Fallout Equestria: The Ranger of Seamane

“Fourth Floor: Tools, Guns, Keys to Super Weapons.”

        With a raspy breath I took in our surroundings, the darkness was sticking close to us, though my mane and tail gave some illumination, but, it was not the best source of light as it flickered like a lighter. I went to check my EFS to find it was dead, I checked my pipbuck to see it was off, completely.

        “Hey, is anyone else's pipbuck off?” I asked, Rose and Foresight checked theirs, I saw the same dead screens.

        “Your pipbuck zero's EFS has been flaky the whole time we have been here as well.” Anabel reported.

        “Same with my pipbuck, Anabel. Looks like we are doing this the hard way, then again, I think we all grew up without EFS or a pipbuck so not that hard..” I smiled, which was hard to see under my gas mask. “Though, without our pipbucks it is going to be harder to detect hazards. Keep those gas masks on, if something attacks us and yours gets damaged, well... hopefully I can patch it up, if not, lets hope the storage here has some spares, or maybe some bodies are down here with gas masks.”

        “With the lack of dust down here, or even particles in the air, I doubt anything alive has been down here in two centuries.” Foresight explained with a grim tone entering his voice.

        “Just be glad we didn't grab the power armor, we couldn't move if we had. Hell... I bet that is what did in an unfortunate number of your friends.” I replied.

        “No kidding, lets just hope the Geiger counter on the pipbucks still function, nopony happens to have something radioactive on them, do they?” Foresight asked, I pulled out a irradiated bar. “Why do you have this?”

        “I regenerate with radiation...” I muttered.

        “Oh...” Foresight muttered in return before putting his pipbuck next to the bar, there was a faint clicking. “Well, that is good to know, though it is far quieter than normal.”

        “Alright so we just need to keep our ears trained for hearing it. Alright, lets get moving I only have like half an hour of filters on me.” I said putting the lingering paranoia out of my mind. “We need to get our bearings, I really doubt that they removed the signs for navigating this place.”

        “Right. Okay, Moonlight, you’re taking point, you’re our light, and leader.” Anabel said shifting for one reason or another.

        “Right, everypony keep close, if you lose sight of me pull out your lighter, since our pipbucks are dead, we will have to do this the old fashion way.” I said, as I did I heard the sound of three lighters clicking on and yellowish orange light filled my peripheral vision. “Alright, priority, security station, most likely place to give us control, maps, or an idea of where things are; second priority, clinic; third, tools; forth, mainframe; fifth, anything that looks fun.”

        “That sadly puts you last then, Moony.” Rose said from behind me.

        “I know, but, you got a good view of my apple butt, so that will have to do for now, Rose-butt.” I replied as I started forward.

        “You two should find the barracks and get it on for a few hours.” Foresight replied sarcastically. “We wouldn’t mind, in fact, if you really want to, go ahead and do it once we have a map of the place.”

        “It would help you two keep your minds on the task at hand.” Anabel added.

        “I get it, we haven't gotten laid in a few days and we are driving you two nuts.” I muttered, rolling my eyes, a useless thing as no one could not see my face. “Whatever, if that itch comes up after we get a layout for the place why not. Though sex with gas masks on would be... odd.”

        “I would suggest we take them off for the deed.” Rose offered.

        “Yeah, constricted air supply doesn't sound fun to me.” I replied as we neared an intersection that was bare of any signs of direction.

        “It can be, for some, but, I understand, you get squirmy when you lose too much control of the situation.” Rose warmly said, standing a bit closer than I felt comfortable with her being at the moment.

        “Yes, well, lets stop this chatter and see if any of us can figure out which way to go.” I said changing the subject as best as I could.

        “I got nothing, lets go left.” Foresight said as I looked back at my companions, he shook his mane and I did too.

        “Well, lets treat this like a maze, we will just follow the left side wall until we end up somewhere that can give us directions, or one of the places we want to be.” I explained as I turned the corner and headed left at a decent trot. There was no need to go any faster.

        The clop of our hooves eerily echoed through the halls of the derelict portion of the facility as we delved deeper into the black inky hallways. There was no signs of any struggle, hurry, or anything. It was as if this place had never got setup instead of that it was stripped bare of equipment.

        “Was this like how Stable Twenty Three was?” Rose asked, plunging my mind for a split second into the memories of Stable Twenty Three.

        I gulped and steadied myself and took one deep breath.

        “I take it as a yes now that I mention it.” Rose answered for me a bit meekly. “Sorry.”

        “It is fine, lets just focus on getting through here instead of on what I have dealt with in the past.” I replied.

        “Good attitude.” Foresight chimed in.

        With that I began again, again the quiet of the place pressed down upon me, thankfully the lack of corpses helped differentiate this place from Stable Twenty Three, but, now that Rose had brought up memories of that place it was influencing my sense of something being off.

        We came to another intersection, this time I saw in chalk butterflies and an arrow next to them.

        “Anyone else see what I see on the wall?” I asked pointing a hoof to the yellow chalk that stood out from the grey steel.

        “Eeyep, left again, lets get too it.” Anabel said.

        I raised a hoof and swapped filters to a new one so I would stop gasping for air through this filter.

        “Okay, everyone else's filters good to go?” I asked as I wished I had a pipbuck zero again so I could time how long my filters lasted.

        “Yeah, lets get moving, maybe medical will have some information or life support.” Foresight offered.

        “Right.” I said with a nod and started us up again.

        Again as we walked through the dark halls, the darkness fell away to the light of my mane, and faded in behind us consuming all we left behind. Our echoing hoof steps began to fall prey to the paranoia growing in my mine, I raised a hoof to call a stop to our group as it seemed I heard more than just our four sets of hooves and paws.

        The sounds continued and grew more distant, and did not sound like any of us.

        “Fuck, what in the name of Luna is down here with us?!” I cursed quietly afraid to alert whatever else was down here with us. My voice echoed and grew louder it seemed with each one.

        “Moonlight...” Rose quietly said, her own voice doing the same.

        “Everyone down on the floor, quiet, melee only, sound travels, just like when we first go in.” I whispered, this time not echoing, though I heard the sound of somethings steps in the shrouded distance.

        “Rose, douse Moonlight, Anabel switch to those night vision goggles Moonlight gave you.” Foresight commanded.

        For half a second I pondered what he meant by dousing me, then Rose was laying atop of me, her own overcoat cloaking me easily below her, quickly all became dark and the sound of things moving just out of sight continued. I didn't dare go for any of my weapons, I instead focused on making my mane and tail stop producing light. I had no idea if it would work or not, but, it was all I could do in my current position, under my marefriend and not in a bed.

        I heard a strangled cry of terror from behind me, likely Anabel by the pitch of it. Then there was silence, Rose moved off of me.

        I looked around as my luminescent mane and tail lit the hallway again, I quickly looked around to see a frightened Anabel with her back against the wall and Foresight standing between her and the hallway behind us.

        “Foresight did you see anything?” I asked, now that I was no longer buried under my marefriend.

        “No, but I heard something, and I swear I could feel the air moving like something was breathing or moving past us.” Foresight answered, not moving at all, still in a low defensive stance.

        “Hey, Anabel, does your radio still work?” I asked, having an idea of what might be going on.

        “Huh, what, why?” Anabel asked, confused and still not handling whatever just happened all that well.

        “If you couldn't see them with your eyes or night vision, they might be pushing the light coming off of them into radio frequencies to fool thermal and night vision.” I explained. “It is a long shot, but, it's worth a try, right?”

        Anabel blinked a few times, still shaking slightly, then moved and activated the radio on the pipbuck zero. A barbel of static flowed out of it, the sound echoing off of the odd hallways. It was as if we were sitting in an electric stream.

        “Turn it down until you can barely hear it, you are listening for changes in the static, odd ones, not the usual randomness.” I continued, then the static stopped, just silence.

        I raised an eyebrow.

        “The radio is still on, I didn't adjust the volume at all.” Anabel stated, looking just as confused, and still it looked like working on breathing to calm down.

        “Then that static was something being near. Whatever it is, it is away from us for now.” I said, breathing a sigh of relief that was cut short when I realized whatever was down here might be able to control what frequencies it shrugged off to hid from showing up in the visible spectrum.

        “Lets keep going, we know medical is this way, and I don't believe that the base is bigger than the area fenced off on the surface.” Rose said, I gave a nod and took point again, keeping my hoof falls as quiet as I could to prevent echo's of our passing.

        The silence weighed heavily on my mind, the darkness and clean halls bringing anxiety inducing memories back from Stable Twenty Three. I did my best to just keep to a breathing regiment of seven in, hold for seven, seven out, and hold seven without air. It helped, and the soft sounds of my friends behind me, and being able to see them when I looked behind me helped a great deal to dispel the hold that this place was attempting to gain over me. I wouldn't allow it to get a hold of me, nor would my friends.

        We came finally to a closed door, a simple yellow band ran down the center face of it that at eye level for me had the mark of the Ministry of Peace. It was medical. I looked for a handle or release to find none, though I did see windows to my left and right.

        “It's like any door you find in military or Stable-Tec underground facilities, hydraulic, someone has a crowbar right?” Anabel asked, I paused and then unsheathed my sword. “Not quite a crowbar, but, unless anyone else has a better option-”

        Anabel was cut off by Rose using her magic to begin opening the door then using her impressive strength to pull the door the rest of the way open. I heard only a slight hiss before the door finished opening on it's own leaving Rose standing on her hind legs and unbalanced, in front of me. Then she started to lose her balance, I guessed she didn't know about the emergency systems on hydraulic doors. I pushed forward and gave her enough forward momentum to keep from falling on her back, our hooves hit the metal floor with an annoying loudness.

        “Everyone in, I am going to close the door, hopefully if something is out there the door will keep it out.” I hissed, grabbing my sword in my magic and pulling it along with myself inside of medical. Anabel and Foresight didn't even nod and quickly, but not silently pushed past me into the entryway to Medical. I pulled the door down, my strength, weight, and knowing where to push with my magic got the door to close, sealing with a quiet hiss.

        “Okay, well, time to find what supplies are left here.” I whispered, looking at the two possible paths to take. One had a painted sign saying “Hospital”, the other was listed simply as “Storage”.

        “I prefer to hit up storage before we deal with whatever hospital horrors might still lay in waiting for us.” Rose quietly explained, I couldn't help agreeing with her.

        “Then Anabel and I will take the Hospital, likely there is more equipment of the mechanical variety and probably assorted information.” Foresight said and pulled out his flashlight and pressed the power button, only for nothing to happen.

        “No...” I whispered to myself as I quickly checked my plasma pistols to find them dull and lifeless.

        “Please don't tell me what I think you just figured out.” Foresight bemoaned.

        “Yeah... Something is interfering with magical energy. It seems we can't rely on any stored power.” I replied.

        “That means no computers and electronic locks are either going to be bricks that keep door shut, or paper weights on them that don't block us.” Foresight replied.

        “I guess that means there are no robots are down here.” Anabel added in, making all of us feel a bit better at that.

        “Likely we won't find any computers or mainframes online either” I added in.

        “Well, we, won't find any answers by sitting here and flapping our lips. So lets get moving, faster we move the quicker we find our answers.” Rose said finishing the conversation. I went with Rose into storage, while Foresight and Anabel used their lighters as the energy cells for their night vision had by now died, and if not would soon die anyways.

        The walk down to storage was brief, and I had started to notice how considerably much warmer it was starting to feel, as well as a bit humid. The air still smelled stale, but, no smell of rot or anything else, besides sweaty mare, but, that I had gotten used to and could ignore, most of the time.

        We kept going and hit a simple door, which confused me, I hadn't seen a door like this in a while, it was like what was aboard Saint Clover, or in the Steel Ranger warehouse, I held a hoof out to stop Rose as I examined it to check for traps, leaks, or signs of really anything. There was a bit of condensation, but that was all, which worried me, as we hadn't seen anything else. Though it hit me that it likely meant it was connected to the outside which would allow for water, air, and a quick exit. Except it felt warmer over here than the rest. Warm and wet, which didn't make sense to me. I shook my mane and looked at Rose who did the same.

        “Step back and be ready to grab my tail and run.” I ordered quietly, I waited until I heard Rose's hoof steps a bit behind me before I gently with my magic turned the wheel on the door and pulled it open. The smell of moisture hit me as I felt warm liquid roll over my hooves, causing an uncomfortable feeling to build in my powerhoof. I lifted my powerhoof fused hoof out of the liquid in time to hear Rose make a undefinable sound that greatly sounded like a choked gag fused with a gasp. I looked down at the liquid spilling out to see it greatly resembled that blood, yet I didn't smell the coppery scent that I had come to know as the smell of blood.

        “It isn't blood.” I stated as licked my powerhoof without second thought. What I tasted made me gag. The taste was bitter, and I realized possibly marking that it was poisonous. “I am a fool...”

        “Did you, you did, how could you?!” Rose stammered as she realized what I meant.

        I pondered over how my body was feeling as the thick liquid stopped pouring out of the door from storage. I found that I wasn't feeling any worse for wear.

        “Stupidity.” I admitted. “But, it reminds me of healing potions, just with no positive effect.”

        “Healing potions?” Rose said puzzled by the notion that we were standing not in a puddle of blood, but, instead a puddle of spent magical potion fluid.

        “Yeah, it seems as though something...” I trailed off as a chill went down my spine. “Oh Celestia protect us.”

        “What, what is wrong Moonlight?” Rose asked using her magic to push away the slurry of liquids on the floor and off of her hooves. I followed her example and twinged in pain as I cleaned the liquid out of my powerhoof.

        “The only time I had seen healing potions lose their potency was, well, enervation.” I said as I examined my powerhoof to see it was bleeding, which was not a good sign. “We now have a bigger problem though, I'm bleeding.”

        “Why is that a bigger problem than possible enervation, doesn't enervation make injuries heal slower or outright grow worse?” Rose questioned as she got closer, I shook my head as I lit my horn.

        “Get out of the liquid, if possible get out of this hall and use your magic to push any that has gotten into the lobby.” I commanded as I worked on building my magic to burn the tainted healing potions. I heard Rose gallop down the hall and I waited for her to give the okay.

        “I'm clear!” Rose called down to me, with that I took a deep breath and opened my eyes as I set alight the fluid. It burned, it squealed as my magical flames burned it away. There was no echo so I wasn't certain if the cry was in my mind or actual. Nonetheless I stood there, surrounded by boiling blood red liquid bathed in blue fire as it squelched and popped, the liquid almost looking like it was trying to move away from me. I took a deep breath before I felt my legs go out from below me. My left shoulder began to hurt worse than from when I injured it yesterday and my powerhoof felt more wrong than when I was filled with taint.

        “Fuck...” I hissed as I pulled out my knife and began to bathe it in my fire, heating it until it glowed a dull orange.

        “This was a completely terrible plan.” I muttered to myself before pushing the heated blade against my bleeding flesh. The smell of burnt coat quickly reached my nose, quickly followed by the smell of burnt flesh.

        “Moonlight?!” I heard Rose call out, shortly I heard her galloping towards me, then I heard her hooves skid on the smooth steel floor. “What? What happened?!”

        I dropped the knife and coughed, I didn't taste blood, which was good. My shoulder felt like something was alive in it, again, like when I woke up in the Manehatten blast crater with an eye surrounded with teeth on my shoulder. I bit back a scream as I rolled onto my side and began to remove the armor sitting on my shoulder and shrugging the lab coat off of it as well.

        “Moonlight what are you-” Rose stammered before cutting herself off with a gasp.

        “Don't tell me how bad it is, just do what needs to be done.” I said coldly offering my glowing blade to her as I kept the blade heated with my magic. “Do it, I won't be able to see through the pain.”

        “Moonlight, I...” Rose trailed off, I could see her start to look a bit faint.

        “Then give me a Med-X, hold my leg still, and help me patch myself up once I am done cutting away the mutated flesh.” I commanded giving no room for objection. Rose gave a quick nod and dug out a syringe of Med-X and jammed it into my shoulder, I heard a wet sound that gave me an idea of what I was about to see and deal with. Rose on the other hoof turned her head and started to dry heave. I took a deep calming breath and turned my head. I glared at the mutation that had began to sprout from my shoulder, nothing good could come from it.

        The mutation was once again a collection of malformed flesh, this time with tendrils coming out of my shoulder forming feather like things, it reminded me of a dead Alicorn's wing stripped of coat and most of its feathers. I hissed as I stabbed my knife into my shoulder and began to dig out the mutated flesh and appendages. As I did I ran into the problem of repeatedly digging out fangs and teeth within my muscle. Tears filled my eyes as I finished severing the mutated flesh, as I did Rose dumped a healing potion on my shoulder that I had cut down to the bone on. I closed my eyes as I felt the soothing effects of the healing potion take hold on my wound.

        We sat there for a few minutes before Rose spoke.

        “Moonlight, was that better or worse than what you had in Manehattan?” Rose asked.

        “Better, there wasn't an eye this time, or multiple sets of mouths protecting it with rings of teeth.” I answered. “But, I don't like that it had feathers, it worries me and reminds me of what I fought and killed below the Hole Solar Array.”

        “I could have done without knowing what the previous mutation looked like, but, do you think somehow the taint there is trying to give you wings?” Rose asked as I incinerated the mutated flesh that was laying on the floor as it twitched and flailed.

        I smiled, the idea of having wings was a nice one, but, the pain of growing them would be debilitatingly painful. Still though, having wings would make life far more interesting, but, they were not required, nor did I would want to have to wait around for that mutation to happen. I had things that needed doing, and I honestly didn't have the time to grow wings while in a underground possibly death filled labyrinth and learn how to use them. The thought was nice that my body tried to grow wings for me, just that wasn't where they should grow on a pony.

        “Maybe, but, wings don't come out of your shoulders, look at Anabel, that is where they should sit on a pony or gryphon.” I replied as Rose wrapped my shoulder and injured hoof in bandages.

        “I am going to poke my head through that door before we move on, hopefully that wasn't all that was in there.” Rose said, gently nuzzling me before standing and taking one of my flamethrowers I had acquired from a Mister Gutsy.

        “Purge with fire, my sister of battle.” I snickered getting a quick smile out of Rose and partially dispelling the atmosphere. Slowly Rose let out bursts of fire from the flamer.

        I let out a sigh as my body started to feel more normal again, I could still feel that ambient bit of wrongness, but, the pain masked by the Med-X and the healing potion and bandages. I felt a bit happy in fact, to the point I felt a weak smile tugging at the sides of my mouth. Of course I was also high off of painkillers and healing potions. I also reconsidered the idea about addition to healing potions not existing, maybe not physical dependence, but, they were a way to feel good when feeling bad. Then again, that is true about eating good food, or orgasms, or caffeine. Still though, it felt good to lay down for a few and just relax, minus the discomfort of having a gas mask on.

        Rose came back through the door and threw the still hot flamer at me then slammed shut the door and turned the wheel sealing it. I yelped in pain as I started flailing trying my best to get the flamer off of my shoulder and into my hooves until I remembered I had magic and just used that to hold the very hot flamer in the air off of me and gave Rose an angry look.

        “I am not saying it was smooze... but, it was smooze.” Rose calmly and collectedly explained after brushing her hair out of her eyes.

        “That explains the use of fire.” I groaned. “You smell sweatier than you do after three rounds.”

        “Well, when you are panicking for your life and using a weapon that emits fire it is hard to stay cool, plus the humidity was horrible in here.” Rose replied dryly.

        “Same when you have a hot flamer thrown on your burned shoulder.” I countered.

        “Sorry, I thought you would catch it in your magic.” Rose said sitting down next to me and double checking my shoulder. “You'll be fine, but, I don't blame you for complaining.”

        “And I don't blame you for using a flamethrower on the smooze. Now, give me a hug, put the flamethrower away, and lets get out of here, storage is a waste of time and I am really hoping that a sealed door is enough to keep out whatever else is down here.” I politely said. Rose did as I said, and we were off, though slowly due to my shoulder.

        “Maybe you should drink a healing potion, more so if this place does drains healing potions like you think it does.” Rose said her saddlebag opening up and floating out a healing potion to my lips. I didn't argue, it was a good idea, staying here too long was a bad idea, so being slow due to an injury was a bad thing.

        Once I finished the potion I did feel a fair bit better.

        “Rose, lets get to Foresight and Anabel as quickly as we can. I haven't heard any gunfire or cries of help from them, but, if something malicious is down here... well you know how magic can be.” I said as I pushed myself a bit harder and evened out my pace.

        “You're right, we haven't even heard anything from when we made all that noise.” Rose said adding to my sense of needing to rejoin our companions quickly. “I'll carry you, best option while you heal, might want to give yourself another dose of radiation to help quicken your healing.”

        “No, that still requires enough radiation that I’ll feel ill, it would just compound the problems at this point. If I get hurt enough, yes, irradiating myself is the best option for major injuries, or if we are in a situation where it is safe enough for me to do so and have time to deal with the side effects of being so heavily irradiated.” I explained. “I am not a rad filly, yet.”

        “At least you don't shed radiation like glowing ones, that would probably be a deal breaker, I like to be able to be close to my partner.” Rose said giggling.

        “Well, not so much a problem for me, radiation, while helpful has some uncomfortable side effects for me now.” I said blushing.

        “Really? Well, just going to have to steer clear of heavy radiation pockets, while I like fun, that sounds like it could be a death sentence for you.” Rose replied, giving me a odd bit of insight into her mind, while she enjoyed getting me worked up, she didn't like it if it was a hazard of killing me.

        “That radioactive bar you have will never be toy for you for that reason. I rather not ghoulify you, or worse.” Rose said seeming to have picked up my train of thought.

        I gave a sigh of relief. “I am glad to hear it, I was seriously questioning how wide you were willing to push my barn doors.”

        “You're my first real partner, Moonlight, and I might just be serially monogamous.” Rose admitted while blushing, I blushed as well, my heart soaring at hearing that.

        “I feel the same way about you, Rose.” I admitted as well.

        Rose gave a small smile as we got back to the entrance of Medical. I paused and looked around seeing no changes to the door or windows, my mane still glowing softly lit up the far wall outside, nothing seemed to move, through the slow shimmer of my mane could have hidden it. Rose poked me in my barrel and I turned to look at her, instead I saw her pointing, to a door we hadn't seen while in here earlier, Administration.

        “How did we miss that?” I asked.

        “I guess your mane wasn't bright enough to illuminate it, unless there is something here hiding stuff.” Rose answered.

        “Right, lets go with we just didn't see it due to it was too dark to spot and somepony casted a shadow on it. Come on lets leave a marking and go in.” I said pulling out some chalk and marking an arrow showing which way we went and drew both of our cutiemarks on the floor.

        “That hopefully will be enough, maybe we can find something of interest in Administration.” Rose whispered as she neared the door.

        I simply nodded as I pulled out my burning sword, machine or flesh would fall to it, and it was magical so it hopefully would work on spirits. Rose grabbed the Mister Gutsy flamethrower again, which I kept thinking of calling a flamer, seem fitting, that or flame pistol. Either way we were prepared with a flamer pistol, Applebuck, and my black sword. Though I did note one thing as we moving forward with our weapons grasped in our magic was that the ambient damper on magical energy here didn't seem to apply to magic being done by a pony.

        “You feeling any unusual effort with your magic.” I asked to Rose.

        “No, doesn't seem to fit with what little exposure to and explanation of enervation I’ve been given. So, maybe it’s not enervation, but, instead maybe they didn't want some machinery down here operating while they were gone? Prevent things from doing magic that don't have a soul?” Rose offered.

        “Maybe, think they had those weird changeling robots here as well and that is why they set it to kill not soul powered stuff?” I suggested.

        “That, would make some sense, given the remote nature and all.” Rose murmured as we reached another door, this one I made short work of with the help of Rose's natural strength and combining our magic.

        Once through we looked about to see a orderly room bare of anything organic in nature. There were metal chairs and a metal desk, the cushions of the chairs long gone. I also noticed the odd lack of dust again. As I scanned the room Rose replaced her filter and took a deep breath, I think she had been purposefully delaying changing her filter to ration our filters out.

        “I really think we should have tried looking for a way to power on the ventilation system first.” I grumbled.

        “I agree, but, too late now, lets wrap up clearing out this part.” Rose hissed, clearly not liking being in here either.

        “Right, well it seems there is this room then...” I paused as I moved deeper into the room we were in to spot any further doorways. “Four more rooms, two are bathrooms, the other two seem to the section administrators room, and the other, not certain.”

        “Bathrooms first.” Rose demanded and I had no reason to deny her.

        The bathrooms were clean like anything else, and if I was right about the whole all organic matter without a soul to protect it was destroyed theory then it wouldn't matter if the place had been cleaned or not. A quick sweep though found nothing of use other than sterile syringes which were useful, and some bottles of water.

        “Well, not bad, but, not great.” I said as I frowned before packing away the meager new supplies.

        “We take what we can get.” Rose called back to me from the doorway of the bathroom. “Lets go, both of these rooms are empty, lets check that room whose purpose you couldn't think of when we walked in.”

        “Yeah, lead the way.” I absentmindedly replied, my mind was trying to figure out the possible layout of the place, as well as what likely would be where defense systems would be stored.

        I shook off the thoughts and got my focus back on the fact we were underground in a rather dangerous place with something that would kill us if we stayed too long. The something in question I had no idea of what it could be.

        Rose tried the door, which was locked. We looked at each other slightly confused at this before I just punched the lock out with my powerhoof. The door looked flimsy enough that I was willing to do this, and I had made a good call as it swung open limply. The room behind the door was nothing, but, a small supply closet. The only thing I saw within it was a couple of metal boxes, they were not special in any way, other than they were the first containers that looked like they might have something of interest in them.

        “Rose, cover me, I am going to look through these boxes, there are only six of them in here.” I said as I began opening the first crate. Inside there were, well, there was a healthy amount of ammo, not that we needed it at this point. I moved on to the next crate, it had grenades.

        “Rose, first two boxes have arms and ammo, take what you want.” I instructed as I moved to the third box, which held what looked to be a suit of modified mint combat armor that was meant for somepony the size of Rose. “And armor for you.”

        “Well, it’s just raining gifts for me, you did see that the bullets were mostly fifty mg’s, right?” Rose inquired as I moved to the fourth box and opened it.

        “No, but...” I trailed off as I looked in the box and saw blueprints for something I had never seen before. “I think these are for me.”

        “Oh?” Rose inquired peeking over my shoulder. “Yes they do, stow them, when we get the chance copy them into your pipbuck.”

        “Yeah, they seem to be made of something that won't go bad with time.” I said slightly confused as I rubbed my normal hoof over the surface of it.

        “Two more, get to it.” Rose prodded before stripping out of her old damaged leather armor and working on getting the new combat armor on. I turned back to the last two crates and opened them both at the same time. One had a toaster that was completely clean, the other had what looked to be something akin to robes.

        “Dibs on the robe, any reason for us to take a toaster with us?” I asked as I stuffed the robe into my saddlebag.

        “Bring it, who knows, somepony might want toast somewhere and is willing to pay top caps for a functional toaster.” Rose teased.

        “Or if we need to murder somepony in water.” I joked only to received a gentle push.

        “That is just in bad taste.”

        “Sorry.”

        “Alright, I like this helmet, though I think it would be better if I had something to power the electronics in it.” Rose commented as I turned and watched her look around with the combat armor and helmet on. The helmet had some sort of black visor that went over her eyes.

        “Probably, looks nice on you.”

        “Thank you, we will see how you look in your robes later, first and foremost, administrator's office.”

        “Yes, back to moving forward.” I said with a nod and packed the last of the grenades and ammo into my bags. I had hoped for something more interesting than a toaster in the last box.

        The door to the administrator's office wasn't locked, or even fully closed we found as we got to it. I gently pushed it open to see a room with just a cushion-less chair and a terminal on the floor. I gathered a old wooden desk was once here, but, was now gone. I pushed into the room slowly checking the corners for anything suspicious and only found a small metal table with shot glasses sitting on the table, there was also a statuette of an orange mare. I could almost smell the magic off of it and quickly snatched the poor thing away from the soulless and barren grasp of the base and into my hoof wrapped in my magic. I felt a tear roll down my tear as if I was hugging an old friend. I also felt a strength go through me, a strength that I had only felt when I had taken drugs to boost my abilities beyond what I normally could exert.

        “Moonlight, are you okay, you look like you're crying.” Rose asked as she put a hoof around me and drew me closer.

        “I don't know why I am, part of me feels like I just found an old friend, but, I don't know her.” I stammered, my voice even giving out.

        A few moments later I had collected myself and put the statuette with the other two I had, I made note that the base of this one said “Be Strong” and I was.

        “So... What is it?” Rose asked as she watched me put the statuette away.

        “A statuette of the Ministry Mare...” I said, my mind pulling upon the memory that I saw thanks to Steelhooves, and I remembered he had a Statuette just like the one I had found. “Of Technology, Applejack, I have eyes like her and her family had. Kind of like the one I got from Ruby, but, that was of Fluttershy.”

        Rose blinked at me as I looked up at her, confused by that last bit of information as I was.

        “Are you going to be okay?” Rose finally asked.

        “Yeah, I will be, I just hit by a rush of emotions, these statuettes have a powerful enchantments on them. I guess powerful enough to withstand this place, maybe even somehow powered by a soul. Though...” I shuddered thinking of something as pure as the forces within the statuettes being fragments or a full soul of somepony sealed within an inanimate object for all time, unable to move, think, or talk, it was a special kind of hell.

        “Alright, well, lets check the rest of this room for anything else of use.” Rose said shaking her head and getting her mind back on track.

        “Right lets-Ah!” I flailed and fell over as suddenly my vision filled with lights of EFS booting up again, I in my surprise fell onto my back like a frightened foal.

        “What, what is it?!” Rose asked in a panic her weapons drawn and safeties off, the ignition flame of her flamer gently hissing blue flame as I lay there.

        “Somehow my pipbuck is working again.” I whimpered.

        “What? How?” Rose asked looking at me her face screwed up in confusion.

        “The statuette... She was the Ministry Mare of Technology, I guess she wasn't happy about something messing with my pipbuck working.”

        “Okay, well... lets keep moving, check the terminal.”

        “Right, please Applejack, Twilight, and Fluttershy give me a hoof here.” I muttered to myself calling upon those statuettes that I carried.

        My prayers seemed to be answered as the terminal was, somehow, still online, and logged in. I looked at the options. Three of the four options simply said 'Data Deleted', the last one read 'Fallen Star'. I quickly opened the last option and watched as the screen filled with random characters. I stifled a screamed of frustration before downloading the hopefully encrypted and not corrupted file to my pipbuck to work on later.

        “Terminal is a dud, anything else in the room?” I asked looking up from the terminal just as it winked out.

        “No, lets go after the other two.” Rose replied, I pulled out my sword again as we moved out.

        Not long into returning to the entry for medical and heading to the hospital wing of it we ran into Foresight and Anabel who both looked rather bored.

        “All dead?” I inquired as I sheathed my sword.

        “Yeah, not even a soft surface to sit down for a while.” Foresight answered looking a bit frustrated.

        “Alright, we had a bit of excitement with some snooze, apparently the stuff thrives where normal life just dies.” I informed the two. “Beyond that, an encrypted file, a statuette, blueprints for something, and new armor for Rose and myself.”

        “Sounds like a productive time. Come, lets get moving again as one thing I did learn is that we are surrounded by sleeping quarters, the cafeteria, and an atrium lies between the motor pool and research area.” Foresight said almost bored.

        “Alright, lets head for the cafeteria first, it is going to be the most dangerous place as it has the most room for something to maneuver around us and attack us from.”

        “Right, well, lets get moving, I get the feeling either research or the motor pool will have some place we can hold up and rest in.” Foresight said before issuing commands for our formation with his hooves. We quickly moved off relying on Anabel and Foresight to direct us. Apparently they had found some form of information to give them an idea of the layout of this place. Getting to the Cafeteria though didn't take that long.

        I stared at the wide room that marked the Cafeteria, even with my incandescent blue mane lighting the room the darkness still lingered some distance in. Thankfully though we hadn't had any further incidents with mysterious sounds or presences. However, all of us still felt on edge with how damn quiet the place was, more so with what happened earlier. We knew something was here, but, what it was was up for debate. What was also interesting was that we knew this place was set to drain the magic out of anything that didn't have a soul bound to it. It was a good reason to be paranoid about what was here.

        “I'm our source of light, how about I go first, if something comes from in front it will be easier to see. If something comes from behind we can see ahead on where we are going.” I offered.

        “Sounds like a good idea, just keep light on your hooves.” Foresight advised.

        I gave a short nod as I moved forward keeping my step light and eyes searching for any motion. The one major difference crossing the cafeteria had from Stable Twenty Three, as well as the whole facility compared to that stable was the lack of bodies. Though, there was the troubling existence of that smooze that laid in storage. Maybe that was a result of corrupted healing potions over long term, or something, I didn't have all the answers or enough knowledge to make a good guess, maybe somehow being near enough to the Applejack statuette protected it. Hopefully this was also the last place I would run into smooze, it was rather terrifyingly deadly since it made me start bleeding and possibly even caused my mutation to show again with just a touch from what was likely a trail of slime from it.

        The sound of something falling tipped us off as to our harassing wind being here. Our reaction was opposite of what we had decided it would be. You could hear the echo from the four of us loading, unsheathing, and readying everything we had.

        “Aren't we supposed to keep moving instead of getting ready for a massive firefight?” I quietly asked my companions.

        “Right, but, keep your weapons ready and lets get moving, again.” Foresight instructed.

        We took another three steps before we heard movement again, we froze, myself mid step leaving me on three hooves. I didn't even slowly put down my hoof as we waited, listening, worrying about what might be and might show up. Finally I took the rest of the step I had paused on and then after a long minute took another. The sounds we had heard didn't start again, I started moving slowly again bringing us towards the edge of the cafeteria. Then we heard something on the other side of us move and we froze again. I strained my eyes to see if something was still moving, all I could see were rows of metal tables stretching into the darkness. I took another step and felt as if a gust of air pushed past me just after my hoof touched the metal. I then felt something rolling down my legs inside my armor. Then I cried out as my hearing vanished and turned to static at best, I saw steam form on the surface of my gas mask. Whatever was here had found us and did not like me. I moved to take a step and felt pain lance through my legs, I hissed in pain and felt my frustration building quickly, I also noticed a great deal of steam coming out from under my armor as well as my skin feeling burned. Then a field of familiar magic showed up around me, and I turned to look behind me and all of us were inside of a shield that Rose was casting, everyone had blood rolling out from their ears and had scratches on where their armor was thin or nonexistent, and scratches all over, and streams of steam coming off of them.

        This thing wanted to debilitate us and bleed us dry. Either through not being able to kill us directly, which I doubted with our sudden injuries, or it wanted to possibly get our blood. I quickly directed us to start running for it as I hovered out syringes of Med-X for each of us, holding them in my magic before giving everyone a dose to keep us on our hooves. Mass non-fine manipulation of objects still had it's uses when it came to survival.

        As we kept moving I looked back and saw the shield shimmer and ripple from whatever was out there attacking us. I brought out my flamers and readied the bit for my rocket launchers. If this thing had a physical form explosives and fire would do something to it, I hoped. I kept up with everyone until we hit a corner and then I lit my horn and made a brief hole in Rose's shield and launched my missiles and gout’s of blue flame into the corridor behind us.

        I watched in horror as the fire was snuffed out and the rockets I had aimed at a wall were shifted in their flight path to sail back to the cafeteria by something. I also felt a sharp pain in my right ear and more blood run down it, matting my fur. I quickly let Rose's shield recover and turned back to running with my companions. Whatever this thing was, conventional weapons weren't working.

We spent the next short bit in a panicked frenzy of trying to find a room with an air tight seal. We came to one, the motor pool. Anabel was in front and had practically torn the door off of it's hinges after Rose merged her shield with the walls around the doorway. We quickly went through and I shut the door, sealing it tight while using my telekinesis to hopefully keep a barrier on the other side of the doorway that wouldn't let whatever was here through.

        Once I felt I had fully closed the door I ripped off my gas mask and slugged down a healing potion and enjoyed that warm feeling flooding my system and restoring my hearing and whatever else I had lost. I let out a content sigh as I sunk to laying on the floor, my body being very unhappy for doing quick turns and running through hall ways again at full bore with all the equipment I had on me. Honestly it should just be happy I was still alive, and having more painkillers and healing potions working on me.

        However, my stunt hadn't gone unnoticed and was catching up to me with the glare Rose was giving me. As well as her carrying me in her magic by my tail, which some how didn't rip off under all of my weight. She brought me level with her eyes which was still a fair bit off the ground even when she was sitting.

        “I know we couldn't hear one another, but, that stunt you pulled could have killed you or all of us!” Rose shouted with me being nose to nose with her.

        “I know! But, I had to try something, I mean I had to-” That was as far as I got before Rose cut me off with her tongue. Rose was kissing me furiously and was still holding me in her magic by my tail and now mane. It hit me that this was the first time Rose has been around me when I had dealt with the outlandish threats that I tripped over so regularly in the wasteland. She had met smooze which had nearly eaten me months ago, and now it appeared we were likely fighting something akin to a Windigo. It hit me as to what might work against our hunter after the connection to the Windigo had hit me. Magic was the answer, Rose’s shield protected from the thing that was after us, which mean my horn was our only weapon as all other magical weapons we had were useless in that field, except maybe my two enchanted swords, but, that relied on having a form to attack, and, getting close. This left two of my companions woefully powerless in our plight. I gave a sigh as Rose finally broke our kiss, and then she let go of me from her magic, I did not get any warning of this and clattered to the ground.

        I let out a groan and looked up at Rose who had her eyes closed and tears rolling down her cheeks. The image that I had of her being a tough mare weathered by the wasteland cracked and crumbled fully. I thought she had been tempered in the past few weeks, but, instead she had been hurt and I hadn't seen it. This was a failure of my own making and it was caused by the one true enemy of all living things on our world, the wasteland. I shook off the being dropped onto the floor to surge forward and hug my marefriend. She sunk her muzzle into my mane as we sat there.

        I looked over to Foresight and Anabel who were just looking on, I, with my eyes, directed them to start searching the room we were in. While it wasn't the best idea to split up, we had for now bought some security and time. I also knew I needed to be the one to stay with Rose. As well as I had noticed the air in here didn't have the same staleness that the central segment of the facility held. In fact the air itself smelled like any old musty derelict bunker was like. And there was a soft sound of functional ventilation. Which meant something else was going on here. Medical had been compromised as well as the main hallways, or someone had deliberately set those segments to be cut off and magically jammed, as well as possibly the research segment of the facility, to choke out anyone or anything within. But, that left the question of why all the metal looked so well polished and clean while anything soft or organic was gone without even a trace of dust.

        I frowned as I quietly held my marefriend, only to be interrupted by a small symbol appearing in my vision, that of Stable-Tec. I watched as my pipbuck rebooted in silence, finally free of whatever field was messing with our magical gear. I gently caressed Rose's mane as we lay there, waiting on her to do what she could and me doing what I could for her while I waited for Foresight and Anabel to return from scouting the area.

        “Moonlight...” Rose murmured in my hooves.

        “Yes?” I whispered back, her ear being close to my muzzle.

        “Sorry for dropping you.” Rose apologized.

        “It's fine.” I assured Rose. “I have fallen a great deal further, physically and metaphorically, and bounced right back.”

        Rose sniffled a few times into my now damp mane which had dimmed, which lead me to notice the slight yellow lights marking the edges of the room we were in at the moment. I paused as I noticed the rows upon rows of lockers.

        “Where are Foresight and Anabel.” Rose asked looking around us for the first time.

        “Scouting, since this place has ventilation at the moment and that thing has yet to make itself present I felt it was safe for them to go off together.” I answered.

        “So we are all alone for the time being?” Rose inquired.

        “Yes, and mind you at the moment the most I could go for is kissing. Even that is stretching it with how dangerous that thing was.” I informed Rose, while the idea of getting it on was appealing, we really needed clear heads at this point, and everyone was kind of riding high on at least a Med-X and a healing potion, myself on several doses of each.

        “Oh, right. I'm sorry, my head is a bit off from the Med-X.” Rose complained as she put a hoof to the side of her head. “Moonlight, your ear...”

        I sighed as I put my hoof against my right ear where I had felt it get cut and found a small portion of it missing, like I had feared. Though it struck me then that it hadn't grown back with the healing potion, which meant that it had been magical in nature for that strike.

        “Oh no.” I squeaked.

        “What?” Rose asked now confused it seemed.

        “Well... Check my ear first to see if it is a wound from magic or not, that will tell us a lot.” I answered.

        A few moments later and Rose let out a breath she had been holding, apparently doing her shield spell, and me messing with her shield spell had taken a bit out of her. That or Med-X had affected her more than I had expected.

        “Well, most of the injury seems to be not magical for the most part, but, there is a hint of magic in it. I don't think your ear is going to heal any further, I am sorry to say.” Rose fretted moving my ear in her magic.

        “Okay, well that is unfortunate, I liked my ears being whole, but, that stopped being how they were a while ago.” I confessed. “But, this gives me a better understanding of what we are dealing with. Whatever this is uses magic to manipulate things, particularly the air it seems, or things in the air, or something like that.”

        “So... what, an air spirit?” Rose guessed.

        “Actually, yes, that would make sense. I guess it isn't so happy about the lack of being able to get outside.” I offered.

        “Or wasn't too keen on being used.” Rose countered.

        “That would explain a few things.” I admitted. “I guess the reason everything was so clean that wasn't torn apart by it's fury back there.”

        I heard the soft clops of hooves on the metal sounding hopefully the return of Foresight and the much quieter Anabel.

        “What news do you bring us, Foresight?” I called out, raising my voice.

        A cold metallic voice replied.

        “That I have found my Star Paladin's power armor.” Answered Foresight as he came into view, encased in ornate power armor. “I didn't know her had managed to get this far, if I had I would have found a way to rescue her. Though there is a good question as to how she got this far.”

        “Well we are in the motor pool, likely has an entrance to another level here, and the surface, or she was really good at running.” I offered.

        “That... makes sense.” Foresight admitted. “Either way, there is some hardware still in here, though we didn't find all of it. Though I doubt I know how to use a lot of this, nor do you two or Anabel.”

        “Like what?” I inquired, my curiosity peaked as Rose stood and I stood as well.

        “Well, it looks like a tank of some sort, they probably couldn't get it ready to move out when Operation Stardust went into effect.” Foresight explained as he waved a hoof before turning back to the way he had come from. “Trust me, you will like this.”

        “You three know me well enough that I trust your judgment about what I will like and dislike.” I giggled.

        “Well then, lets show you my present to you for helping.” Foresight chuckled as he lead us through a doorway into a large room that was poorly lit like the rest and my eyes worked on adjusting to see what was in the distance.

        As I strained my eyes I heard a loud clunk somewhere.

        *Sprong vwooooooeeeeeeeemmmmm*

        Row after row of large lights kicked on, their bright light being almost painful after being down in the darkness for so long. I covered my eyes with a hoof to filter out some of the glare before slowly lowering it to see a very large workspace, a few spots had tarps covering something. And then there was the tank, the very nice looking tank, a tank that kind of got me a bit hot and bothered with its twin cannons on a turret, some sort of light machine gun was sitting atop the turret on it's own mount that looked like it swiveled around. The front of the tank didn't have the expected bulldozer blade, but, instead had three large blades connected with a steel brace that was also sharpened on the leading edge. Near the front viewport I could also see a built in machine gun as well.

        I let out a whistle as I slowly trotted around the tank. “I want to ride her right into the heart of Seamane.”

        “I thought you would say as much. We do have a few problems doing that in her current state, otherwise I would suggest we just use it as our ride to the bunker.” Foresight said as he walked up to the tank in his ornate power armor.

        I blinked and looked at him and then turned a critical eye upon the tank itself. The tank had four sets of treads on it, but, I could see that the treads were not fully put on. I moved up to the tank and looked at rear of the tank where it had four exhaust stacks on it and there were hatches for the rear compartment. I gently opened them to find not what I expected. I had figured there would be some sort of spark battery array or perhaps even a crude and inefficient internal combustion engine. Instead what I found was a reactor, I tasted blood in my mouth and heard my pipbuck clicking maddeningly. I closed the door and blinked looking at my companions.

        “So, somepony figured out how to use radioactive materials to power things.” I stated before trying to wash the taste of blood out of my mouth with some water.

        “Well, fuel won't be an issue, and you can just heal yourself by taking a nap in there.” Foresight chuckled.

        “I guess it must have been a reaction to the lack of coal and need to find a new engine to power heavy things, like trains. Or, maybe somepony didn’t want to rely on magic due to matrix disruption grenades becoming more common” I replied. “And yes, if I get badly hurt shoved my broken body into there, I'll manage.”

        “Well, we will figure out what to do with the tank once we secure the place.” Foresight said before turning.

        I nodded as I hopped off of the rear tread guard and trotted up to him. “Though, anyplace outside of the motor pool that armor is going to be nothing other than a fancy coffin for you.”

        “I know, it is why you are going to be our scout.” Foresight grunted, obviously not happy that his fancy armor was essentially a death trap. Even if he was strong enough to move in it with a spell matrix crash, which would be a feat, he would move too slowly to escape. I looked at his armor again and noticed the stark lack of material that could get destroyed by our foe. Maybe not a death trap, but, he would be easily caught.

        “Alright, well, lets look over the place for anything to use, someone get inside the tank and check for ammo.” I ordered as I replaced the filter on my gas mask in preparation for likely another trek into the ill air that likely sat in the research portion of the facility.

        “Somepony find me a map, I need to memorize what I can since our pipbuck's crash outside of here.” I continued, I heard the gentle flap of wings to see Anabel holding some paper in her talons as she landed beside me.

        “We’re ahead of you on that. Foresight and I decided before fetching you that we would do our best to prepare the tank for travel while you deal with the rest of the place. Up to you if you take Rose with you.” Anabel informed me handing me a map of the facility, that had a small bit of blood on it, very old blood.

        “Alright.” I said as I began to weigh taking Rose with me. Looking at her it wasn't hard to choose. “Rose, stay here, I know you will worry about me, but, I think it is for the best.”

        Rose's face screwed up with frustration as she digested it and made her choice. “Fine, but, is there a cot around here?”

        “Anabel?” I queried.

        “Yes, and the room is soundproofed as you would imagine with it being a rest room next to a machine shop.” Anabel clucked.

        “There you go Rose, now then, I need to memorize this map and you need some rest.” I said as I sat down on the floor.

        “Be safe, I'll keep these two in fighting condition.” Rose said before slowly trotting off to the location of the cot.

        I caught a bewildered look on Anabel's face. “What, we don't always have sex, sometimes we just want to snuggle, or sleep, or make out. It isn't like every time we are alone it gets kinky.”

        The look of bewilderment stayed on Anabel's face as she turned to work on the tank, I couldn't help but giggle at her expression. I then buried my muzzle into the floor plans of the facility, I got the distinct feeling that the late Star Paladin had acquired them before dying, and that honestly her actions even her death meant our survival and likely acquiring this base as my own. I giggled at the thought of having this whole place under my personal command. A bunker in the middle of nowhere that just needed a patch on it's roof and then would be nice and hidden with lots of space, firepower, and toys.

        Shaking silly thoughts out of my head about power I redoubled my efforts to memorize the floor plans for the facility. Total there were five floors, and interestingly enough there was a massive service elevator as well as what looked to be a open-able hatch for the motor pool. I got the feeling at one point something much larger than my tank had been parked in here, likely some sort of flying machine. There were still some various bits on the walls and walkways along the walls that signaled something had once sat in here, whatever it was, it was long gone, likely well before the Steel Rangers had come here.

        I shook my head and stood having figured out what I needed to know and found Rose. Rose was fast asleep, so I made my passing quiet as I set down the map and and had left markings for the path I was taking. There were two floors below us, this section connected to the lowest floor with a simple stairwell, and it connected to what I wanted into the most, command and control, as well as the base's power plant. And there was one last thing, one very useful thing, a direct route from command and control to the research section of the base. While I could go through a wall on on the level we were on, or duck out into the hallway, I felt it best not to go blowing holes in walls if I could avoid it. I also felt the best place to get the information I wanted, and, hopefully, shine some light on things was command and control.

        I left with not but a whisper to Rose and headed for the stairs, as I did I saw Foresight carrying the drill we had come to fetch in the first place.

        “Moonlight, hold up for a minute.” Foresight said, his voice distorted by his power armor.

        I nodded and trotted up to him, still lighter on my hooves than I had been since we left Colt. I was leaving a good deal of equipment behind to be packed onto our method of escape, the tank of the apocalypse. I had also figured that there would likely be a lack of power ahead of me and likely the same issues we had earlier faced. With the knowledge that EFS and SATS not working I had paired down how much I was carrying to my lovely black blade, my trusty combat knife, This and That gun, my shotgun, and lastly my DMR. It was still a lot of things, but, with the ammo, spark grenades, and a med kit, I was still carrying a light load for myself, as well as being ready for whatever could come after me.

        “What is it, Foresight?” I inquired in a hurry as I was ready to go down and didn't want to lose my nerve about going it alone.

        He pulled out of a bag his old helmet. “Take this, it has a built in gas mask, I was just able to properly fix it, the electronics are further hardened, if anypony here can have electronics working on them within that magical null field, it’s you.”

        I blinked and nodded, taking his helmet in my magic and floating my gas mask to his pack.

        “Don't worry about air filters, that thing has a very long lifetime, I hope it serves you well.” Foresight avowed.

        “Thank you, I'll see you all again soon.” I promised as I put the new helmet on, the helmet making room for my horn thanks to the foresight of Foresight. I smiled as I sealed the helmet on my head at Foresight living up to his name. He would make a great leader once we got this done.

        “May Celestia and Luna protect you from what lays before you.” Foresight prayed, giving a short bow to me before moving away.

        “Thank you, keep everyone safe, and get at least that tank ready to drive and make certain the elevator out is ready.” I ordered. “If needed take everyone out of here with it, I'll find my own way out, don't worry, I don't die easily, nor do I give up easily.”

        With that Foresight trotted off to his task and I opened the door to the stairwell. I stepped in and let the door close behind me. With the closing of the door the faint glow of emergency lighting was all that lit my way, and the droning of the ventilation system was my only company. I prepared to descend.

Footnote: Sixty sixty seven percent to next level.