...a close one though,” she comments.

“You...your...too good…” I tell her, trying to catch my breath. Somewhere along the way, I got really into it. At first, I was just trying to buy some time...but damn, it has been a while.

Shrill giggles and says, “Damn right I am. You’re not too bad yourself, so, let’s jump right into round two!” And with that she begins licking again.

“N-No fair!” I call out as my legs continue to tremble. Despite this, I start licking her again.

“Oh ho, someone’s determined!” She says in a sultry voice, redoubling her own efforts.

After another hour of trading orgasms back and forth, she finally collapses on top of me, twitching. “Oh my…” she says, sounding dazed. “You’ve certainly improved. Who’s in the lead now?” She says.

“I...I don’t even know…” I reply. “But, I’m pretty sure it is me,” I tell her.

She lets out a giggle and gives me another lick. “You wish. But, I think you’ve gotten into this. I don’t think you need these anymore,” she says as she undoes my bindings. “There, now...oh! I almost forgot, you still can’t use your magic, can you?” She asks.

“No, it is like a fuzziness is blocking it,” I tell her. She rolls off of me and onto the floor. I retract my limbs and rub where the ropes were holding me, watching her curiously.

Shrill uses her magic and floats a syringe out from under the bed. “Here’s the antidote,” she tells me as she injects me with it. Immediately, I can feel my magic returning. “Now then…” she says, climbing back into the bed next to me.

“Let’s start the count over and continue, shall we?” She asks with a sly grin.

I’ve still not heard back from Cora, so… “Let’s,” I answer.

===~+~===

After a few more hours, Cora finally appears in my vision. But, she quickly disappears without saying anything. It might have been my imagination, but I think she was blushing too. A few minutes later, Shrill and I finish together and lay under the bed sheets, panting.

“Oh Celestia, Ratchet. I think...I think you’re the one I’ve been looking for,” Shrill says, glancing over at me.

“What do you mean?” I ask her.

“The whole reason I got into this business, the whole reason I rape. I’ve been looking for someone who could properly please me,” she replies.

“What? I find it hard to believe no one has ever gotten you off before,” I tell her.

“Oh Goddesses no. But they’ve all felt very...lackluster. Like something was missing. I’ve been at this for years. Started back when I was a filly. Bedding any colt or filly I could. Of course, when I matured, I began going after mares and bucks,” Shrill explains.

“Though,” she continues, “I soon learned that bucks would use you just for sex or use sex as a means to steal from you. Mares were more trustworthy, but suspicious of my advances. So I had to keep forming relationships before bedding anyone.”

“But that soon proved tedious and not worth it. Not to mention, I often forgot the faces and names of those I previously screwed. Once I realized this, I decided to join Snarl, who was already working with a gang. I decided that I’d just force ponies into sex and when I finished, I’d just off them,” Shrill says.

“Wait wait wait,” I say, confused. “So, you rape and kill ponies just so you can find someone who can properly please you?” I ask her.

“Well, yes. But before you jump to conclusions, they were bad ponies...mostly. Opposing gang members and the like. It was kind of hard getting innocent ponies into my bed, since most of them knew me already,” She explains.

“So, you never killed any innocent ponies?” I ask her, accusation evident in my voice.

“I never had the time to kill innocents. Once we merged into Grimoire’s organization, I became too busy. Honestly, this is the first time I’ve done this in a while. Grimoire keeps me busy with diplomatic work between gangs, mostly. Or assassination leaders of gangs that won’t join us,” She tells me.

“Not even the Rangers in Stable 36?” I ask.

“No!” She says, “I was out west talking with one of the gangs out that way. Heavy fighting isn’t my thing. Look Ratchet, I know this might be hard to believe, but I’m not a bad pony. Just...misguided, I suppose. But with you, I could…” She begins, but I cut her off.

“What do you mean? You’re going to kill me and give my corpse to Grimoire, remember?” I tell her, anger rising in my voice.

“Well...Ratchet...I uh...was thinking and...well...I kind of want to...join you?” Shrill asks.

I look at her in shocked confusion. “Join me? After working for Grimoire?” I shout.

“Ratchet, like I said, I’m not bad, I was just looking for someone...for you. I just kind of got sucked into this whole Grimoire thing once he absorbed Snarl’s gang...I didn’t really want to, but I didn’t know what else to do, how else to live…” she trails off. Her face is a mix of sadness, shame, and a bit of...hope?

I pause, thinking for a moment. “Let’s say I do let you join me, even if I say yes, how would we get out of here? I’m unarmed and this place is crawling with raiders, isn’t it?” I ask.

Shrill lets out a sigh. “Well, I could probably get your gear and load up my stuff. Together, we might be able to sneak out, or fight our way out, if things get messy. And...if necessary...I’ll hold them off when you escape,” She says.

Most of what she just said was hesitant and skeptical, but that last sentence...She said it confidently and without hesitation. She’d actually be willing to die for me? Just because I...pleasured her to her liking?

While thinking, gunfire suddenly starts erupting from below us. Does that mean Cygnus is here? Why didn’t Cora tell me?

“What is…” Shrill says, looking towards the door. “Hold on a second Ratchet, I’ll…” She starts to get up, but I hold out a hoof.

“Let’s just wait here. I’m pretty sure that’s Cygnus, and if it is, I doubt he’d charge in without a decent plan,” I tell her. We both sit up in the bed.

“Alright, if you say so…” Shrill says.

For the next few minutes, the two of us sit silently in the bed as the building echoes gunfire, screams, and shouts. Just when we think it is over, another round of shooting and yelling begins.

Suddenly, the door to the room is kicked in and Cygnus emerges into the room. “Ratch…” he stops mid shout, pointing the gun at us.

“Don’t shoot!” I yell at him. “She’s alright, she’s safe!”

He slowly lowers his gun and seems like he wants to say something. But his mouth just keeps opening and closing as he looks at us. After about a minute of him just standing there, his gun and armor disappear and that seems to snap him out of his daze.

He clears his throat. “Uh yes. The building’s clear, so uh, I’ll be...uh, downstairs...uh, looting?” I says and immediately turns around.

“Oh ho,” Shrill says after he leaves. “That was a neat trick with the gun and armor. But he seemed odd, does he always act that strange?” She asks.

I chuckle. Everyone is always intrigued by Cygnus’ magic. “I don’t know why he was acting that way…” I tell her. But as I look over us and the bed...the sheets basically soaked with sweat and fluids, our manes and coats a complete mess...yea, I get it now.

Clearing my throat I say, “We should uh, probably straighten ourselves up.”

“What for?” She says, looking at me. Then at herself. “Oh ho, I get it now. How cute of him...what a shy buck.” We both get to our hooves and get our manes and coats in order.

“Right then, let’s get you two introduced,” I tell her as I start walking over to the door.

“Of course!” Shrill declares. “I should get to know my new comrade.”

As we walk though the hall, I feel I have to say something. I feel like I’m misleading her. “So, uh...Shrill...I’m not exactly, you know...into mares,” I tell her.

She stops and looks at me with a shocked expression. “What!? After what you did in the bedroom...so, you prefer bucks then?” She asks.

“Well, no, not exactly. I’m not really into anyone,” I tell her. “It is kind of hard to explain…”

She stares at me for a few moments with an eyebrow raised. “Ah! I see, so you aren’t attracted to males or females?” She asks, with a tiny smirk.

“I suppose that’s a way to look at it. I’ve just never really had the urge to be together with anyone,” I explain.

Her eyes widen. “Oh ho...So that means that you were...Oh my...a virgin?” she shouts. “I took your first time? Oh ho...lucky me! Well, I suppose I didn’t exactly take it properly, did I? Your hymen is still intact, is it not?” She asks.

“Hu? What?” I stammer. “Yes, but...I don’t think you get me. I’m not looking for a relationship or anything,” I tell her.

“Oh yes, I know. You just haven’t properly fallen for me yet,” Shrill says with a beaming smile. “I understand. Well, well, I’ll win over your love and affection and take your virginity properly! Mark my words, Ratchet,” she says, giving me a wink before continuing on down the hallway ahead of me.

I look after her, confused. “What the fuck just happened…” I mutter as I follow her downstairs.

Once we rejoin Cygnus, I introduce him and Shrill. Cora also appears in my vision again, so I get the opportunity to introduce them too. I explain, more or less, that she’ll be joining up with us. I leave out the racy details. Turns out, Cora thought, rightly so, that I was being raped, and told Cygnus to attack.

Cygnus charged in the building in full military-grade riot gear armed with a combat shotgun loaded with explosive shells. Needless to say, the building now looks like a slaughterhouse, painted red and littered with body parts.

With the introductions and pleasantries out of the way, Cygnus finally drops the bomb. “You two smell like sex. It is disgusting, will you two go clean off or something? This place has a bathroom, right?” He asks.

I blush, but Shrill smiles and says, “Indeed it does. Let’s go Ratchet, I’ll show you the way. You can go first while I gather your things for you. It will give me time to get my things together before we leave. No telling when Grimoire will be back,” she says.

I get enter the bathroom and Shrill goes about her business. I fill the tub with more than likely irradiated water, and hop in it, thankful for the chance to bathe.

===~+~===

“By the way, what’s with your cutie mark?” I ask Shrill. It looks like a tongue dripping venom. “Also, what’s your fighting style?” It would be good to know before we get into a fight.

Shrill smiles and says, “The explanation is one and the same. My cutie mark signifies my deadly tongue.” She winks at me. “More precisely, my ability to talk my way into and out of situations. Those situations being, assassinations.”

Her magic grabs her knife and pistol from her holster. The knife is a sleek black piece that looks easy to conceal. The pistol is a custom, black, 10mm with a silencer on it. “I talk my way into my target’s bed, and kill them. Then, I talk my way out of the building. Raiders are stupid, so I usually pin the blame on one of them,” she explains.

“So, stealth,” Cygnus summarizes. Shrill rolls her eyes.

“Sure, yes, stealth. If you want to be simplistic about it,” she replies. Cygnus chuckles.

“Well, I doubt you’ll be doing much of the whole, talking your way into a target’s bed thing with us. We tend to get caught up in large, chaotic battles,” Cygnus explains. “Besides, I doubt Ratchet would like it if you go sleeping around,” He teases.

“Actually, I don’t ca…” I start, but Shrill cuts me off.

“Oh my, you’re absolutely right! Sorry Ratchet, I won’t sleep around. You’re the only one I’ll give myself to!” Shrill exclaims. Cygnus chuckles, which causes Shrill to shoot him a glare. “Does this one have to accompany us, Ratchet?” She asks.

I sigh. This is my life now. “Yes Shrill, he’s the only one out of the three of us who can actually fight. I miss all the time, and you’re the stealthy type, so…he stays,” I tell her.

“Looks like you’re stuck with me, Shrill,” Cygnus teases her. He then looks at me. “Ratchet, can I have a word?” He asks, glancing at Shrill. “In private?” Shrill rolls her eyes and starts walking on ahead of us. After she is out of earshot, we start walking slowly after her.

“You trust her? Just like that? Was she really that good, or is it something else?” He asks me.

Letting out a sigh, I begin, “Like I’ve been saying, I’m not really into all that relationship junk. I don’t think she’s that bad. I thought about it, and I don’t think she’s trying to trick us. Why would she? Even if she is working for Grimoire, why join with us? He wants me dead, he could have killed me outright. There is no reason for him to send Shrill to spy on or or something,” I explain.

“I guess you have a point,” Cygnus mutters. “We should keep an eye on her, for a whole, at least. She might not be working for Grimoire anymore, but she might have an ulterior motive.”

I nod in agreement. “Could be. She is a trickster. But I don’t think she means us any harm. Might be using us to get something she wants. But, let’s keep our suspicions between us. No need to ostracise her. We’ll need her watching our backs, and we’ll have to watch hers,” I tell him.

Cygnus sighs. “I know, I know. Trust between comrades is important. If you mistrust the ones watching your back, you’re bound to fail. Anyhow, we should catch up to her. Don’t want her wandering into a fight without us.”

“Yea, that would be bad. She has info on Discordia and Grimoire we won’t find anywhere else,” I say as we quicken our pace. We catch up to her in a few minutes.

“Finally, I thought I lost you two,” Shrill says as we catch up. “So, where are we going?” She asks.

I stop walking, causing both her and Cygnus to stop as well. “I thought you were leading us back to where I was taken from?” I ask her.

She looks at me in surprise. “I don’t know where Grimoire snagged you from. I was following you,” She replies, and then glares at Cygnus.

“I was just walking,” Cygnus says with a smirk. “You two just happened to be where I was walking.” Shrill rolls her eyes as I shake my head.

“Cora, where the hell are we?” I ask her, looking at my PipBuck. I pull up the map screen and look around.

“We are just south of Foal Mountain, a ways across the river,” Cora answers.

“Well, at least we aren’t too far. I guess we can go through the canterlot mountain train tunnel to get back to the lab. Wait...is that tunnel filled with those bat things as well?” I ask, looking at Shrill.

“Bat things?” She asks. “You mean, bloodwings? I don’t think so. I think that is only the north-south tunnel. East-west should be fine.”

“Right, let’s go that way then,” I say, looking at my map one last time. “And of course,” I sigh, “we’ve been walking in the wrong direction. Seriously Cygnus, this is why you don’t go around saying ‘this has been normal today’, temping fate and junk,” I say, giving him a look.

“Oh,” Shrill says with a smile. “Are you superstitious Ratchet?” She asks with a hint of laughter in her voice. I immediately regret saying anything. This is going to be a thing now, isn’t it?

“Yes she is,” Cygnus says with a smile. “Scared of black cats, ladders, and all that.”

“Oh come on, I am not!” I yell. Both of them snicker. “Seriously. I mean it. You just don’t go around saying certain phrases though. ‘Could this get any worse?’, ‘today has been pretty normal’, ‘that could never happen’, that sort of stuff.”

“Ok, Ratchet. I understand,” Shrill says as she stops laughing and goes back to normal. Then she looks behind me and her eyes go wide as she points a hoof and yells, “Look out Ratchet! Salt! Don’t spill it!” And burst out into laughter again, joined by Cygnus.

I roll my head and let out a groan. “Ughhhh, let’s goooo,” I say and I begin to walk away. I hear them walking after me, but they are laughing so hard their steps are uneven.

“Wait Ratchet!” Cygnus calls out, “Don’t step on a crack!” Oh Celestia, this is my life now. Just keep walking, ignore them...just keep walking.

===~+~===

After an excruciatingly long journey, mainly due to all the snickering and jokes at my expense, we reach my lab. It is odd how two ponies who started off suspicious of each other got so close, so quickly. You’d almost not know that Shrill was trying to win my affection and Cygnus thinks he owes me for letting him out.

But thankfully, as soon as the door opens to the lab, Shrill is left speechless. Well, for a while at least. “This is...where you life?” She says in amazement.

“Yep. It’s no stable, but it is home. Complete with living quarters, a medical area, and a bathroom,” I say with a smile.

“A bathroom you say? Such luxury. I’ve seen bathrooms though, nothing special there,” Shrill says, looking around.

“Hey Cygnus, want to show her around, let her pick out a bed and what not? I want to get to work on Cora’s armor,” I ask him. Cygnus nods, but Shrill raises an eyebrow.

“Cora’s armor? Does an AI need armor?” She asks.

“You’ll see,” I tell her with a smile. “Show her the workshop last, and take your time. I might be able to finish up before you get to me.”

“Sure thing, come along Shrill, we’ll start in medical,” Cygnus says and he starts to walk away with Shrill trotting excitedly after him. Given how excited she seems, I don’t think Grimoire lives in the most luxurious of locations. Not like that narrows down the search much.

I head to the workshop and begin tinkering on the spark battery according to Cora’s designs. As I build it, I hear Shrill shout, “IT’S SO CLEAN!” I can’t help but snicker.

It takes a bit, but I manage to produce the rechargeable battery. “Now then, let’s charge it up and hook it in,” I mutter as I use the magic charging port and focus my magic into it. After a few minutes, my strength is sapped, but the battery is full.

“You ready, Cora?” I ask as I plug the battery into the armor.

“Of course, Ratchet!” Cora replies. “But, let’s wait a moment. Cygnus and Shrill are heading our way.”

A few moments later, the door opens and the two enter. “The bathroom...it is so clean…” Shrill says as she enters. “How?” She asks.

Cygnus and I chuckle. “I’m kind of a stickler for cleanliness. When I first woke up and got back here, all of us cleaned it once we cleared out some rubble blocking the tunnels,” I tell her. “But now, you asked earlier about Cora’s armor? Well, I finished so it is time to feast your eyes on my genius!” I cough and make a correction, “Cora’s genius, she made the plans. I just did the work.”

I plug into the armor and transfer Cora in. “Alright Cora, go ahead with start up procedures!” I declare.

“Sounds good!” She replies. “Initial system diagnostics...complete. Systems online. Running power diagnostics...98.7% efficiency. Initiating AI override, assuming control.” The armor’s visor glows a icy blue and the armor trembles for a moment. “Full control has been transferred, executing movement diagnostics.”

Cora begins walking around the room, crouching, jumping, and balancing at various angles. “It’s moving...on its own?” Shrill says, staring on in amazement. “But, it is just ranger armor, right? Not a robot?”

I chuckle. “Correct, it is just armor that Cora and I have modified. Added some systems to allow her to move the armor, use the weapons, that kind of thing. I can still get in it if I want as well. It is hollow, after all,” I tell her.

“Movement diagnostics complete. All servos, gyros, and pistons functioning at acceptable thresholds. Beginning weapon diagnostics.” Cora says, and begins moving Raptor Blood around along with the other weapons. The sniper and assault rifle have a much smaller field of movement, but just enough for precision aiming.

“Retracting ammo belts. Testing firing sequences.” Her guns click a few times. “Firing sequence successful. Initiating final test, complex wide range movement.” She shakes and stretches before striking a variety of poses. Laying down, rotating her upper and lower body separately, and finally standing on her rear hooves. It looks really odd and her guns won’t be able to hit anything in front of her that way.

“Testing complete,” Cora says. “It is perfect, Ratchet! I love it!”

“That’s good,” I say with a smile. “You can stay in it as long as you want. You should be able to just hook into the lab’s system yourself and power off the armor when you want. You can also probably enter it similarly, assuming it is hooked in and still has enough power to start up.”

Cora nods. “Of course. I want to run some more tests. I’ll be walking around the lab, getting used to the feeling of having my own body,” She says happily. It is kind of bizarre having a suit of armor talk to you happily, knowing that nothing inside of it is physically smiling.

“We’ll charge the battery again before we go anywhere. But for now, it is getting late. Those of us who need it should probably get some sleep. Today was...an adventure. Not our usual kind, but an adventure never-the-less,” I mutter, stretching my limbs.

Cygnus frowns. “I was the one who did all the work this time, how are you tired?” He asks.

“Oh,” Shrill chimes in, “she is tired for an entirely different reason, right?” She says, giving me a wink. I feel my mane prickle a bit. Cygnus just lets out a sigh and leaves the room. Once he’s gone, Shrill adds, “Shall we go to bed too, darling?”

“Yeahhhh…I guess,” I mutter uncomfortably. “Hey Cora, don’t make too much noise, ok?”

“I’ll try not to!” She declares as she walks around in a circle. Shrill and I leave the workshop and head to the living quarters. Cygnus is already in his bed, and I begin walking over to mine, which curiously has another one push right up against it.

Shrill happily trots over the the bed adjoining mine and beams me a broad smile. “No,” I say simply as I walk over. She pouts, and pulls her bed back to where it was originally. We both climb under our covers, and I turn to face her.

“Hey Shrill,” I call to her.

“Change your mind?” She says with glee.

“No. Tomorrow, I want to ask you about Grimoire and Discordia. I need as much information I can get about them,” I tell her.

“Oh,” Shrill says disappointedly. “Fine, I don’t mind,” She says, pulling her blankets up. “Good night, Ratchet.”

“Good night, Shrill,” I tell her. “Night Cygnus,” I call over to him, halfway across the room.

“Night,” He calls back.

“Night Cygnus!” Shrill calls out playfully.

Cygnus sighs. “Night Shrill,” He replies. The three of us then remain quiet as I hit the light switch with my magic. A few minutes later, there is a loud bang from somewhere in the lab.

“I’m OK!” Cora yells, “Just fell!” She seems to realize she’s yelling, and remembers I told her to be quiet. “Oops! Sorry!” She calls again. “Sorry!” She calls again, in a quieter voice. “Sorry!” She calls again, even quieter. I think she’s done as it is quiet for about a minute. Then a blue glow lights up the room and I turn to see Cora’s head peaking in the room. “Sorry,” She says in a normal level of volume.

“We get it!” I call over to her. I hear Shrill giggling behind me.

Yep. This is my life now.

===~+~===

Quest Updated!

The Chaos Crusade - Ask Shrill about Grimoire and Discordia.

Chapter 20 - Tongue Twister (Clean Version)