Fallout Equestria: Duty

Fallout Equestria: Duty

Chapter 21

Rainbownomicon

“Oh no! I'm going to be tardy!”

~O~Frostmane~O~

We stood in an office in the administrative building of district 1-A, a map of the Trottingham sewer system spread out before us. Golden Sunshine, Homage, Firestorm, Gingerbread and I were just planning how to proceed from here on out. We didn't have much time, since we had already heard about a major battle between the Steel Rangers and the Order of Machina near Las Pegasus to the west of here, and the Rangers had lost it. If we wanted to stop any unnecessary violence, we would have to move fast.

But, I was not willing to make our move until I knew exactly what Gear Turn had wanted in secret hub #100, or what the origins of these strange mares were. Both kinds of information could be found in the confines of the city, but it also meant that we would have to split up, if we wanted to acquire the information as fast as possible.

“The entrance to Stable 60 is here, near the border between district 46-J and 59-J. The secret hub you told me about however, is all the way over here, at the other end of the city.”, Gingerbread said, pointing at two marks on the map. I nodded.

“That's why I said we would have to split up. Firestorm and I are former members of the Ministry of Awesome, so we should go and explore the hub. Now that she has her Insignia back, the security systems should recognize her authorization.”, I replied, and my comrade nodded in agreement.

“What about us?”, Homage piped up, not wanting to stay behind. I sighed. I didn't want to leave the filly behind alone either, since Golden would be a great asset to either operation, but I just couldn't justify bringing her along. The Stable was bound to have defenses of it's own, and without an Insignia, she would just be a target for the turrets in the hub. There was only one way to keep her safe in other words...

“You and Golden will have to stay behind, I fear. Look, I don't like this any more than you do, but it's better this way.”, I said, ruffling her mane with my cybernetic leg. The filly pouted, stomping a hoof.

“There, there. What do you say we drive the neighbors insane with Frostmanes music collection while she's away?”, Golden Sunshine offered, getting the fillies attention with this. So far, my music collection had been off limits for her, and for good reason. Some of those records were signed after all, but if it would help keep her safe...

“Alright... If you want, you can mess with my records while I'm away, just promise me not to break any of them.”, I sighed. Homage looked a little torn at that. She had wanted to get her hooves on those ever since she had found the shelf behind my stereo, but I hadn't allowed it up until now. In the end, she agreed however, and I just hoped that all of them would still be intact once I got home.

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“Vice-General, might I have a word?”, a stallion in Power-Armor called out after me, as I was about to make my way to district 66-G. Firestorm was on her way to my apartment to pick up her battle-saddle, and would meet me there, so I did have some time to kill.

“Yes? What can I do for you?”, I replied, turning around to face him.

“My name is Elder Torch Light, from the Steel Ranger Trottingham Contingent. I'm here since I wanted to apologize for Star Paladin Raspberry. What she did was inexcusable, and she has been dismissed from our order. I also wanted to ask you for your assistance in our fight against the Order of Machina. If things keep going like they are now, we will soon be defeated.”, he said, standing at attention.

“Elder... If anything, I have to apologize to you. What Raspberry did was horrible, yes, but it is one of my former subordinates that leads the Order of Machina. I would really appreciate it if you told your brethren to stop the ongoing war with them. Major Firestorm and I will take care of them personally.”

“We are quite aware that Elder Gear Turn was once under your command, but that does not make you responsible for the mares actions. The situation would be different, if you were her commanding officer. Seriously... that Earthpony mare... wearing Pegasus armor... it's a disgrace.”, he sighed, and my ears perked up at that.

“Wait. Have you not reviewed her files? Gear Turn is a Pegasus. She replaced her wings with those chainsaw implants willingly, about half a year after joining my platoon.”, I replied, which gave the stallion in front of me a start.

“No, we haven't. Her files are under lock and key. There's a Celestia tier encryption on them, so without the proper password...”

“Nightmare Moon.”, I said simply.

“Excuse me?”

“The password. It's Nightmare Moon. With it, you can review all the files of my Platoon. I doubt that much of the information in there matters nowadays, so feel free to do it. I have only one request.”, I said, pointing at my Pipbuck. “Send me a copy of the files, and delete them once you're done with them. It was classified back then, but I doubt you would have any use for any of our personal information. But what you will find in Gear Turns file will certainly be interesting to you.”, I stated, and the buck nodded.

“Certainly. Thank you Vice-General. Had we known that she wasn't an Earthpony like she claimed, we would have never let her join up...”, he started, but I held up a hoof.

“Elder. My Platoon, the Moon Skulls, was made up of Ponies of all races. We even had Zebras and Zonies in our ranks. It was one of the reasons we were as successful and secret as we were. Even high ranking Steel Rangers of our time, who joined us, had to admit that we were much more efficient than them. Maybe your order should reconsider how you've run things all these years. Oh and Elder? If you wouldn't mind, I would also like the file of one of your Ponies. I'm sure he's dead by now, but I'd still like to know what became of him.”, I said, and the stallion motioned for me to go on.  “Sergeant Apple Snack, also known as Steel Hooves. I have served with him a few times. Do you think you could do that?”

“You mean, Star Paladin Steelhooves? He's part of the Manehatten Contingent as far as I know. Turned into a Ghoul after the fall of Canterlot. Would you like me to contact him for you?”, he asked, cocking his head a little. Somehow that didn't surprise me. That buck had always been hard to kill after all...

“No. It's OK. I'm just glad to know that he's alright. And now, Elder, I really have to go. I'm kind of on my way to an assignment right now, and I'm pretty sure the Major is already waiting for me.”, I replied. We parted ways after saluting to each other, and I remembered my time in Zebra Town. I had been stationed there for a month, to assess the situation for the Ministry of Awesome. Apple Snack had been one of the soldiers there who had been responsible for keeping the peace. At first, we hadn't gotten along at all, until we had started drinking together one evening. Afterwards I had always called him “Apple Barrel”, since there just didn't seem to be a limit for him. Later, he had become one of the founding members of the Steel Rangers.

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“What took you so long? I've been waiting here for at least twenty minutes already.”, Firestorm exclaimed, ruffling her wings slightly. She was angry with me for some reason, and I was sure my lateness didn't have anything to do with it.

“What's wrong Storm? I've been late before, but you've never been angry at me for it.”, I replied, cocking my head a little.

“It's... You... Argh...”, she exclaimed, throwing her hooves up into the air.

~O~Firestorm~O~

Frostmane was late, and it was the perfect excuse for me to vent a little. Alas, she saw right through me, like she did so often. We had been planning this operation for three days, and we had decided to do it today of all days. Had I known that it would be that time of the month for me, I wouldn't have agreed to it. My stomach hurt, and my lower regions were just uncomfortable. Not to mention the crankiness I was experiencing at every little thing...

“I... I... Oh Frostmane your impossible... Don't make me say it!”, I said, maybe a little too loudly, for some of the Ponies on the street turned around to look at us.

“If you don't want to talk about it, then it's OK, but I don't want to argue with you over small things like this either.”

I sighed, stepping closer so I could whisper in her ear. She really wasn't at fault here, since I had already expected her to be late. It had happened more than once before after all. Looking at me, her eyes widened for a moment, before she drew her ears back.

“You know... My uterus had to be removed when I was still pretty young so... I don't really know what that must be like. If you'd rather go an lie down, I'd totally understand though.”, Frostmane whispered back, and I felt a wave of warmth rush through me.

Ever since we had gotten together, my marefriend seemed to be more stable all together. She had also become much more understanding recently, and didn't get angry as quickly as before anymore. Was this my influence on her, or was that just a side effect of loosing that darkness inside of her? Taking a deep breath to calm myself down, I shook my head as I drew away from her again.

“It's OK Frosty. Just try not to upset me for the next few days, OK? So no going off alone anymore, understood?”, I said as sternly as I could. Much of the effect was lost due to the smile that crept onto my face however. Soon, both of us were grinning, and we made our way towards the entrance to the sewers.

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Differently from what I had expected, the sewers were... almost clean. There was barely any water running through the small canal in the middle of it, and the smell was not too unpleasant either. I guessed that they had connected most homes to the waste processors of Stable 60 shortly after the war, and that was the reason this city had more food then it needed. In return, the sewers didn't see much usage.

“Why Rainbow Dash had a hub constructed in the sewers is beyond me. I mean... she could have just build one below the academy. Wouldn't that have made more sense?”, Frostmane asked, but I only shook my head.

“I can understand her a little. There's a whole lot of tunnels under the academy already, which could have been converted easily, but it would also have been an obvious place. I mean... building a spy station under a military academy... kind of obvious, don't you think?”, I replied, as we made our way around another corner.

“Yeah, I guess you're right. But really... Must have been mighty unpleasant to get there back in the day.”

“Not really. There were elevators in Haunchington, which would take you directly into the hub, but since that area has been destroyed, we have to take the back door.”, I explained, remembering that Frostmane had never actually been in the hub itself. She had only picked me up there once, when Rainbow had ordered me there for some research of hers. They had taken my measurements, even going so far as to write down my weight. A fact that I wasn't really comfortable with, but since it had been so long, I doubted that it was of any significance.

Then I stopped. What if those papers were still there? I threw a glance over at Frostmane who was trotting in front of me. I certainly didn't want her to see that data, so I decided to destroy the file if I found it. A lady had to have some secrets after all, right?

“You coming?”, my marefriend called out as she noticed I had stopped.

“Y..Yes! I'll be right there!”, I called back, suddenly becoming very self conscious.

It took us only a few more minutes, which we spent walking in silence, to reach the back door of secret hub #100. It was a long hallway behind a simple steel door. One might almost have thought that it was just another maintenance corridor, had it not been for the corpses that littered the floor. The stench in here was unbelievable...

“Order of Machina Rangers.”, Frostmane stated, as she stepped over to one of the armored corpses to inspect it further. I myself couldn't see any significant difference between their armor, and the one the regular Rangers wore, so I was kind of at a loss how she had been able to tell the two apart. I asked her about it, and the answer surprised me a little.

“See this here? It's the symbol of the Ministry of Wartime Technology. The sword on the Insignia of the regular Rangers points upwards and has a silver blade, while the Order of Machina Ponies have reversed that. Their blade points down, and it's golden. Very hard to spot if you don't look for it, and to be honest, I just noticed it as well.”, my marefriend explained, looking around. “And there's the cause for their death.”, she added, pointing at the ceiling.

I saw it too, even though it took me a moment to make it out. There was a small indentation in the steel wall of this corridor. It looked as if somepony had hit it with his or her hoof, but I knew better. If we hadn't worn our Insignias, a turret would have come out of there to open fire at us. The security system had either accepted us, or it was offline. Frostmane obviously decided to give it a little test.

“Sergeant Frostmane reporting in. Acknowledge!”, she called out to the darkness. For a moment, there was no response. Then, the lights in the corridor flickered to life, illuminating the gruesome scene in front of us.

“Acknowledged. Welcome to hub #100, Sergeant.”, came the automated voice of the virtual intelligence running this complex. I had a hard time keeping my breakfast down, as I stepped over corpse after corpse.

The Order Rangers had obviously tried to run through to the other side, hoping to find an unlocked door or something there. Some even seemed to have made it, only to be gunned down by the turrets at this end of the hallway. The torn apart body of an Order Ranger lay near a Terminal that controlled the giant steel shutter that was the back door. His hoof still rested on the keyboard, but his blood had long since dried.

“A pity... They should have known that they wouldn't get in when the turrets opened fire on them...”, Frostmane said quietly, gently taking the stallions hoof of the keyboard and laying it down next to his body.

I had to agree. Apparently there was something in here, that Gear Turn wanted so badly that she was willing to sacrifice dozens of her Ponies to get it. I just hoped she hadn't succeeded...

“You open the door Storm. We have to know when your Insignia was last logged in.”, my marefriend said, stepping back from the Terminal. I nodded, trotting up to the Terminal. A log in prompt appeared on the screen as soon as the system registered my approach, and I put my Insignia into a slot on the keyboard. A moment later, we had our answer. My Insignia hadn't been used to enter this hub in almost two hundred years.

I sighed loudly as the steel shutter began to slide open, when another thing on the screen caught my eye. It didn't only display the exact time and date on which my Insignia had been used to enter the facility, but also the number of operatives inside. Since it counted our presence as well, it should have shown two. Instead, it displayed four.

“Frosty, look at this!”, I said, pointing at the numbers on the screen. She came over, and a low whistle escaped her muzzle at what she saw.

“Either we have some stasis capsules down there, or two corpses to bury. But... why are there only two? I thought this was the biggest secret hub in the MoA?”, my marefriend asked, looking a little confused.

“That's odd...”, I agreed and we made our way into the airlock. The slight pressure change made my ears pop, but I didn't mind it too much. As a Pegasus, my body adjusted to pressure changes quite well, unless they occurred to fast.

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“I guess we have our answer...”, Frostmane said, as the other side of the airlock opened and we looked into a hallway that was full of corpses. Our Pipbucks began to click, and I took a look at my radiation meter. The dial had just jumped up into the yellow. Not life threatening yet, but we certainly didn't want to stay here for too long.

“Think the mega-spell killed them? I mean... radiation seeping in through the elevator shafts in Haunchington?”, I asked.

“Most likely. Looks like they saw it coming and tried to reach an exit, but weren't fast enough... Heck... it was most likely too late anyway. Most of them look like they died only minutes after the mega-spell hit. If that's the case, no amount of treatment could have saved their lives...”, she replied, as we made our way towards the control center of the hub. It was located in the middle of the facility, and this time I was leading the way. I at least, had been here once, and roughly remembered how to get where we wanted to be.

“Locate living operatives!”, Frostmane suddenly called out from behind me. In the silence of the hub, it made me jump a little. I was just about to lash out at her for scaring me, when the artificial voice of the computer replied.

“Two operatives located in corridor 34-A, on route to control center. Two operatives located in weapons research laboratory B.”, the computer said, and we both stopped. Weapons research? That definitely sounded like something Gear Turn would be interested in, so I directed a question at the computer as well.

“Identify living operatives.”, I called out as we continued walking.

“Major Firestorm and Sergeant Frostmane are located in corridor 34-A. Apprentice Researcher BonBon and Intern Lyra Heartstrings are located in weapons research laboratory B.”

We looked at each other.

“I didn't know Dash was taking on Interns...”, Frostmane mused, smiling.

“Or apprentices...”, I added, more thoughtfully.

There was still a chance that these were, in fact, Order of Machina Ponies, using a false identity. A computer could be tricked after all...

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The control center of the hub was... a mess. A complete and utter mess. Papers lay everywhere, while part of the ceiling had collapsed, crushing the hologram projector that had once dominated the center of the room. It had always shown a depiction of the world, highlighting places at which MoA operations were carried out. One of the reasons we had come here in the first place, had been to use the hubs connection to the spy satellites to locate Gear Turn. Now, that seemed impossible. Not a single Terminal seemed operational, and I was already beginning to feel the first signs of radiation poisoning.

I drank one of the Rad-Aways we had gotten from Gingerbread, in case we encountered a situation like this. Frostmane however, didn't seem to feel the effects at all. She had closed her armor shortly after addressing the V.I., and was now poking through some of the folders she found on one of the desks.

“How's your rad status?”, I asked, slightly worried for the mare I loved.

“1 Rad per second. My armor isolates it quite nicely, but I think... maybe you should head back. My Pipbuck dial is close to the red after all.”

I sighed. Frostmanes armor surely was a great asset for her, but at times like this, it annoyed me. She was right. I couldn't stay here for much longer. Even with the Rad-Away, I was ingesting 25 rads per second, which meant I would have to drink another one pretty soon.

“Alright, I'll head back up and wait in the Airlock for you. Don't take too long, and call me over the radio if anything comes up, OK?”, I called over to Frostmane, who simply nodded, as I trotted back the way we came.

~O~Frostmane~O~

As I was sure that Firestorm was out of earshot, I began to grin widely. The folder I had found held the blueprints for a new, and improved, set of Pegasus Power-Armor. From what I could make out, it was to be produced in this facility, and Rainbow Dash herself was supposed to be it's test Pony.

It looked simply beautiful in the drawing. I've never been one for technical details, but even I could see that this armor was special. According to the legend on the side of the folder, it had build in levitation Talismans, that would make flying easier for the Pony wearing it, as well as a spell that even further reduced it's weight. Instead of a battle-saddle, this armor had four Nova-Surge rifles build into it. Or at least, that's what it looked like.

The lower leg supports of the armor were curved into wicked looking Hoof-Claws that were, according to the blueprints, retractable, giving the wearer extra close combat capabilities. The best part, in my opinion, however, was the wings. Firestorm's old armor didn't have any protection for her wings, while this one had a titanium alloy plate that was supposed to protect the wings from small to medium sized bullets.

“This is perfect!”, I exclaimed, putting the blueprints into my saddlebags. “Now, let's see... These two other operatives should be in laboratory B... Which way is that?”

My Pipbucks automap feature soon gave me an answer to that question, and plotted a course through the facility for me. If I was lucky, I would also find this suit of Power-Armor there...

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“What the buck???”, I shouted, as I crushed the head of yet another ghoul. These weren't lucid like Gingerbread however. They acted like feral animals. Several of them had already tried to bite me, but had failed to penetrate my armor. The whole damn hallway to laboratory B was full of them! I couldn't even see the door through the mass of bodies.

“Get off me you creeps!”, I exclaimed, discharging my Power-Hooves, crushing several of the undead creatures with the magical backlash they created. They still kept coming however, and since I had already fought my way into the corridor, I was utterly surrounded.  My magic discharged, impacting in the face of a corpse that wore the uniform of a MoA Lieutenant, the magical bolt charring off the creatures head before traveling along to the next. I paused a moment at that, letting the creatures bite into my armor.

“What the hay?”, I wondered inwardly. Of course I knew that my magic had somehow become stronger, but this was just unreal. My lightning bolt had traveled through ten of these things, instead of the usual three, and it had turned all of them to ash. I shook my head, to get my act back together, as I shoved as many of them back from me as I could with my magic. I needed a little space, to do what I had in mind.

Rearing up, I injected myself with a dose of Dash and Buck, taking a stance I hadn't used in a while, as the world around me became strangely colorful due to the Dash.

The first of the ghouls reached me again, it's muzzle devoid of any teeth as it tried to bite me. I jumped, turned in midair and bucked the wall next to me. It propelled me to the opposite wall, and I repeated that little trick a few times. When I finally landed, crushing two ghouls in my impact, I stood in front of the door to the laboratory.

Doombunny style used combat stimulants, and it's most important rule was : There are no rules. As long as you can do it, do it. Hit your opponent in any way you can, and be sure to use the strength and speed boost from the chems to maximize your damage. That was the vast difference between it and Fallen Caesar style, which had the goal to immobilize or kill your opponent quickly.

I threw one last look back over my shoulder, seeing the shuffling mass of ghouls coming towards me, before I opened the door to the laboratory and rushed inside, banging it shut behind me.

“Phew... That was close...”, I panted, as the drugs began to wear off. A moment later, I was scared out of my wits, as a mint green Unicorn ghoul stuck her face into my field of vision. She didn't try to bite me, so I refrained from killing her. It was pretty close though. My Power-Hooves had already charged up to 75% capacity, before I noticed that her blip on my EFS was green.

“Hey there.”, she said, in that rasping tone of voice I had come to know from Gingerbread.

“Ehm... Hi?”, I replied, looking her up and down. For a ghoul, she didn't look half bad. I do not mean that in a “good looking” kind of way, but she didn't look as rotten as Gingerbread, or the things outside this door. Another ghoul, an Earthpony mare, trotted up next to the first one, pulling her away from me.

“Excuse me miss, but are you with the rescue team? We've been stuck down here for ages, and all we want is to get out of here. Please excuse Lyra. She's... gotten a little odd lately.”, the mare said, putting on a pair of glasses. She too looked much more like a living mare, than a ghoul. There was no doubt that she was though, since my Pipbuck readouts told me that the rads down here were 400 per second. Only my armor protected me from suffering severe radiation poisoning, or turning into one of these things myself.

“Ehm... Sorry?”

“You know... Rainbow Dash promised us to send help when she was last here. Are you with the rescue party?”, the mare repeated. Had I been drinking anything at that moment, I would have done a spit take.

“Rainbow was here? When?”

“About a month ago.... Wanted to pick up something and noticed that we were still here. She couldn't help us though... But she promised to send somepony our way.”, the mint green mare said solemnly.

I thought for a moment. A month ago... In other words, around the time the Luna Dream had crashed. Could Dash have meant ME, when she told these two she'd sent somepony?

“Oh, don't worry, we know what's happened.”, the cream colored Earthpony, whom I assumed to be BonBon, said. “The war is over, and we've been down here for almost two hundred years. I'm just telling you this, so you know we aren't two of those ghouls who have gone crazy, and think that the war never happened or is still going. Some of the ones out there started out as such. That's when we locked ourselves up in here.”

“Uh huh...”, I said, not really sure of what to say.

“So?”, BonBon asked again, and I sighed.

“Look... ehm... your BonBon, right?”, she nodded, “I am not sure if I can get you out of here. There's so many of them. Would take me at least an hour of non-stop head crushing to pull that off, and I'm not sure if I can do that. If you could wait another day, I'd come back with reinforcements...”, I offered, but I could already see that she wasn't going to accept that.

“Damn it... Gingers missile launchers would have cleaned this mess up in ten seconds flat...”, I thought, as I looked out of the window that was set into the door to the laboratory. I sighed.

“OK, I'll get you out of here, but there's something I need to ask you too. This is a weapon research laboratory, right? I'm looking for a special Pegasus armor that's supposed to be here somewhere. Anything that could help me kill these things would also be greatly appreciated.”, I said. BonBon nodded to Lyra, who trotted off somewhere.

“Sure. The Rainbownomicon. Dashs special Power-Armor. You can have it, if you get us out of here. As for weaponry.. well... Look for yourself.”, BonBon answered, as Lyra pressed a button on the far wall. It slid aside, revealing a literal arsenal of weapons. “Take your pick.”

“But... if you have an arsenal like that... Why do you need ME?”, I asked, flabbergasted at the firepower that was being stored here. The mare simply pointed at her foreleg.

“No Pipbucks. These weapons are designed to be used in combination with one, and can't be used unless you have one. Believe me, I'm a peaceful Pony, but even I would have liked to take a shot or two at these monsters outside. You know... after the first sixty years down here, it's really not easy not to join them, and become feral...”

I understood and nodded, to show the pair that I agreed to the deal. With firepower like this, this would be a walk in the park.

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“What the hay?”, I shouted at the two lucid ghouls behind me, as I threw a weapon away that looked like a rocket launcher, but had instead launched a Pie at the ferals charging towards me.

“Sorry, sorry... that was a Ministry of Morale design. One second.”, BonBon called back, sending Lyra to get the next one off the shelves. It was a rifle... that only made “Boom Boom” noises... I seriously began to wonder if I hadn't wandered into a MoM hub by mistake, as I crushed the heads of two ghouls in rapid succession.

The next weapon was thrust into my hooves, and I connected it to my Pipbuck. This one at least shot a bullet, but it was made of... icing?

“BONBON!”, I shouted, being slowly overwhelmed by the feral ghouls. Sure, they couldn't harm me through my armor,  but if they got past me, they would rip apart the two who I had agreed to protect.

“Only a moment...”, the mare replied nervously, as she threw another weapon my way. This one even had Pinkie Pies smiling face on the handle, so I didn't even try it. Instead, I used the rifle-like weapon as a bludgeon to keep the ferals at a distance.

“NO MOM DESIGNS ANYMORE, AM I MAKING MYSELF CLEAR?”, I shouted. By now I wasn't really concerned for my safety. I was pissed at the two mares who hoofed one useless weapon after another to me.

Then, finally, Lyra floated something onto my back that almost threw me off balance, and fastened a long leather strap around my barrel. I had to drop to all four hooves again, to prevent falling over. As I looked back over my shoulder, I saw that the Unicorn had fastened what looked like a giant canon onto my back. My Pipbuck identified the device as “Party for one”. Apparently, it even had only one shot. I sighed.

“If this doesn't work, I'll buck the two of them upside the head...”, I thought, triggering the firing mechanism of the device on my Pipbuck. At first, nothing happened. Only a very low humming sound could be heard, that got louder and louder, until my teeth began to rattle from the vibrations it caused. I had a bad feeling about this. By now, only my shield was holding back the mass of ghouls in front of me, and I couldn't hold it up for very long.

“Get away from behind me!”, I called back, as the humming stopped. Lyra and BonBon scrambled back into the laboratory, closing the door behind them, as they observed what happened through the doors small window.

The explosion that came next was... multicolored, strong and utterly overpowered. The recoil of it knocked me back into the door, as the prismatic beam of magical energy erupted from the device, turning everything in it's line of fire into...

“Oh you've GOT to be KIDDING me!”, I exclaimed, as I looked over the mass of... confetti that suddenly littered the floor. That thing had actually transfigured these creatures into... confetti... I shook my head.

“Only Pinkie Pie would come up with a weapon that turns Ponies into confetti...”, I thought, as the two lucid ghouls dared to come out into the hallway again.

“Power-Armor. Where?”, I asked in a cross tone of voice. Lyra darted back into the laboratory, floating a big steel box in her magic as she came back. I had to admit that I was impressed by the mares magical prowess. That box alone looked like it weight half a ton.

“It's in there?”, I asked, to which Lyra began to nod energetically, and only stopped, when BonBon put a hoof on her head.

“A deal is a deal. You can have it. Rainbow won't be happy with us, but at least we finally get out of this place.”, BonBon said, and we began to make our way out of the facility.

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Firestorm was tapping her hoof on the ground in annoyance as she saw me. My armor was, due to a few dozen ghouls I had crushed with my hooves, sticky with the ichor they called blood.

“So... you got the two out? Great. And you went at it alone again, didn't you?”, she said crossly, to which I could only retract my armor and grin sheepishly.

“If I might interject miss... But without this suit of armor, or similar protection, you wouldn't have survived down there. The lab is directly under the mega-spell crater after all.”, Lyra interjected, cocking her head at Firestorm.

“But that crater is giving off barely any radiation!”, my marefriend shouted.

“That's because Haunchington wasn't it's primary target. This facility was. Haunchington was only collateral damage, while the main force of the blast was directed downwards, towards this complex. I saw it happen on the main hologram.”, BonBon explained.

“And why haven't you left then?”, Firestorm demanded.

“Our superiors didn't let us. They thought we should stay here, because the world above was surely even worse than being turned into... well... this... they said  you surface Ponies wouldn't accept us...”, Lyra said sadly, pawing at the ground with a hoof.

“It was then that we should have suspected something was wrong, but we didn't”, BonBon added. The black Pegasus sighed irritatedly, as she pointed at the steel box Lyra was still floating along.

“And what's in there?”, she finally asked, and I grinned.

“A present.”

“A present?”

“Yup!”, I said happily, taking the box out of Lyras magic and into my own. To my surprise, it was much lighter than I had anticipated. Setting it down in front of my marefriend, I pulled the lid aside, revealing... a metal ring? I looked back at BonBon, who came trotting over, taking the ring out of the box with her teeth.

“Where's the armor?”, I asked, feeling cheated.

“It's right here.”, she replied, spitting the ring onto her hoof. I cocked my head in confusion.

“Armor?”, Firestorm piped up, her one eye gleaming like a fillies at Hearthwarmin eve.

“I don't understand.... how is that an armor?”, I asked, and BonBon chuckled.

“You have forgotten that the MoA mostly ran stealth operations, so of course Dash wanted an armor that could be hidden easily. Now that I see yours, I can guess where she got the idea. Here miss, Firestorm was it? Put this ring on your hoof and press that button.”, the cream colored Earthpony instructed, stepping back after hoofing the ring to Firestorm. My marefriend looked at me for a moment and then shrugged.

I certainly had to give it to these mares. They had outdone themselves. As soon as Firestorm had pressed the little, almost invisible, button in the ring, it began to expand, forming armor plates every few inches. The whole process only took a few seconds, and when it was done, Firestorms body was completely encased in her new armor. Not even her mane stuck out from under her helmet.

“Wow, this is... but how do I take it off again?”, Firestorm asked, a little shaken by the experience.

“Easy, just think that you want to deactivate it.”, Lyra said, smiling happily. The mare was obviously pleased to see that the armor worked and, sure enough, a moment later, the armor had retracted completely again, Nova-Surge rifles and all.

“How... how is this even possible.”, my marefriend asked, looking down at the ring in awe.

“Rainbow Dash told us what she wanted. An intelligent metal alloy, that would be able to be stored in a dimensional pocket. It remembers the form of the first Pony to activate it, and can not be re-imprinted. Works a little bit like teleportation, but instead of transporting something from A to B, we suspend something in the space a Unicorn travels through while teleporting, and call it back to point A whenever we need it. As long as that ring isn't damaged, the armor will repair any malfunctions or combat damage itself. Congratulations. You are now wearing the product of almost 150 years of tinkering with the spell matrix on your leg.”, Lyra explained proudly.

Footnotes:

Frostmane:

Maximum Level

Firestorm:

Maximum Level.

New Equipment:

Rainbownomicon: You have acquired Rainbow Dashs secret project Power-Armor. It grants you a +1 bonus to strength, a +4 bonus to agility, and a +2 bonus to endurance. You know also don't have any use for a battle-saddle anymore, since this armor comes with four integrated Nova-Surge rifles.

Golden Sunshine:

No Status Changes

Homage:

No Status Changes