Fallout Equestria: The Ranger of Seamane

Chapter 22 – Under the Cover of Night

“That was unexpected, wasn’t it?”

        After my morning appointment with Helping Hoof I was released. The appointment itself had dragged on for hours on end as Helping Hoof put me through every psychological test he could as well as a rather lengthy therapy session. While I didn't mind the help with shoring up my defenses of what I considered to be the corrosion caused by the wasteland, I did mind that it took as long as it did. Then again I seemed to have developed a lack of patience for things. However, I was one for being thankful to being through and Helping Hoof most certainly was through with his work.

        Still though, when I was finally released I happily trotted out no longer feeling like I was going to be shot to ribbons without a chance to run. Though thinking about the fact that I felt that way was slightly worrying to me that my thoughts were now about how nice it was to have a chance to run before somepony started to murder me. I guessed it to just be a sign of the times, after all world went to hell and is full of ponies wanting me dead whether they knew of me or not. And for some reason that was a light hearted thought for me.

        “You look rather happy.” Rose laughed slightly as she joined me on the trip back to our room.

        “Well, for some stupid reason I feel rather upbeat. I don't know why because pretty much every thought in my head at the moment is rather morbid and darkly humorous to me.” I replied as I pranced beside Rose who now has a bemused look on her face. “Oh we should get me some new equipment, since pretty much everything got busted. Right, what got ruined during the period of time I cut out of my head?”

        “That... Moonlight, you need to calm down. You’re kind of making my skin crawl with how well you are taking things.” Rose nickered, I looked at her to see worry plastered on her face.

        “I...” I regarded my words and actions. “Well, okay, yeah that is a bit creepy. How about you do what you do best. That should help in some fashion. If anything making me tired and not so... disturbing.”

        “That is agreeable. We will work on figuring out equipment after pulling you down from being on cloud nine.” Rose agreed, starting to regain her composure.

        “To be honest, afterwords I am probably going to be feeling creeped out at myself more if you remind me of this exchange.” I answered, my cheeriness still lingering and hyperness fading only slightly. “Make certain you exhaust me and not yourself.”

        “I'll try to keep that in mind. Also Anabel introduced herself, the fact that you recruited a gryphon after all this is not lost on Foresight. Also Foresight has been acting strange since you left. You two had a private conversation and since then instead of being angry at you he has been worried about you. Do you have any ideas on what you said or did?” Rose asked.

        “Unfortunately the last thing I remember is talking to Ruby the night I woke up from being out cold for two days. Then I was in the crater digging out mutated flesh from my shoulder.” I muttered the last part, still disturbed by what had transpired in the crater, the sensations of it crawling back into my mind.

        “Nopony told me what was happening with that. What was so bad that it required to irradiate yourself and cut out a chunk of yourself?” Rose asked as we got to our room, my mood having mellowed out and not going where I had wanted it to.

        “It... it wasn't anything you would ever would want to see or be explained to you. It is something I wish to forget.” I muttered, quieter than before making Rose lean in to hear.

        “I am assuming you talked to Helping Hoof about it, so I won't press about about what happened. If you do want to tell me, remember we said we’re free to share whatever between us.” Rose said as she nuzzled me.

        “Yeah, but, this isn't the time for that. Though now I am not really feeling up for anything other than brooding.” I replied.

        “Oh I know what type of brooding you want to do, but, that isn't the brooding you asked me to do with you.” Rose chuckled darkly causing me to flush.

        “Thankfully I told you that before I soured my own mood, because you just soured my mood from wanting to be depressed and introspective. Bring on the pain.” I laughed, then winced at the last part knowing I would be regretting that soon.

        I yawned as I went to get up from our bed, only to find that I was still tied down. I sighed in frustration as I undid the knots so I could get up and relieve myself. It was hard to believe we had, or more of I had, spent an entire day locked in the room tied to the bed. Somehow none of that triggering me like my little trip to that hell hole of a building had been. Mental landmines were a strange things. Still though I did enjoy it all, though it had gone on far longer than expected. As I returned to the bed I decided not to wake Rose yet and instead curl up beside her while I organized my thoughts some more.

        To be perfectly honest I was surprised with myself. I had figured out a way to lure myself back to a pickup point that I would only be able to pick up on if still sane. Though if my friends had found me while I was in that place I don't know how I would have reacted, possibly the same way I had when Rose rescued me. I probably would have lost any ability to control myself and just broke down crying. As it was Anabel had given me a perfect tool to break myself out of the hold that place was beginning to have upon me.

        I pressed my muzzle against Rose's soft stomach, enjoying the softness of her. When she was relaxed she was soft, but, when she was awake generally she would hold herself in a way that kept her muscles taught making her not the softest pony around. Still though I took what small opportunities to enjoy her softness when I could. There was a great deal of comfort I could take from it, though I knew not why, I also didn't question why and simply enjoyed the relaxation it brought me. There were things I could do now with Rose that would get her relaxed, but, it wasn't the same as when she was asleep and completely relaxed. When awake she seemed to always have a degree of alertness, of stress, maybe constant anxiety over something. Unfortunately I had yet to figure out why or be willing to bridge my lack of understanding with a simple question of why.

        “Since you are already down there, want to have a little fun?” Rose whispered as a hoof stroked my mane indicating Rose was very much awake and very much could be soft while awake. I got the nagging feeling I had talked to her about it or she had talked to Helping Hoof about it.

        I turned my attention to the question she posed. I failed to have a reply.

        “Oh? You fell asleep that quickly...” She laughed softly. “I guess I can't blame you.”

        I did something I hadn't expected myself to do, it just sort of happened since I was down there and they were next to my muzzle. The squeal of delight was music to my ears as I found something that Rose had never let me do yet loved, apparently. I blushed furiously as I backed away and looked at her, my cheeks having bits of ash flutter off of them.

        “I!!” I stammered trying to calm down before my face caught fire. “I! UM!”

        She pounce me grinning wildly.

        “Please go easy on me.” I finally managed to whimper.

        That was the beginning of a surprisingly innocent hour. I say surprisingly innocent due to it still wasn't innocent, but, compared to the other day it was far more innocent. Though it had to come to an end as we had things to do today, and everypony was probably worried either Rose was torturing me or was jealous of one of us. I also needed to get moving around so my muscles didn't decide to cramp on me.

        So I spent the day looking for replacements for my lost equipment and procuring ammunition from security. Towards the end I dragged Rose to the spa with myself, while she protested that she could do what I wanted done at the spa with just us I wanted to not come out of it bound, gagged, and sweat drenched. I also needed my coat, mane, and tail cleaned up now that they all were rather burnt, and my tail crudely cut by bounty hunters. I missed my long tail.

Rose bent to my will and we enjoyed ourselves. Rose finally got her mane and tail trimmed that made her look like somepony had cared for her instead of looking like her mane and tail had been trimmed with bullets. Though with how much shooting kept happening around us that might have actually been the reason for its sorry state. Also the water seemed to help keep me from physically smoldering or flaking bits of ash, which was nice because Rose was trying her best to get me and keep me worked up as payback. I wasn't entirely sure for what she was getting payback for, though I figured she had plans and I ruined them with my insistence we go to the spa instead. Honestly her plans could wait a few hours for us to get clean and relaxed, couldn't they?

        I then found out that really they shouldn't have waited, or shouldn't have had to wait. I felt she probably tried to tell me at some point, but, I was so fixated on the spa treatment I ignored what she was trying to say. Thankfully my plans hadn't ruined hers, though it made us spectacularly late for the event. I honestly could say I wasn't much for high society gatherings, however it was important to Ruby, and Rose had figured us going to it would possibly help with my attempts at a war. I knew otherwise that these ponies of Tenpony would never lift a hoof to help anypony else, directly at least. However, my detour to the spa had helped greatly as now instead of smelling heavily of sex we smelled 'cultured' which to me really smelled like a big fat meal for a Manticore or other wasteland monster. Still, we went, we wined, we dined, we pranced about in our fancy dresses, I had to explain who knows how many times I was taken and a fillyfooler. Really it got annoying after a short while. However, I kept on a smile and politely declined any advances from anypony that made them. In the end I felt at very least my standing with Tenpony probably had improved a little, though I felt it would improve a lot more if I did something more worthwhile like cleaning out a horde of feral ghouls trying to kill them. At least then it would have been fun. Still I wagered I probably had a discount here or there now available which I would partake in tomorrow when finishing gathering supplies, and souvenirs.

        “You know that was just about as tiring as getting blown up.” I laughed as Rose and myself returned to our room.

        “Really? Then I need to get blown up more due to that wasn't that tiring at all.” Rose teased as we got out of the frilly garments.

        “Trust me, you don't, getting blown up leaves scars and burn marks. These parties just leave scars on your psyche from how ponies hit on you and burns from nasty comebacks.” I giggled as I flopped onto our bed.

        “Oh they couldn't have been that bad. Most of mine were just silly.” Rose laughed and I realized compared to how she used to get propositioned all of the ones she got here would have been silly and playful instead of sadistic and terrifying.

        “I guess you're right.” I sighed and then felt a hoof press against my chest between ribs. “What?”

        “You're doing it again.” Rose merely stated as I rolled my eyes at her.

        “No introspection, no brooding, no deep philosophical debates within my head while in the bedroom. I know the rules.” I recited, then floundered at how I knew that. “We set that up at some point didn't we.”

        “Seems Helping Hoof was right, you don’t have memories, but, you will retain training.” Rose cooed and I suddenly felt that I was at a rather frightening disadvantage.

        “Hey, that isn't fair. Psychological warfare is one thing, but, this is a completely different game and I say that is not fair at all!” I pouted as hard as I could at Rose.

        She stopped and regarded me for a few seconds before rolling me onto my back. “Sorry, all is fair in love and war.”

        “Rose, take it easy, I know you love whenever we stop someplace nice for a few days because you enjoy the time sharing a bed with me. However...” I paused trying to find a reason to make her back off and found I had none, I wanted it, I almost always wanted it. “However... Damn it, you’re too good I have nothing to complain about. You have broken me in Rose, I have nothing to resist you with anymore.”

        “And with that you have signed your unconditional surrender to me for good.” Rose whispered hotly into my ear.

        “May nopony ever see what happens between us.” I muttered.

        After a few more days of resting up, a few trips to Helping Hoof of the medical nature and now knowing exactly how far we could push my body, as well as me being a klutz, we had set out to return to Colt. Though I was working on a plan of how to deal with Old Appleloosa, mostly it was just have Anabel fly me past it on her back, sleep for a night while everyone else rested in Old Appleloosa then meet back up the next day.

        I also insisted on going through the stores of Tenpony one last time just in case they had gotten something interesting. To my frustration they had not gotten anything beyond a few more spare parts for my weapons. As things were with my weapons both energy weapons were shot for now, upon closer inspection I had found the housing damaged and didn't trust myself to properly diagnose the issue until I had the proper equipment and reference books. I also was finding I needed to start hunting down some spare parts for This and That Gun. Both were in pretty bad condition as of now and due to their rather unique existence among wasteland firearms. To repair them would mean either learning how to jury rig repairs for them or hope I found another revolver or two like them I could cannibalize for parts. I also managed to pull some information out of a information broker’s hooves with the help of some caps on what had originally been around Ministry Row in Seamane. If I was going to go into the old military fort I wanted to also know if there were any other interesting companies or places to hit up. Both for arming myself as well as for hopefully placating Anabel into deciding we were good company to keep.

        As we left we began our trip swinging further south towards the Balitmare area as to avoid Shattered Hoof as well as Fillydelphia. The walk along the coast was rather tame compared to if we had gone inland at all. We were also going further south as so we could avoid going to Canterlot. As we followed the path to New Appleloosa we stopped for the day and I looked at a bit of signage.

        “Hope? I thought the Ponyville ruins were this way.” I said as I looked westward.

        “Hope was a town near Ponyville as well as the Everfree Forest. Though kind of out of our way. Why you wanting to see the Big Macintosh war memorial?” Ruby asked looking westward with me.

        “Well, I hate to say it, but, I had hoped to go by the Everfree side near Ponyville and pick up some soil and a few plants so I could grow the ingredients that Crane told me of for the burnout curative.” I explained then shook my head. “It isn't worth it, in all likelihood the plants are buried under the snow and the entirety of the Everfree is just one giant plant that spews taint or some other suitably horrific things.”

        “Yeah, I don't think anypony has gone in there and lived since the war. Even before the war it was nasty.” Ruby added.

        “It is just to the north... I mean even if it was bad, plants probably don't like the cold and I could at least grab the soil, it would mean one less thing to have to do.” I muttered. “Yes I am seriously thinking about this Ruby. And I know I would have to probably go alone or with one other member of our party as to not mess up having enough ponies for the watch. Maybe Anabel would take me, flying would shave off some time...”

        “It is up to you, it isn't that far of a walk, I mean we can see the forest edge from here.” Ruby commented as I thought to myself on whether or not to go.

        “Well no matter what tomorrow we go to New Appleloosa, grab what we need for getting through the badlands and back to Colt.” I explained, though I knew Ruby very well knew the plan. “Hopefully the weather holds. Though without that Wendigo the weather should be predictable.”

        “If it weren't for the pass from Dodge City to Colt being destroyed that would make things a lot easier, no hiking through the mountains. Wonder how they are doing on clearing that up anyways. There were supposedly working on it.” Ruby said, more to herself than me.

        “It would speed things up greatly. Maybe with your extra caps from this trip you can help fund them clearing it up. I think it would be a wise investment. Also would start starving off Old Appleloosa, if trade doesn't have to go through there they will leave.” I shrugged.

        “Eh? Well they might just try to set up shop in Dodge City or in the badlands itself.” Ruby commented as she thought. “Well I will think about it, probably will. Anyways, have you come to a decision yet?”

        “Yeah i have. I am going, and I am going to see if Anabel or Rose will go with me. I would prefer Anabel due to flight. Also I would worry more if Rose was with me.” I replied as I turned to go talk to Anabel.

        “I heard you, and, to be honest, I am interested in it as well, though I would like to check out the Hope Solar Array afterwards if you don't mind. We’ll meet up with the rest in New Appleloosa since we’re already planning to spend a day there.” Anabel said as I drew closer.

        “What keen ears you have. Alright then, walking or flying?” I asked.

        “Flying, it is quieter and faster. We want to be both if anything about the Everfree turns out to be true. Supposedly there is Killing Joke throughout the place. Apparently whatever makes the Everfree more nasty than anywhere else that isn't flooded with taint turned Poison Joke into a lethal plant that seems to have some form of awareness.” Anabel explained as I climbed onto her back and put my left hoof into the makeshift saddle we had fashioned.

        “You know I think I like riding you a bit too much.” I said as we lifted into the air, enjoying the fact I had essentially my own personal transportation.

        “Thankfully not like how I imagine your marefriend rides you. Really not into the whole cross species thing, or females.” Anabel laughed as I flushed.

        “Yeah, not like how Rose likes to do things. More of I just like to fly, but I don't have wings myself though I would love to have them.” I chuckled. “Too bad from what I understand cybernetic wings don't grant flight unless you already could fly so that isn't happening. I also don't want to hoof myself over to the Goddess to become a alicorn, I would lose more than I would gain by doing that.”

        “Well, I understand what you mean. I would be pretty sore if I lost my wings. Think of flying like your magic, imagine if you lost your horn, you wouldn't feel all that useful anymore. Wings are the same way, and it is frustrating when you hurt your wings and get grounded.” Anabel explained as we drew close to the forest, I was seeing now how gnarled and uninviting the place was.

        “Well in that case, first priority of yours while we are in here is to keep your wings safe. If needed I can glide a bit with my magic, just give me a heads up first.” I instructed as we both quieted down and I pressed myself against Anabel's back as she shrunk her profile as we entered the forest.

        Anabel kept a slow speed as well as keeping us a good distance off the forest floor. My E.F.S. was filled with red as we moved about. As we went further I pulled up the task of collecting the various ingredients that Crane had told me. The markers lit up and I began using my hind legs to help Anabel guide us towards the plants in question.

        “Whatever you do Moonlight, don't fire off any weapons. If we need to engage I have my incendiary grenades, that and firebombs. Those will be the only things you can use if you don’t want to wake up the whole forest and just put tiny holes in what is here. Prioritize the use of the firebombs over the grenades. The sound of a glass bottle breaking will be a lot less than that of a grenade exploding.” Anabel instructed and I gave a single tap of my right hoof, the signal we agreed to use as understanding.

        We eventually got to the first marker, by this point we had both pulled on the night vision binoculars I had crafted us from spritebots. I had Anabel hover in place as I levitated myself down and softly touched down on the forest floor. Once I did I went about slowly and very softly moving around until I found the plant in question. I grimaced as I realized that I would have to dig out the plant in question if I wanted to take more than just seeds or stocks. I motioned Anabel to prepare for possible trouble as I dug.

        The digging wasn't bad, using magic I essentially sliced the ground how I wanted it to be shaped and lifted slowly. The problem came from as I finished gathering the plants I felt a shift under the ground and had only a fraction of a second to jump. As I rose in the air the ground started to break, then stopped as if noticing my sudden departure from the surface. I raised a hoof and Anabel grabbed it and slung me onto her back.

        “First group down.” I whispered then began directing her towards the next location.

        “Close call, hopefully it can't track us while we are in the air.” Anabel whispered back.

        It took a further five minutes to get to the next location. This one I noticed was near some trees that had moss formations that looked frighteningly like ponies. This time I stayed on her back as the plants in question were easy to see from here and proceeded to gather my samples and soil. Once the samples were in my bags I tapped out directions the third location.

        This took us a bit longer and we encountered some hostile plant life. These plants had apparently adapted or mutated to shoot their seeds, which once they landed quickly grew in whatever they hit. The first salvo we dodged and saw the results on a tree that had been a shield. In retaliation I made a wave of fire to burn the damned plants away and prepared further fire spells, now using orbs of blue fire as our light source instead of the goggles. It was too much of a risk to not have protection now that detectability was a lower priority. As well as we had noticed a distinct lack of animals while in here, it was as if plants had killed off any animal life and taken over fully.

        Finally we arrived at the final clearing, as we did I dropped the fire spells so I could focus on the harvesting of plants. The minutes dragged on as I carefully harvested the final plant as well as let our eyes adjust to the darkness again before changing back to the goggles.

While flying around we had spotted two places of interest. The first was some sort of ruin, the other was a clearing that would give us quick access to the sky. We would use a fire curtain to protect us until we arrived at the Hope Solar Array. However, until then we were going back to stealth instead of protection. I also felt that anything we had alerted had calmed down by now, as well as we were a good distance away by now. Still, I was keeping alert just in case. Something told me that this forest was a lot like Hoofington, tainted by something wrong, and having a malice towards life.

        We began heading for the ruins and started having to avoiding patrols of other gryphons. This was not something I had anticipated, nor had Anabel. I used my E.F.S., which was now more clear, to guide us around patrols. Thankfully the gryphons were easy to spot as they were pretty much the only hostiles in the area as well as the only ones moving.

        After a few more tense minutes of avoiding the patrols we had managed to get closer to the ruins. I assumed this had been the castle of two sisters back in the day, now though it seemed to be undergoing some repairs. I noticed something I rather despised. I saw a pony I would never forget. I saw Red Eye. I pointed him out and felt Anabel even bristle at the sight of him.

        Here he was, he had no idea we were here. This far out we were past what E.F.S. could display, and I could blow his head off. I should just do it. Even if it brings hell on us, here was a murderous slaving bastard who needed to die. Then a few more ponies showed up, his guard as it were. We kept still and continued to observe. I fought ever urge to just end him, only for knowing that doing so here would mean little. What was the value of killing the leader if his armies would still continue on without him? He was not just a figurehead, but, his death would do little. The fact he had managed to get such a large organized operation going in Fillydelphia showed that he knew how to create organization. It would continue to run without him, though, I suspected with not so lofty goals.

        Eventually we moved off and finished exploring what we could. Deeper in had too many guards to reasonably get by with our lack of stealthy weapons. We proceeded to move outside.

        “Stop! Where do you think you are taking that unicorn filly?” Commanded a guard who had spotted us. Thankfully they were considering me to be one of the ponies who was supposed to be here, apparently.

        “Fillydelphia, I was just told her to take her there as quickly as I could.” Anabel responded. The guard came closer as she did. I felt the tension of the situation start to press upon me.

        “Really? I would have expected you to have gone out via the landing area, it is much safer way to take off than over here.” The guard explained.

        “Sorry, I kind of just got woken up and wasn't thinking straight. You know how it can be. Get told you have the night off then suddenly get orders to go do something in the middle of your sleep.” Anabel replied as the guard finished walking to us.

        “Yeah I do, now then-” He stopped as he looked at me. “Wait, none of the fillies here have a curved horn.”

        'Well fuck, I hope you have something up your sleeve Anabel or this is about to get loud.'

        “Huh, maybe that is why they want her back in Fillydelphia, guess she wasn't supposed to come here, but, someone messed up and took the wrong one?” Anabel offered, it was plausible with the scale of Red Eye's operations there had to be miscommunication from time to time.

        “Whoever is behind it is going to catch hell from Stern. Hell, I don't envy you having to be the bearer of such news.” He gave out a sigh. “Alright you two keep safe, hopefully someday soon those eggheads in Fillydelphia will finish cooking up something to clear out all the fucked up shit in the Everfree. Maybe they will have when you get there and you can bring back the first batch. Getting tired of digging seeds out of my sides. Don't get me started on those moss ponies.”

        “Yeah, I have caught a few glances of those, thankfully haven’t seen them in action.” Anabel commented. “Alright, have yourself a good night, I have to fly on little sleep.”

        “Yep, see you.” The guard said before walking off and I let out a breath I had been holding.

        “Damn Anabel you know how to talk your way out of a bad situation.” I whispered.

        “Well, you have to be, explosives cost a lot you know.” Anabel laughed quietly as we took to the skies.

        The next few minutes were used to look like we were going Fillydelphia, then we changed course to go to Hope. We managed to avoid whatever sensory organs the seed shooting plants had as we flew and also got a view of the hill that had the clearing we had been interested in. The only thing in the clearing we could make out was a tree. We decided to avoid looking further into it as it was just a tree and really the place was full of those. So we began heading west towards Hope and it's solar array.

        “Since we are up high, I think it is safe to talk. Can you explain what the solar array is?” I asked Anabel as we flew high above the Everfree.

        “Sure, it was a power plant of sorts that generated electricity from sunlight.” Anabel explained.

        “I can see why it wasn't very popular then. If it could only produce power during the day it would be useless for a third of the day on average.” I said. “Still though, what has you interested in it?”

        “Simple, unique technology is there, I want a piece of it, and, if I can, plans as well.” Anabel explained.

        “For what, decoration?” I asked, frowning.

        “I have wings silly, and not everywhere is covered in clouds or under the Enclave's control.” Anabel laughed.

        “Okay fair enough, though, who is this Enclave?” I asked, I had the vague feeling it had been explained to me before, but, I had simply forgotten.

        “Bunch of assholes who think they are the only ones who matter in the world. The Grand Pegasus Enclave as they call themselves. They tossed majority of us gryphons out of our ancestral homes just so they could mine the mountains.” Anabel spat. “They don't control all of the skies, but, they are very picky about who, what, where, and when anything goes above the clouds.”

        “So I am guessing they have some left over military toys from the war. Impressive.” I admitted.

        “Yeah, they haven't really built anything new, more of they are struggling to keep things running. You know how hard it is down here to keep something running for two hundred years. Up there resources are even tighter, population control is in place to keep a food crisis from happening. Even with that, they are edging closer and closer to falling apart, both socially and physically.” Anabel explained as she began to descend now that we cleared the Everfree.

        “I would imagine they would drum up a war with the surface before they did. Hell, they would have to be pulling some crazy things out of their rears to keep ponies curiosity about the surface in check.”

        “They do, don't know how often, but, from time to time they send down a team to the surface, then make a big deal how it isn't safe yet. Two hundred years of that and you could see why the population for the most part stays complacent.” Anabel said as she slowed as I caught the reflection of light off of something. “Well I'll be damned, they were right.”

        “What do you mean?” I said as I adjusted myself to safely look over Anabel's shoulder as she hovered in place.

        “I would have thought by now the place would be complete ruins, instead, it is rather intact. And, apparently the Enclave still can't control the clouds over the Everfree. That was what the flash was, a reflection of the moonlight.” Anabel said, sounding mystified.

        “Then it is best we get down there now and start looking for what you want while nopony is around.” I suggested, knowing I was at the mercy of my rides curiosity unless I wanted to glide.

        “Right, it would be best not to sit in the air, who knows what is around here. Also, Moonlight, just be careful, don't go into the White Tail Woods it is to the north, that place is highly radioactive.” Anabel warned as we finished our decent.

        “Hold it!” I commanded as I saw a familiar orange light. Anabel quickly stopped and I moved to confirm my suspicions. “Yep, we have mines.”

        “Damn, so what now?” Anabel began as I hopped off and landed softly on the ground. “Moonlight are you insane!”

        “No, I have a light step.” I said as I disarmed the first mine and double checked for it being trapped with a timer, remote switch, or any other nasty trick. As it was I was floating them away from the intact solar panels. “You go and scout around to see if there are any automated defenses or a entrance to the main building that isn't on the ground. I doubt many figured that a flier would come here so it should be safer for you to enter from above.”

        Anabel gave me a nod and took to doing as I had suggested. I was taking my sweet time disarming and removing the mines seeing as we both didn't want noise to alert anyone of our presence nor did we want to damage a solar array. Hopefully we would also find blueprints or something of interest here beyond the aged panels.

        I had managed to clear a good swath of the mines when I heard the click of a gun cocking and I flinched at the sound.

        “For a pony with a pipbuck you really aren't that observant.” Something said from behind me as I finished disarming another mine.

        “You do realize where we are right?” I asked, as I prepared to toss a mine at my uninvited guest.

        “The Hope Solar Array. Now where is your gryphon friend, don't think your entry into the Cathedral went unnoticed.” My guest said as I planned on how I would deal with them.

        “Ah, so that is what it was called. You want to know something funny? I could have killed him, so easily right then and there. I didn't. If you are here, he knows it as well. So then, why did you come here? To take me to go have some tea with the great and charismatic Red Eye?” I asked as I put the mine I had just disarmed on the ground next to my hoof.

        “That is why I am here to collect you. Your friend will be getting greeted soon enough as well.” I felt their presence draw closer, I guessed he was a gryphon from the lack of sound of their movement.

        I let out a sigh as I turned my head to face my guest. “Nobody ever learns do they?”

        “What do you-” He was cut off by a mine being shoved in his mouth as I threw a barrier around him and detonated it. The explosion, fire, and his remains were contained as a spike of pain drove into my skull as the telekinetic barrier shattered.

        “Unicorns cheat.” I explained to the now roasted gryphon. I sneered at his corpse. “We always cheat.”

        I checked him over quickly and managed to recover his ammo, his weapon was ruined from the confined explosion. His head... well I would never know if he had a helmet or not.

        “Well then, tonight just got more interesting.” I nickered as I worked my way to the central buildings.

        I got to the front door and had to pick the lock to enter. Thankfully that didn't take too long and I let myself in, though I didn't re-lock it this time just in case I had to go out this way quickly. Once inside I realized it wasn't going to be a quick trip to find Anabel, my only asset would be the tags for friend and foe, and I was already getting a fair number of red tags in my vision. So, as to not be a fool I began with clearing the first room. The place was empty except for a small reception desk with a still active terminal. From the lack of explosions I wagered Anabel was okay for now, hell, she had been doing fine before meeting me so I doubted this was any sort of threat to her at all.

        “Alright, lets see what’s in you.” I muttered as I accessed the terminal quickly defeating its security system. Within it I found a few memo's mention of an inspection by the military, a demonstration for Princess Luna, and going away parties for a large number of engineers and scientists now that the facility was up and running smoothly. All of it was reasonable enough, and I took note of where the transfers had been that were in the Seamane region. I would pay them a visit, after all any place with interesting tech would be a place Anabel would want to go, and if she wanted to go somewhere I was going to take her. Because until I cemented her being on our side I was going to placate her as much as I could.

        I stepped back from the terminal turning it off and checking each door. The first set lead to a few offices, within them wasn't anything of note other than a few more notes and personal memos by the administration staff. So I headed back into the facility itself. As I did I found the source of the red tags, turrets, robots, and ghouls, oh my. The robots and ghouls were easy to deal with as they did not have weapons that could really harm me. However the turrets were annoyingly hard to hit before they started shooting.

        “This isn't working, it also is probably drawing a lot of attention...” I muttered to myself, then the closed door next to me exploded. “Everything always just has to explode...”

        Out through the now destroyed door came a rather armored and frightfully armed robot. I rolled and managed to not get hit by its minigun and got below it. I then realized my mistake when it began to try to crush me by sitting on my head. I instead kicked out a leg, shoved it with my magic and rolled to the side, it fell over and I quickly found its control panel and destroyed it, shutting the robot down for good. I pulled out my sword from the mangled mess of the robot and then went to removing its arms. The minigun was my primary goal and all of its lovely five millimeter ammunition. The rocket launcher was easier to remove and I stowed that on my back as I carried off the minigun in my magic.

        I returned to the room where the turrets were and decided to just pelt the turrets into submission instead of trying to pick off the targeting talismans. This tactic was much more effective. I also managed to recover the built in guns from the turrets, though now they wouldn't be of much use until I found the trigger mechanism within them.

        The next room was a bit of a surprise. It was sleeping quarters. I frowned as I picked over the place finding a few keys that I added to my key chain. In this room I also found a good number of dead ponies, one wearing a lab coat and a pair of sunglasses. I frowned then took the sunglasses for myself. They were stylish to me, and who knew, maybe now with having a pair of wings around I would be seeing the sun more. I put the sunglasses on and opened the door to the next area only to almost be blinded by a wall of flood lights. I pushed myself back with my telekinesis in time to dodge a burst of weapons fire. I then heard the whirring of automated parts letting me know more turrets and robots were in there.

        “Okay so... how to proceed... I probably should fire a rocket in there, that should with the blast shatter most of the lights...” I whispered to myself wishing I had a spark grenade on me. “Well, only option after that is either take them down or charge across the room. Maybe there is a terminal I can use to shut down or frenzy the turrets on the other side.”

        As I concluded my thoughts a one of those floating spider like robots came around the corner and moved to bring a buzz saw down on my skull. I shoved it into the wall as I jumped back, my shock causing me to drop my minigun on the floor. With astounding speed the robot recovered and charged me, I blocked the buzz saw arm with my pipbuck which caused the saw to give off a horrid grinding noise. I grabbed my knife from my right foreleg and jabbed at what I assumed to be the power cable for the saw. I missed and instead put a dent into the arm itself. With another shove I gave myself a bit of distance from the robot and myself. I got about two breaths before it caught up to me again and I slammed the knife into its saw to jam it. I was certain the knife itself would fail before the industrial saw blade.

        With a moment to breath as the robot attempted to unjam its saw arm I drew my sword and smashed one of the eyestalks it had. While the attack worked the robot assessed me as being more of a problem than its jammed buzz saw. It turned and brought up its third arm on which I saw a flame connected to.

        “Oh fuck!” I shouted as I managed unleashed a wall of flame towards the robot as it fired it's built in flame thrower. The fires consumed the oxygen in the air too fast for the flames to continue existing for a moment and smoke filled the air. I pulled out This Gun and aimed where the red tag for the robot still was. I pulled the trigger as another blast of fire broke the smoke wall. The red light vanished from my vision as I closed my eyes in hopes to protect them from the gout of fire.

        As the heat washed over me I did as I had been told to do for a long time if ever on fire. To stop whatever the hell I was doing, to drop onto the ground, and proceed to roll and try to smother out the flames. After a few moments the burning stopped and I opened my eyes to see my sunglasses had cracked and parts had melted, I tossed them off and moved to retrive my knife from the robot. It took me a few seconds to locate my blade and then I removed it. As I did I realized I smelled something and noticed the pool of flamer fuel on the floor. I then noticed something rather annoying that I couldn't stop from happening. Another spider bot floated into the room and blasted me with a further gout of fire, igniting the fuel below me and detonating the pressurized canisters of the stuff inside the spider bot I was standing on.

        I saw my mane on fire and attempted to put it out as I rolled about on the floor smothering where my armor or coat had caught fire. After a few moments I had put out the fires and let out a sigh as nothing had come after me in the mean time. I turned my head to take in my surroundings to only see my mane still alight, I quickly wrapped it in my magic to smother it. I let out a sigh as it was only slightly singed, though it probably should have been badly burned. I felt that it was once again my affinity for fire magic that was causing these weird things around me. That or somehow taint given mutations could be more than warped and mutated flesh as well as thriving in radiation.

        “Well, best get moving before anything comes looking for me.” I opened the door to find the back of another sentry robopony.

        This one had yet to detect me which either meant E.F.S. had failed for it, or like ponies it had to turn whatever part of it had E.F.S. sensors in it to detect things. That or it simply didn't have E.F.S. and used something else for friend or foe identification. Whatever the case was it received an indefinite power down from my sword. Then I realized two things. One, it was guarding this room; two, it was powered off before I attacked it. I turned to readdress the room I had explosively entered from below.

        I kicked on the pipbuck lamp and began to search this room. What I found was, well I kind of had half expected it. The long dead body of a pony. I let out a sigh of frustration mixed with sorrow. I searched the room further to find a note from the now dead pony that explained he had held up here while the world ended, it was the safest room as it was in the heart of the generator facility and thus furthest from the outside. He died from starvation or dehydration, I couldn't tell which, I found two empty bottles of sparkle cola and their respective caps. I frowned as I remembered an old custom that predated the celestial sisters rule and placed the caps in the hooves of the long dead pony.

        “I hope the ferry pony respects caps as currency.” I whispered as I turned to leave.

        I stared at the hulking robot that I had needlessly destroyed. “Bet I could have reprogrammed you to fight by my side. Oh well, I will just be taking your arms...”

        I removed its weapons like I had to the previous one. I slung the second rocket launcher across my back, I had no idea how to reload it so for now I had two rocket launcher shots and once more a minigun with a lot of ammo to spare. I honestly felt horrible for the first flesh and blood enemy who found me, because these halls gave little room to move side to side in so a minigun, like a flame thrower, was murderous in here. Though honestly I wouldn't mind a nice shotgun instead, miniguns felt a bit odd to use.

        I continued being blatantly loud as I chewed through spider bot after spider bot with the minigun, their hulls were not meant for any sort of true punishment as they were simple repair robots that were never designed for combat. Well, okay not heavy combat, because they did have flamers built into them for some annoying reason, I would wager either 'cooking' or pest control. Given how much fuel they had, I figured the past had some rather large pests. Probably worse due to being near the Everfree. Whenever a sentinel, that is what I was calling the heavier roboponies, showed up I broke out the rocket launchers. Generally I would get a shot off before they could fire their own rocket launcher, they also seemed to open up with their minigun instead, so at least the injury of me missing them was lessened. However, this fighting was wearing thin on my reserves of energy and strength.

        “Come on Anabel where are you and those others that Red Eye sent after us.” I muttered as I stalked down another hall having finally found the passage that connected to the central tower of the facility. I knew Anabel would likely be playing hide and seek with her pursuers so I wasn't terribly worried about her safety, yet.

        I paused as I looked at the room I had just cleared of turrets. There were markings of a fire, though, the lack of smoke at the ceiling or glowing embers on the ground told me it had been long ago. I swapped out the minigun's ammo case with a fresh one and began to check over the room to see what had caused the fire. Again, I was more or less just trying to make enough noise that someone would show up, either the enemy or Anabel, so taking my time in each room wasn't an issue, after all I was also leaving a path of spent shells and destroyed robots.

        Picking over the room I found one of the things we had come here for, detailed blueprints for the solar panels, looking over them I knew that it would be a long time before we had access to the materials needed to build our own. Still though I took them, someone some day would have use for them, and if I could make it easier for someone to find and use it was worth it. With that stuffed away in my saddlebags I turned to face the stairs that led back up and into the central tower. I had to imagine that Anabel was somewhere that way, given that there was still a freaking room full of robots and floodlights that I had bypasses in the other direction.

        Upon reaching the top of the stairs and entering a four way junction I received a mighty tackle. The suddenness of the attack made me drop the minigun and sent my head spinning as I fought to keep legs from going around my throat. After a moment I was able to see I was fighting a cybernetic pegasus, his wings reinforced with cybernetics instead of made of them. He brought a hoof down to smash my face with the adorned power hoof on it. I countered with my own attack hitting him in his knee forcing his leg to buckle and only hit me with his leg instead of the power hoof. It still hurt, but, it was better than a full force power hoof to the face.

        He began to pull back his leg when I grabbed it and managed to slip the power hoof off of it before he escaped my grasp. The loss of his power hoof seemed to be lost on him as he moved to strike again and I struck back hitting him in the face as he hit my muzzle. I felt something warm on my face and assumed his hoof had managed to break my skin. I hissed as I struck at him again freeing my pipbuck adorned leg in time to absorb another blow. While the pipbuck didn't break of course I still felt the force in my leg as it buckled under the blow, still negating it. I finally remembered my hind legs and shoved him back, and I confirmed it was a him by what I felt as I did. He hovered in the air a few feet away then darted off his tag quickly vanishing from my vision.

        “Fuck, little bugger knows how to fly indoors. Guess it makes sense for a Pegasus under Red Eye's command, got to be able to track down ponies in those tight corridors in Fillydelphia.” I muttered to myself as I brought the minigun back to myself.

        I carefully made my way down the hall I had been shoved into after being tackled, a power hoof now resting on my right foreleg. As I continued exploring this place I came to realize, this facility was far bigger than it should be, far, far, far bigger than it should be. I frowned as I stood in a larger almost warehouse like structure. However, I knew I was underground still as there were no buildings near the facility this large, and I knew I had not walked that far. I heard in the distance something metal fall and ring out across the large room causing myself to jump into a battle stance and beginning to spool up the minigun.

        I began walking between the aisles of the warehouse noticing the distinct lack of red or blue on my E.F.S. What bothered me was the fact that there was nothing here. I mean this place seemed to have survived quite well, and I would have picked this place to have hidden in during the bombardment of mega spells.

        “Then again, if something caused this place to collapse... who knows how much material would be on top of you.” I whispered looking up both at the ceiling as well as the rows upon rows of spare materials.

        If I had my head out of the clouds for a moment I would have spotted the tripwire, as it was, I didn't, though I managed to some how not trigger it with my passing until the ammo feed of my minigun snagged the wire and triggered a shotgun blast to my flank. I dropped the minigun as I fell over in reaction to the sudden pain and great force of the blast. I looked back to see the damage done was mostly going to be a massive bruise thanks to the armor having absorbed the impact. Though, now there were small craters within the armor plate that were blackened and I knew carried the pellets that were meant to rip me in half. Standing up I grabbed the minigun in my magic again keeping it faced behind me so if it triggered anything else it would take the attack instead of me. As well as having a minigun facing behind me would make any attacker trying to sneak upon me think twice about a back attack.

        Being more wary of further traps I kept my eyes focused on spotting wires or pressure plates. This worked out well and netted me a few grenades, some more twelve gauge rounds, and not getting crushed by a very dangerously balanced engine. I let out a sigh as I finished crossing the warehouse only having a few more scratches to myself than when I started. Finally I saw a pile of corpses, either long dead and mummified or those of ghouls. I really couldn't tell seeing as the ghouls here didn't have the typical burnt and melted flesh look. As I drew closer I kept my eyes on my E.F.S. as well as for any little orange lights.

        I quietly picked my way over the fallen ghouls which seemed to have an odd assortment of wounds, some had blunt trauma, some had parts cleaved off, others disturbingly enough had metal spars through them that had burn marks around the wounds. A few of the ghouls were even pinned together with said spars. I took a step through the threshold that had been so valiantly held so long ago, my pipbuck light illuminating a bit of the room. I took a step further in and heard the faint sound of a release. As I flinched back expecting something to come swinging into my face instead a searing heat passed just in front of my muzzle as something flew past. I waved my hoof through the doorway again and heard no further sounds. To be safe I grabbed two sheets of metal from a nearby shelf and used them as shields as I entered the room. Once inside I found the long dead body of another stallion. His body was remarkably well preserved. He wore a lab coat over what looked to be improvised armor of black and orange material. Giving the material a test with my hoof I found it to be more along the lines of a suit of Kevlar with metal covering it. It was makeshift combat armor at best and I left him with it. I did see a symbol on it, that of a mathematical property, the symbol for half life of a radioactive partial.

        “I am sorry for disturbing you.” I whispered to the corpse of the long fallen adventurer.

        I turned my attention to finding what had fired when I tripped some sort of trap. It took a few minutes to do so in the dark, though it probably would have gone faster if I had remembered my night vision goggles earlier instead of relying on my pipbuck lamp. Once I switched over I saw a line of light coming from a box that crossed right where one's hooves would be going through the doorway, I traced a light back to find a odd crossbow rigged to firing mechanism. I gently removed it from its housing.

        “Why you are quite a interesting piece...” I cooed to the weapon as I adjusted my load to make room for it. “Now then what do you fire?”

        I found what it fired, it was not what I had expected, it fired pieces of rebar. However it had a nasty drawback of only one shot could be loaded in it. That didn't bother me though, it was a silent and terrifyingly powerful weapon. I did a quick check of the scope to see it was still in working condition, minus the slightly faded radioactive elements within it. I removed the laser marker and with a bit of work managed to strap it to the scope of the crossbow. While without the night vision goggles I could see through the scope and spot the dim glow of the radioactive material marking out the cross hairs I needed something for when having the goggles on, the laser beam worked well enough for me. I knew I would need to make further adjustments later on for the sake of accuracy, but, for now at these ranges it should be fine.

        I returned to the fallen stallion and checked him over gently to find a small quiver of rebar bolts for the crossbow. I took it and slipped it on. With that done I did a once over again of the room to find it was nothing except for a small room meant for those who worked the warehouse. It had lists of what was stored here, logs of shipments and requests, and really nothing of interest or stood out to me.

        I headed back out into the warehouse properly keeping the minigun quietly spinning and aimed ahead this time as I returned to the entrance. I saw a blue bar appear in my vision and let out a sigh. Anabel had finally caught up with me.

        “Hey, I think this is where that unicorn went. Looks like only one way in and one way out.” Called the pegasus from earlier that I had fought with.

        “Alright, well looks like plenty of cover to get a drop on her. Lets get going before she hears us though.” The second pegasus said as both blue bars moved into the room and turned red. I shut off the minigun so the sound of its engine wouldn't give me away and proceeded to move slowly towards the entrance.

        “Hey, I got a idea, see these big metal plates?” The first pegasus asked.

        “Yeah, what about them?” The second responded, they were on the next aisle over from me, I continued to slowly move forward.

        “Let's use them as shields, box her in and then beat her into submission with them.” The first explained, I felt my coat bristle at the use of the words beat and submission. Next I heard them attach something to the plates then a little bit of scraping of metal on the floor, and then nothing. I turned my head to spot their red bars to see them moving about more rapidly than I thought they would with such a burden.

        “Nasty little buggers you two are.” I muttered, then clasped a hand over my muzzle realizing I had meant to say that in my mind and not with my mouth.

        I then added in a whisper, “shit.” As I saw the bars separate one moving behind me the other most likely heading up a parallel aisle to get in front of me.

        Usually when someone says they are going loud they mean they are initiating combat after sneaking around has run into a problem. While true in this case, it was also very true about the volume of my weapons as well as volume of fire. No mare should ever be allowed to collect so many weapons and be able to use them at once. Most likely anypony who knew of this little skirmish would know that to be truth about me.

        The five millimeter rounds pinged off the sheets of steel as the two pegasi landed and quickly moved towards me with their makeshift shields. I had to give them credit, their plan was working. Unfortunately for them, explosives tend to knock you around, no matter how strong you were. Doubly unfortunately for them I had a decent amount of explosives on me. I tossed two grenades forward as I lined up a shot from my rocket launcher. The thump of the grenades going off timed perfectly with the rush of the rocket launching and moments later exploding. I closed my eyes when I fired due to I knew otherwise I probably would be blinded by the flash of fire.

        As things were my ears were ringing as I opened my eyes to find the steel shields laying over the at least limp forms of the pegasi. I tossed the spent launcher off to the side and ran for the exit. My top priority was getting the upper hand by mitigating their ability to fly, and I had no idea how long they would be down for. So I headed for the door out of the warehouse I knew they also couldn't take their makeshift shields through here as they would be much too large to fit through the doorway in any useful fashion. I quickly darted down the opposite hallway into the other side of the facility.

        I skidded to a stop before I almost was sent into what would have been a very painful and likely horrific death. Before me sat pools of rainbow colored liquid after a rather sudden and sharp fall. The catwalk I would have run across a few decades, or centuries ago, had been eaten away by said liquid which told me not to touch it at whatever cost. I moved to the side of the doorway onto what remained of a staircase, the bottom of which was missing and dropped into a unknown amount of the rainbow fluid.

        My patience won out as one of the two pegasi darted through the door, he deftly managed to not hit anything on his entry into the room. A moment later his partner followed suit and managed the same feat. I quietly cursed my luck that the two had managed not to hit something and fall into the unknown fluid and let me know what it was, as well as likely eliminate one of my two enemies.

        I darted up the stairs quietly as the two looked around for me, the quiet spinning up of the minigun soon was replaced with the sound of it firing at the two of them with S.A.T.S. assisting my aim. The sound of spent shell casings ringing on the metal floor was almost heavenly to my ears in the slowed time of S.A.T.S. I clipped one of them well enough that he dipped down as S.A.T.S. ended and his hoof dipped below the surface of the liquid. His friend grabbed him as I fought to keep my dinner down as his body twisted, I could hear bone breaking and flesh tearing from here as he became something very much not pony.

        I closed my eyes and I heard a splash followed by a equine scream, of terror, not anger as I heard the pegasus who remained land on the ground backing away from the pool of what I now presumed to be taint.

        “Listen, I am sorry about your friend, really I am. I rather kill a pony outright than have them suffer that. If you want to keep on living go ahead and run now, I don't blame you. And... I am sorry about your friend.” I finished as I opened my eyes to see a rather large red bar in my vision as I saw only a few fleshy bits above the surface of the pool of taint. I turned to see the pegasus stallion now sporting what looked like gryphon claws at the end of his fore legs. He fled moments later as the monster I had just created through failing to kill the other pegasus bellowed, bits of taint landing on the floor around me.

        “Right, I probably should kill the aberration just I created.” I sighed as I took in the monster that was once a pony. “Fuck, where did it get all that additional tissue from?”

        Looking at the monster before me I could see where the old cybernetics of the wings had once been, now transformed into great binders for the monsters wings. The stock itself was a sea of green tissue or maybe that was it's coat, with writhing mismatched limbs, legs of ponies, talons of gryphons, fingers of minotaurs, gaping maws, insectoid eyes filled the lower half of the stock of its form. The top half was more understandable and didn't hurt my mind as much to look at. It looked like someone stuck the upper half of a very raven like gryphon on top of it. The colors were all wrong though for the upper half. Here it went from a deep blue to purple its hands had five talons like a mix of minotaur's and a gryphons. It's head was at the end of a long and feathered neck and was that of a birds.

        “The fuck are you.” I cried as fear sank into me, fear that glued me to my spot as it reached a hand out to grab me. “No. No, no, no no no no!”

        'Hey, you might want to shoot the damn monster. Just a thought.' Chimed in a familiar voice in my head.

        I managed to regain control of myself and fire the second rocket launcher at the monster. The rocket didn't have a hard time with finding something to hit. Unfortunately it didn't do much, or didn't stay doing much. The wound healed into another fang filled mouth.

        I let out a war cry as I kicked the minigun into full speed. Thankfully the flesh of this monster wasn't that strong and I began to cut into it. It tried to block the rounds I was aimed for it's head. As a few fingers fell from its clawed hand it drew its wings to protect itself. I decided to toss out the grenades I had. While it was protecting it's face, the stock was free for me to brutalize. The grenades exploded under the surface, again making me question how much taint was here and unfortunately a little hit me, where it landed burned furiously as I swapped ammo boxes out of the minigun and took aim for the now badly bleeding stock of the monster.

        Thankfully whatever intelligence this thing had it was limited, though, I was worried about the fact it bleed taint. However I was going to focus more on the fact it was now done crying out in pain and instead chanting something that the very sounds of hurt and clawed at my mind. I pulled out the spare rockets and held them in my magic. I focused my magic holding them by me as I loaded the rocket launcher. I knew whatever it was doing with it's chanting I had to stop it before its chanting was done. I also knew I could not just simply run from this thing. While it went against the notion of don't do big goddesses damned hero stuff I would sooner give myself to Red Eye than let this thing continue to exist.

        As I continued to fire the minigun and prepared my rockets I saw more red tags flicker into existence from what could only be described as rips in space. As these rifts opened the pain in my head worsened and the chanting grew.

        I fired a rocket only to have it instead of hitting the monster instead collide with some sort of fleshy horn covered disk thing. The corpse arced through the air and landed to my side, whatever it was it looked to be at home in water, and thankfully now dead. Then I saw another one flying through the air right at me. I fired upon it and watched as fell to the unrelenting fire of the minigun landing on the platform with a meaty thud as well, bleeding taint where it landed.

        “Alright, so we got a real fight on our hands now!” I shouted, a grin placing itself on my face. “I am going to burn, maim, and kill you lot!”

        Another scream permeated the room as I reloaded the minigun and prepped another rocket. This scream was more of a battle cry than of agony like before.

        “Yeah? Well fuck you too!” I cried back as I began to unleash hell on anything that so much as moved in the room. Rockets for the large monster, minigun for its pals, charged fireballs for both when I managed to focus enough for one.

        Rocket after rocket streaked through the air blasting away meaty chunks of its flesh as the minigun kept its regeneration at bay. My fireballs were having just about the same effect as the rockets, though I figured that was more due to this things resistance to explosive and physical attacks over the strength of my magic.

Each strike of a rocket the thing screamed in agony, each time it did I clenched my teeth and focused on putting this thing down. I fired my third to last rocket and the stock was severed, the chanting stopped finally and no more of the fleshy fliers emerged from the tears in space. As the thing continued to cry out in pain I pelted its face with the minigun now that it was exposed again and sent a rocket into its right eye. The thing reached for me, its cries of pain gone. I heard the the voice of the chanting in my mind again, now knowing the chanting had been only in my mind and not spoken by this things vocal cords.

        “Why… why did you create me...” It whimpered in my mind, I hissed as I fired at it trying to end its life quickly.

        “I did not create you, foul daemon.” I spat as the thing slumped as its clawed hand collapsed on the floor near me and I let out a breath, my heart still racing as the red bar winked out finally.

        “To the pony in there… Whoever you were I am sorry you had to die this way. No pony deserves such horrors done upon them.” I said quietly to the corpse after a few minutes as the adrenaline washed out of my system.

        Then the hand grabbed me and started to crush me, I felt an uncomfortable sensation where the thing’s flesh touched my own. Then it bellowed at me through its mental link. “WHY!”

        I screamed then was released as my minigun fired wildly and severed its remaining arm, quickly I fired off the last two rockets into its head completely destroying where I hoped it's brain lay. Once more the red bar winked out of existence, the body of the thing sliding back into the pool of taint sinking below the surface.

        “I... hate... taint...” I wheezed as I pulled what taint was on me off, knowing I had once again been exposed to the hazardous stuff. Thankfully once we met with Rose again she and Ruby would be able to work together to perform the makeshift taint cleansing spell we had gained from Lifebloom. Getting it from him had not been easy, though I think once we greased things up a bit with caps and explained how it would probably save a good number of lives without Tenpony having to do anything the process was sped up greatly.

        I left the room and walked face first into the chest of Anabel.

        “What the hell was going on down here?” Anabel asked.

        “Some of Red Eye's forces followed us, meant to capture not kill, I let one go, though since he didn't go by you I think the robots here finished him off.” I explained still shaking and out of breath.

        “That doesn't explain the horrible cries of agony I was hearing, or all of the explosions.” Anabel frowned regarding me.

        “One of them got a bath in taint... It wasn't pretty. I killed it, I think... I hope.” I trailed off.

        “One way to be certain about that.” Anabel said as she withdrew some sort of cylinder.

        “Is that what I think it is?” I asked as I finally slumped to the floor the exhaustion of a day's travel plus the past hour or so’s activity in this facility hitting me.

        “Yes it is, now get on my back, I don't think you want to get trapped down here.” Anabel said, I managed to use my magic to put myself on her back and securing myself to the saddle.

        “Well, lets check for a pulse then. Fire away Anabel.” I ordered.

        “With pleasure.” Anabel answered, the fuwthump of the makeshift balefire egg launcher going off beside me. The wave of heat was intense as we flew out of the place, I closed the door that sealed the underground connecting facility to the central tower with my magic as Anabel quickly flew up and we left to rejoin the others.

        “I think that is enough excitement for one night.” I called out over the wind.

        “I agree, you rest up, you look pretty worn out from all that fighting. I will take care of getting us back safely.” Anabel needlessly explained as I drifted off to sleep on her back, the howl of the wind greeting me as a old friend and escorted me to my dreams.

        Footnote: Level Up!

        New Perk Added: Death Dealer: With all that time to play with a minigun you have gotten far more skilled with fully automatic weapons. When firing a weapon of any kind in full auto your accuracy is far better than it was. This means less suppressing your enemies and more of having a continuous beam of death, be it lead, plasma, energy, or magic. You will make Foresight proud.

        Quest Perk Added: All this playing in taint isn't good for you, and unfortunately this means another mutation, or two, or a lot more. However nothing obvious has shown up right off the bat. Hopefully this means it is something manageable and not terrifying or abhorrent, or make everypony you know want to shoot you on the spot.