Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

I groaned as I was poked sharply in the side. I had been oh so comfortable falling asleep on Buck, why couldn’t I just stay curled up with him all day? With what happened last night, I’d say I’d fucking earned it…

More than anything, I wish that last night had just been a nightmare. Between learning about Violet’s betrayal, which I’d have to deal with soon, and accidentally blowing up an old submarine, I was feeling less than happy with my life. A year ago, my biggest fear was my wings causing me to fail the Enclave mandatory exams, and being rejected by any stallion I asked out. Now? I’m not sure that the old me would even recognize the pony I’d become...

“The more you try to go back to sleep, the harder it will be to actually wake up.” Buck spoke with words that were much wiser than I was willing to accept.

How he could just wake up and be ready to venture off into the cold morning air so readily was something that I still couldn’t wrap my mind around. Then again, there wasn’t a lot I could wrap my mind around on only four hours of sleep. Thankfully for me, Buck had big, comfortable, warm arms I could lay in while he walked the both of us down into the harbor.

“Eh, he’s still got time.” Hardcase spoke up from along side us. He was light on his hooves this morning, prancing about with so much excitement that the saddlebags he wore nearly bounced off of him with each leaping step. Hardcase was another problem I’d have to deal with. Knowing what he really was made me wonder if he’d be able to help me deal with Salt. On that, could I trust that he’d want to help at all?

No, no, you can’t think that way, Night. Hardcase even said there were all sorts of different changelings, so you can’t lump them all together! On top of that, with Dizzy dead, he’s the best and only chance I’ve got to help pull Violet back over to Delilah’s side. Hopefully, I could pull him aside on this job and talk to him about it without the others around.

“Ugh.” Hispano groaned. “How the hell can you be so energetic this early in the morning?” I didn’t have to look to know that Hispano felt just as exhausted as I did. I felt sorry for her, having to drag her sister around this early, let alone all the way along to the job… or even at all.

“Because it’s a beautiful morning!” Hardcase exclaimed. “The smell of the sea, the cool morning breeze…” He paused, giving a long sigh, “Fifteen inch naval cannons at the ready above our heads. Oh, today’s going to be a good day, I can just feel it.” As if it heard his compliment, the wartime battleship gave a low groan as we walked along the edge of downtown Destruction Bay.

“So…” Speaking through a long yawn, I pressed myself up against Buck as he carried me. “What exactly are we going to be looking for, Hardcase?” While I would have loved to sleep all day, I really did need to try to wake myself up. Thankfully, I was helped when the calm morning air was shattered by a loud sputtering. "Wait, what is that?"

Forcing my tired eyes open, I wiggled myself around in Buck’s arms until I could see the imposing form of the old battleship pressed up against the dock. I looked along the top deck of the old ship tracking the sound back to behind the conning tower. A gull winged, silver aircraft sat on a set of rails that were spinning it to the side. The two engines on the wings held a propeller on each end of them, four overall. Looking at it, I saw the same bold letters spelling out Seaddler across its nose that I’d seen back on the Emperica.

The hydraulic rail it sat on came to a rattling halt as it hung over the side of the ship. The mechanical catapult pointed the aircraft off toward the dark waters of the bay, and as it hung over us, I looked up and could barely see the Captain of the Inuvik inside through the cabin window. After a moment of sitting still, the four engines spun up.

They quickly reached a blistering rate of rotation before there was a sharp hiss that Buck and I both winced at. The silvery plane shot along the rails it sat upon, and a jet of steam flared from under it before the whole craft was thrown off the far side of the ship. The engines whined as they bit into the air before the whole vehicle began to angle upwards. I watched as the old silver craft banked around through the air with more grace and power than any pegasus could ever know. After a moment of watching it, it disappeared over the southern side of the bay and vanished beyond the treeline.

"Looks like they've been taking their time heading south if they've only made it this far by now..." Buck sighed as I could feel him tense up slightly. "I hope nothing's gone wrong on the Inuvik to slow them down this much. The captain spent so long preparing to free our home from the ice..."

“I’m sure they’re fine, Buck.” I offered, spinning myself again and wrapping my hooves tightly around his waist. “We’ll see them soon enough in Seaddle, I’m sure of it.”

“Probably just picking up some spare parts as a precaution.” Hardcase said as a smile crawled across his muzzle. “Maybe they were trying to see what they could get from Spitzer in exchange for Boiler’s forty two misplaced wheel bolts. Goddesses know it isn’t the first time she’d left a tool she’d needed behind and swore she had it before.”

That got a chuckle out of Buck. “Yeah, you’re right. I have to try to stay positive I suppose.” Looking down at me, I felt as he relaxed again. “So, like Night asked, what are we going to get for Spitzer? I should have been listening when you two finalized the details, but he gave me a great deal to think upon about my ancestors.”

“Well, that’s the thing. What he wants is a piece of Equestrian history.” Hardcase began with an uneasy tone. I didn’t like that kind of tone to be honest. It was the kind of tone he’d used so far when he was fairly sure we’d be regretting what he was talking about by mid-afternoon. “We’re looking for the body of Admiral True Course, specifically, the one of a kind, ceremonially gifted pistol he supposedly wore on him at all times.”

“Pft,” Hispano huffed and rolled her eyes. Shifting her talons around, she gave Suiza a few good rocks against her. “And here I thought we’d be in for more of a challenge. If this is a simple scavenging run, why make us do it? I mean, he’s got claws and such...”

“Because he’s a Diamond Dog, like from the old world, not a Hellhound. Or you know, maybe because Spitzer is a bit busy working on those new bolts? ” Hardcase laughed uneasily, pulling a deadpan from Hispano. “Okay, more likely it’s the fact that the Hayport Naval Munitions Center is a ghoul sanctuary, or did you miss that when I brought it up yesterday?”

Hispano gave a roll of her eyes. “They’re just ghouls. Give them a couple good shots to the head and bam, they’re down for good.”

“Don’t underestimate the Depot.” The familiar voice of Dr. Kaio called out from behind. “Plenty have tried to scavenge from there, and few returned alive and without needing to be treated. None returned with anything useful to show for it either.” We all stopped and turned around to meet her. As Buck reached down and set me back on my hooves, I couldn’t help but notice the Hippogryph I’d seen yesterday was standing along side Dr. Kaio as well. “But, I feel like if you’re going out that way, and should you actually get inside the depot, Destruction Bay as a whole has a proposition for you all.”

“Yeah, well we’re not really in the market for entertaining offers from Destruction Bay after last night.” The vindictiveness in Hispano’s quick response looked like it hit Dr. Kaio hard. However, the hippogryph didn’t even seem phased by it.

“W-well, I know that she must have said some hurtful things,” Dr. Kaio spoke up softly, “But Mrs. Edith is no longer in charge of the Mercy or Destruction Bay.” That didn’t really come as a surprise to me after seeing Double Drum up there with his ponies. “I-I have taken over, and as joint leader of this settlement, I’m overruling her ban on your convoy… if you can do what we ask.”

“Alright…” Hardcase spoke up, cocking his eyebrow at the nervous zebra. “We’re listening.”

“Ahem.” The hippogriff cleared her throat, and took a step forward. “The records we have state that the ammunition stores at the Hayport Naval Munitions Center were still well stocked on the final day. Most, if not all of the specialty naval rounds were supposedly locked away inside the facility.” Looking at Hardcase, the expression she gave him was one of skepticism, but not outright annoyance. “If you can successfully gain access to the interior, and that’s a big if, we would pay you all for clearing out as much of the ghoul infestation as possible.”

“What’s in there that you want?” Buck spoke up flatly, pulling a look of ire from the hippogryph.

“Stockpiles of ammunition for Fairy Flight’s Fifteen inch cannons and various secondary armaments. Various spare parts and equipment for maintaining our aging machinery.” She didn’t seem like much for elaboration, or emotion really. Returning her now indifferent gaze over to Hardcase, she seemed to now ignore the fact that Buck was even still here. “Amongst other things. However the business of what’s inside is our own. We will agree to forgive your transgressions and pay you only if you can complete the job as asked.”

Yeah, I didn’t like this one bit. This hippogriff knew how to choose her words to be as vague as possible. She was hiding something, but there was no way any of us would pry it out of her. And while I could respect someone for wanting to deal with others as little as possible, she felt unstable to me. Unlike Mrs. Delilah, she seemed angry, tense, and filled with a defensiveness that put me on edge.

“We’ll take it into consideration, Miss…?” Hardcase asked, shifting uneasily on his hooves.

“Admiral Broadside.” She spoke flatly before looking up at the enormous ship to our side. Wait, she was the other leader of Destruction Bay!? Wow, between how she acts and how Mrs. Edith was, it’s a wonder that nopony else had ever ousted one of the two before... “Remember, you will be pardoned fully and paid only if you complete the assigned task.”

“As I said, we’ll consider it. However, if you don’t mind me asking...” Hardcase retorted quickly, squinting and canting his head. Oh… I knew that look from when he’d asked me about odd Enclave stuff on the convoy. He was going to ask something super uncomfortable, I just knew it. “If you’re an Admiral… where’s your weird, blue, taco-hat-thing?”

The admiral simply closed her eyes and grimaced. Taking a deep breath, I waited for her to scream at him. “It’s not a taco, it’s an admiral’s bicorne.” Taking another few deep breaths, she seemed to defuse a bit of the tension in her before turning away from us and spreading her wings. “Now, if you’re done wasting my time, I have plenty of work to get back to. Come see me if you return successfully.” Taking off, she quickly flew up over the edge of the behemoth sized battleship and disappeared from sight.

“She uh…” Dr. Kaio spoke up softly, leaning in like she was trying to keep her voice down, “She stopped wearing the hat because the foals onboard the Mercy kept calling her Admiral Munch.”

Hispano snapped her talons and gave out a gigglesnort. “That’s why she looked familiar!” She squawked, nearly dropping to the ground in convulsive fits of laughter. Looking up to Buck, I found him to be just as confused as I was. “I couldn’t place it, but…!” Gasping, she flopped around on the ground, writhing as the laughter consumed her.

“Admiral Munch was a pre-war cereal mascot.” Hardcase softly laughed, trying to hold himself back, but was slowly losing the battle. “With the bicorne, she probably looks almost like the griffon cartoon character on the front of every box!”

Looking back to Buck, we shared a shrug before turning back to find that Dr. Kaio still hadn’t left. Now that I really took a second to look at her, I found her mane was frazzled, she had dark bags under her eyes, and her lab coat was slightly disheveled. Maybe it was just me, but she looked a lot less confident of a mare than the one who was screaming at me in her office last night. Then again, she did just get promoted to a head of the whole settlement.

She caught me looking at her, giving a small squeak before standing up straight. “I-I wanted to thank you... for what you did last night with Mrs. Tapit.” After a moment of unease, she gathered her thoughts and continued. “My hope is that now that I’m in charge, Destruction Bay can get back to being what it was meant to be.”

“And what is that?” Buck asked, stepping up close beside me.

“Destruction Bay, as far as we can tell, is the only place in the northern wasteland able to manufacture medicine. Before Mrs. Edith took over decades ago, we took it upon ourselves to give out free care, and ship our medicine to as many settlements as we could. The volunteer corps used to be what kept Destruction Bay a safe settlement, as everypony needed our help and couldn’t afford to take us over.” Sneering at the thought of Mrs. Edith, I shared her sentiments about her. So far, we’d met some odd and unpleasant ponies on this trip, but Mrs. Edith felt to me as underhooved and ruthless as Solomon did. “That’s what I want to get back to. No more of this ‘drugs for profit’ shit.” Looking up to both Buck and I, she offered a hopeful gaze. “And that’s why I convinced Admiral Broadside to ask for your help.”

“Wait,” Hardcase asked as he pulled himself back up off the ground. His giggles had almost instantly vanished, and he now wore a worried look across his muzzle. “What do you mean it was you who asked? You don’t need battleship shells to help medicine shipments.”

“No, but…” Nervously looking around, Dr. Kaio quickly stepped up closer to us. “Like the gun you are going to retrieve from there, I too need a weapon.” Dropping her voice to a whisper, her eyes darted around to make sure we alone heard her. “The information of their existence is kept well hidden from all but the senior settlement staff, but our documents show that they were still storing megaspells at the Depot on the final day.”

An uncontrollable gasp escaped my muzzle as she said that. Just as fast as I gasped, did I find her hoof stuffed into my mouth to silence me. I nearly choked on her hoof for a moment before she quickly pulled it back.

“Sorry, but nopony else can know about it.” Looking around again, my willingness to listen to her asking for the same thing that destroyed the world centuries ago was waning. “They had a stock of healing megaspells. The first generation of megaspell, they were envisioned by the M.o.P. to help the world, not destroy it.”

“But…” Buck spoke up, keeping his voice low, “What would you even want with them?”

“A few of us onboard think that we may be able to replicate the spell framework. Maybe even improve it a little given some time to work with it.” She sighed. “However, Admiral Broadside wants to deactivate them, saying it’s better to lose all those stored spells forever, rather than risk them being rebuilt and repurposed. We struck a deal. We get one healing spell, and all the rest are destroyed.” While that was far less concerning than asking for any other kind of megaspell out there, the point was that she wanted us to haul one of them out of the place that nopony supposedly could ever get into. “I know it’s a longshot, but think of all the good that could come of the research. How many more ponies we could help with the arcane science gleaned from just one of those old bombs?” She was hopeful, and I believed that she truly wanted to help the wastes. But… this was a huge favor to ask.

“If you could re-engineer them, the number of ponies that benefit from the research could far outstrip what you could help right now…” Buck grunted, cupping his chin in his claws. Looking up at him, I watched as he worked things through in his head, calculating as he did with most decisions. Honestly, it was a look of his I very much loved to watch.

“But the risk to us if we were to bring one back with us is tremendous.” Hardcase cited, shooting a glare over at Dr. Kaio. “It’s not something we could just walk back into town. Megaspells are big, bulky, and can’t really be passed off to onlookers as just some trinket we salvaged while there.”

“Ugh.” Hispano groaned. “That’s why you ground based ponies built shit to move them around.” Slapping her face with her talon, she rolled her eyes. “You know, like the fucking vehicles you drove in on. It’s almost like you could just stuff one inside and, I don’t know, drive it right in.” Dropping her gaze on Dr. Kaio, she cocked her eyebrow. “However, it’d have to be worth a hefty payout for such a demanding and risky job.”

“Yes, it shouldn’t be all that hard to transport.” Dr. Kaio nodded excitedly. “And as for your pay, I could authorize some extra things for the trouble. Off the books, of course. In fact, don’t even say the word megaspell to anypony other than me right now. I don’t need anypony else in town getting any ideas to run out there and try this themselves should you fail...”

“Off the books?” Hardcase gave a forced chuckle. “From what Delilah told me, are you sure you’re alright to go making backroom deals this soon after Mrs. Edith was ousted?”

For a moment, Dr. Kaio looked shocked. However, that quickly changed as she huffed and stood tall again. “This isn’t a deal to run drugs to junkies all over the wastes for caps. This is scientific research for the benefit of all who live in the wastelands, for free. I don’t know about you, but I’ve seen far too much violence and cruelty out there, so is it so much to ask for a little help in making it safer for everypony?”

“Woah, easy there, Doc.” Hardcase offered his normal nervous smile to her. “It was just a harmless question, that’s all.” Looking over to us, he gave a pleading look for any of us to step in and help him out. However, he’d dug his own grave with that question, and he was going to have to dig himself out. Looking up, he squinted at the lightening blue morning skies. “Well would you look at that. Time to go!” Giving a wave, he turned to us. “Well, if we’re going to ask to borrow the runner to travel the few miles out there, we might as well keep our eye’s peeled for any ‘wide area of effect mass medical spell deployment devices’ while we’re there, right gang?”

Pretty much in unison, we all groaned, and even Dr. Kaio rolled her eyes.

“Just… you’re an idiot, you know that?” Hispano sighed. “Do you have some sort of disorder where you just keep talking until everyone wants to strangle you?”

“My mom called it being a ‘smartass’.” Hardcase retorted with a grin wide enough that I thought his head would split in half. “Now come on, we’ve got a bunker to raid!”

Finally feeling awake, I watched as the lush green trees whipped by us along the sides of the two lane road. A dense fog had rolled in almost as soon as Hardcase had stolen the Runner away from Lucky, and it added a foreboding feeling to the thick forest that filled out most of the hills around us. Well, at least it put me on edge, anyway.

Hispano didn’t seem to care as she sat next to me in the back seat, preoccupied with slowly loading bullets into the extra magazine for my Bison submachine gun. She had an intense look of focus about her, heavily contrasted by the soft smile she wore across her beak. Every now and again I caught her glancing up at me, making her smile wider with a soft blush coming up across her cheeks along with it. You know, maybe the spooky forest was actually looking more inviting now that I think of it…

“Now Night,” Buck called back from the front seat, “remember, not all ghouls are feral. Do make sure that if one of them seems sane, please don’t shoot them unless they attack you first.”

“Relax,” Hardcase canted his head and looked over at Buck, “If there were still any sane ghouls left here, I’m sure they would have already been selling scavenged goods to Destruction Bay.” Going back to looking at the road ahead, he gripped onto the shift stick and ground the gears for a moment before the runner began to slow down. “Besides, we probably won’t have the luxury of choosing our targets.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. Hearing that made me a bit concerned. I still didn’t want to kill anypony if I didn’t have to. Last night’s event’s notwithstanding, of course. But still, I guess what hit me at that moment was the feeling that I didn’t really know what to expect from this job.

“Well, as the story goes,” Hardcase called back, slowing us down even further. “Instead of evacuating on the last day, a bunch of soldiers tried to launch a retaliatory tempest megaspell from the docks of the munitions stockpile. Though, they didn’t have the proper equipment or training to do so.” I was already cringing as he spoke, knowing that if you start a story like that, it can only really go one way. “Well, the spell fizzled and exploded on launch. The resulting superstorm that erupted from it cause the tidal surge that pulled in the ships and created Destruction Bay. Those caught in the eye of the magical storm here at the base were ghoulified by it. Most of the base went feral immediately with the magical radiation they’d been saturated with.”

“But… I thought only balefire could ghoulify ponies.” Buck’s ear’s perked stiffly at that and a wide smile pulled across his jagged muzzle. I know it was just his curiosity, but he seemed just a bit too into the idea of a bunch of ponies getting ghoulified.

“Nah, there’s all sorts of ghouls out there, Doc. Crystal Ghouls, Canterlot Ghouls, there are too many different types to count.” Hardcase shrugged as he guided the runner off the side of the road. “Any megaspell can make them so long as the magical saturation of a pony is high enough. Each one created is also uniquely tied in some way to the type of spell that created them. You only see so many balefire ghouls because those were the most common megaspells dropped around Equestria.”

“What about the one’s where we’re going?” I mean, it was probably a stupid question, but I didn’t quite enjoy the prospect of ghouls having the ability to spawn tornados or hurricanes at will or something.

The sound of dirt under the tires of the runner met our ears, and the four of us went silent as Hardcase pulled the runner to a stop. As the archano-engine died, an odd silence filled the air around us. Buck’s ears twitched, and before I could ask, I heard why.

A buzzing, snapping noise came through the dense fog. Squinting, I could almost make out a soft glowing that pressed it’s way through the dull grey cloud. As it got closer, I gasped softly as the glowing blue outline of a pony skeleton walked closer. The glowing bones of the ghoul radiated out through it’s bloated, pale white skin as it pressed itself against the old chain link fence that sat ahead of us some thirty or so feet.

There was no color to it’s coat. No mane or tail left to give us any semblance of once even having been a pony in the first place. What stood before us was truly a monster of the wastes. As hideous a creature as the Enclave had taught would come from the wasteland, should anything have survived the final day. And it was only in looking at this thing, did I notice the corpses littered around on both sides of the fence. Dessicated husks of ferals that had fallen to pieces over time, as well as the eviscerated and decaying forms of ponies too unfortunate to escape the monsters in the fog.

The feral growled and groaned, pressing it’s muzzle through the links of rusted fencing. It flicked it’s one, intact ear as it’s empty glowing eye sockets seemed to study us. I held my breath, even though I was fairly certain that wouldn’t help us at all. The others seemed to do the same, and I didn’t blame them. A single bolt of lightning arced out from the ghoul without warning. It struck the front of the Runner with a tremendous snap, and a few sparks shot from the hood.

“Shhhhhh!” Hardcase hissed softly, slowly putting his hoof to his muzzle.

Another long arc of electricity shot through the air, striking the front of the runner again to the same effect as the last. After a moment, the ghoul gave a raspy huff before pulling it’s snout from between the fence links. As it did however, part of it’s skin snagged on the old metal and was torn right off. The ghoul didn’t even notice as it turned away from us and disappeared back into the thick fog.

“Supposedly, electricity was their specialty.” Hardcase answered as we listened to the intense snaps in the distance. Looking out the window, the thick fog swirled around the runner before settling back into it’s normal, defuse look. “This fog is also their doing, but from what I hear, other than the slight magical radiation it gives off, it’s mostly harmless.”

“Mostly?” I gasped, not very happy at the prospect that now the fog itself was dangerous. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Fog is just a ground level cloud of precipitation.” Hispano grunted as she finished up loading the magazine in her talon. “I.E. it’s just suspended water droplets. Do I have to remind you that water is conductive, Dum Dum?” Tossing the full magazine into the duffel bag she normally carried her sister in, she looked over to Hardcase as he nodded. “So they’re going to be hard to see, and the closer they get, the more dangerous they’ll be. Though, that was fucking more than thirty feet. How are we supposed to deal with that when we can barely see the fuckers from that far?”

“Think of it this way, what we just saw was equivalent to the glowing balefire ghouls out there. So the normal ones are probably going to be a little less… magically active than that.” Hardcase said as he began to pull on a battle saddle. It was weird, as I didn’t even know he owned one. At the very least, I relaxed a little to see that he had a pair of standard Enclave issue magical energy weapons strapped onto it. Huh, I wonder where he got those from... “The normal ghouls probably won’t have that much of a charge to them, and probably can’t do more than give you the equivalent of a static shock. Still, Bombay, you and Hispano make the lightning rods your priority targets.”

“What!?” How could he expect me to fight that, that… thing! “Why me!?”

“Because as fliers, we’re insulated!” Hispano groaned, smacking her talon across her face. “Seriously, Dum Dum. Use your head.”

That… made a lot more sense than I cared to admit. “Alright.” Nodding, I hoofed up the bit to my battle saddle. Taking the rough metal bit into my muzzle, I wasn’t sure if I was ready for something like this yet. No, in fact, I knew I wasn’t ready for this.

“Oh, and before we go, two things.” Hardcase remarked, quickly turning himself around in his seat. “First, is that we’re going to try to get in as quietly as possible. If we can get inside the storage facility without causing an issue, we’ll have plenty of ammo to use on the ghouls, as well as a way to funnel them to us and mow them down.” Looking between Hispano and I, he wore an uncharacteristically serious look across his face. “And secondly; remember, we’re going into a place that was built two hundred years ago to store enough high explosives to bring Filly Crossing down to sea level. So please, do us all a favor you two and watch where you’re shooting. I’d rather like to not explode today.”

Nodding, I slowly spit my bit out. Right, let’s not go shooting all willy nilly…

“Noted. Be quiet and accurate.” Hispano nodded before bringing Suiza up. Reaching into her duffel bag, she struggled to pull out a metal drum the size of my head. Inside the feed slot of the drum, sat the first in a stack of the largest bullets I’d ever seen in my life. “But don’t expect me to hesitate if something looks like it’s about to bear down on us.” Pressing the lip of the large drum against Suiza, it gave off a crisp click as it locked in place. With a ratcheting clack that was loud enough that I almost jumped, she chambered a round into her sister. “Alright, let’s get this job started.”

With a swift kick, Hispano thrust open her door and slipped herself out into the fog. That was it, no reservations, no fear in her eyes. Oh how I wish I could have that level of confidence.

“You know, I’m so glad you brought her along.” Hardcase smiled as he nodded his head wearing a worried look. “It’ll be nice to have someone to blame right before we all explode…” He turned to Buck as he opened the door, but froze up as he did. Looking around, Buck’s ears tweaked sharply as Hardcase quieted for a moment to watch him. “What is it, Doc?”

“Something is coming. Another vehicle.” Buck’s response sent electric tingles up my spine. Stepping out from the Runner, he peered through the fog. “Hispano, how’s your eyesight?”

“In this fog?” She spoke softly, stepping up to his side. “Probably no better than any of yours.”

“How’s your aim?” Hardcase asked, quickly making his way over across the cab of the runner. His comment pulled Buck’s surprised gaze to him. Before Buck could comment however, Hardcase continued, “Unless you want them to be swarmed along with us, she might as well try to ward them off.”

A squeal of feedback rang through the foggy air from down the road. Each and every one of us jumped as it caught us off guard, and a sea of snarls and howls came from beyond the Depot fencing behind us. Quickly making my way towards the open door Hispano got out of, I figured that not being trapped in here was probably going to be a good idea.

“Hello out there!” An amplified voice came through the air, a voice I hadn’t expected to hear. “I hope we’re not catching you at a bad time.” Dizzy Ray’s voice echoed through the forests around us as the chorus of ghouls in the base seemingly went crazy. “A few friends and I had hoped to return the hospitality you showed Mrs. Tapit last night.” From the fog, a pair of bright headlights began to burn through the gray wall.

Shit…

“Hispano…!” I spoke up as I scrambled from the side of the runner. As I did, I nearly ran right into the enormous barrel of her sister pointing toward the headlights down the road.

“I know, just go. I’ll deal with them and catch up!” She snapped. The look in her eyes she held was like there was nothing in the world outside of whatever lay beyond the sights of her sister. “Buck, get them through the fence before the ghouls surround it!” Tightening her hold on Suiza, She strengthened her stance and started to slowly move forward.

Moving past Hispano as she looked down the sight of her Rifle, I flared my wings and gave a few quick beats. Taking flight as best I could just behind Buck and Hardcase, I headed for the rusty old fence. It wasn’t far, and though my wings still strained to carry me, I could make it that far at least. Much like the headlights behind us, a trio of glowing blue lights were approaching through the fog from the base.

With a few quick swings of his claws, Buck shredded the metal of the old fence. Carving a hole big enough for him and Hardcase to get through, the shriek of a ghoul came through the fog as one of the grey ponies came full bore toward them.

“Buck!” I called out, fumbling the push my bit back into my muzzle while climbing high enough to fly over the fence.

The grey ghoul lept up, slamming onto Buck’s back. He let out a snarl as the ghoul’s jaw snapped a few times at his neck, fighting against the bulk of Buck’s medical duffle bag to actually find purchase. With a spinning swing, Buck grabbed and threw the pony off of him. As the ghoul slammed and rolled along the old concrete, Hardcase let lose a trio of shots. The beams lanced across the ghoul, rending him down into a pink pile of ash.

Getting over the top of the fence, I dropped down and took my place next to them. Just as I got the bit into my muzzle, another grey skinned ghoul charged through the fog. Pulling down on both of the gun triggers, I chambered a round and rattled off a few shots. The rounds tore straight through the rotting flesh without any resistance. I didn’t know if it was because they’d been in fog for two centuries, but the ghouls forelegs disintegrated with the hits.

“Oh, looks like the party’s already started!” Dizzy’s voice came through the air as Buck, Hardcase and I pressed ourselves closer.

“Anytime now, Hispano!” Hardcase called out before letting out a few shots from his saddle. The piercing howl from another ghoul as it vaporized distracted me from the grey shape moving to my side. The flanking ghoul leapt at me, it’s dull, dead eyes locked on me. With a white flash, Buck’s arm swept over me and smashed the ghoul aside.

Not wasting any time, I spun myself and rattled off a few more shots at the tumbling ghoul. The Bison’s nine millimeter rounds tore the bloated ghoul to ribbons. Pausing, I perked my ears and listened. I didn’t want to miss any more getting around us.

A crack of thunder filled the air, but not from the direction of the ghouls. Hispano opened up on the approaching vehicle with Suiza. Again, I found myself distracted, if only for another moment. Quick bursts of automatic fire from her cannon shook the air around us. I didn’t even know Suiza could fire in full auto! How she could handle the recoil of any shot at all was a mystery to me, let alone firing multiple shots at a time!

The sound of rending metal behind us as the headlights turned and spun in the fog put a smile on my muzzle. As did the quick slams and crashes of what I assumed was a vehicle rolling itself over along the road. However, the thundering crack that came from ahead wiped my smile right back off my face.

The lightning from one of the ghouls arced through the air and struck me hard in the neck. I wanted to cry out as my body locked up in pain. However, the surge of electricity contracted my muscles, and made me bite down on the bit of my gun. A set of unaimed rattling shots went off into the fog before the sensation dissipated and I regained control of myself.

“Night!” Buck cried out. He turned to me, ignoring the ghoul that was charging through the cloud at him.

“I’m fine!” I spat out through the bit. Turning myself, I focused past the smell of burned coat and singed mane to fire at the monster. Pouring a few rounds into it, it tumbled and slid along the concrete. Turning my gaze back around, I found the brightly glowing eyes of the glowing ghoul who’d shocked me quickly coming closer. Quick to dish out some payback for that shock, I pulled the trigger again.

The head of the glowing ghoul disappeared as it was torn apart by my fire. I couldn’t help but smile at that. I was being useful for once!

Hardcase let out a sharp cry as he was slammed to the ground. Both Buck and I spun to see that one of the bloated ghouls had tackled him down. Hardcase screamed as the ghoul bit down on his foreleg and hammered at him with its hooves. Another crack of thunder from in the fog made my ears ring as a bright bolt of lightning struck Buck hard. He howled in pain as I tried to trace the arc back into the fog. Dark shapes approaching caught my eyes, and I moved between Buck and them.

My heart pounded in my chest. Pulling the trigger, I fired in short, controlled bursts. Hardcase’s pained whines as he fought off his attacker made my legs shake. Still, I turned and aimed at the moving shapes in the fog. My shots cut lines through the mist, but I couldn’t see if they landed. This was bad…

Another growling snarl came from my left, and I turned just in time to see a charging set of glowing bones. The shock from the bolt that hit me hurt a lot more than the first. Again, it made me bite down on my bit and rattle off a long set of shots. Unfortunately for the ghoul, forcing me to shoot while aimed at it was the last thing it ever did. My rounds tore the feral pony to pieces, and it’s body tumbled along the wet concrete.

My body ached. The stinging smell of cordite and gunpowder barely beat out the stench of the rotting flesh around us. The strain from the shocks made my legs feel exhausted, and I blinked a few times to try to clear my head.

“Fuck, Doc, it hurts!” Hardcase cried out as I regained my thoughts. He was shaking as he held his bloody forehoof. The ghoul that had been on him now laid in a few pieces beside him, and Buck’s claws dripped with the same black looking blood that spilled from the corpse.

“I know, just…” Buck was cut off as three ghouls charged out of the fog. They leapt onto him before I even had a chance to move. I froze up as these ones didn’t seem to make the same mistake of the first one to leap on him. Each one bit down into his fur, and crimson began to flow from the wounds.

Frozen completely in fear, I could do nothing for him. His piercing howl of pain ripped through my mind and tore my heart in half. It all happened so fast that I’d even missed the snarling off to my side.

The thunderous crack that filled the air momentarily killed my hearing. The feeling of a warm mist across my face and neck made me flinch. Hispano’s distressed and angry scream felt far off to me as she dropped out of the air onto Buck’s medical bag. Using Suiza as an enormous prybar, she lifted the barrel under the chest of one of the clamped ghouls. The tremendously powerful cannon blasted the ghoul to ribbons when it fired, and sprayed bits of gore into the air.

Without hesitation, she repeated the process to one of the other ghouls. She… was saving him! As she turned to deal with the last one, she angrily turned her gaze to me and shouted something that was lost to me. Sharply, she pointed down to the ground. Looking down, I saw she was pointing to the still bleeding Hardcase. From the fog beyond him, I saw another glowing blue ghoul quickly approaching.

Time felt like it caught up in that moment. I aimed and pulled the trigger on my saddle. The quick, sharp reports of my gun blasted the ringing in my ears away. The rounds found their place in the glowing ghoul’s legs and blasted them off. The ghoul hissed as it tumbled down, twisting its head around as if to offer me some profanity. Instead of words however, another bolt of lightning arced at me.

As before, this one hurt more than the last. My muscles seized up, and my gun chattered away uselessly into the fog. With a sharp clack, the gun locked open as the magazine emptied out completely. I let out a soft whine as the shock left and I regained the use of my body.

“Fucking grab him and let’s go!” Hispano barked at me before she tore the last ghoul off of Buck.

Before she could turn to shoot it however, Buck snarled in rage and dragged his claws along the pavement. With a spin that threw Hispano off of him, he raked his claws around. Deep troughs were cut through the concrete where he swung. His claws moved through everything as though it weren’t even there, and Buck’s eye’s glowed bright blue as he turned and cut right through the prone ghoul.

This wasn’t a quick swipe. It wasn’t performed with the accuracy that he’d used around me before. It was a hard, heavy, rending sort of swing that felt brutish more than anything. His first swipe had turned the ghoul to ribbons, but he didn’t stop there. The second and third swipe turned the ribbons into nothing more than chunks and bits. With a rage filled roar that echoed off the coastal hills, he jammed his claw downward, impaling the pile of jiblitized meat.

“What the fuck are you just standing around for!?” Hispano called out as she landed beside me. Hardcase gave out a sharp cry as she forcefully grabbed around his leg and pulled him up. “We need to move!”

As soon as she’d said that, sharp gunshots reported through the fog. Hissing lines tore through the thick mist as rifle fire came in at us. Reflexively, I aimed and bit down on my saddle, only to be met with another sharp click. Shit, I forgot the mag was empty! I spit my bit and looked at the empty gun. Wait, how do I even reload this thing while I’m wearing it!? Fuck, I even left the other magazine in the fucking runner anyway! Great job, Night!

“Oh, come on! Can you even see them?” Dizzy’s voice came through the fog between the errant shots. “Don’t waste your fucking ammo! What am I going to be paying you idiots for?”

“Fucking idiot!” Hispano grunted as she wrapped Hardcase’s leg around her and propped him up. “We have to get inside! Go!” She pointed into the mists behind us and started to help Hardcase along. As she did, Buck’s massive form moved up beside me and scooped me up.

Bleeding, panting, and coated in black ghoul blood that mixed with his own, Buck moved as fast as ever. I only had the chance to grab on and hold tight as we scooped me up and moved through the fog. My heart was still racing, but my mind was beginning to calm. The sky darkened as a massive object rose out of the fog.

Looking around, I almost mistook the massive overgrown bunker as just a normal tall hill. The monolithic, rusted steel blast door on the bunker looked big enough that you could fit Spitzer’s ship through it, and thankfully looked to be still sealed shut. Further in the fog, I could see a dozen or so other, smaller earthen lumps. Various decayed equipment and vehicles lay strewn about in the fog, rusting and forgotten, while the skeletons of long dead soldiers littered the ground around a dimly glowing crater near the center of the compound. That must have been where this all started...

With an unceremonious swing of his arm, Buck dumped me onto the ground next to a smaller door inset to the massive bunker entrance. I whimpered as I hit the cold, wet concrete with all the grace of a lead brick. Shaking off the sudden drop, I looked up as Buck towered over me. The glowing blue of his eyes took my breath away, and the way they carried a judgemental look spoke volumes about just how much he was hurting right now.

“Stay.” He muttered in a deep growl. He dug his claw into the ground next to me to make his point before turning and quickly taking off into the mist again. As he walked off, I watched as the wounds on his back slowly closed up. He was healing on the outside, but I knew how he felt about what just happened. The anger that he gave off, the disappointment in his voice, it caused me to realize what had just happened out there.

A heavy knot twisted in my stomach as I realized just how much I’d fucked up. I mean, I’ve fucked up before, but this was something I couldn’t look past. Seeing him swarmed like that out there broke something in me. How could I just lock up out there? Buck could have died had Hispano not saved him! I…

Doubling over, I wretched and threw up onto the wet ground.

My head spun from the sudden feeling. My vision blurred, and I had to steady myself from falling over. Was this an issue with my injuries? Why did I feel so damn sick? Looking down at the mess I’d made, I noticed that what came out of me was yellow and black bile. I gasped, horrified at why these symptoms all seemed so familiar to my time in school.

Shit, this is magical radiation poisoning! Of course it was, I mean, it’s almost like Hardcase said this whole place was saturated with it. Fuck!

“Buck!” I cried out into the fog. Pushing myself onto my unsteady legs, I turned and looked at the door behind me. “We have to get inside!”

A snarl from along the door pulled my attention down to it. Turning, I spun just in time to be bowled over by another ghoul at a full charge. I cried out as we both went down hard onto the concrete. Rolling off of me, I kicked at the ghoul as his momentum carried him another few feet. However, the ghoul was quicker to recover than I was. Even before I could spin myself over, it was back on me.

I panicked. Swinging wildly with my forehooves, I did my best to kick and bat the feral away. It ducked and weaved, easily avoiding my swings until I’d left it an opening. It let out a scream and lunged forward. I tried to roll out of the way, but only made it halfway when it’s forehooves pinned down my barrel. Throwing my head to the side, the ghoul got a muzzle full of my mane.

I screamed as it torqued its neck. My head snapped back the other way as part of my mane was ripped out. Not satisfied with just taking my mane, it quickly attacked again and found some actual flesh to bite. My vision went white with pain as it clamped down on my right ear. Reflexes took over and I slammed my rear hoof into its underside. While my hoof simply punctured through its soft innards, it did snag on what I had to assume were it’s hip bones.

With a feral scream to match its own, I used the leverage of it’s own hip and shoved the feral off of me. It rolled down on its side with what was left of my ear still in it’s muzzle as my head pounded. It was about to recover from my kick, but instead, I cried out and threw myself over on top of it. The crimson running down my head and along my muzzle didn’t register, and the pain dulled the more I forced myself to fight.

Screaming out I hammered my forehooves against its ribs until they buckled. It merely writhed under me, dragging it’s forehooves along my sides and under the straps of my saddle. The shattered and worn hooves felt like knives digging into me, but it only made me hit harder. Moving my hooves up, I smashed at its stupid bloated face.

It let out a few gurgling screeches as I did. Even when one of my hits caved in part of its muzzle, it wouldn’t give up. I was so sick of looking at it. So tired of it hurting my friends and I. Bringing my forehooves together, I smashed down on it’s head. Its skull caved, but it kept moving. Again, I hit it, curving in another section of its head with a squishy squelch. It finally stopped moving as its legs fell limp at my sides.

Again I smashed it. Again I beat it’s face in with another grunt. Another swing and another satisfying crunch, certain to teach the battered ghoul not to mess with my friends and I. Raising my hooves high, I heaved in long, gasping breaths to strike one final blow. One decisive hit that would remove this monster from this world once and for all.

But before I swung, the stark silence around me became apparent. Looking at the unmoving form below me, I paused, wondering if it was already dead or just faking it. However, that pause gave my mind enough time to catch up with me. The blood running down my muzzle, the pain of my head and sides, and the bruising of my hooves couldn’t be ignored any longer. Slumping off the side of the deceased ghoul, I huffed and whimpered as I heard the others slowly approaching.

“Night!” Buck called out as he reappeared through the fog. “No, I didn’t mean…” He gasped, running up to me. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think… I…”

“I’m sorry, Buck.” I whimpered, “I froze up when you were under attack.”

“Hey!” Hispano snapped as she dragged a very unhappy looking Hardcase along towards us. “Do this ‘I’m sorry’ shit inside. We need to get out of this fucking fog before we die of rad poisoning. Just hope it’s all clear in there or we’re going to be completely screwed.”

“Alright.” Buck nodded before reaching down and picking me up. “We’ll talk once we’re all inside.” I cried out as he folded me in his arms. Even though it hurt, I hugged onto him harder than I ever had before. My mind blanked again as I did, not seeing red with rage, but out of fear. My breathing grew ragged and I could feel my legs simply wanting to give out all together. I was scared. More than I’d ever been in my life. “Sorry, just hold on a little bit longer, Night.”

Just a little bit longer. I could do that for him. Nodding softly, I whimpered and closed my eyes.

“I don’t know if they followed us in. Watching the door wasn’t exactly a priority.” Hispano grumbled as she braced her sister against the doorframe. “Heading down a few dark hallways before we could clear them was risky enough, Doc. Better hope we don’t get lost or run into a whole room full of those freaks.”

I winced as Buck wrapped some old gauze around my bloody head and torn up ear. He didn’t seem to care for Hispano’s answer to his question, simply rolling his glowing eyes as he continued patching me up. Personally, I’d hoped that Dizzy and his friends got swarmed out there by whatever ghouls were left. Seriously, how could Violet had ever been friends with a pony as vengeful and ruthless as Dizzy had turned out to be?

Oh... right, she’s not exactly a paragon of loyalty herself.

We’d taken refuge inside one of the many cavernous storage rooms inside the main hall of the huge bunker. Thankfully, this place still had power, though like Carmacks, I didn’t really understand how it was possible after all these years. At least the radiation in here seemed to be at a much lower level than outside, and the fog didn’t seem to be more than a soft haze inside as well. And while the Rad-away packet I sucked on didn’t taste nearly as bad as I’d heard, it’s not like I wanted to get any more used to it’s tangy orange flavor than I had to.

The room we’d ducked into held dozens of old and dusty crates. Most of them were packed with rotten hay, and filled with tons of metal ammunition boxes. Some of which were being gone through with a ravenous fervor by Hardcase. Torqueing his head against one of the unopened crates, he used his own horn as a pry bar before giddily tearing into the contents of the box.

“What are you hoping to find in there?” I asked him. I didn’t really think he was looking for anything, but keeping myself distracted was one of the easier ways that I avoid thinking about how I let Buck down outside. Thinking about it, keeping himself distracted was probably just what Hardcase was trying to do...

“If you see any twenty millimeter rounds, let me know. I burned through far too many firing through that fog, and being a common defence caliber on ships, there’s gotta be a good stock of them here.” Hispano called as she shut the door with a light squeak. Slinging Suiza around herself, she glanced over at me. “Also, if you find Night’s spine, you might want to let him know.” Oh come on! That was totally uncalled for! She looked over to Buck and I for a moment as she sighed. “Seriously, what happened to you out there?” Reaching out, he gave me a pat on my bandaged side, making me wince. “I’ve never seen anypony freeze up as bad as that.”

“I…” Thanks, Hispano. As if I didn’t already feel bad enough, you might as well have pointed every light still on in this place towards me. “I don’t know.” Looking up to Buck, I waited for him to turn to look at me. However, instead he simply looked down at the floor. “I’m sorry.”

“You and the Doc want to know… what happened to him?” Hardcase grunted as he pried open another box with his horn. Pausing, he smiled brightly as he drew out another rusty ammo can that nearly matched the one on his cutie mark. “Night’s problem is that he has the most powerful weapon in the world, and no training on how to use it in a fight.”

Even out of the corner of my eye, I could see Hispano twitch at that. “What the fuck are you talking about?” She half laughed and half grunted. “Night knows how to use a gun, and his weapons are hardly…”

“No, you misunderstand.” Hardcase cut her off with a laugh. In his magic, he lifted a large flat metal box that read 20mm HEF-T over toward Hispano. Cracking it open, Hispano’s eyes lit up as dozens of yellow painted twenty millimeter rounds with red tips still sat inside. Quickly, she grabbed it and sat down by the door. With more glee than anyone should probably take in the act, she slipped one of the old rounds into her sister and closed the bolt. Carefully setting her down, she then removed the large empty drum magazine from Suiza and set it beside her and the box.

“His weapon isn’t something physical. It’s love.” Hardcase turned his eyes to me and smiled. For a moment I wondered if he’d gone through the same thing with Violet, but then something in my mind reminded me of last night. “It’s something I know fairly well, and I can say that it’s something that has carried me out of more than my fair share of fights.”

“You can feel it, can’t you?” I asked, remembering the talk that Violet and I had during our time in that wartime underground nightmare facility. From the way that Hardcase’s eyes bulged at my words, I forgot the fact that no one else knows about what he actually was. Then again, he wouldn’t have known that I knew about him either… “I.. uhm, of course mean that b-because you and Violet are so close!”

Flashing him a nervous smile, I hoped that would be a good enough cover for now. But I’d have to find some time alone with him to explain what happened down in that place. Not only about how I know about him, but that Violet is still working with Solomon. Maybe together we can pull her back, and convince her that working against that asshole is the only way we’ll take him down.

“Y-yeah, right. L-look,” Hardcase’s voice was wavering at best, but he tried to shake off what he’d just heard as naturally as he could. “Love is a weapon. Others can wield it against you, and it will utterly destroy you if you let them get their hooves on it. But if you use it against them first, you’ll be nearly unstoppable in a fight.”

“We shouldn’t be in this fight in the first place.” Buck protested, turning around to give Hardcase a glowing glare. I knew he was still the same Dog I loved, but with how he looked right now, I almost forgot that. He was slightly hunched over, his veins under his fur glowed softly from the rads he’d soaked up, and all that made him look monstrous in the poor interior lighting here. “I know that we can’t idly sit by in the wastelands, but you all turn to fighting far too often. I hate it.” Turning his gaze to me, it took a moment before it softened with a small sigh. He deflated momentarily, falling back onto his haunches and cupping his claws over his face. “Ferals and wildlife are different, they must be dealt with. However, there’s no reason that we can’t be civil to others.”

“Go ahead and try that when you run into a group of raiders who shoot first and rape the survivors.” Hispano grumbled as she slipped one round at a time into the large drum for Suiza. “Or when gangers ask for everything that you own just in trade for your life.” Shaking her head, a smirk pulled across her beak. “Your naivety will get you killed down here. You can’t escape conflict, even Dum Dum here’s accepted that.” Looking up to me, she shrugged. “He’s a survivor. Sure, he’s done well to avoid killing so far,” As she spoke, all I could remember was how Violet had called me that, and about how things went last night. How I killed all those ponies on the submarine. “And like with the feral out there, when the chips are down, he’ll fight tooth and nail to survive.”

As true as that had become, I’d started to hear that too often now. It was like when you keep seeing the same word again and again until it starts to sound meaningless. Well, being a survivor was starting to sound that way to me. It felt like it had just become an excuse to justify doing anything at all down here. It wasn’t a point of pride, and I felt ashamed that it was so easily tacked onto me.

There was a sharp noise from out in the hallway that made all of us freeze up. I’d heard the noise of a firearm cocking enough to recognize it anywhere now. The barrel of an old rifle slowly made it’s way around the corner of the doorway, held in a light magical aura. With it aimed right at her head, Hispano didn’t even budge as it slowly made it’s way closer to her. She let out a sigh and closed her eyes as it pressed up against her plumage.

“Yes, Survivors.” Dizzy’s voice came from the hallway. How the fuck did he get so close without Buck knowing!? “That’s a fitting title. You don’t care about what’s left in your wake so long as you come out on top, right?” He continued, slowly walking out into the doorway behind Hispano. “Now, no sudden moves from any of you, or your friend here get’s to find out how not to survive.”

Author's Note

Many thanks again to Kkay for the wonderful story that started this all! And unending thanks for the FurryRailFan for his continued help in going over these chapters!