Fallout: Equestria - Child of the Stars

Chapter 31:

The Cavalry

“Listen here, you rabid rhododendrons! You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us!”

The atrium of stable fifty was like any other, if any other stable was run by a crazy cult of well-armed and organized ponies, led by magical monsters. Stiff as statues, Cherry, Star, Vertigo, and I were levitated into the large room and arrayed in a line opposite the Overmare’s window above, flanked on all sides by faceless Transcendent guards as from the corridor behind us Twilight loomed like an obsidian goddess.

A very angry-looking Chief trudged behind the dark alicorn, shimmering stasis fluids still staining her damp coat. She looked for all the world like all she wanted to do was rip me apart. Considering I’d bested her three times already, I didn’t fancy her chances, most of all now her flaming colt friend was gone. I could hardly blame her, however, my friends were hardly in any better shape. Vertigo looked only a little more awake than her, his pure form on display for everypony to scoff at, while the few stable ponies in the chamber appeared rather perplexed by the changeling.

Star looked as if he needed to join Binary in medical, his burnt hide was red raw. I could only hope that the smart little earth pony knew what she was doing, because right now it appeared my plan had gone to total shit. Seeing Cherry puppeted around like a toy only made that all the more real. Her stern expression felt as if it were only for my sake, she was an inch away from breaking, falling back to what she’d been weeks ago. At least back then she’d still been a good pony. I, on the other hoof, could hardly say the same. I’d dragged her into this mess. I’d dragged them all in.

Why can’t anything I do just work out for once, why couldn’t such a high-paying job just have been simple? It all felt so pointless now, the caps. Surrounded by the very cult of ponies that had baited her into it. And here I am, finally in the trap.

As if the situation couldn’t get any worse, Locust lingered in the shadows to the left, mechanical sprites jittering around her in an angry cloud that matched her bitter expression. She’d cared for her brother enough to be mad about his death. I could just add her to the list of Barron’s goons that wanted me dead, rather than captured.

Somepony really needs to get these guys’ work ethic in order. I liked to think that my wit was the last thing I had to lose, yet even my brain’s sarcastic remarks felt wasted. A small squirm from my gut only added to the deep pit yawning inside me, that mental dam in the back of my mind fit to burst with the weight of so many failures. No, they have to be coming for us, damn me if I’m letting it end here.

“Begone,” Twilight said as she came to a stop before us, shoeing Chief away to the corner of the room, where the small mare begrudgingly took up a position as close to Locust as she dared. “Well, looks like your time’s run out.”

She rounded on the four of us, leaving the others totally petrified, before releasing my head with a flick of her horn. I gasped, feeling rushing back into my lips as she withdrew, levitating my mother’s pipbuck away with her. Beyond, I saw a desk, at which was a pony I recognized. Wavelength had clearly never made it to medical, and while I dreaded to think what had become of the two mares I’d found with him in the labs, the terrified stable technician was now staring at a terminal upon the desk as if to look away, was instant death. It felt like just another failure, as little as I knew him. Nevertheless, I called out.

“No, I’m just buying time.” Twilight paused, glancing back over her shoulder at me. Her dark armor gleamed, yet for some reason it felt as if she were smirking under the helmet.

“Perhaps you’re referring to your little band of mutineers in the medical wing?” she cooed, voice dripping with snide venom. “Not to worry, we’ll have them dealt with soon enough.”

“Not just them!” Locust snapped, an arm of sprites jabbing free of her shoulder to point at me. “Why are we even wasting our time, just let me shred these native fucks!”

“Yeah, yeah, do it… Just leave me the white one!” Chief chimed in like a yapping puppy championing the rage of the far more dangerous monster pony. “I get my hooves on her, and she’ll wish she were dead.”

“Oh goddesses, I’m so scared,” I droned, not even sparing her a glance as I did my utmost to maintain my nerve, no matter how close to the surface my terror was.

I can’t let anypony else get hurt, not my friends, not my foals. I thought, sure, that if they thought the only threat was Binary in medical, then they’d no idea about the army poised to take the stable. That, and maybe there’s another ace up my sleeve.

I eyed the pipbuck levitating in Twilight’s magic, praying that it had one last miracle to pull. It wavered in the air as she glowered at the two rambunctious mares demanding my death, waving them off with a dark wing.

“Silence your insipid muttering,” she hissed, the two backing off with growls akin to angry dogs as the alicorn looked back at me. “As for you, enjoy what little wit you have left.”

I glared right back at her, catching sideways glances from my petrified friends as I felt the little foals inside me shudder. There was no way she was getting her hooves on any of them, yet the second I opened my mouth to say as much, an eerie silence fell over the atrium. As if gripped in the alicorn’s magic, every Transcendent goon stiffened, while the alicorn herself drew back, a small snicker of triumph escaping her mask as she looked to the doorway below the Overmare’s window.

It hissed open and two ponies materialized first. For all intents and purposes, they looked to be in power armor. Yet as they parted, taking positions on either side of the doorway, I noticed it was merely a more heavily armored variant of the barding the rest of the Transcendent lackeys boasted. Marred by orbital markings, it covered the pair from hoof to mane, right down to the tail. The most notable differences were the clean gray cape slung around their shoulders.

At their flanks were what I guessed were modified magical energy lances, protruding from beneath the cape the arcane spears crackled with purple sparks. Both took up stoic positions by the open archway, as if more robotic than equine. Standing like sentinels as the sound of loud, metallic footsteps echoed from the hallway beyond. I considered myself lucky, assuming what were evidently Barron’s personal guards had been inside the office with him and Twilight rather than outside when Cherry and I had passed earlier. Right now, however, that luck felt pointless. No pony uttered a word as the sound grew closer.

Locust scowled, sprites buzzing about her like she were a cadaver, while Twilight loomed in her statuesque stance. The only one not turning her full attention to the door was Chief, all she appeared to desire was my head on a spike. In the few seconds, I could hear the footsteps, the less and less they sounded like that of a pony, too few for four hoofs. Like the silhouette I’d glimpsed in the office, Barron didn’t sound as if he walked on all fours either. His gate was more like that of a lithe hellhound.

A moment later, the mechanical creature whose goons had chased me for weeks finally appeared, casting a dark shadow over the atrium. He was like nothing I'd ever seen, tall and bipedal, yet hunched over slightly. Skeletal body made from a smooth, silvery metal that shunned the buzzing atrium lights with a purple sheen. Every section of the stuff moved more seamlessly than any robot. Arms tipped with five-fingered claws, digitigrade legs, and metal feet like that of a giant bird. Behind his sleek hips, dragged a long metal tail. Jittering as segmented sections, like that of a Radscorpion shifted over the grated floor. The wicked thing was finally tipped with a bladed coil that curled inward like a viper poised to strike.

Housed within his cavernous chest plates, was a glowing core of bubbling fluid, around it, a thin fleshy embrace that moved and shifted with a mechanical heartbeat. Like the guards, down his back was a long, white cape, projecting his outline wide as it stretched over his broad shoulders. Above, a segmented neck slumped forward between the curved pauldrons, his head like a flat skull. At least from the front, the rear of the skull boasted sharp draconic horns. Wicked spires that stretched over his hunched shoulders, the space between them boasting a translucent glass orb that seemed to house a brain.

Sharp eye sockets were carved into the metal above a grill-like mouth. Red pupils glowing with a strange light that was broken by dark plates that shifted about the orbit, as if to mimic blinking and expression. I felt like I’d seen this demon of flesh and steel before, in a dream or more fittingly a nightmare.

The tap of his metal claws beat hard against the floor, cyborg body far more life-like than any robot had any right to be. He wasn’t like any brain bot, they were so minor and calculating. No, I could see why everypony seemed wary of Barron as he swiftly walked into the center of the atrium, clawed hands curled up to his steely chest.

"My lord," Twilight began, bowing her head and sweeping her wings outwards in a bow, an action I suddenly found myself forced to mimic, along with the rest of my captured friends as the alicorn’s horn glowed.

Barron appeared as if he cared as much for the formality as he did the dirt on his metallic claws as he regarded us, a tinny growl thundering from his grated face. Every breath had the gritty consistency of dragon scales as the cyborg finally spoke.

“Ah yes, the Sigal’s prize.” Like in the office, his gravelly voice radiated outward as if he’d smoked far too many cigarettes in way too short a time, and his eyes passed from me to Vertigo. “And, the changeling. I’ve been waiting for you.”

His acknowledgment of Cherry was fleeting, leaving me to wonder if I should feel proud or terrified to have drawn his ire.

“That wasn’t much of an escape attempt.” Servos whirred as his attention shifted to Star. “Nor a rescue.”

“Sorry to disappoint you,” I retorted, putting on as strong a condescending tone as I could manage as he loomed down to come eye-to-eye with me.

In place of foul breath, I caught the scent of acrid oils, while the mere metal he was made from felt as if it radiated a sickly feeling.

“Forgive me if I was expecting somepony who’s caused me such trouble to be something…” He paused, a grizzled chuckle marring his words. “More.”

“I could say the same,” I spat back, hearing metal click as his eyes shifted into a knitted scowl.

“Equine fool,” he growled, snatching himself away from me with a flick of his claws. “You may have bested Carnage, but your sharp tongue cannot save you now.”

“Her device, my lord,” Twilight stated, levitating him my old pipbuck. “Everything the Sigel requires should be present.”

“And yet still you fail to offer me such secrets, inquisitor,” the cyborg snapped, snatching the thing from her telekinetic grip as if she couldn’t just magically crush him. “It is imperative we acquire the code fragment and any other information the Reliquary hides.”

What is he made of if she can’t? I wondered, glancing about, but with my body petrified from the neck down, and the rest of my friends like statues, there was hardly anything I could do.

“You can’t open it,” I called, feeling, if anything, the cyborg’s apparent anger was something I could use to buy some precious time.

They all seem to do things based on him, so just gotta keep him distracted. I thought, really hoping I didn’t upset him enough that he just cut my head off.

“Is that so?” he hissed, clutching the thing tight in his claws, before tossing it at the desk. Wavelength flinched at the impact, tears streaming down his cheeks as Barron wheezed another grizzled laugh. “For his sake, I hope you’re wrong.”

There was a snide laugh from Chief and Locust, as the cyborg lifted one claw, clicked the metallic limb back with a whirr and in his wrist two narrow panels slid apart. A low hum sounded, as from within his arm lifted a barrelled device. I knew an energy weapon when I saw one, even if I could not make out the vibrant blue glow of the model. Not that I really cared what it was as he aimed the thing right at Wavelength, growling two simple words.

“Open it.” The stallion fumbled for the device, whimpering as he did his best to awkwardly hook it up to the terminal. All the while, I stared at the thing, knowing full well that Overseer wouldn’t save the life of the buck over Hayland’s secrets.

“N–no, no wait!” I called, wishing to reach out to them, to no avail as my stunned body shuddered. “I don’t know how to open it!”

Wavelength continued tapping away on the terminal, each sharp click of his hooves on the buttons deafening in the petrified silence. I saw the green light flash across his face, and caught the glimmer of his tears as he shuddered. Barron didn’t budge, nor did his weapons, only the ragged monotony of his heaving breath left him as the anger at my inability to do anything built and built.

“You know I don’t know,” I pressed, looking at Twilight. “Or is all that freaky mind shit you threatened me with just talk?”

“Insolent cur,” grumbled the alicorn, glancing between me and the cyborg. “I don’t need to look into your mind to see how worthless it is,” she cooed, stepping around me as Wavelength sniffled. “But don’t you want to know?”

Do I? She’d warned me the truth was not good. The reality that I had something inequine growing inside me. I couldn’t glance down at the sensation of something squirming in my belly, but I wanted to, no matter how much I tried to keep my stern gaze fixed on her. I could know what it is, save my friends from this.

That was only if I believed the Transcendent would keep their word. Safe to say, I didn’t as Twilight pressed.

“No desire to discover what they did to you, what’s inside you?” I felt a shallow pressure caress my gut as her horn glowed, the foals within kicking in response to her magic’s touch. “Is all this stubbornness really worth it? Just give in.”

Her cool voice dropped low, as if talking to a foal. Once again, I could only imagine a devilish smile under that dark mask as I snorted in her face.

“I told you, I don’t know how.” I nodded to the device as Wavelength glanced between it and the screen, sweat mixing with tears on his pale face. “There’s a program stuck on there, picked it up the same place I did my passenger.” I nodded downward. “Maybe you should have asked Carnage about it before I iced him, it chased him off the last time.”

“You bitch, I’ll…” A wave of magic from the alicorn shoved Chief back, while the buzz of sprites from the former monster pony’s sister ground almost as hard as her silvery teeth.

“I see,” mused the dark goddess, looking back to Barron as the cyborg maintained his soulless aim at the stable pony. “She has nothing to reveal, though could provide other means to access the quarry.”

She gave a nod to the device on the desk, and Barron growled as Wavelength stammered meekly.

“S–she’s right… There’s something in the system, every time I try to bypass it, it corrects itself.” Barron’s claws closed into a fist, sharp metal grinding as Twilight mused.

“An arcaneo-intelligents.” She looked at Barron, rubbing a wing tip under her chin. “One of Hayland’s personal assistants, I assume. If so, it will not relinquish its defenses unless forced.”

“And to do so?” pressed the cyborg, clearly growing very impatient despite the minor inflection in his voice.

“I suspect it is the safeguard of whatever final experiment he was conducting,” she went on, glancing back at me. “It will not act, unless such assets are threatened.”

“I see,” growled the cyborg, a flash lighting up the room before I could say anything more. “Then you are no use to me.”

I’d never seen an energy weapon discharge so violently, as if the sun itself were trapped within the glowing blue barrel his wrist blaster turned Wavelength’s head to bloody meat in a flash. The crimson spray disintegrated before it stained the wall, his body thudding to the grated floor as ash. I heard Cherry’s panicked breath, the angry grunt that escaped Vertigo. Star merely glared at the alicorn holding him in paralytic chains. My attention was fixed on the cyborg as he stomped over to me with heavy, metallic steps, the grated floor buckling under his claws. Maybe if I’d been armed and could move, he wouldn’t be as intimidating.

“Listen to me, pony.” He snapped the latter most word as if he’d never been something so organic. “I do not care for your attempts at stalling, I do not care for your lack of knowledge. I only live to serve the Sigal.”

He wrapped a claw around my neck, the vice-like grip similar to that of Mr Green as he shattered Twilight's spell and shoved me down. The alicorn took a step back, huffing hotly as I weekly regained control of my limbs. Not that it did me much good. I heard Cherry breathe a shrill eep, while Vertigo and Star both huffed. All the while my forelegs worked weakly against Barron’s arm, that warning about him ripping the foals right out of me was now very believable.

“I promise you nothing more than a swift death, the same cannot be said for your companions.” He heaved me up, slamming me back first into the floor, while Twilight grumbled about how important it was I didn’t die. “They will suffer endlessly!”

Only, as he’d promised, it was not me that was going to be killed first, and slowly servos whirred as I watched him raise his other arm, pointing his wrist weapon right at the paralyzed Cherry. Just like Wavelength, I saw tears in her eyes, small lines of glistening fluid rolling down her quivering cheeks as I kicked and bucked at the metal monster.

“No… Don’t…!” I choked, gripping his wrist as I struggled to look at the pipbuck. “Overseer, you bastard… Do… Something!”

There was nothing from the pipbuck, as if it knew that everypony else in here would die before me. Everypony not important to its plan.

Not that I’m so important, that program will hardly care if I die when his precious monsters burst out of me. It was hardly time to stifle that thought as I felt Barron’s sharp claws start to dig into my barding.

“Your boldness grows tiresome,” growled the cyborg nightmare as he flicked his wrist, the weapon giving a low hum. “Open it!”

Clearly, he didn’t care much for Twilight’s explanation, not that she seemed willing to interrupt him. Locust and Chief, at least, appeared to revel in his torture as I squirmed.

“Overseer, fuck you!” My breath left me, warmness seeping from my bloody neck where his talons pierced my armor. Then the room shook.

A rumble came moments after the atrium quivered, lights flickering as dust trailed from the rusty gantries above. Barron’s grip relaxed slightly, a frustrated hiss escaping his grated mask as he glanced about.

“I thought I ordered the medical wing to be slaughtered,” he stated, looking to Twilight as the alicorn too, appeared perplexed.

“The rebels are contained…” Her voice was cut off as an alarm sounded, followed by a buzzing announcement.

“Perimeter breach at the main door, eastern defenses are unresponsive,” came the voice that had announced our escape hours ago.

A sound like oncoming thunder left Barron’s mask at the announcement, moments before he tossed me to the floor like a rag. I saw Twilight lurch, heard Chief snicker. All the while, I was left gagging, battling to regain the breath he’d stolen from me as my whole body ached.

“Get to the main door, make sure the stable is secure,” demanded Barron, jabbing a claw at Twilight as he withdrew to the desk. “Then commence with your mission, I want every loose end here tied.” She appeared unsure, glancing at me before reluctantly nodding.

“As you wish.” She looked at my petrified friends. “Restrain them.” Transcendent guards appeared at my companions’ backs, weapons of all kinds keeping them still as Twilight took a step back, flared her horn, and much like Vertigo often did, disappeared in a pink flash.

So, she can’t do her whole statue thing when she’s not around. I noted as my friends were released, gasping, only for the guards to make sure they didn’t budge.

“Let me deal with them, my lord,” Locust finally chimed in, taking a step forward. “I hunger for flesh, and you only need the foals, right?”

“Silence your impulses,” Barron hissed, waving her off as he approached again. “The stable will be secure and I will have the Sigal’s prize.”

“Not if I can help it!” I coughed, free of the paralytic spell and currently lacking a guard to press a gun to my back, I magically ceased my weapon.

Remind me to thank that arrogant alicorn bitch later. To think she didn’t even disarm us. I thought as I took a shot at Barron. Get dusted monster, Zap-Zap always…

The shot pinged from the cyborg as if it were no more than torchlight. That didn’t stop me from shooting again, and again, each shot doing little more than creating a glowing spot in his silvery frame as he laughed.

“Your bravery is wasted,” he mocked as his wrist blaster hummed, poised to turn Cherry to ashes once more. “Now, allow me to show you true firepower.”

What can I do? I have my gun, I can move… But he just won’t die. The clip empty, all I could do was reload, right as there was a sound on the floor at his feet.

Clang… Clang… Thud.

“Impossible!” Like the sharp eyes of a griffin, Barron’s gaze shifted downward, popping wide as he leaped back faster than lightning.

It took me only a second to see why, dropping my laser pistol and magically yanking Cherry away from the spark grenade right as it went off in an eruption of crackling blue magic. The blast shunned my eyes, ringing in my ears as I lost sight of everypony but the pink mare. Before I knew it I was face to face with her, her weeping eyes fixed on me as I loomed over her defensively.

“Y–you alright?” I panted, adrenalin fuelling my recovery as I heaved and panted, foals throwing a party in my griping gut all the while.

Cherry blinked tears from her eyes, sniffed, and then wrapped her forehooves around me. Her first kiss had been a shock. Now our lips were suddenly locked a second time, however, I wanted nothing more than to melt against her. A scream behind us made me quite certain that wasn’t an option as I broke the embrace far too soon. Locust fell, as if feeling the pain of every sprite as her swarming minions fizzled out with static pops. I made sure to note her apparent weakness to spark magic, while beside her, Chief shook her head, staggering on her power-hoof-tipped legs.

“D–dragonfire… I… I’m fine… I…” Cherry didn’t avert her eyes as one pink forehoof lifted to my chest, slowly running down to my distended tummy. “Goddesses, I shouldn’t have…”

“No, don’t be sorry,” I declared sternly, glancing about to see the less robotic of the Transcendent guards recovering from the sudden spark attack. “Let’s just save the sappy stuff until we get out of here.”

She sniffed, before her face hardened as she nodded. Levitating Responsibility from her side as I staggered back, shaking the last dregs of ringing from my ears.

“Helluva ambush, how’d you pull that off?” The newly disguised Vertigo said as he appeared beside me, the guard who’d been tasked to watch him out cold on the floor.

“It wasn’t me, I didn’t do anything!” I called, searching for Star. “Where’s Star, he was right next to you?”

“The big guy? I don’t know,” the Changeling droned, before Cherry called out, gesturing across the room to where I saw the large grey earth pony struggling to combat two guards with his burnt hooves.

“Star!” I called, lurching for him and levitating up Zap-Zap.

“No wait, if you didn’t drop that grenade then who…?” Vertigo’s words were lost to a battle cry as half a dozen ponies in stable security barding appeared on the upper atrium gantries.

“For the Overmare!” called one mare, while another muttered the same mantra, adding stable fifty in the place of Overmare.

I hardly knew her, but I had never been so happy to see Binary, looking far more stable in a new mechanical rig as her mechanical limbs clutched a pair of submachine guns. All around her, the rest of Stable Fifty’s residents wielded similar weapons, from rifles to security batons. I saw Flash and Net runner among them, the latter’s aim still a little wobbly.

“Barron, you’re surrounded, give up!” called Binary, two of her extra limbs clacking as she lifted herself up onto the rail, aiming right at him.

“Ah, so you’re the leader of this pitiful mutiny,” rasped the cyborg, as I looked up to see him in the archway through which he’d entered, grizzled laughter escaping his mask as his elite guards ignited their lances. “Crush them, bring me the Sigal’s prize!”

Ceasing the crackling spears in their magic, the two elite unicorns charged without question, spinning the things like they were leading some kind of marching band, while Barron slinked back.

“Back, now!” I called, shoving the unarmed changeling away as I took aim along with Cherry. “Try to find a weapon!”

All the while, the ponies above exchanged fire with the few guards that had recovered from the spark grenade’s electrical detonation. Any bullet that struck Barron harmlessly pinged off his silver bones, however, only adding to the ways I knew I couldn’t harm him as the first lancer guard came in close.

I’d never seen a unicorn wield such a melee weapon so masterfully as she twirled the thing, catching the longer barrel of Cherry’s golden rifle and shoving it upward as the pink mare fired. In the same motion, the elite mare reversed the momentum of the lance, and before I could even blink, jabbed it at my lover’s shoulder. Cherry screamed, a sizzling scar tore from the right side of her neck to her upper foreleg.

All the while, the second guard made for Vertigo, only to fall short as the buck teleported away. In a flash, he was behind the elite stallion, snatching one of the discarded Transcendent weapons from the floor with his magic. Not to be outdone, the elite guard telekinetically jabbed the lance back, the blunt end impacting Vertigo’s muzzle hard, staggering the blue stallion as his opponent spun, presenting the far more dangerous end of the weapon.

No, no, don’t make me choose! My mind screamed as I glanced between my two friends. Don’t say I have to lose one of them!

It was Cherry’s scream that broke me, as the guard pinned her under one forehoof and shoved Responsibility aside with another jab of her magical spear.

“Get off her!” I yelled, swaying as my stomach lurched before I clumsily barrelled into the guard.

The elite mare staggered left, while I fumbled over my prone companion, swollen center of mass really doing me no favors as my larger belly swayed. My opponent had no such disadvantage as she spun back, lance swirling masterfully to skewer me. She didn’t say a word as I lifted my pistol, swaying as I forced my pipbuck into S.A.T.S. I could only hope they were not as laser-proof as their boss as I opened up a full clip of disintegrating death into the mare’s masked face. Zap-zap didn’t fail me a second time, the mare vanishing like a ghost in the wind as she crumpled to dust. Her lance clattered down at my forehooves as Cherry staggered out from under me and lifted her rifle.

Responsibility sang before I registered, striking the second elite guard in the shoulder before he could impale Vertigo. Snagging the first guard’s discarded lance, I whirled around with her, only to see more of the lesser goons aiming at us.

“Don’t bother with them, retrieve Locust and fall back,” called Barron, as the silvery monster slinked around the firefight's edge.

True to his orders, the lesser guards withdrew, multiple unicorns levitating away the stunned monster pony. I saw Chief dragged off with them, molested by fire from above as the remaining lancer struck Vertigo across the face with a hind hoof and rounded on us. In the time it took Cherry to reload, the elite stallion was on us. I didn’t even bother ejecting the sizzling clip from Zap-Zap, telekinetically lifting my new lance to counter the first in a hail of purple sparks.

The metal clattered, reverberating down the length of the slim weapon. Yet I was no master, I hardly managed two parries as the elite guard whirred and spun his lance like it were an extension of his magic.

Tap, Tap, crackle. Deflected with perfect ease, my lance was swatted from my magic, as the elite guard moved for one last blow at my neck.

So much for wanting me alive! I thought, right as there was a flash above the stallion, Vertigo materializing from nowhere to drop onto his back.

“Last pony I wanna take for a ride right now!” he called, as the elite stallion bucked, struggling as Vertigo wrapped his forehooves around the dark mask.

With both a heave of his forelegs and his magic, he ripped the thing off. Revealing a grizzled yellow buck’s face.

“Hey, you!” Cherry called through her pained exertions, rifle loaded and aimed. With a flash, Responsibility reduced the scarred features of the buck to a bloody paste, Vertigo hopping free as the elite guard slumped in a sanguine heap.

“Nice shot,” the disguised changeling quipped, and regardless of her heaving breath, I swore Cherry actually lit up with the cutest blush.

“Enough of this!” Barron’s thunderous voice shook the room, snatching my attention to the far side.

Oh no… I thought I’d been freed from his wicked torture, only to find Star effortlessly pinned under one of the cyborg’s clawed talons. That stallion can hurl rock… No, damn it!

“Wait, wait, stop!” I called, the stable ponies above directing their weapons at the mechanical monster as the last of the transcendent goons not gunned down slinked out. “Binary, tell them to stop!”

“Hold your fire!” called the mare, lifting one metal claw, and closing it tight. “Damn it, Dragonfire, this bastard has to die.”

“You really think your pitiful weapons have any chance of stopping me?” hissed the monster with a wicked laugh. “I will see every one of you die, until I get what I want. Starting with this one!”

I had never heard anypony make Star scream, yet Barron came pretty close as he sank one talon into the buck’s shoulder, seeming to part his shoulder blades like smooth butter. A pained grunt left my burly companion as I poised Zap-Zap at Barron.

“Go ahead, waste more ammo, I cannot die,” taunted the cyborg as Star growled.

“Dragonfire, don’t give this fucker nothin’!” Barron shoved his claws forward, slipping Star across the floor with a bloody smear.

My aim wavered, I looked from my pinned partner, to the eyes of the monster, then finally to the pipbuck on the desk. Overseer won’t open it for anyone but…

“You can’t die… But I can!” Cherry lurched as I lifted Zap-Zap under my chin, staring right at the monster.

“Dragonfire, what are you…!?” I nodded for Cherry to stay back, the pain in her eyes more hurtful than the thought I could die any second. “No… No, don’t!”

“You hear that, Overseer…? You keep him from what he wants, and I go, along with your little experiment,” I insisted, while every set of eyes in the room fixed on me.

Cherry with raw fear, Vertigo with somewhere between a sly smirk and worry I’d actually do it.

“You are a bold creature,” mused Barron, eliciting a gritted yelp from Star as he pressed downward. “Go ahead, do it!”

“I will!” I warned, shoving the weapon as I lifted my head. “You really want to take that risk, Overseer…? You play along, save everypony here, or everything Hayland told you to do dies with me!”

There was a long silence, the air so thick I could have cut it with a knife edge, before finally, Barron growled.

“Time’s up.” His wrist weapon hummed, right as the terminal on the desk started to whir.

I saw the green flash of text projected on the rear wall, as did Barron as he glanced left. I lost sight of him a moment later, nothing but his glowing eyes visible as the lights flickered out. In the same instance the terminal’s hum grew louder, before with an electrical boom, the thing exploded like a second spark grenade.

It was just enough to shake the monster off my friend, staggering him back. The second he was more than an inch away from Star I unloaded Zap-Zap once more, as did the rest of the stable ponies reinforce my barrage. Every shot pinged from the monster like mere pebbles, the only real damage that to his cape as the tattered white sheet billowed behind him. I saw only brief flashes of him in the light of the gunfire, shocked at just how fast he could move while skittering to the desk like some oversized metal Radroach. Snatching the pipbuck in one claw, he took off back the way he’d come, the door hissing closed behind him.

“Star!” The word left my mouth the moment I was able to dash over to my injured partner, while the wounded Cherry slipped against Vertigo for support. “You stupid bastard, how’d you let him get you!?”

“Hard to fight off a wall of metal,” coughed the burly earth pony, lightly pressing a forehoof to my belly as he croaked. “Are you… Alright?”

“I… I’m fine… I…” Words caught in my throat as I felt his soft touch on my bump, a warmness I didn’t know I could feel anymore blooming in my chest. “They’re fine too, we need to get you to medical.”

“Her too, magical energy scarring is not good,” Vertigo informed me of Cherry’s dire state as the pink mare wavered.

“No… No, I can…” She slumped, wincing as it appeared her adrenalin rush was fading. “Okay… It hurts a lot!”

“Don’t worry, medical is secure,” Binary informed us as she casually climbed down from the gantry above.

Even if she has to wear that thing, I can see why she never takes it off. Her mobility was second to none, rivaling Barron’s creepy crawl.

“You got the whole wing, how?” I asked as she passed Vertigo, hugging him as well as she could with Cherry resting on his shoulder.

“All the monsters were distracted here, then the main door was hit,” she assured me with a smirk. “Looks like your plan is coming together.”

I looked at my two wounded friends, the room filled with dead guards and injured stable ponies.

“Hardly, do you know what the situation by the door is, he sent Twilight up there?” I asked, as Star staggered up, while Binary offered him and Cherry a healing potion.

“Not good for her, I think. That witch may have the magic of a goddess, but against enough firepower, she’ll still go down,” the technical mare assured, glancing about. “Locust is out for the count until her brain reboots, and I hear you took out Carnage.”

She actually appeared genuinely impressed by that as I detected just where she was going with this train of thought.

“That just leaves Barron,” I finished for her, and with reluctance, she nodded. “He has my old pipbuck.”

“And if we want any hope of stopping him, we need it back,” she told me simply as Star regained enough composure to stand on his own.

“I know that look, Dragon,” he coughed, glowering at me. “You’re not going after that thing alone.”

“And you’re in no fit state to come with me, big guy,” I countered, holstering Zap-Zap as I recovered one of the lances. “He won’t kill me, I know that.”

“No… No… He’s right, I’m not letting you out of… My…” Cherry wheezed as she did her best to stagger over, two more stable ponies descending to relieve Vertigo of her care.

“I’ll go with her,” he stated, marching up to me. “Unless she doesn’t want a third date?”

That comment had me blushing with irritation, Star huffing in furious confusion, and Cherry whimpering. While Binary cocked her head, as if trying to work out the math behind it all.

“You better not get your crazy tail killed,” she declared, jabbing a metal claw at Vertigo. “Or so help me…”

“He won’t, we get the pipbuck, then get out.” I glanced up at the Overmare’s window. “You still have the access codes for that secret exit? You can get the rest of the stable out of the main door if it’s open.”

“Yeah, sure,” Binary offered as Star reluctantly staggered over to the medical ponies, shooting Vertigo a very dangerous glare. “A copy should still be in my sister’s pipbuck.”

She took my foreleg in one of her mechanical claws, lifting it before tapping away with another of the gangly limbs. Sure enough, when she was done, I saw the access code was ‘eggheaded’.

“Just be careful, do not underestimate Barron,” she warned, yet after the previous display, I felt the last thing I was going to do was not take the monster seriously.

*

For being in the midst of a siege, the darkened corridors of Stable Fifty were eerily quiet. I assumed Overseer had taken out more lights than just the atriums as Vertigo and I navigated the gloomy interior. The only sounds were deep rumbles, followed by shudders in the infrastructure.

Occasionally, odd prompts flashed in my vision, what I assumed was the Head Scribe’s programming directing the Gyrotron army. I could only hope it had gone so smoothly as I panned my pipbuck light down to the bloody claw prints on the floor. I felt so naked without my helmet, while my half-battered armor clattered, most of all as my foals shuddered anxiously.

“So, what do you know about this guy?” I asked, noting the many scattered red dots in my E.F.S mixing with the friendly ones. “Barron, I mean.”

“Binary never really talked about him outside of saying he’s the unkillable bastard that murdered her mother,” the blue buck informed me as he levitated a submachine gun he’d scavenged from the atrium skirmish. “Never seen anything like him before today, only ever heard them talk about him like he’s Nightmare Moon or something.”

“I get where they’re coming from,” I muttered, rounding a corner to find the bodies of several stable ponies.

Their blood coated the walls in sweeping arches, still warm as it dripped downward. Most notable was that they’d not been disintegrated, if Barron was responsible, it was clear claws and blasters weren’t his only weapons.

“This is heavy security barding… Cut right through it,” Vertigo observed as I panned my light ahead, skittering sounds echoing up from the ill-lit gloom.

“Better than being naked, right?” I quipped, nodding to his bare coat. “As flattering as it is.”

“So, a little trauma bonding is all it takes for you to admit you like me?” he cooed with a wink. “Don’t know if your big colt friend is gonna like that.”

“Star and I were never a thing… It was work with benefits… Sex with him was just sex,” I sighed, feeling as if I’d lost him again after only just reuniting.

“That’s not how he feels about you,” Vertigo told me as he stripped the barding from the security officer, flashing green as he modified his body to fit. “Back in the atrium, he does love you.”

Stupid bugs and their stupid emotion magic! I cursed inwardly, pretty sure he could feel my mixed feelings too. Star and I… I always knew he cared… That he… Urg, why is love so hard!?

“I can’t, Cherry and I…” I sighed as the changeling slipped into the bedraggled barding and peered at me as he finally stated.

“You love her, don’t you?” I did, I couldn’t hide it any longer. After seeing her almost killed twice now… After her second kiss.

“You can prove to me I do, can’t you?” I asked, glancing back at him. “Tell me I love her, that I don’t just want to use her.”

He paused, as if mildly confused by the question, running a forehoof under his chin before he finally opened his mouth to answer.

“Love… How pathetic.” The two of us lifted our weapons, but the grizzled voice sounded as if it radiated from all around us. “Such things will not save you. Surrender and your pitiful friends will at least die quickly.”

“Come out and say that to my face, you fucker!” I called as Barron’s goading was followed by a static chuckle.

“He’s got to be close, that’s not the PA system,” Vertigo observed, as I gestured for us to move forward.

“Your tenacity is impressive, yet ultimately useless,” he hissed as the corridor opened into a vast shaft.

It was not a stable design I was familiar with, it appeared to be a towering room where most of the bunker’s stairways met, with some kind of storage area at the base. Heavy doors lingered opposite, while I made a mental note not to go anywhere near the hallway marked as ‘reactor access’. My stomach shuddered at the memory of Fort Sandstone, as I watched the hostile dots on my E.F.S, sure one of them was the mechanical monster.

“What can I say, I’m persistent,” I called, peering up into the shaft, sure I saw the skeletal figure leap across the red emergency lighting.

“Not enough. Your little mutiny will fail, your conspired assault on the main doors will be crushed. Now, I need only you and the spawn you carry,” he hissed as with a clatter, something dropped into the center of the shaft.

Bathed in a pool of bright light was my old pipbuck, simply there for the taking. I wasn’t so stupid. Barron was more than just a machine, his sick and twisted desires were clearly far more diabolical. An echo of the cruel brain welded into his silver skull.

“What’s the matter, what’s stopping you?” asked the cyborg with a devious laugh. “All you want and more right there, for the taking.”

“That’s bait,” Vertigo chimed, while I rolled my eyes shooting him a ‘you don’t say’ kind of look.

“I’m not stupid, you know!?” I called, turning my weapon upward despite the frantic mix of dots on my E.F.S.

“No? Then perhaps your allies will see fit to accept my offer,” he goaded cryptically as I saw a rather organized set of blue marks just opposite us, right as the bulky doors exploded inwards.

Both Vertigo and I ducked into cover as metallic shrapnel bounced from the storage crates. Meanwhile, smoke billowed in from the blasted entrance in the wake of numerous heavy hoof steps. I didn’t know whether to be overjoyed or wary as the squad of Steel Rangers marched inwards, power armor brimming with heavy weapons, I counted seven in total, recognizing Gingerbread’s suit among them. Their headlamps cut through the misty gloom, dazzling my eyes as I lifted a forehoof to shield my face. Yet it was the lead stallion that caught my attention, seeming almost clumsy in his accentuated suit.

His armor would have been a glorious sight, if he didn’t trip over his hooves like he’d never worn the thing before. Either way, I was pretty sure he should not have access to toys as formidable as grenade machine guns and missile launchers, as the Hellhound hide around his neck made it obvious who he was.

“Elder Cobalt,” I asked, peeking over my cover as the elder’s armored head shifted to look at me. “I didn’t expect you to be here yourself.”

“As would most, yet Mother could not stop me from leading on this glorious day,” he declared, tinny voice still bearing the mark of immaturity.

I glanced by him, to my old pipbuck, as Gingerbread levitated up the device, inspecting it closely.

“Is that it?” asked the elder, glancing back at her with a whirr of servos. “Is that the pipbuck my mother modified?”

“No, sir, it’s not,” rumbled the armored unicorn, before she nodded to me. “She still has it on her leg.”

“I see,” stated the young elder as I felt my mane start to crawl. “Relieve her of the device, it’s all we need.”

“Wait, what!?” I yelled as the deep thud of their weapons loading echoed up the shaft. “What are you talking about, we had a deal!?”

They may not be Barron, but Zap-Zap was still not quite on the level of disintegrating power armor. I feared even more for the inadequacy of Vertigo’s weapon as the changeling muttered.

“Never trust a ranger. How long were you planning this little stunt, huh?” The elder scoffed, breath muffled by his rebreather.

“Mother should know better than to make deals with primal natives. She can have Mauler Feind and his little band of raiders. But the moment my loyal associate here told me exactly what the three of you were planning, it didn’t take long to work out how to gain control for myself,” he elaborated, while I glowered at Gingerbread.

“A suck-up to the end, I see,” I muttered, but she didn’t bat an eye as she countered.

“It’s called loyalty, look it up.” Her fellow rangers nodded in agreement, none of them appearing to favor the head scribe over her son.

“And loyalty is rewarded.” He nodded back at her, and armor or not, I could almost feel the heat of pride brimming inside her. “I get that pipbuck of yours, and the Gyrotrons are mine, then this stable and all the land between here and Crossroads will belong to the Steel Rangers, as it should be,” he finished, stomping a metal-clad forehoof.

“Rangers…” Both I and the pack of power-armored ponies were taken off guard by Barron’s disembodied voice as the gravelly tone clawed its way down the shaft. “Lost soldiers slaving away for a dead Ministry.”

“What is that, where’s it coming from?” asked the elder as the rangers all glanced about, headlamps panning over the empty gantries above. “Report, damn it!”

“I don’t know, sir, E.F.S is too crowded!” called one, while another said there were hostiles all around them.

“You idiot, he’s in here with us,” I hissed at the petulant elder as I ducked back behind the supply crate.

“W–who is?” he asked, glancing at me, only for a skittering above to draw his focus back upward. “Damn it, back to back, now!”

Hooves thundered as the group formed a ring in the center of the chamber, lamps, and weapons arrayed out in all directions like the bristling spines of a radhog. I peered upward, picking out every hostile on my E.F.S, right as one lone dot, lingering perfectly still, caught my eye.

“There, sir!” Gingerbread called, as the skeletal monster was lit up in one circle of light, hunched over one of the rails two stories up like some huge, predatory insect. “Engaging!”

I had the sense to duck as she and several others opened fire, her machine guns put to shame by the explosive ordinance that leveled the wall. A blue bolt lanced outward in return, blasting one of the ranger’s shoulders apart in a spray of dust. The power-armored pony staggered as a dusty cascade of rubble and catwalk came thundering down, removing any hope of escaping upward as the devastation cleared.

“Your weapons are impressive, your skill honorable,” called Barron’s grizzled goading. “But make peace with your miserable lives now, for this is your final stand!”

“Next time, how about you make sure the coast is clear before you try to pull a fast one, idiot!” I hissed to the elder as his squad backed up so tight their armored rumps ground against one another.

“Report, what is that thing!?” he demanded, yet there was no solid answer from any of them as I finally caught that one odd dot again.

“Look out, he’s above you!” I barely managed to yell before like a silver ghost, the metallic horror dropped into the center of their formation.

The ranger he’d shot was crushed, sharp claws plunging into power armor like it were merely wet paper. Fast as lightning, Barron’s arms flared, and from each of his wrists extended scythe-like blades. Vibrating with a devilish hum and shimmering with the same silver as the rest of him, each was perpendicular to his arm, forming sweeping arches that slashed downward into a second ranger, cutting his head, and both barrels of his guns, off like they were no harder than butter.

Power armor about as useless as leather barding, the ranger fell as Barron leaped up, ragged cape billowing, tail like a silver whip as he whirred in the air to slice another of the blades across the front of a third ranger. The mare within screamed as the vibrating silver tore her breastplate open, dark innards spilling out as the light of return fire illuminated the cyborg. Every round merely pinged from his body, until with a roar, the explosives opened up. The monster’s wicked blades clicked sideways, before starting to spin in motion with his gyrating wrists. No more than a whirling blur the scythes formed shields for the grenades to harmlessly explode against.

The spinning stopped, and without offering the ranger a chance to fire again Barron leaped into the air, somersaulting in a tight ball of silver spines before landing atop his attacker. His foot talons closed around the ranger’s helmet, effortlessly crushing the thing like a tin can as the head within popped in a dripping eruption of bloody offal.

“Bring it down, bring it down!” called the elder, as another ranger opened up with a grenade machine gun, succeeding only in pulverizing her companion’s decapitated body even more as the cyborg hopped up to one of the gantries, scurrying along it with blinding speed.

“What in the goddesses' name is that thing!?” called the remaining mare with the explosives, blasting apart the gantry behind the skittering nightmare, seconds before he paused, rails buckling under his talons as he launched himself at her.

She reared up, barely dodging his claws as the concrete under him ruptured in a web of splintering cracks. Her hooves kicked out, yet as if striking a brick wall, Barron was unfazed. Instead, with flexibility that put a zebra to shame, his clawed foot shot out, snatching her head and shoving her face into the floor with a hard crunch. The blades spun, then came down, severing her head from her shoulders in a flash of sparks.

“Die, damn you!” declared Gingerbread, while my eyes fixed on the pipbuck as she dropped it behind her and opened fire with all she had.

Barron didn’t even bother dodging or returning fire as the machine gun rounds harmlessly glanced his metallic hide. Instead, he kicked out, talons impacting her chest with a meaty crunch as she was cast flying across the room. I’d never seen power armor tossed about like it were a mere toy, leaping aside as the ranger’s limp body shattered my cover.

“No… Elder…” She muttered in a daze as I peered down at her, then at my pipbuck only a hoof’s length away.

“She dead?” Vertigo asked as I levitated the device back to me, all the while Barron loomed to full height, sharp eyes fixed on the elder as the juvenile ranger backed up.

“Come on, you stupid thing,” muttered the young earth pony as he struggled with the missile launcher on his flank. “Damn it, fire.”

Safe to say, it didn’t appear as if he expected the thing to go off as it did. He was tossed back onto the concrete as the projectile streaked toward Barron. The cyborg’s humming blades spun, casually deflecting the missile into the wall above. The monster’s tattered cape wafted in the explosive light as he leaped up and pinned the elder under his claws.

“See now what becomes of those who dare challenge me,” he warned, blades retracting with a sharp hiss as he wrapped one clawed foot around the elder’s skull.

“We need to get to the door,” I hissed, looking back the way we’d come, before levitating up Gingerbread’s still body.

If nothing else, her armor would provide cover, maybe she’d even thank me once I made sure her superiors knew how much of a backstabbing bitch she was. Vertigo was at my side, weapon trained on Barron as the monster folded his arms behind his back casually and scoffed.

“I–I’m not finished with you yet…” huffed Cobalt through his whimpering struggle, only for Barron to lower his head to the pinned earth pony with a soft whirr.

“No, but I am done with you.” With little more than a casual flick of his claws, the elder’s head popped free, helmet rolling to a stop as blood oozed from the sparking underside. Seconds later the monster’s eyes fixed on us as he strode over the bloody slaughter.

“You have something of mine, pony.” Dragging Ginger all the way to the door I opened fire, as futile as it was.

Vertigo joined me, yet Barron didn’t stop, he didn’t even flinch. All that met my ears was the clatter of his claws on cold concrete as he drew closer and closer.

“That’s it, run, fools!” he mocked, grizzled voice erupting into maniacal laughter as we reached the doorway.

I didn’t think a door would slow him down as I noticed the control panel to the left, nor did I think there was any way out as I glanced at Vertigo solemnly.

At least Cherry’s safe. He kills us, takes my foals, that’s all he wants. The little ones inside me wriggled indignantly at the idea yet as I dared meet the monster’s devilish red eyes, there was nothing I could do.

“Hey, robo-fucker!” I heard Star’s voice, right before I glanced back to see the stallion, bruised and bloody as he held a grenade launcher in his mouth. “Try dodging this!”

The thud of the loosed projectile roared as it whizzed over my head. Barron had just enough time to lift his arm as the explosion engulfed him in a ball of blazing flame.

“Dragonfire, are you alright!” Bathed in the flames’ glow, Cherry was in front of me before I could even register what was happening, looking me over like I was a mucky filly after a serious fall. “If that bastard lay a hoof on you I’ll…”

“C–Cherry, you… I’m fine!” I blurted, recovering from the shock as I glanced between her and Star. “What are you two doing? I thought you were in medical!” I screamed as the silver demon vanished in the smoke.

“One restoration potion, that’s it,” he told me, loading another grenade. “I’m not sitting in some bed while you’re out here.”

He loves me? I felt a sting for every time I’d used him for sex, assuming it was always the same for him. Of all the stallions I’ve fucked, all just to have a foal I can never have…

Part of me considered telling him that they were his, lying to him to hide my own mistakes just as I’d done to my brother for years.

“Neither was I… I…” Cherry appeared to have rehearsed her triumphant return to action speech a little less, before she huffed and snorted. “I said I was not letting you out of my sight again.”

But I love her. I could not shake the thought, pretty sure the internal conflict was obvious to Vertigo, even if he currently appeared as baffled as I was.

That was until the smoke cleared. All that had burned from Barron was the last shreds of his immolated cape as his body glowed red hot. His demonic eyes were fixed on me as Star shot again. Not to be struck a second time, his spinning blades fanned free, deflecting the explosive to his left in a flaming boom.

“Back, now!” I ordered, shooting the door controls, sealing the monster away as I heaved Gingerbread back.

“Who the heck is that?” Cherry asked, worry spreading across her features at the sight of the ranger’s bloody chest.

“Somepony who’s in for it when she wakes up,” I declared, neglecting to mention her betrayal, lest Star want to kill her next.

“I got her, for what it’s worth,” Vertigo assured me as his magic added to mine, reducing the weight of the ranger enough to walk as we backed up from the door.

Is it me or is it starting to glow red? I observed sparks starting to spit from the sealed archway as Vertigo assured me it would not hold him back long.

“We have to get to the Overmare’s office, there’s a secret way out,” I declared, as the five of us rounded a corner.

“Well, navigation was always your thing,” Star countered, loading another grenade from the bandoleer around his shoulders as I rolled my eyes.

“And your thing right now, was supposed to be sitting in medical!” That almost appeared to catch him out, was I really that much of a mother already to demand he go and take his medicine like he was supposed to?

“Medical said the top three floors of the stable are under control. No idea where that alicorn went, but she seems to have ghosted,” Cherry informed, leaving me to wonder just how many of the rangers were on our side.

Their elder’s dead, surely Silver’s next in line? It was a bridge I’d cross when I came to it, right now I was just making sure the same monster did not kill us too.

A flash and a clang behind me made me acutely aware that such a monster was still hot on our tails as Star finished loading the grenade launcher, backpedaling as we reached a second corridor, a door just ahead.

“If that was the emergency access shaft, then the way up to the Overmare’s office should be a few corridors up. Back the way we came down,” Vertigo informed me, adding with a knowing smirk. “You know I make sure to study schematics.”

By the goddesses, does he have to rub it in so much!? Just like under Fort Sandstone, I wanted to scream. I saved his ass twice now, where’s that on his schematics?

“Good, take her,” I told him, swallowing my pride and allowing my magical grip on Gingerbread to slip, glancing back. “Star we…”

Cherry screamed, kicked back toward me in a whimpering heap as her rifle clattered to the floor. I didn’t even think, catching her against my side with little care for how it made my belly churn with discomfort.

“You ponies are such easy prey,” hissed Barron, one claw pinning Star up against the corner wall as he swatted the grenade launcher away. “To think that you even have a chance against me.”

“Let him go,” I demanded, Cherry shaking back to full alert as I aimed Zap-Zap at the monster. “I sware, so help me I’ll find some way to kill you, fucker.”

“I wouldn’t count on it, nor do I possess the patience to submit to your pitiful demands anymore,” he growled as I caught Star’s sideways glance.

I could save him, do something. Only, I’d have to leave Cherry. The pink mare scooped up Responsibility in her magic, while my attention was locked on Star Strike.

“Run.” It was the last thing the earth pony choked out before Barron’s wrist blade deployed, slicing his neck and lower jaw off in a spray of crimson.

Time felt as if it had stopped as the decapitated body of my friend… Companion… The pony who had loved me, crumpled to the floor as no more than a pile of meat. Nought but the cruel rumble of Barron’s twisted laughter was audible as he turned and started to approach. I screamed so hard my throat burned, letting loose every laser shot my weapon had.

When they failed to touch him, I levitated Star’s ammo over and snatched up the grenade launcher, unleashing my friend’s last round. Barron merely sidestepped the projectile, the explosion blasting the wall and what was left of Star apart behind him as he curled his blades forward with a devilish cackle.

“Dragonfire, back!” Vertigo’s words and Cherry’s scream, were muffled as if emitting from underwater. Cherry’s magic and a blue forehoof yanked me back as he blew out the second set of door controls, sealing Barron away once again.

“No, no, get off me you… I… I have to save…” Cherry staggered back from me as I clawed my forehooves at the door before the disguised changeling was finally able to heave me back against the wall, eye to eye with me as he shouted in my face.

“He’s gone, he’s dead, I’m sorry.” I had never seen him so serious, sure he could never understand how it felt. But one look into his eyes, peering into the strange creature I knew he was below. I was sure he did understand. “We have to go, get out or he died for nothing!”

Tears stained my cheeks as my eyes quivered, adrenalin flooding my aching body as my foals flapped like terrified birds in my stomach. I stared at him, him at me, the only other creature to have known how Star really felt about me, while against the opposite wall, Cherry looked as petrified as the day we’d met. Then sparks burst from the door as Barron began to cut his way through.

“Go to Tartarus, you bastard!” I declared, loading the only grenade I’d grabbed from Star’s bandoleer.

I fixed my eyes on the door as it glowed red hot, then shifted my aim upward, blasting a hole in the roof, ensuring rubble cascaded down to block the monster’s path.

“That is only gonna keep him back a little longer,” Vertigo declared as the three of us backed up to the unconscious Gingerbread.

I hope he gets through, so I can kill him! It was not the red of emergency lights polluting my vision as I fixated on the door, only to glance and see Cherry to my left. If she’d not fallen, if I could have gotten to him… I… I picked her!

She didn’t look at me, she only wilted as if sinking back into the shell I’d first found her in. Her ears folded, the hole in one, and the fresh scar in her side catching my eye as rage fleeted for a brief moment. I chose her… Now Star’s dead.

“Let’s just find that exit and get the fuck out of here,” I sighed, pretty sure Vertigo didn’t need to feel emotions to know how I felt right now.

*

Like the rest of the stable, the Overmare’s office was dark as we approached, the sound of battle fading as the door whooshed open. Dull emergency lights still flickered as the three of us heaved Ginger into the room, shoving her up against the desk as Vertigo trotted around to the Overmare’s terminal.

“Binary’s told me about this a few times, you got the password?” he asked as I inspected the marks in the desk Barron’s previous outburst had wrought.

“Egghead,” I told him, all emotions fleeting from my voice. I felt like a ghost, doomed to aimlessly wander a haunted world, dreading the day my friends, family, and foals would die.

It was like my mother all over again, Star was dead, and I’d been so powerless to stop it. I was so powerless to stop Barron from coming after us now, just as I’d been hopeless to care for my brother. I hated the way I couldn’t escape it, even unable to fulfill Star’s final wish to run.

Cherry wondered just as aimlessly, as much a specter as I felt as she gravitated toward a wall safe amidst the office’s shelves. Part of me had gone from wanting to adore her, to hating her. It was a stupid, selfish part, of course, I’d picked her, I’d pick her again. Star would have probably wanted me to pick her if she made me happy. So why did I feel as if she’d gotten him killed?

“Looks like they’ve tried to get into it,” I observed, inspecting the dented lock as the chime of Vertigo accessing the terminal sounded.

“And not very professionally,” she added, not looking at me, as if what had just transpired below had not happened at all. “I–I can do it though.”

I didn’t even need to ask, nodding as I glanced back at Vertigo. “You got it, tell me we got a way out.”

“Yeah, yeah, but look at this,” he called, beckoning me over to reveal several odd files on the sickly green screen.

MoA: Desert Springs Excavation – Logs enclosed.

Most of the text had been corrupted or wiped, yet several images persisted. Blurred windows into what the industrial complex that was now Crimson Springs had looked like almost two centuries ago. Still scorched by factories as it was now, the great crater fenced off in the middle of town didn’t appear remotely normal, nor did the odd obelisk-like pillar of silver metal crookedly jutting out from the earth. Only, I recognized it.

“Hey, one of those was under the Orical building,” I noted, jabbing a forehoof at the screen. “And in the recording.”

I was at least glad he’d been there to see it, lest I sound like a mad mare. Safe to say, whatever it was, whatever Moon Dancer had been using in her experiments, she’d dug it up here decades ago.

“Yeah, only try three times bigger,” Vertigo quipped, scrolling further. “There’s so much on here, Binary is gonna want it all.”

“Whatever she wants, just be quick, we need an out, Vertigo.” I was not in a patient mood, no matter how much I felt it was Binary’s right to have her mother’s old information.

The click of a safe opening, and the small sigh of relief from Cherry called me back to her, as the armored vault swung open. The shelves within were littered with files and trinkets. I assumed Binary would have a field day with more of her mother’s possessions, endless scientific reports from a stable devoted to the M.A.S. Until finally, something caught my eye, as did it Cherry’s.

‘Be Smart’ Read the inscription upon the base of the tiny statue, the purple visage of the real Twilight Sparkle.

She was as far from a dark alicorn goddess as the stars were from the desert, the feeling that washed over me as I scooped her up in my magic all the more welcome.

Fluttershy, Rarity, and now Twilight. That’s halfway to a full set, right? I wondered, as the magical aura of the statute just about lifted my mood. At least my magic feels better.

I was still no match for the self-proclaimed Twilight of the Transcendent. Foals fluttering within me as if to encourage the idea, however, I couldn’t find the will to leave the poor purple mare trapped down here.

She should be with Binary. Otherwise, Cherry seems to be a fan. I glanced the pink mare’s way, sure she still had the Fluttershy figurine.

“Here, keep her safe.” She blinked at me, as if the last thing she was expecting right now was a gift. “You said it yourself, they’re collectible.”

She took it without a word, while I looked back into the safe, inspecting the stack of papers that had been below the statuette.

‘Excavations sight: Desert Spring – Nurodine Testing catalog.’ The seal of the M.A.S sat within a ring of other logos, two of which I noted as Destiny and Orical.

Nurodine. Where have I heard that word before? I thought as I flicked through the dusty papers, catching sight of a mare I recognized. Moondancer appeared right at home in the lab as she tapped a ruler on a chalkboard of arcane scrawl. It’s what she was testing when she attempted to kill Twilight, the same thing they dug up!

I had a feeling the dark mare in question would not be all too pleased, as I pressed deeper. Reaffirming what the memory orb had told me, about Moon Dancer’s former employment in the M.A.S, before moving to Orical. Whatever they had found in the gem mines under the city, whatever it was that still lingered and drove every raider here insane, she had known all about it.

“The rage… What she did to those Parasprites…” I muttered to myself, hoping there was another recording hidden here I could see to get all the notes.

“Binary, if this finds you…” The hum of static filled the air as the voice of a mare escaped the terminal. I glanced up, as Cherry jumped in alarm, seeing Vertigo back away from the thing sheepishly.

“Sorry, sorry,” he muttered, as the recording went on.

“If this finds you… If you escaped like I told you to, if your sister’s safe… Then you have to listen to me.” My ears perked as I crept back to the terminal. “The stable, it was never meant to be this way… We were never meant to be the residence, our ancestors were just trapped inside when the bombs fell, Ministry staff with all the equipment they were using to study… The obelisk.”

“Is that Binary’s mother?” I asked, jabbing a forehoof at the screen, only for Vertigo to shrug, while Cherry set down the statuette on the desk.

“I don’t know, I never met her. But what is the obelisk?” He looked more intrigued for his companion’s sake as he squinted at the screen.

“I don’t have all the details, but before the bombs the Ministry found something under the city, some kind of object, same as several others noted across Equestria. They’re not… Natural, part of something, something angry but… There are ponies that will do anything to get their hooves on these things. They accessed the stable, I couldn’t keep them out… But you need to run from them, you and your sister, keep safe… I… I love you both so much!”

“What’s going on?” The groggy voice of Gingerbread yanked our eyes away from the last words of Binary’s mother.

She looked little better off than a tortoise flipped on its back, pinned by the weight of her armor as her head lulled. Helmet creaking, her lamp flickered on as I trotted over, shooting Vertigo a wary glance that made sure he knew his next task was to get the damn escape door open.

“W–where am I…? The elder, I…?” she looked at me, light dazzling my eyes before I ducked under it.

“The elder’s dead, so are all the other ponies who came down here with him,” I stated flatly, coming eye to eye with her visor. “I should have left you down there too, but I didn’t.”

“The elder… He…” Her armor shifted as her head rolled upright. “You native scum, how dare you drag…!”

“Look, I really don’t give a fuck,” I said with as cool a voice as I could muster, shoving Zap-Zap’s barrel under her breastplate. “I just lost my best friend, you hear that, my best fucking friend? So I don’t care about your bullshit, all I do know is that this model of power armor has a weak spot right under the main breastplate. Most of all when it’s as fucked up as yours, correct?”

She didn’t dignify me with an answer, yet I could tell from her silence that I had her attention as she nodded.

“So, you’re going to listen to me. We’re going to get out of here, and you’re going to go tell the Elder’s mother why the fool got himself killed.” She stiffened, yet didn’t say a word as I drew back. “Or maybe I should just leave you here for Barron to finish off.”

“There, medical’s been cleared. Cherry’s right, the whole west side of the stable’s secure,” Vertigo told me as I came around behind him, adding in a low whisper. “Kinda scary when you're pissed, you know?”

“Lucky you never piss me off that much,” I warned as I looked at the screen, seeing a camera feed of the medical wing, Binary among the countless stable ponies still there. “Now, get that door open.”

“W–what about Barron, won’t he follow us?” Cherry stammered, eyes fixed on the doorway across the office.

“With the main stable doors covered, he’s nowhere to go,” Vertigo stated as he tapped the terminal again. “Will probably make him hesitate, at least. Okay, and the door!”

There was a grinding of metal, a rumble of machinery under our hooves. Gingerbread huffed as I levitated her aside, making room for the rising desk as dust and grime trailed from its rattling pistons. Moments later, and the whole thing was near the roof, as the slab of metal below us rolled back into the floor, allowing us to step off.

“That’s not true,” coughed Gingerbread, snatching both my and Vertigo’s attention as she added feebly. “Stable’s got a second exit south side of the masa, bastards dug it out a few years ago to access their sky tank.”

“And you know that, how?” I asked, glancing at Vertigo. “What about you, I thought you knew the layout?”

“The pre-war layout, there’s nothing on old schematics for raider tunnels,” he reasoned with a wince.

“Really, we’ve been after this place for years… You natives really are stupid,” Ginger groaned, while I felt the growing desire to shoot her again.

If he’s not coming for us, and he gets away. I looked at my pipbuck, all the secrets it contained. He just gave it back, why?

My eyes wandered back to my tummy, bump clearly visible under my tight barding. I want him dead, to save my foals, avenge my friend.

“The ranger speaks the truth.” My guns were up, as were Vertigo’s and Cherry’s, while Ginger did her best to aim for the door.

“I should have expected to find you here, rats sneaking out through the basement,” mocked Twilight as she lingered in the archway, darkness pooling around her like a liquid shroud. “You really don’t get it, do you? There is no escaping us, Barron will chase you to the ends of Equestria, while I uproot every speck of existence you’ve ever laid down!”

I eyed her horn, yet she almost sounded bored of the whole petrification act, as if she really did pity the three of us, bruised and battered, tiny bugs for her to toy with.

“Is that what happened to you? Huh, you couldn’t escape?” I asked, taking a step around the desk. “Who are you really, because you’re not this mare!?”

I levitated over the statuette, the pony she claimed to be, and like the thing were emitting copious levels of radiation, she recoiled rapidly, lifting a wing to cover herself.

“W–where did you get that!?” she demanded, backing away as if the thing were a bomb that could go off any second. “Keep her away from me!”

I blinked, the confusion lasting only a second before I smirked and jabbed the tiny purple mare at her.

“What, don’t like looking at yourself?” I goaded, wondering just what she looked like under that mask as she slinked back into the door like a roach fleeing light. “What happened to the great and powerful Twilight Sparkle!?”

“Wretch, I’ll…!” I shoved the thing right in her face. She reared up, a beam of magic igniting from her horn and striking me in the chest.

“Dragonfire!” Cherry screamed as the statuette was tossed aside.

While as pure and emotionally driven as the wild attack was, it still struck the wind out of me as I was blasted back into the secret stairs. Twilight shook her head as if breaking free of a severe migraine.

“I am Twilight Sparkle!” she roared as she stomped a forehoof. “I am the inheritor of all she left behind, this city was mine, everything found here was mine. I made it all work!”

She flicked her horn, shooting a beam that sent Vertigo and Cherry darting behind the desk as I pressed a forehoof to my chest and staggered upwards.

“You mean the thing that makes every pony down there go mad. Orical’s little toy?” I pressed, and she scoffed.

“Observant little thing, aren’t you,” she hissed, wings flared. “The Rage as they call it, a complex magical result of the Ethereum’s frequency, yes. Specifically anger in this case.”

Much like I’d heard about her namesake, she still had a weakness for talking as I delicately sparked my magic.

“But they have no appreciation for such things anymore, had no appreciation for my work, my time. The M.A.S cast me out, Orical used me… Ebon Star promised me everything I ever wanted and still they don’t do as I command!” her tirade went on, as if the presence of the statuette had broken something in her stoic shield.

“Still second fiddle to Barron?” I pressed, and behind that mask I was sure she glowered at me, head low as she hissed.

“Everypony I ever knew left me, when I am the one who knows best!” I smirked, staggering as her horn flared. “But I deliver you to the Sigal myself, and Barron will have nothing!”

“Yeah, well make sure to give them this!” I yelled, telekinetically tossing the statuette at her. She recoiled, screaming as if the touch of the plastic doll burnt her, giving Vertigo and Cherry a moment to open fire.

She wasn’t Barron, yet still her armor provided her enough time to flare a wing over herself, feathers clattering as if made of metal. That was proven true only seconds later as Gingerbread shifted, awkwardly rotating her weapons to blast the alicorn’s wings. She muttered something about mutated abominations, while several of Twilight’s tattered feathers tore loose, sparking as they did so.

She’s not an alicorn at all, those wings are not real. I noted, realizing she was another cyborg, as in addition to the crackling flames, spurts of pink glass escaped the battered armor. I know that gas, anypony out here knows that gas. A cyborg ghoul!?

“Enough of this!” screamed the false goddess as she flared her horn, crippled wings extending wide as she let out a blinding pulse of magic that sent all of us wheeling.

My stomach felt like it were upside down as I hit my head hard on the inner arch of the escape tunnel, while both Cherry and Vertigo were tossed behind the desk, Ginger flopping back as her weapons sizzled. Only one thing appeared to stop the fake alicorn from stealing me away right there and then. The statuette fell between us, landing perfectly upright as if it were some tiny guardian blocking her path.

“T–this, is not over!” Twilight wheezed through her broken mask, the sharp glare of a regenerating pink eye just visible where one of Ginger’s rounds had torn away her armor, before in a flash, she was gone.

“Dragonfire!” Called Cherry, Vertigo close behind her as the two hopped over the desk, kneeling down beside me as I weakly levitated over the statuette.

“What the fuck was that?” asked the disguised changeling, as he peered at the small, purple mare.

“I don’t know, she seems to hate this thing.” I noted the weakness away along with Locust’s vulnerability to spark weapons. “N–now we just gotta find Barron’s…”

“By Celestia, you can’t keep doing this while pregnant!” It appeared Cherry’s apprehension to confront me about Star’s death was not quite as firm as her worry for my foals as the statuette slipped from my weak magic.

“Must have belonged to Binary’s mother, she… Told me about it,” Vertigo observed, lifting my head. “You good?”

“No… I don’t think so,” I admitted with a huff, while Ginger lifted herself up to stand above us. “Thanks.”

“Consider us even, native,” she stated, nodding down the tunnel. “That leads to the main entrance. There should be a forward base there by now.”

Of course, she knows that, always planning to fuck me over. I noted, strangely glad they’d not accounted for Barron in that plot.

“Yeah, but I’m not just leaving her here,” Cherry insisted, gripping my shoulders. “Damn it, Dragonfire, I wanna kill you sometimes!”

“Don’t stand up a mare on the third date, right?” Vertigo chipped in with a sly wink, as Cherry pulled medical bandages from her saddle bags.

“Y–you charmer… Looks like you’ll have to carry me I…” My head lulled, throbbing where it had hit the wall. Yet before giving into the coils of darkness creeping into my blurry vision I squeaked. “I think I’m… Done with this fucking place…”

Footnote: Level Up

New perk added: Be Smart - The words of Twilight Sparkle herself, the real one that is. Gain considerable bonuses to both intelligence and any magical attack damage.