Fallout Equestria: Broken Steel - Under the Red Cloud

Fallout Equestria: Broken Steel

Under the Red Cloud

Chapter 5: Look before you Step

Damn it Elijah. Why can’t you warn me about this shit before I’m right in the shit? I growl to myself as I take cover behind a desk inside an office.

I was forced to dive for cover shortly after I entered the clinic from the back door. The door had opened up to a corridor that lead to an intersection, left was another hallway with multiple doors and to the right was the stairs leading down to the ground floor. I had stepped out into this intersection and turned left and moved down the hall only by a couple of steps when Elijah’s voice came through my pipbuck as he said “I’m picking up an emitter signature” He paused for a moment. “Watch out for security holograms, don’t shoot them. Attacking them is useless”. It was as if on cue that a hologram appeared in front of me. At first I stared blankly at it as it was the same none threatening blue hue as the Fountain Hologram and the merchant I saw earlier. The hologram was wearing what looked like the same security armour I’m wearing complete with helmet which made it impossible for me to see its face. The hologram then made a strange sound before its blue hue changed to a warning amber colour. The change caused me to take a step back as a bad feeling washed over me. The pony made of magical light stood up on its hindlegs and raised its forelegs to its head where it then changed to a threatening red and a red light began to glow between its hooves over its forehead. Knowing what the colour red meant. Red is Dead. I quickly bolted for the nearest door which happened to be to my right. I used my wings to give me some extra speed as I dove through the open door as red beams of death started to fly. Once I was through the door I quickly took cover behind a desk.

I grit my teeth as a burning pain began to travel down my left wing and into my back. A quick glance to my wing revealed my wing had gotten singed by a bolt of magic. Thankfully it wasn’t too bad, nothing a healing potion wouldn’t fix. Damn hologram. I won’t be able to kill it unless I can find its emitter or the terminal that controls it and finding them could be difficult. Right now though I’m stuck in this room and most likely gonna end up brown bread once it follows me in here. Fuck.

My ears twitched as I tried to listen for the hologram. It should have found me by now. Taking a deep breath I slowly peeked out from around the drawer compartment of the desk to look through the door. I blinked in confusion as the hologram wasn’t there. “Where in the blue blazers is it?” I ask myself out loud as I move out from behind the desk as quietly as I could. I flatten myself against the wall next to the door and slowly move my head out to peek down the hall where I ran into the hologram. It wasn’t there. I turn to look down towards the intersection and there it is, standing there looking at the sloping ceiling of the stairs.

“Why the fuck did it ignore me?” I mentally ask myself again. I just didn’t understand it. I was right in its sights, why didn’t it follow me?

The hologram turned ninety degrees to look up the hall to the back door for a minute before it turned another ninety degrees and stared up the hall towards me for a moment before it began to move again. In my confusion trying to understand the odd behaviour I forgot to move until the hologram noticed me and turned amber again.

“Shit...” I whine before diving back behind the desk.

I was sure it had me this time but after two minutes of nothing I peeked back out from behind the desk. The hologram turned back to blue and resumed its pre-programmed patrol route.

Okay, now I’m really confused. It saw me, why didn’t it follow me. It saw where I hid. Why didn’t it come in after me?

Wait... It lost me as soon as I hid. It didn’t pursue because it didn’t have a target. I get it now. It has a field of view targeting system. If it loses sight of its target it disengages and resumes its previous directive. So, if I can keep out of its line of sight I’ll be able to get around it.

Hmm, but what about its emitter? It must be close. Hmm, what if it uses a similar projector like the Krogoth’s hologram, a Lightbee. Hmm shooting that would be impossible since I wouldn’t be able to see it and it could be anywhere in the hologram. Oh, I know. I looked back to my saddlebags and used my colourless magic to pluck out an apple shaped grenade with a green band around it to signal that it’s a frag. This grenade will certainly tear its lightbee apart since a hologram is just light and has no mass to block the explosion. Nodding to my course of action I approach the door and pull the pin from the grenade. I could feel the charge building inside the apple as I waited for about five seconds. The hologram by now was about half way up the corridor and I then flung the apple grenade up the hall. For the third time in less than two minutes I dive back behind the desk as an explosion tore though the clinic’s first floor.

The office filled with dust from the hall while I waited for the after effects of the explosion to settle down. I coughed and hacked as I breathed in the dust and plaster that began to settle in a fine powder on the floor and on any other surface as I made my way into the now destroyed hall. The walls, floor and ceiling around the mid way point of the hall were bowing and had lost a lot of their degraded plaster and wood as the grenade had ripped them apart but thankfully the old structure held. The hologram however is gone too. I scan the hall and its depths for any signs of blue, amber or red light but there was nothing in view but dust.

“Thank Celestia” I mutter with relief.

If it’s not Ghost Ponies, its fucking holograms. Ugh, just what else does this place have to piss me off with?

The first floor consisted of the offices of the clinic and it had four of them. All decorated and full of practically the same things. I was able to find a hoofful of healing aids including a Doctor’s Bag and I also found a vending machine code for “Mintals”. In one of the offices I found a key to the basement and in another I read through a terminal which detailed an unpleasant visit from a pony called Dean Domino who didn’t seem happy that some mare had a sore throat. I didn’t feel it was important so I left it there. I had also taken a healing potion for my wing before I made my way to the stairs at the back of the hall which lead me down to the ground floor and in front of me sat one of those blue doors with an “Authorised Personnel” plaque on it.

“Might as well check the basement while I’m here” I said out loud to myself as I levitated the worn old key to the ancient lock and turned the key. There was a satisfying click and the door swung open on its creaky old hinges.

The first thing that came to me was the noise. A loud humming sound reverberated throughout the basement. I can easily identify that sound of the humming as I’ve grown up around such sounds since I was a little filly. The humming is the sound of a working generator. Secondly the basement’s structure is identical to the basement of the Police Station. What is it with basements and underground facilities having the exact same style of architecture?

I followed the short corridor until I came to another one of those security doors and opened it. The door slid down into the floor and it revealed a small but open room. The noise of the generator was now much louder. Inside I could see a table at the end with a terminal and the wall to my left had two windows that looked into where the Clinic’s generator screamed.

I flattened my ears against my skull to try and blot out the screeching of the generator. “Ugh, that sounds like it’s on its last legs” I mutter to myself as I trotted up to the terminal.

The old computer system booted up to reveal a screen displaying power control options for the Clinic.

“Shutdown main generator” I read on the screen. Hmm, turning off the main generator will stop that awful noise and turn off the power. Because this is a Clinic it would need to keep its main systems powered so it’ll have an auxiliary generator that would kick in as soon as it’ll lose its main power. Shutting down the generator will also keep it from probably exploding soon with how badly it was screeching. I can’t deal with this noise any longer so I quickly clicked on the option and soon the generator began to quieten down until it finally stopped and everything went quiet. A moment afterwards the dim lights faded until everything was cast into darkness. Elsewhere in the basement another hum started up but much, much quieter than the main one and shortly after the lights turned back on but a little dimmer than before.

“Thank Celestia that noise stopped”

With nothing else to keep my attention in the basement I walked back out and into the Clinic’s ground floor. The light hanging from the ceiling was glowing about half as bright as before. The corridor stretched on in front of me for as long as the one upstairs but didn’t have any doors on either side. At the end I noticed an open door that opened into an open room. I could see a door frame to the left of the open door and to the right I could see another door frame.

I absent mindedly fluffed my wings as I trotted up the corridor until I came to the door. To my right is another open door that leads into what looked like a lab for an autopsy and to my right I saw the door frame opened into another corridor but this one had lots of doors on either side and it branched around a corner at the end and there at the corner nestled up against the ceiling sat a speaker. I starred at it for a moment before sighing with relief as I noticed the square that would indicate the type of speaker was dark meaning it was powered down and I couldn’t hear the characteristic sound that usually came from the speaker.

I decided to check the open room first. It turned out to be the reception for the Clinic. It had a long counter that stretched almost the length of the room and also had a couple of terminals sitting on top of it. Around the room’s walls before the desk had lots of waiting chairs and a couple of small tables setup for visitors. Some of the chairs looked to have been knocked over like somepony left in a hurry. Something on the counter before me caught my eye and as I stepped up to the countertop I found another holotape. Picking this one up I was informed that I had found a vending machine code for healing potions. Well, I suppose I won’t be hurting for meds now. After pocketing the holotape my attention was again captured by a fluorescent glow coming from the far right corner of the waiting area of the reception. I smiled with delight at finding another Dean’s Stash lying on a chair. “Oh yes”

The case held within it plenty of things, most of it was really just junk, you know, crisps, water and among other things but it also contained ammo for .357 weapons and more Microfusion Cells. It also contained another Police Pistol and... Ugh... Another Cosmic Knife. Goddesses I’m sick of those things, especially when those abominations throw them on those Knife Spears. I’ve been stabbed in the ass by one and had several of them cut me as they whizzed past me. I unconsciously rubbed at my flank where it still had a tear in the fabric where the knife had stabbed me.

After pocketing the goodies I went back into the corridor and then looked in the room I thought was an autopsy lab. I scrunched up my nose at the horrific smell as I stuck my white head inside. The room literally smelled of death and it wasn’t hard to see (and smell) why. The room isn’t large, only about ten feet long and a few feet wide. Lining the back wall were three stretchers and two of these stretchers held the dead bodies of two ponies, headless ponies I might add. I couldn’t set hoof in the room with how powerful the stench was and it was so repulsive. From my position in the door I squinted in the low light at the necks of the dead ponies and just like the one back at the Bunker their necks were burnt, a sign of a collar detonation. I frowned and shook my head. “Two more unlucky tossers” I said to myself. While I shook my head my eyes had noticed something folded up on a table beside the door. Curious I levitated the clothing and let it unfold by gravity while I held it up by its forelegs. The garment turned out to be a suit of black sleek armour. The armour is thin but plenty sturdy and with the sleek design it looks to like it was designed for stealth. While holding it I let my pipbuck register it and frowned at the suit’s damage threshold as it was weaker than the Maredre Security Armour I’m wearing. I was about to put it back until I saw its value. “Seventy five hundred?” I blurted out and quickly stuffed it into my saddlebags. “I can sell that when I get back for a good sum”

Once the suit was safely stuffed in my saddlebags I quickly threw myself back away from the door and began to wretch. Dear goddesses that smell was killing my nostrils. I turned my attention now to the only place I haven’t checked yet in the Clinic. Collar 13 has to be in here somewhere. I began to walk up the corridor and peered into each open door as I walked by. Inside each room it was the same in each one, a cabinet and table and dominating the room a large cylindrical object. The object in question had turned out to be some advanced Auto-Doc. I’ve seen Auto-Docs before but these were different. I turned the corner and came to a dead end. It was then that I started to hear something. It sounded like a dentist drill which was followed by the sound of a vaccum used to clear water or whatever a dentist uses but the most disturbing sound was the thrashing against metal. The sound came from the end room. It sounded like a monster trying to escape a cage. Not wanting to walk into a trap I pulled out my BAR and held it so the barrel pointed at the Auto-Doc sitting in the middle of the room. I approached the medical unit with my gun raised and split my magic to press the release button. The door of the cylindrical device slid open with a hydraulic hiss and several robotic arms folded back up to the roof of the Auto-Doc. I think calling this a Suicide Chamber would have been more appropriate with the things I’m seeing on the ends of the robotic arms. Saws, drills, pincers, etc. Dear goddesses these things are horrible. My attention was then suddenly drawn to the occupant of the Auto-Doc as she stumbled out of the machine but then froze with dread as she came face to face with the muzzle of my BAR.

The pegasus standing before me has a light tan coat with a blond tail. She would have had a mane if not for the fact it looked to have been shaved off, most likely from the auto-doc. The most striking feature about this poor mare is her face. It would have been lovely to look at but it was riddled with scars. It looks like somepony had put this mare’s face together, making her look like Frankenstallion’s monster. She had a scar that encircled her forehead making it look like her head had been opened up and then put back on. As I examined the poor mare my gaze moved down to her neck where I saw the same type of collar I’m wearing, confirming this to be the pony I was looking for but then my gaze turned the bright red and fresh scar on her neck, like her throat had been slit.

“Are you alright?” I asked in concern.

The mare didn’t respond, instead she was staring at something. It took me a moment to realise I still had my heavy automatic rifle pointing at her face.

“Oh cock, sorry” I said quickly pulling the weapon back and placed it back on my back. The mare visibly relaxed a little now that the gun had been pulled away from her.

“Are you alright?” I repeated. The young pegasus opened her mouth to answer but then cringed in great pain which forced her to close her eyes as she screwed up her face in a grimace. When the pain faded she tried again but cringed again but this time she didn’t screw up her face but as she tried to speak, nothing came out, not a sound. She looked pained and confused that she couldn’t utter a single sound but she tried again with the same result.

“Can you talk?” I asked and immediately regretted it as the mare gave me an “Are you serious?” look.

The pegasus reached up with a hoof to her neck to feel at it, her hoof touched at the fresh red scar and she traced it along her neck. The poor pegasus’ eyes widened in shock as she felt the scar but then her eyes turned to confusion when her hoof then collided with her collar making her open her mouth in a silent eep at the unexpected touch and her eyes widened in shock and surprise as she began to feel at her collar. Her eyes widened more and more as she continued to feel at the collar. Her bright blue eyes were full of confusion until her hoof found the latch of the collar. She narrowed her eyes as she began to tug on the latch.

“Whoa stop!” I yelled as I used my magic to pull her hoof away from her collar.

She narrowed her eyes at me with light anger from the invasion of personal space and she yanked her hoof out of my magic. She opened her mouth to say something but cringed again and gave up trying to speak. She instead pointed at me and then shrugged her shoulder in a questioning manner.

“It’s a bomb collar, mess with it like that and it’ll explode” I explained sadly. Her eyes widened in disbelief, shock and fear of the explosive around her neck. She put her hoof back down as she stared at me. I could see her eyes looking me up and down but then her eyes focused on my own neck. At first I thought she was looking at the claw marks that were left behind thanks to those Wretches but then she lifted her hoof and pointed at my neck and tilted her head then pointed at her own neck again. It took me a second for it to click in my mind that she was indicating my collar. “Let’s just say we’re in this together”

The mare shook her head then raised an eyebrow not understanding. I stepped back allowing the mare to fully exit from the torture chamber. Her eyes caught sight of my side and my large wings and she quickly looked up at my forehead and then back to my side as she stepped out. She pointed to my side and then my forehead with a wing then shrugged with a questioning gaze.

I sighed “I’m not an Alicorn if that’s what you’re thinking”

I could see the question in her eyes as she silently mouthed it. “Then what are you?”

“I’m a Winged-Unicorn, fifty percent pegasus and fifty percent unicorn” I explained boredly as I’ve explained this to many ponies in the ten years since my mutation. “End of” I added to prevent further questioning. I took a breath as I then explained to the muted mare about what and why we are collared and here.

She listened but she seemed to take more of an interest when I mentioned Father Elijah, it was like she recognised the name and had some meaning to her but without her able to talk I couldn’t ask her to get an explanation. I doubt she’d be able to explain that with hoof and wing gestures. After I finished with my explanation I asked her a couple of questions such as how did she end up in the Auto-Doc and what sort of weapons she could use. The poor mare did a motion of somepony shoving against something and then indicated her back with her wings as a depiction to what happened to her to end up in the medical machine. To my question about weapons she simply nodded.

“Ok, here” I said as I levitated out a Police Pistol and a Cosmic Knife over to her. “Take these”

The mare nodded and plucked each weapon out of my magic with her mouth and gently stuck them into her tattered saddlebags that I noticed resting against her flank, hiding her cutie-mark.

“We need to get you back to the Fountain for moment, its safe there” I told her. I sighed. “It would be best for you to be in the safety of the Fountain. We are linked by our collars. If one of us dies, we all die. I’d feel better if you were someplace safe”

A light blush appeared on her cheeks at my mention of wanting her to be safe. “I have one last pony to find Blondie, and then we can work on getting out of here” Her blush deepened at my calling her Blondie but she smiled as a result and then nodded. “Oh, um, you don’t mind if I call you Blondie do you, it’s just until you get your voice back?” I asked her since I wouldn’t be able to get a name out of her until she could talk again. The blushing mare nodded with her smile still present.

I smiled softly “Alright then, let’s go” I said turning to the door to the hallway. The pegasus nodded and we began to make our way towards the front door. I turned the corner and began to move down the corridor until I felt a touch to my plump flank. The touch of the hoof to my flank made my wings flare and I blushed from the contact as I quickly turned to face the mare.

The muted pegasus blushed brightly as she realised her hoof had missed my rear armour plate and instead touched my flank. She shook her head trying to dispel the blush and then pointed up with her wing at the corner where the dead speaker hung.

“Oh that” I giggled softly realising that she had poked me to get my attention. “It’s a decayed speaker, if we hang around one too long it’ll cause our collars to explode” I informed her.

She frowned with her blush now gone. She made a face as if thinking then tapped at her collar with her hoof then started to click her tongue to simulate it beeping. Blondie then sat on her haunches and held up one of her forehooves upside down and then brought her other hoof down on top of it as if covering something and clicked her tongue slowly to simulate slowing down the beeping.

“You can... um, block or dampen the signal?” I asked and she nodded smiling that I got it. “Can you do that for all of us?” I asked hopeful. She was about to nod but then shook her head. She then indicated herself with a wing and then wave it to me and back again. “Just between us?” She nodded with a smile again. “How romantic” I joked with a smile as I turned back and started walking again. I missed the blush that spread across her face as I turned.

As luck would have it. As soon as we both left the Clinic we encountered two more Ghost Ponies. I’m getting sick of these things. In front of me I could see one and to our left I could hear another. I turned back to check on Blondie but she quickly whipped out the Police Pistol I gave her and with unexpected precision she had unloaded three shots directly into the Ghost Pony’s head to our left and it fell to the floor. She again surprised me as she put the gun away just as quickly as she got it out and she had then plucked out the Cosmic Knife and then dove at the downed Ghost, knowing that it’ll get back up since it was still intact.

I screamed out in pain as I felt one of those accursed knife spears slice through my left ear and then I got hit in the side of the head by the spear handle as it impacted the door behind me.

“Argh, you son of a bitch” I yelled with pained anger as I turned to face the offending monster. Gritting my teeth I pulled the BAR off my back. The monster started its odd sideways jumps. I followed its movement with my eyes and the gun barrel. I needed to wait for the right moment to fire. I narrowed my eyes with hate while I grit my teeth harder as I followed it moved. In the corner of my eye I saw Blondie rejoin me with a confused look on her face as she watched me keeping my aim on the monster. Finally the creature landed and began to pull itself up. That was it, the moment I needed while it was recovering from its jump. I pulled the trigger of the BAR and fired off three rounds.

“Eat shit and die” I scream with hateful anger as the three powerful rifle rounds slammed into the creatures head. The first shot blew out its mask’s eye, the second punched through its forehead and the third shot ploughed through its unprotected eye and blew out the back of its head and brains. The creature collapsed to the floor with a huge hole in the back of its head. Without a brain I doubt it’ll be getting back up.

After the Ghost Pony died I felt the rage fade and I shook my head as I felt dizzy from the sudden rush of hate and anger. I haven’t felt that much hate for anything for the last five years. I fear the stress of this place is beginning to get to me. Goddesses only knows what that hate and anger will make me do here. I shiver at the thought.

I felt a hoof touch my shoulder and turned to look at Blondie. She looked concerned and her eyes asked the question. “Are you ok?”

I took a deep breath to recover from the sudden hateful rush and nodded. “Yes, I’m ok now, thank you” I said with a weak smile. “C’mon, let’s go” Blondie nodded and we continued but still looked concerned.

It took us a couple of minutes to work our way back to the main gates of the Medical District and then back to the Fountain where we found God waiting for us. The purple alicorn turned and her eyes found Blondie close behind me and she approached her.

“What do we have here? Why, it’s a little doll. Were you carved by a craftspony or by a drunken idiot with a knife? Scars tell a story, some new, some old. The one on your neck is fresh and red” She spoke calmly and slightly darkly before she trotted back to the Fountain.

Oooookay... That was weird.

Blondie just glared after the alicorn.

“Ok, Blondie, I’m going to need you to wait here while I go and find Collar 15 in the Residential District”

I turned to face her and put my organic right forehoof onto her shoulder “Will you be alright alone with God?” I asked with concern for her.

Blondie reached up and took my hoof into her’s and held it softly as she looked up at me. Her eyes looked saddened but she had a question in her eyes. She pointed down the east street and then back to the fountain asking. “Will you come back?”

“Don’t worry, once I find Collar 15 I’ll come back, I promise”

She stared into my eyes for a moment before she let go of my hoof and nodded as she sat down by the fountain to wait. “Don’t worry about God, she won’t hurt you” I said reassuringly before looking back to the alicorn before adding. “Won’t you?” Directed at her.

“Of course not” Was her simple reply.

“Good” I said as I turned and begun down the street for the Residential District.

XXXXX

I groaned as I heaved open the heavy gates to the Residential District of the Villa. I didn’t realise just how heavy they were and it didn’t occur to me to use my magic to open them.  The gates opened up to a street with an intersection just a little ways up from the gate and ended at a dead end by a wall. I could see a set of stairs and an iron gate on either side of the dead end. There is also a fountain nestled against the wall of the stairs before the gate. As I stepped into the district and let the large gates close I noticed a dead Ghost Pony lying on the floor with a large canister next to it and just before the stairs I could see the orange glow of an armed Land Mine.

“I’m picking up signals near your location. Detonators! Watch for traps” Father Elijah’s voice rang out from my PipBuck and again making me scream.

“For the love of Luna’s butt hole will you stop doing that” I screamed in anger and frustration. Even his unexpected warnings are starting to piss me off now. Ugh, if I ever meet this stallion face to face I’m gonna sock him one in the bugle.

I approached the dead Ghost Pony and picked up the canister it had laying next to it. The canister looked like a gas tank similar to a propane tank but taller. The canister had a detonator and a sensor module strapped to it which told me it was a makeshift proximity bomb. I decided to pocket the Gas Bomb as I think it’ll come in hoofy later on.

I stood at the opening to the street going to the right of the gate and saw how it curved around to the left. I lifted my mechanical leg and looked at the map screen of my PipBuck. I toggled to the local map and found that the street curved around to a dead end with no other doors or pathways to lead away from it. I shook my head and turned to the dead end of the street facing the gate. I approached the gate and frowned as I found it was locked and judging by the small complex lock it has I doubt I’ll be able to pick it in this dim lighting and I didn’t want to chance breaking the lock so I decided to leave it alone. I instead turned to the fountain and pocketed all of the chips lying inside its basin.

The mine before my hooves started to beep as I approached it and I quickly tapped it on its sensor to disarm it. I sighed with relief as the glowing orange light faded as it disengaged and shut down leaving it harmless. I could have picked it up but I didn’t feel the need to carry this mine. I don’t think it’ll be useful so I decided to leave it there. I walked up the stairs to an open door and a set of breeze blocks which to a set of boards bridging the gap between the top of the stairs and a flat roof on the opposite side. Curious to where the boards lead I looked over to the roof and saw a hole in the wall to an apartment.

“Hmm, might be something useful in there” I said to myself as I climbed up onto the creaky old boards. I feared they’d collapse on me. I mentally facehoofed when I remembered I have wings. The room through the hole in the wall is very dark and I can barely see anything inside. I was about to take a step when I noticed a wire spanning the width of the hole.

“A trip wire” I said to myself as I bent down low to see where the wire was connected. I found it tied off to a metal pole sticking out of the floor. I used my magic to take hold of the wire and began to untie it. Suddenly a loud bang echoed out from the room. I instinctively flattened myself to the floor with my wings spread out from my sides to try to make myself as little as possible. As I dropped I felt something pepper the rear armour plating of my security suit.

“Bollocks” I cried out in shock and surprise. I picked myself up and checked my rump to make sure I hadn’t been hurt but thankfully the buckshot at bounced harmlessly off my armour. I entered the dark room and lit up my horn and there sitting on a small table facing the hole in the wall lay a shotgun in a makeshift cradle with a servo pressing against its trigger. I took note of the wire connected to it which is now slack. “Celestia’s mane, I can’t believe I just triggered this” I groaned to myself in annoyance at triggering such a primitive trap.

Without the danger of a trap going off I was able to explore this room. It turned out to be a living room as it held a couch, a couple of tables, a TV set which had a cracked screen and a chest of drawers. Nestled between the sofa and the corner wall I found an ammunition box which I quickly cleaned out of its Microfusion Cells and hoofful of .357 Magnum Rounds. I need to find more .308 rounds or my BAR will be nothing but a glorified club soon. I opened the drawers to search them one at a time. I found nothing until I opened the bottom drawer and found a picture frame sitting inside. I blinked and used my magic to gently pull it out and sat on my haunches as I then took the frame in my hooves and looked upon the photos sitting inside it which had survived the test of time and still remained clear.

My eyes began to water as I looked at the photos of the family of two ponies and their three foals and my eyes focused on one photo in particular. In the bottom right of the collection of pictures in the frame sat a picture of a mare smiling happily at the camera as she held in her hooves while laying on a hospital bed, three bundles, her three newborn foals. I began to weep seeing these three foals as my mind flooded with memories of my own three foals. I’ve been away from them now for probably two days. I’ve never been this long away from my fillies. Oh Celestia, I hope they are ok. I.. I need to get back to them. The twins, they still need me. Oh goddesses I miss them so much.

I cried for a good few minutes until my despair turned to rage. I’ve been stolen from my family, from my friends and more importantly from infant foals. I threw the photo frame back into the drawer and stepped out onto the roof and yelled with all my pain and anger into the morning sky.

“WHEN I FIND YOU ELIJAH, I’M GOING TO KILL YOU”

I dropped my head as I panted and groaned as I struggled to recover from the sudden shift in emotions and the sudden surge of anger. I quickly began doing some breathing exercises that my husband taught me to regain my composure and my emotions. I can’t lose it hear. I groaned softly to myself as I forced myself to keep going.

I had to drop to the floor again as I trigged another shotgun trap at the open door at the top of the stairs after climbing down from the wooden board bridge. Luckily this time I avoided taking a hit but it still annoyed the hell out of me. This place is so damn dark it’s hard to spot such simple traps.

I completely ignored the room and stepped out onto the top of the stairs outside the other end. It’s really dark on this side. The stairs lead down to a cobble stone path where it then opens up to what seems to be a large open area. Opposite the stairs I’m standing on is another set leading to the opposite side. On the walls from where the other set of stairs lead I can see another balcony that leads around the perimeter of the open area for all I can see. I took a single step to begin going down the stairs when I heard a snap and then three distinct pings as something small and metallic hit the floor.

“Oh cock!”

Knowing what was about to happen I spread my wings and beat them hard as I flung myself back taking to the air as I threw myself out the other side and flew to the gate and hunkered down and spread a wing over me to shield myself from what was about to come. I closed my eyes and braced myself.

KA-BOOM!!!

I felt a peppering of things landing on me followed by the sounds of wood and plaster and slate hitting the floor around me. After most of the bits landed I removed my wing and climbed back up to my hooves and stared at the apartment I was in moments ago.

“Holy Celestia” I gaped as I saw the roof. The roof was blown out and twisted out of shape. I knew a Grenade Bouquet was powerful from past experience but fuck that was more than I expected.

I made my back to the door where I triggered the trap and gaped at the now massive hole in the wall and roof where the door once was. I stared in confusion at ruined wall. “Where’s the brick, where’s the interior wall, the breeze blocks? This is just wood and plasterboard... Talk about cutting corners. Who the flying fuck would approve the construction of this place with this weak structuring?” I shook my head in confusion at the revelation that the Villa wasn’t built to code and moved on.

I found a vending machine in a small alcove at the bottom of the stairs, against the wall of the stairs going up to the next apartment I found another fountain and pocketed the few chips sitting on its rim. I stopped suddenly as listened. My ears swivelled around as I strained myself to hear over the constant rumbles of thunder and the constant howling noise I began to hear the sounds of a Ghost Pony respirator. I flattened myself up against the wall beside the stairs and peeked around the corner and peered into the large open area. The open space is a large rectangle, I can see four raised soil beds with three of them having black withered dead trees inside them, there are also three ammunition boxes and a medical box in the middle of them and the balcony that began from the apartment above me around the length of the rectangle and ended on the far side. The most striking feature here however is the thick red cloud that swirled and hung in the air filling the space. “Oh terrific” I groaned at the sight of the cloud. While I stared around the plaza my eyes caught sight of the glowing green eyes of the Ghost Pony’s mask. I could barely see the creature through the haze of the cloud but it seemed to be on the balcony above, well it wasn’t a threat right now being up there.

The plaza is lined with arches which are pretty much common among the Villa architecture. I kept low and trotted as quietly as I could around the wall until I stepped under the arches under the balcony. The path under the arches was thankfully sheltered by from the cloud allowing me to move from one side to the other without getting affected by the cloud. I stopped about halfway down the side of the plaza as I came to a passage into a tiny square but also because I could hear the hoof steps of the Ghost above me. The Ghost continued unaware of my presence and trotted past above me as it was moving closer to the apartment the stairs would lead to. Curious about the small square I walked through the passage and followed the path around a pointless open square hole in the middle and then I found a suitcase up against the back corner. I grinned as I found another Dean’s Stash.

“Sweet, just how many of these has this pony left behind?” I asked myself as I sat down and opened the case.

The case held another Police Pistol, a 9mm Pistol and a Laser Pistol. I took them and the ammunition that was also inside while also taking a few of the miscellaneous items such as food and also taking the medical items inside, just a couple of healing potions, two bottles of Rad-X and a packet of Rad-Away.

KA-BOOM!!!

“Holy shit!” I screamed in shock and surprise as another large explosion rang out throughout the Residential District. “What the bucking hell was that?”

I rushed out from the small square and stood between one of the arches to the large plaza and looked to my right at the now smoking doorway of the apartment where the balcony started. I blinked and stared as smoke billowed out of the now twisted doorway. It was then that I realised I couldn’t hear the Ghost Pony’s respirator nor could I see its red marker on my EFS.

I giggled to myself as I realised what happened. The Ghost Pony had set off the same type of trap I did just minutes ago. Well, that’s one less Ghost to deal with. I looked out into the cloud and saw the boxes. They seem rather close here. Maybe I can grab the items before the cloud severely hurts me. I took a deep breath, cringing as the burn of the sulphur and copper ran down my throat before I flapped my wings and rocketed to the boxes. While holding my breath I opened the boxes and cleared out the ammunition and then took the healing potions and bobby pins in the medical box. When I got to the boxes I realised there were also three packets of Rad-Away resting on the floor between two ammo boxes which I also pocketed as soon as I found them. I could feel my lungs burning with the lack of oxygen and with my body needing air I gasped and took in a deep breath. A breath that sent my head reeling and my insides heaving and churning as the full effects of the cloud began to take its effects on me. My vision began to blur as my head swam plus the tears forming in my eyes. I cried out in pain from the cloud and then flared my wings and flapped my wings as powerfully as I could while to throw myself out of the cloud.

I came out of the cloud and crashed into the wall of the apartment under the balcony and collapsed onto my side panting and breathing heavily. “Hate... gasp... that fucking... gasp... cloud” I groaned deeply with painful gasps of the semi-fresh air. I lay there for a few minutes getting my breath back before finally pulling myself back up to my hooves and quickly downing two healing potions to recover from the effects of the cloud.

Once recovered from the cloud I shakily climbed the stairs to the open door. I stopped and blinked at the wall beside the door as I found graffiti scrawled on the wall.

“THE FLOORS HAVE TEETH” It warned.

“The floors have teeth?” I repeated. “What’s that suppose to mean?”

I cautiously entered the apartment. The room was in complete disarray as the floor, walls and ceiling around the middle of the room were bowing from the damage they had taken from the grenade explosions and this had also thrown everything in the room every which way. While I searched the mess my eyes focused on the steel construct on the floor next to the hole in the floor. I couldn’t forget what sat on the floor; I lost my leg to an enchanted one. It was a bear-trap what had snapped closed and it was then that I understood the warning outside the door. It meant the bear-trap on the floor. I suppose there must be more of them elsewhere.

I gingerly stepped around the weakened hole in the floor and stepped out onto the balcony which creaked under my weight. I fear the blast had weakened the balcony and quickly moved away from the damaged area. I sighed with relief as the balcony held and I began to make my way along the balcony. There were no other doors on the balcony apart from the door at the very end facing the one I had just left. I began to walk more cautiously as I turned the corner to the last portion of the balcony to the door as I remembered all the previous traps that I’ve triggered and seen. I suspected another trap at the door like the two shotgun traps from earlier. As I neared the door I began to see the outline of a gas bomb against the door frame.

“Please don’t be a mine” I groaned to myself. I breathed a sigh of relief as I came to the open door and found that the bomb was just a gas canister as it didn’t have a detonator or a sensor module. I stepped up to the threshold, my right forehoof standing on the floor of the door frame. As I examined the door I noticed that the canister is also resting against a table.

CRASH!

I whirled my head back around to look behind me, exposing the entire right side of my face to the canister. I could see the opposite door billowing with dust. Breathing out in relief I put my left forehoof down and then heard a click.

“Oh... cock...”

Click... bang...

KA-BOOM!!!