Fallout Equestria — S.A.T.

Chapters

Beginning
Company
Death
Education
Free
Gloom
Helplessness
Imaginary
Chapter 11 (Unnamed)
Chapter 12 (Unnamed)
Awakening
Judgement

Beginning

'Link Ended’. The words blinked at the corner of my eye for a second before disappearing. I still saw everything through a filter of bright blue, and the lighter blue head was still floating in the air. Dully, I noted the sound of the wire unplugging from the terminal and being reeled back back into my head.“What did you do?” I asked, sitting back down.

“I downloaded myself into your eye’s storage device,” the OSAI answered. Her calm voice rolled softly through my head.

“Wh… Why?” I stuttered.

“I am ordered to oversee and make sure that as many of my patients as possible survive. You are the only patient left, and I will follow my last orders,” the head explained, bobbing slightly as if nodding for itself. “I calculated the time it would take for you to find the terminated link and fix it. There was a high risk that you would die before finding it. I intend to lower that risk.”

I took a deep breath. “I guess I’m stuck with you then?”

“This is only a temporary solution, until we know who you are and a certificated doctor has discharged you from the hospital. Maintenance can move me back into my mainframe later.”

“Nothing I can do to change anything,” I muttered under my breath as I rose from the floor, realizing that I was stuck in this situation and could as well accept it as try to fight it. Turning my head from side to side, I realized another problem. “I can’t see very well with this filter over my eyes.”

“Give me a second. I will try to configure it,” the head said as it closed its eyes. Slowly, the blue faded out, allowing me to see the room naturally again. I looked right into the metal frame which had until recently been the home of the OSAI, my own twisted image looking back at me. “Better?” the voice echoed in my head.

”Yes, a lot better. Thank you,” I said, looking away from my own reflection and towards the niche.

“You’re welcome,” the voice purred as I started to move, eager to get out of this room.

“So, tell me, do you have a name? It would be wrong going around and calling you OSAI all the time,” I asked with a sheepish smile.

“My name is SPITFIRE,” the voice answered.

“Spitfire?” I asked. The name sounded familiar.

“Stasis Pod Interface for Temporal Failure Incase of a Real-time Emergency,” she stated matter of factly. “What should I call you? I can’t just go around calling you ‘occupant of stasis pod 16’, can I?”

I stopped in my tracks. “I don’t think I have a name. I mean, if I do, I can’t remember it...” It felt wrong saying those words. Deep down inside it felt as if something was amiss, as if I wasn’t complete without my name. I looked back at my own reflection. Like I will ever be complete, I thought as my eyes scanned a metal foreleg. Three metal legs, various metal plates and a mechanical eye. I guess I will never be complete again.

“That isn’t true. Your implants have made you complete. As for your name, it would be easy enough just to pick something to call you.”

I was thinking about how awful that sounded when my eyes came to a sudden stop at something I hadn’t noticed before. “What’s that?” I asked as I trotted back to the metal frame, taking a closer look at the mark on my mechanical leg’s hip, where my cutie mark would have been if I didn’t have the implant.

“That is the logo used by SAT.”

I looked down at the logo etched on my hip, which was a cogwheel surrounded by a faint bluish aura. There was something familiar about it, but I couldn’t put my hoof on it. “Well then,” I said, looking away from the reflection and once again starting to walk towards the niche. “You can call me Cogwheel for now.”

“Okay, from now on, I will call you Cogwheel.”

‘Initiating’. The word started to blink in the corner of my eye, quickly replaced by a long list of words, each word replacing the last one before I could see it properly. The sudden flashing made me stop in my tracks.

“What’s happening?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I’m not fully connected to the eye’s system yet.” Spitfire’s voice echoed in my head. She sounded worried. “Give me a second.”

The words stopped flowing as quickly as they had started, pausing at a short sentence. ‘Start Up Complete’.

The words disappeared, and a small orange box took their place. The words ‘User – Cogwheel – Identified, Please Stand By’ were written in the box.

“It seems to be some kind of configuration program,” Spitfire stated.

The words in the box disappeared, replaced with ‘Welcome to SAT configuration program. If you do not want to continue the configuration, and instead use the default options, please state so now’.

Before I could say anything at all, the words were once again replaced. ‘Warning: No SAT configuration equipment detected. Please change your position to a SAT approved testing area. The configuration will automatically start again once SAT configuration equipment is detected.’ I stared at the words for a minute before they slowly faded away, together with the box, and left me with completely uninterrupted vision again.

“Well, that was weird,” I said as I started moving again.

“The configuration seems like an essential step in the complete use of the eye.” Spitfire paused for a moment.“I could go around the SAT configuration program, should you wish. This would allow you to continue the configuration without the need of the proper equipment,” she offered after a few seconds.

I pondered over this option as I walked up to the niche and looked down at the terminal. “Thanks, but no thanks,” I finally declined. “I believe the default configuration will work for now.” I shuddered slightly as the wire emerged from my eye before I plugged it in. “Can you go around the door lock?” I asked as my world was obscured behind a blue filter. The same sentences as before came into view.

Stable-Tec Corporation Terminal Protocol

>Terminal Locked. Please Contact Maintenance.

“I can,” Spitfire reassured me. “This won’t take long.” As she spoke the sentences disappeared and row after row of incomprehensible sentences scrolled past.

I’m not entirely sure how long I had stood there before the door opened and the filter over my eye was removed.

“Done,” Spitfire purred. “The door is now unlocked.”

“I can see that. Thanks.” I drew out the wire from the terminal and it quickly slipped back into the eye again. I stepped out of the stasis-pod room. A layer of dust covered the floor of the hallway and the walls were stained yellow with filth. Here and there I could see other rooms through gaping holes in the walls. “What… What happened here?” I stuttered as I continued moving.

“I don’t know.” Spitfire sounded surprised. “But we won’t find out if we keep standing here.”

A loud crack, emitting from somewhere under me and echoing in the silent hallway, made me jump back in surprise. “What was that?” I asked as I took another step back, looking down at what I had stepped on. The object I had stepped on was nearly as big as me, coated in a yellowish white material. Is that…

“That is the skeleton of a unicorn. You’ve stepped on and broken its horn.”

The skeleton’s gaping eye sockets stared up at me. It was like staring into the face of death itself. I took another step back, feeling my heart beginning to beat faster and my stomach turning. My breathing came in short gasps. I tried to force my eyes away from the body, tried to take my mind off the unicorn body I had just stepped on.

“Cogwheel, your heart rate has increased dramatically. Is something scaring you?”

“No,” I said quickly as I jerked my eyes away from the skeleton. “I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m fine.” I threw a quick glance around the room, avoiding to look at the skeleton.

“It’s empty in here,” Spitfire stated. “Before I was sealed away, these hallways were always full of ponies. I wonder where they’ve disappeared to.”

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. I pressed myself as close as possible against the wall as I carefully stepped around the skeleton, trying to avoid stepping on it again. As soon as I had walked by the skeleton, I released my breath. “Do you think we can go anywhere to find out what happened here?”

“There are five operating rooms in this wing. One of them might contain information about you. But information regarding what has happened would most likely be found in the Head Doctor’s office or the Maintenance head terminal. I can reach every terminal from both of them. If there exists anything about you then I can find it fromone of those two.”

“Which terminal is closest?” I kept going, following the hallway.

“The Head Doctor’s office is three floors above us.”

“Then I think we should start there.”

Lamps emitted a soft yellow glow that illuminated the hallway as I continued walking. The only noise I could hear besides my own hoofsteps was a low humming, which I could not place. I passed doors, signs above them telling me that they led to operating rooms or stasis-pod rooms. Ignoring the doors, I tried to find my way to a staircase or something else leading upwards.

{*.*}

The staircases were easy to find, and luckily they went all the way up to the top of the clinic. After I had overcome the fear of stepping on one of the many skeletons lingering in the stairs, I had quickly found myself in front of a pair of oak doors hanging slightly on their hinges. Gently, I dusted off the golden plate fastened on one of the doors.

“Doctor Honey Pod, Head Doctor,” I read from the placard. “Does that name ring a bell?”

“Yes. Doctor Honey Pod was the one who oversaw my installment.”

“She was Head Doctor at that time?”

“Yes.”

“That means that there hasn’t been a new Head Doctor since her, nearly two hundred years ago.” I carefully took a step into the room. Glass shards lay scattered all over the floor, the empty window frames that had once been standing tall around the entire office now allowed the wind to blow through. The office had been sparsely decorated. Nearly no furniture was to be seen except the desk standing in front of me and the terminal that stood on it, the green light clearly seen as it was reflected on the dark wooden desk that somehow had resisted the forces of the weather for Celestia know how long. The wind howled through the office, violently tugging my mane.

“That would be correct. I wonder what happened here.” Spitfire paused. “I guess we will have the answer soon enough. The Head Doctor’s terminal should be linked to every other terminal active in the clinic.”

“Unless the link from here has been terminated as well,” I remarked as I carefully took the first step into the office. The crushing sound under my metal hoof made me stop, reminding me about the crossed window that lay shattered over the floor. Standing on three legs, keeping my real leg from the glass, I quickly scanned the floor for an area not covered with too much glass.

“There.” Spitfire’s voice echoed in my mind as a part of my vision was circled with a blue ring.

I sat down my hoof, and then repeated the procedure. It took some time to get to the desk and around it, but with Spitfire’s help, I reached the desk without getting any glass in my hoof.

I had been so focused making sure that I didn’t step on any glass that I hadn’t looked up from the floor once. But now, as I stood at the side of the desk, I looked through the window frame in front of me. A single road twined over the barren ground scenery below me. A few trees, the dead, dark wood twisted in a way unfathomable, were sticking up from the brown ground.

{O-O}

“Are you sure about this? It is a very complicated proce--“

“I know that very well, Doctor Pod,” I softly interrupted the mare as I looked through the window. Before me, the grass, which was orange from the setting sun, swayed softly in the wind. “But if something happens, anything, then this is my wish.” I sighed. Blinking away the tears in my eyes, I turned around to face the light charcoal unicorn. “I have arranged everything, and everypony that needed to know about it has heard my decision. Even my successor has been chosen.”

“Do you believe that something will happen?” Honey Pod looked up at me, her orange eyes shimmering in the light of the setting sun.

“In times like this? Yes.”

“I know that life’s been hard for you after your wife and son’s passing...” She trailed off for a second, glancing at me for any reaction. I could feel the tears coming up again, but I forced them down. She sighed. “But is this really the way to go? Isn’t there some other way you could--“

“I wish there was,” I interrupted her. “But this is the only way I can continue living. I’m sorry, Honey.” I turned towards the door and allowed the tears roll down my cheeks as I took the first step towards it.

“So am I.” Honey Pod’s words were full of pain, her voice so low that it was nearly impossible for me to hear her.

My entire world turned black as I put my hoof against the wooden door, a sad smile making its way to my muzzle through the tears.

{*o*}

“Cogwheel, answer me!” Spitfire’s voice boomed in my mind as I snapped my eyes open.

“What… What happened?” I stuttered as I blinked a couple of times. I was on the floor, lying against the desk, a wave of pain hitting me from my chest area.

“You fell to the floor, and didn’t answer me when I asked what was happening. Your neural network was active and working as if you were speaking, but I couldn’t hear you say anything.”

“I don’t know what happened,” I said as I rose. I could feel small trickles of blood running down my side from various cuts on my torso and leg. They were probably shards of glass that I’d fallen on. That didn’t matter at the moment, though. “One second I looked out over” – I motioned towards the scenery – “and the next I looked over the same scenery, but now with grass and a setting sun. I was also talking to Doctor Honey Pod about something complicated and…” I trailed off, remembering exactly what I had got to know. “She said that I had a wife, and a son... She said that they were dead...”

“That is rather unfortunate, if it is true,” Spitfire said. “How can you be sure that it was not a daydream?”

“It felt so real...” I sat down at the desk, my head in my hooves, trying to remember. “Honey Pod... She had a black coat. She was a unicorn.”

“Honey Pod was a black unicorn mare, that is true.” She paused, as though she was thinking. “It is highly unlikely that you would know of her appearance had you not met before. Perhaps you were recalling a memory.”

“But I don’t remember her...” I sat up more in the chair, recoiling in pain and hugging my sides, somehow making everything hurt worse. I let go and slumped back down in the chair. “I... I don’t remember her, or my wife, or my son. How could I not remember my family? How could I not remember that my family had died?!” I shouted, slamming my hoof on the table. “What else is there to remember that I’ve forgotten?”

“Cogwheel, there is no reason for you to become angry,” Spitfire cooed. “Your memory will come back eventually. It is common for stasis patients to lack long-term memory as they exit stasis. Though currently, that is not important. If the glass splinters in your body are not removed, you will slowly bleed to death.”

I ignored her insensitive comment once more, agreeing with her that staying alive was, for the moment, more important. “How long would that take?” I asked, searching for and removing the occasional large splinter from my body.

“With the removal of the larger glass splinters, your chance of survival have risen enough to keep you out of the risk zone of dying. The wounds created by the smaller splinters shouldn’t be able to threaten your life.”

“Well, that’s something good at least,” I muttered as I pulled out the last splinter I could find. I sighed, feeling guilty for some reason. “Is there nothing I can do about my memory?”

“Memory loss, if caused by a reversible condition, can be treated effectively. The Ministry of Peace worked out many ways to return the memory of a patient, both magically and medically. However, should the memory have been removed through magical means, it would only be possible to restore the memories with the container that holds the memories.”

“Is there any way for you to determine how they were lost through this terminal?”

“There’s only one way to find out,” she answered. The wire inside of my eye popped out once more, and I gently plugged it into the terminal. The filter reappeared for a brief second before the message ‘Access Granted’ showed up.

“I’ve already scanned to see if your brain was physically injured or deformed in any way. It was not. As long as the memories were not removed magically then you should be able to restore them.” Spitfire paused for a second.“I’m going to remove the eye’s visual connection while I search through the terminals, for your comfort. This eye can process information at an incredible frequency, and I believe that it would hurt for you to see it process at that speed. This will not take long,” Spitfire reassured me as I completely lost vision from my left eye.

“What now?” I asked as my vision came back only a split second after it had disappeared.

“I thought you might want to read this. It isn’t the complete message. It had been deleted, but I managed to restore parts of it.” Words started to form on the screen, and I quickly read them.

>To: Pliers – Chief of SAT

>Subject: Recovery

>The installation of the cybernetics, especially the eye you wanted to have installed, was a difficult procedure, and I’m afraid that I will have to keep the patient here for at least two weeks. This is both to make sure that his body won’t try to repel the metal and so that he is ready for an acute operation, should it be necessary. More importantly, the damages he suffered were severe, and I want to make sure that he makes a full recovery before I let him leave this clinic.

>Honey Pod

“It’s remarkable to find even this small amount of information here. Very few terminals in the clinic are in working condition, every other OSAI is shutdown-“

“SAT requested to have the prototype installed in me?” I interrupted Spitfire.

“Yes, but-“

“And I should have been sent home a couple of weeks later?”

“According to this email, that is correct.”

“Then why did I wake up here one hundred and ninety years later?”

She paused. “I’ve just finished searching the remaining terminals. There was a war. The last entry that exists was written four days after the bombs -- it doesn’t say what kind, I’m afraid -- fell on Equestria. The doors to the floors below the third one have been locked since the day the war ended. It appears as though you are the only survivor inside of Fluttershy’s Clinic.”

“But, what about the other stasis pods? You said that there were more rooms like the one I woke up in. There has to be somepony else alive in this clinic!”

“The other OSAI units are offline. Even if the pods were online, their occupants would all be deceased.”

“I’m… I’m all alone then?” I sat down, completely ignoring the blood that started to coagulate on my torso.

“You are alone in the clinic. The doors at the lower floors have been opened sometime in the last one hundred and ninety years. Somepony, or something else with the intelligence to open them, has been here. But you’re not alone, Cogwheel; you have me.”

I smiled despite myself. “Yes… I guess you’re right.” I sighed as I slowly rose again. “Well, what do you suppose we do now?”

“While you aren’t in the risk to die from the splinters, it would still help for you to ingest a healing potion to ensure that your wounds don’t fester. We could probably find some elsewhere in the clinic.”

I pricked up my ears slightly. “What’s a healing potion?”

“Well, they’re potions that automatically tend to your wounds. But healing potions are really…” Spitfire started to explain as we walked down the stairs.

{I-I}

The words quickly flashed on the filter that had draped itself over my eyes as Spitfire worked with getting around the security lock before us. On Spitfire’s recommendation, I had found a small saddle bag in one of the equipment rooms. She also made sure that I had stuffed it full with healing potions and some doses of Med-X, a painkiller, which I had come across in another room. I had also found some canned food and some water. Some of the food I ate, calming a hunger I hadn’t felt before, and the rest I packed down in the saddlebag with the healing potions.

“There,” Spitfire said as the filter and the words disappeared from my vision. A small click could be heard from the terminal as the door opened with a soft hiss. “This elevator can take us all the way down to the entrance.”

“The elevator hasn’t been maintained for nearly two centuries. Are you sure it’s safe to use?” I asked uneasily as I looked into the elevator. The inside was made of a dark wood that seemingly emitted a light on its own rather than reflecting the dull light that the lamp in the roof gave. A poster was placed on the back wall of the elevator. Numerous ponies were pictured in the poster, all but one wearing medical coats. The last one, a yellow mare with pink mane, stood in the middle, slightly higher up than all the others, and smiled pleadingly at me. ‘Fluttershy’s Clinic – Helping Equestria through the war’ was written on the poster.

“The elevators are safe to use. I checked with the terminal once I worked around the security lock.”

I sighed and walked into the elevator. The doors silently slid shut behind me. “If you say so.”

“Welcome to Fluttershy’s Clinic, where we assure that everypony gets the best treatment available in Equestria! I’m happy to inform you that you are currently on the top floor. Where do you want to go?” a soft voice happily announced.

I jumped at the sudden voice, not prepared in the slightest for it. “The entrance!” I shouted, startling even myself.

“The lobby it is,” the elevator voice chimed as the elevator started to move with a soft humming.

It didn’t even take a minute before the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened. “Have a nice day,” the voice called after me as I stepped out from the small room.

The lobby I stepped into was big and clearly built to soothe every soul that passed through here. Once, the floor must had been beautifully carved stone, but now big cracks ran through most of what I could see through the filth and dirt that lay in a layer over it. The animals and forest environments that were masterly carved into the wooden walls were now partly destroyed. A couple of fountains stood in small ponds scattered around the floor, the green water seeping out from small cracks instead of spurting out from the top of them. Two wooden desks, each of them worn and haggard, stood opposite each other. Doors and hallways lead out from the lobby and into the rest of the clinic. A statue of white marble, portraying a pegasus mare with numerous animals around her, was the only thing in the room that seemed untouched by the passing of time.

And then, of course, there were skeletons. I stopped right outside the elevator, my eyes wide as they darted over the scene in front of me. There weren’t only skeletons down here. Fresh corpses lay scattered about as well. Earth ponies and unicorns, mares and stallions, clad in crude armor or wearing nothing at all, lay where they had fallen. Coagulated blood covered most of the bodies and the floor around them. The foul stench of the decaying flesh made the air nearly impossible to breathe.

I rose a hoof to my face after gagging on the smell. “Who… Who would do something like this?” “Who would defile a clinic like this?”

“I don’t know,” Spitfire said. She sounded as shocked as I felt. “This… This is beyond anything I have ever witnessed.”

I looked past the bodies and saw the doors on the other side of the room. Without hesitating, I started to gallop past everything, avoiding every body and the pools of blood on the floor. I didn’t stop before I slammed open the doors and rushed outside. I took deep breaths, allowing the fresh air to fill my lungs. The crisp scent of dirt it brought with it replaced the foul stench that had filled the lobby. I staggered away a couple of steps from the door, feeling my heartbeat and breathing start to slow down again. Before I could even think of speaking, I turned and emptied the contents my stomach onto the ground.

“Cogwheel, you are exhibiting abnormal symptoms. Are you sure you’re okay?” Spitfire asked, concerned.

“Yes,” I said as I brought up a hoof and wiped my mouth. “Like I said before, I’m fine.”

“Ponies who are ‘fine’ do not vomit without reason,” she said firmly. Softening her voice, she spoke again. “What’s wrong?”

“I… I just can’t believe what I saw. They were just dead, laying there in their own blood. And the smell...” I hesitated. Thinking about the inside of the clinic made my stomach turn again. “It was just too much.” I took another shuddering breath. “Ponies kill each other during war, right?” Spitfire remained silent. “I thought you said the war was over.”

“You’re correct in saying that ponies died during the war. Yet, it was not unlikely for ponies to murder each other in times of peace.”

“That wasn’t murder; that was a massacre.” I spat the remnants of the bile out of my mouth. “Those ponies couldn’t have been dead for more than a day.”

“Temperature readings indicate that the most recently deceased pony died within four to six hours from now.”

I sighed. “That wasn’t exactly something I wanted to hear,” I stated as I pushed myself off the wall.

“Sorry.”

I grunted in response as I took a look at my surroundings. The first thing I noticed was the calming sound of running water from the two fountains placed on each side of the entrance. I had nearly vomited in one of them. Where the ones in the clinic were broken and spouting filthy slime, these fountains were still pristine and shooting water high into the air above them. Dust, only interrupted by a few faint hoof marks, nearly covered the cobblestone path that divided the area of dead grass and connected the main building with two smaller buildings. Trees stood in rows along the cobblestone, creating a dead, blackened avenue. A wrought iron fence, the metal dark and twisted, surrounded the portion of the clinic that I could see.

“I remember these buildings. That one over there was the Childrens’ Clinic Building, and the one across from that was a sort of school for them, so that they wouldn’t forgo their education while receiving treatment.” Spitfire informed me as I kneeled down to take a closer look at the marks of hooves on the cobblestone. The hoofprints where in two straight lines, one line to the entrance door and one away, and were made by a single pony that had hooves a little bigger than my own. The wind eradicated the trails before my eyes, covering them with dust as if they had never existed.

I sighed and raised my head from the ground, starting to walk towards the open gates that stood wide open at the end of the cobblestone path. My stomach had finally started to settle completely.

“Well then, what should we do now?”

“I’m not sure what we should do.” Spitfire remarked. “If what killed the ponies inside of the clinic is still about, it’s not safe to stay here, but I have no idea of where we could go. The terminals that I could connect to contained no information about the outside world.”

I nodded. “Then that makes two of us who don’t know about the outside world.”

I turned around as soon as I was outside the gates, looking back at the clinic that, apparently, had been my home for nearly two hundred years. At a sign next to the gate I could read Welcome to Fluttershy’s Clinic – The best healthcare for foals and grown-ups alike. “You know,” I said as I started to walk again. “I have a feeling that this isn’t the last time I’ll see this building.”

“What makes you say that?”

“I don’t know. I just have this… Feeling somewhere. I’ll return here, someday.” I shook my head as I continued walk on the road that connected the clinic with the rest of the world. We walked without speaking. Neither of us had anything to say.

{O-O}

“Dust, don’t!”

I don’t know for how long we had walked when I heard a high-pitched scream from further down the road. The small hill that the road rounded made it impossible for me to see who it was that had screamed. But it was the first sound I had heard that might’ve been from another pony, so I started to run towards it.

“Are you sure about this? We don’t know what’s happening. We don’t even know if that noise was made by a pony!” Spitfire protested as I ran. “You might get yourself killed!” Just as I rounded the corner I felt all of my mechanical legs locked in the middle of their steps, making me fall over and slide to a stop on the ground. “I cannot allow you to put yourself in danger.”

My eyes widened in shock as I tried to move my legs in vain. None of them would move. I felt my heart pump faster, not only because I was lying on the ground, unable to move, but also for what I saw in front of me.

“Get the fuck away, boy! It’s the girl I want,” a unicorn -- clad in the same crude armor that the bodies inside of the clinic had been -- sneered. “Run now, or I will make a fucking mess of your head.”

The unicorn stood in front of two younger ponies, a unicorn mare and an earth pony buck. They weren’t foals, but neither were they fully grown. The buck stood in front of the mare, protecting her with his body, pointing something metal in his mouth at the unicorn in front of him. The earth pony trembled as he looked into the eyes of his assaulter, who held something similar, but he stood fast.

The unicorn’s ears folded backwards, and without any warning he smashed the earth pony in the head with the metal. “Dust!” the mare called out as the unicorn growled and turned around towards me, forgetting about the two younger ponies. The earth pony, Dust, fell to the ground. The hit must have been hard.

“Uhm… Hello?” I said as I flailed my only biological leg. “Bea… Beautiful wea--“

“Holy fuck! What kind of monster are you?” The unicorn took a step forward, aiming the metal at my head. He chuckled to himself. “That’s disgusting! Are you some sort of fucking robot with pony parts?”

Spitfire, would you mind releasing me?!I screamed in my mind.

The unicorn took another step forward, the metal floating beside him. “Answer me!” I felt the two, cold cylinders of the metal press against my chin as he looked down at me.

“Cogwheel, you have an eighty percent chance of dying right this second,” Spitfire said. “Stay still. Stop flailing around--”

Eighty percent?! Just from him hitting me with the end of that?

“No. What he is pointing at you fires projectiles out of the cylinders at incredibly high speeds. The likelihood of you surviving a projectile being fired into your skull from this range is very low. If you stop moving and manage to knock the weapon away, you could survive.” I kept struggling, but it was not long before Spitfire spoke again. “That was a hint, Cogwheel.”

I did as she told me and slumped completely to the ground. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the buck sit up and massage his head with a hoof. The mare looked towards me with wide eyes.

“Run,” I said, my eyes locking with the stallion’s. “Run and I will let you live.”

The unicorn blinked in surprise at my words, before he started to roar in laughter. He pressed the metal harder against my chin as he looked down at me. His face was uncomfortably close to mine, his blue eyes as cold as ice. “Does that mean you think you can kill me?” I nearly threw up as his breath hit my nostrils. “You aren’t armed. Looks to me like you can’t even fucking move!”

I gulped loudly, hopefully not loud enough for him to hear. “I… I can still take you on!”

“You’re a cocky fucker, aren’t you? Let me tell you a secret,” he said, moving his mouth to my ear. “I don’t like cocky ponies. I remember my ‘pa acting something like you, right before I shot his face off.” The raider paused for a moment before continuing. “Any last words?” I could practically hear the smile in his voice.

You said this thing he’s pointing at me fires projectiles?

“Yes,” Spitfire said. “It’s called a gun. Guns shoot bullets, like I said, incredibly fast.”

I closed my eyes. What are the chances for me being able to push it away or roll away before the projectiles hit me?

“Success estimated to a chance of 10 percent, with an error value of five percentage units. A hit at the head from this distance is calculated to be 100 percent fatal. I’m sorry.”

It’s not your fault.

“No,” I said to the unicorn.

“That counts,” the unicorn said as he took a step back from my body. I could feel the weapon leave my chin.

As soon as the cold metal left my chin, I took the chance and rolled to the side. I heard a loud roar, followed by another one. The second one had been closer, and it caused a high-pitched ringing to start in my right ear. I opened my eyes. Before me the unicorn howled as he turned around, the still smoking weapon following him in the motion. The mare stood before him, holding the smaller gun with a trembling magical grip. She looked sternly at him.

“Leave us alone!” she shouted as she shot at him twice more, both shots missing. The buck stood paralyzed beside the unicorn, red blood running from a gash in his head blended together with his lavender mane.

“Oh, I’m going to enjoy this, fucker!” the unicorn shouted out as he floated the weapon to point at the mare’s head.

The mare continued firing her small gun at the stallion. Only one of her bullets hit; the others went wide or plinked off of his armor. He didn’t even seem to notice that the shot hit him.

“Goodbye!” the unicorn shouted out at the same moment as I rose up on my legs. Two things happened then; the earth pony, who quickly had gotten up on his legs when the mare had started shooting, suddenly jumped at the unicorn stallion’s gun, pushing it out of the way. And the weapon clicked. “Fuck,” the unicorn grunted. “I hate to do things the fucking hard way!”

The buck started to float in the air, his hooves only an inch or two from the ground, kept aloft by the a glowing field surrounding his neck. He thrashed with his legs, appearing as if he was trying to remove an object preventing air from getting into his lungs.

“Dust!” the mare shouted out in fear. She rushed forward and started to hit the bigger unicorn’s head with the metal, but he hardly reacted.

“Die,” the bigger unicorn hissed as he looked at the struggling earth pony that was slowly strangled in his grip. He didn’t pay me or the mare any mind, as he started to laugh.

After the initial shock had worn off, I didn’t waste any time. I jumped at the unicorn stallion and brought my metal hoof against his head with all the power I could muster. There was an audible crack as the unicorn howled in pain and bucked me away. At the same time, the magical field around the earth pony’s neck disappeared. He fell to the ground, taking deep rasping breaths. I landed softly on my hooves as the unicorn turned around towards me.

“You want to play, fucker? Then let. Us. Play!” he shouted out as he took out a knife from his armor in the blue grip of his magic, smiling maniacally at me. “I love to play.”

“Cogwheel, you need to get that knife away from him. A hit at the point where the bullet penetrated his skin should hurt him enough for him to lose the control of his magic,” Spitfire informed me, as a small blue ring appeared around the bullet hole. “But I’m not entirely sure. Nothing the mare did seemed to phase him. Be careful.”

“What is it, fucker?” the unicorn taunted, waving his knife around in the air. “Don’t want to play anymore?”

I quickly snorted in response before lowering my head and charging towards him.

“That’s more like it!” the unicorn cackled. “Nothing wrong with a little hoof-to-hoof every now and then!”

The cold knife came down more quickly than I had expected, slicing a shallow cut across my torso. I tried to tackle him and take him down, but he just jumped aside, leaving me with another cut near the base of the neck. The picture of a pony with two highlighted areas where I had received the cuts popped up in the corner of my eye.

“You’re too slow!” the unicorn mocked as he started to circle around me.

I followed him with my eyes, slowly turning with him.

“How’s it feel to dance with death?!” he shouted as the knife shot toward the base of my neck.

I ducked away, quickly working up my speed. This time, the unicorn wasn’t fast enough to jump away. As I slammed into him, I felt the knife sink deep into my shoulder, which was noted on the pony in the corner of my vision. I howled in pain as the cold metal entered my shoulder. With all my might I brought my hoof down on the bullet wound. The unicorn’s screams of pain joined my own.

“Too slow,” I growled as I brought my hoof back and hit him again, this time over the head, harder than the earlier blows. His eyes rolled up in their sockets, nothing but the white showing as he lost consciousness from the blow.

I calmed down my breathing as I rose from the unconscious body, looking over to the two others. The mare tried to stop the bleeding on the stallion’s head with her hooves. “Dust! You can’t die on me!” she cried at the bigger earth pony, tears running down her cheeks and her body trembling.

“You are hurt.” Spitfire’s voice was full of concern.

“So are they,” I stated as I staggered towards them, each step bringing a flash of pain from the knife in my shoulder. I clenched my eyes shut and tried to ignore the pain.

The buck looked scared as his eyes met mine. “What… What do you want?” he cried out as he held one leg around the mare, seemingly wanting to protect her from me. The other leg he kept on the ground, steadying himself. “You’re another one of Exo’s thugs, aren’t you?”

“W... Who?”

“Dust,” the mare said, wiping the tears from her eyes with a bloody hoof. “It doesn’t matter if he is or isn’t; he just saved us.” She turned towards me, her big eyes pleading. “Please, help him. He’s badly hurt.”

I put down my saddlebags and opened them, fishing out a healing potion and giving it to the unicorn. “Here.” The unicorn smiled and thanked me as she floated it over, carefully starting to bathe the buck’s head with the potion. Before my eyes, the wound closed, the only thing telling me that it had ever been there being the blood in his mane.

“Stop,” Spitfire said just as I was about to drink a healing potion on my own. “Don’t drink it.”

“Why not?” I asked, putting it down. The colt and filly looked strangely at me.

“The knife,” she reminded me. “Your flesh will heal around it, making it almost impossible to get back out.”

I grunted as I put down the healing potion and tried to reach the knife with my mouth to jerk it out, but I couldn’t turn my head far enough.

“Here, let me help you,” the unicorn said as she released the earth pony.

“No, Precious,” the buck said, holding back the mare. “We don’t know if we can trust him. He might be lying about not knowing who Exo is.”

“He just saved us, Dust. He even gave you a healing potion. The least we can do is help fix him up a bit.”

The buck pulled her back more roughly. “But what if he’s a slaver? Only saving us to take us himself?”

“What’s a slaver?” I asked as I lied down.

I could feel the earth pony glaring at me. “Or there could be something wrong with his head. You wouldn’t trust a pony with brain damage, would you?”

“Dust, stop that! Just... Just shut up, will you? I’m going to help him whether you want me to or not.” The mare wrestled herself away from the buck and walked towards me, reaching for the knife with her teeth. “Now, lay still. This is going to hurt a bit...”

I shrieked as she took a firm grip of the knife and jerked it out from my shoulder. As soon as the knife was out she started to gently smear the healing potion over my wounds. The skin crawled from the side of the wounds, slowly but surely patching me back up. Neither wound hurt any longer, but they all started itching insanely. I rose my hoof to scratch them, but the unicorn gently smacked it away. It didn’t take long before the healing potion had finished working and the itching disappeared. As it did, I noticed that the pony figure in the corner of my eye faded away. What was that? I asked in my mind, not wanting Dust to start thinking once again that I was brain-damaged.

“It was a health monitor.” Spitfire said. “The eye is connected to your neural system, so it can check you for injuries and show you where they are.”

That’s interesting... “Tell me,” I said, looking at both of the younger ponies. “What’s a slaver? And who is that Exo pony you were talking about?”

“Do you live under a rock or someth--“ Dust started, but was quickly cut off as Precious slapped the back of his head. The buck brought a hoof up to massage his head as the mare started to talk.

“A slaver’s a pony who captures other ponies and sells them as slaves,” the unicorn explained, as if it was the most basic thing in Equestria.

“I understand,” I said. I didn’t understand. That would’ve been the equivalent of her telling me that Exo was a pony who sold Exos. What was a slave? ... Perhaps now wasn’t a good time to ask. “So…” I kicked at the ground with my hoof. “What are you two doing out here all alone? You make it sound like it’s not very safe to be out here.”

Precious scowled, her face darkening. “We’re looking for our brother. He left a month ago, only leaving behind a note saying that he would come back, that he wasn’t far away. We trusted him, but he hasn’t returned yet. So we decided to go and look for him.”

“Do you think something happened to him?” I asked

“When we were younger, he would leave for some hours without saying anything. When he said something, or left a hastily written note, he would be back in a couple of days,” Precious said, looking away from me. “But this time, he’s been gone too long. Something has to have happened to him.”

“And then you encountered… Him,” I said, wavering my hoof towards the unconscious unicorn. “A slaver.”

“No, that isn’t a slaver,” Precious said. “That’s a raider.”

“A raider?”

“They’re the worst of the worst around here. A slaver only enslaves other ponies. A raider is a pony who steals, rapes and murders ponies for fun.” The unicorn looked towards the raider, wearing a scowl. “But he’s all alone. They usually work in groups. Something must’ve separated him from the rest of them.”

“A raider murders, rapes, and steals?” I looked at the unicorn lying unconscious not very far from me. He resembled the ponies I had found dead in the clinic’s lobby; the only difference was that this pony was dark grey, nearly black, with a blue mane. If they were all like this one, some of the horror and shock from the sight in the clinic vanished. Or, at least if they had all been like what I had seen of this and heard from Precious. Could he have been one of them? I asked myself, rising to my hooves.

“You’ve mentioned that already. It might indeed be a connection. I wouldn’t be surprised if you could get him to tell you what happened at the clinic.”

“How about you?” Precious asked, making me turn my attention to her. The unicorn looked up at me with big, soft green eyes. “What are you doing out here all alone? You don’t sound like you’re from around here, but I doubt you’re one of those ponies that lives in the ground.”

I looked away from the two ponies in front of me, my eyes landing on the still-unconscious raider. “Actually, I don’t know. I literally woke up in the clinic just today.”

“Fluttershy’s Clinic?”

“That’s the one.”

Her face scrunched together slightly. “What do you mean you just woke up? Were you staying the night there and just getting out this morning?”

“I’m sorry, I just don’t know.” The unicorn’s eyes bored straight into mine, and her lip stuck out as though she was pouting. “Look, what I remember is kind of a long story. I’ll tell it to you later, but for now, all you need to know is that I woke up in Fluttershy’s Clinic just today.”

“Why did you leave?” Precious asked. “Wouldn’t a clinic be one of the best places to set up camp?”

I looked back from the raider and back to the unicorn. “I don’t think so. There were corpses in the main lobby that I found after I woke up,” I continued, pointing towards the raider before us. “The ponies inside were all wearing armor that looks like his.”

Dust rose slowly from where he sat and walked to pick up the gun that lay on the ground where his sister had dropped it. As he passed me, I noticed that he had a cutie mark of a circle with a bar on the bottom stretching to the center of the circle. I had no idea what it was supposed to be.

“What is that?” I asked, pointing with a hoof towards the gun that the stallion held.

“That’s our protection,” Precious said with a thin smile. “It was our father’s once -- a revolver from the war. When Vigil left, he forgot it, so we took it with us.”

Dust slapped a part of the revolver back in position, picking it up and placing it in a small bag on his front leg afterward. The revolver seemed to fit perfectly in the small bag, except for the part he had had in his mouth earlier, which stuck out.

“Was Vigil your brother?”

“He is our brother,” Precious corrected me. “I know he’s out there, we just have to keep looking.”

“Shut up, Precious!” Dust said, stumbling towards us. “He doesn’t need to know!”

“Why not?” she asked indignantly.

“He’s a stranger. You know what Vigil said about strangers.”

“‘Don’t trust them, they might want to hurt you’,” Precious mimed, as if she had repeated it thousands of times. “I know, I know, but it’s different this time. He just saved our lives! Instead of whining at both of us, you should be thankful that he showed up!”

“Whatever,” Dust growled as he turned around and started to search the ground. “Come help me find the bags. We’re leaving.”

Precious didn’t move. Instead, she just watched her brother search the ground. “Sorry for that,” she whispered. “Dust’s a good pony, he just doesn’t trust... Well, anypony, really.”

“Now, Precious! We have to leave and find something to eat.”

Precious shot a glare towards her brother’s back, before she turned around on the spot and started to search as well.

“Found yours,” Dust called out as he lifted up a green bag from the ground.

“And I found yours,” Precious said as she levitated a deep pink one from the surrounding rocks. “You couldn’t have picked another one? We had at least three others,” she teased as she floated it over to him.

“I already told you, I like this one,” Dust growled as he snatched it from his sister’s magic, his bluish coat turning light red on his cheeks.

“I have some food you can eat,” I said as I got out a couple of the few tin cans I had picked up in the clinic.

The two siblings looked surprised at me. “What’s the catch?” Dust asked after a moment.

I raised an eyebrow at them. “There isn’t a catch. You need food, and I have food that I don’t need.”

“No one just gives food away like that,” Dust protested. “What do you want in return?”

“... I don’t want anything.” I cocked my head for a second, then shook my head. “Actually, on second thought, I want you to stop thinking I’m out to get you, because I’m not.”

“That’s what they all say--!”

“Dust, shut it!” Precious shouted. “We need food, and if he wants to give us some, then why are you complaining?!”

“He might have poisoned the food!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

The buck pointed an accusatory hoof at me. “See, there he goes again! He keeps playing dumb so that he’ll just be able to take us later!”

“Dust!” Precious punched her brother in the shoulder. “I can’t believe you think he’d save us just to give us poisoned food!”

“What’s poison--?”

“Poisons are substances that cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by said organism,” Spitfire explained. drowning out the sound of the arguing siblings for a moment. “Or, to put it more simply, poisons can cause extreme pain, if not death, to the individual who ingests them.”

“Oh, no! No, I wouldn’t poison you!” I shouted, causing Dust to stop talking mid-sentence.

“Now he’s doing it again!” Dust shouted exasperatedly. “He just asked us what poison is, and now he’s turning around and acting like he knows all about it!”

I looked dumbfounded at the earth pony, hesitating to tell him. He flinched back slightly as I looked down at him, meeting his sandy yellow eyes, but he didn’t look away. “The way your sister said it,” I lied. “It just sounded like a bad thing, is all.”

“Dust, stop that whining right now,” Precious said sharply. “He’s offering us food after saving our lives! What has he done for us to mistrust him?”

“He’s a complete stranger! And you know that we’re not supposed to trust--”

Dust’s protests halted as Precious grabbed a can of food with her magic and sat down beside me. Without saying anything further, she opened it and started to eat.

Dust sighed and walked over to us. “If we die, I’m blaming you,” he said, looking at his sister as he opened a can of his own and sat down.

Precious stuck her tongue out at her brother at the remark, but didn’t answer. Instead she turned to me. “What’s your name?” she asked. “I didn’t ask earlier, because of reasons, but I don’t want to walk around and just call you ‘you’ all the time.”

“You can call me Cogwheel,” I answered.

“That’s a nice name,” Precious said with a smile.

“Hey, I know you two are having a moment, but the raider is moving again,” Dust said as he rose from his place.

I looked away from Precious and towards the raider, who was bringing a hoof up to his head. He was scowling still and grunting, probably from the pain, but he wasn’t moving anywhere just yet.

“Stay here,” I said as I rose and walked up to the raider.

He growled as he opened his eyes and saw me. “What do you want, fucker?”

I hit him hard in the side, forcing him to roll over on his back and face me. He grunted in pain and lost his breath. “Watch your mouth,” I warned him.

“Why didn’t you just kill me?” he asked me through gritted teeth as soon as he got his breath back.

“There’s no reason to kill you. That, and I had a few questions for you.” I smiled at him as his horn started to glow, the cold barrel of the sawed-off shotgun pressing against my neck.

“Cogwheel!” Precious shouted.

The raider looked to the side. “You stay where you are, or I’ll blow his fucking head off!” he shouted before he returned his gaze to me. “Answer mine first,” he snarled. “Who are you and what are you doing here?” His eyes flickered between me and the other two ponies.

“The weapon is not loaded,” Spitfire said. “I couldn’t hear any sound before it rose, and his eyes didn’t wander away from you for more than a second. He shouldn’t have been able to find both the weapon and new ammunition in that time. Or reload it, for that matter.”

“I’m no one,” I told him. “I’m only passing through.”

He pressed the barrel against my head even harder. I could smell the foul stench of his breath again. “Only passing through and ruining my fun. Not for much longer... Ask your damn question. It’s the last one you’re ever going to have. When you’re done here, I’m gonna blow your head off and take what’s mine anyway.”

I gulped, just holding back my thought that the weapon might have possibly been reloaded. But right now, I trusted Spitfire. “What happened at the clinic?”

His eyes went wide and I could see the aura around his horn falter for a second. “How… How did you know that I was from the clinic?”

“Lucky guess,” I said. “Now, tell me. What happened there? Who killed all of those ponies?”

The raider trembled slightly as he spoke. “It... It was the old Princess, Luna. I was just standing guard, and all of a sudden, there was this flash from behind me and someone screamed. I moved out of the way just in time to see her firing off two miniguns into the lobby. In the end, I was the only one left. She looked at me and just told me to run. So I ran, not stopping until I was far away from the clinic and her.”

“When did this happen?” I asked. His story didn’t make much sense. Who was Luna? What was a minigun? It didn’t matter, I supposed. All I needed to know was what happened.

“This morning.” He cleared his throat, his voice changing from thin and quiet to loud and guttural. “Now, for real, anything else you want to say?”

I smirked. “Go ahead, kill me.”

The raider’s eyes narrowed slightly, and all I could notice was his heavy breathing. Before I knew it, he shouted and lunged at me, hitting me across the back of the head with the weapon before tossing it aside and knocking me to the ground.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” he screamed as we wrestled on the dirt. “Don’t you know who I am?!” He swung at me, hitting only my mechanical foreleg and yelping out in pain. “You can’t do shit like this to me, you freak!” He went to hit me again, this time only building up enough momentum to flip us over. “Nopony just thinks a shotgun’s not loaded!”

“Cogwheel,” Dust shouted, lifting the revolver up and aiming it at us. “Get out of the way!”

Precious tackled Dust to the ground and threw the revolver away. “Dust, no! You could hit Cogwheel!” There was a slight pause before she spoke again. “You weren’t thinking of shooting Cogwheel, were you?”

“Go ahead, fucker!” the raider shouted, looking over in the direction of Dust and Precious. “Good luck with that! I just survived an attack from the goddess herself! Frost Mane doesn’t die--”

There was a loud thud as I brought my hoof down on the raider’s face once more. His body went slack and his eyes rolled into his head once more. I stood up and shook myself, glad to know that the current threat was done with Meanwhile, Dust had pushed Precious away and was now heading towards us with his weapon.

“Get out of the way Cogwheel,” he growled, stopping before me.

Precious ran up to the both of us once more, but Dust kicked her aside. “Dust, don’t do it!”

I cocked my head to the side, wary of the young pony. “What were you thinking about doing?”

“I’m going to make sure that he never gets up again.”

“You’re going to kill him?” I asked, astonished. The buck slowly nodded. “Dust, you can’t do that!”

He snorted. “Watch me.”

“That’s not what he meant!” Precious said, ripping the weapon away from her brother with her magic. “There’s no reason to kill him! We can just leave now and by the time he wakes up, he’ll have no idea where we are.”

He turned on her and snarled. “Didn’t you know what he was going to do to me?! Don’t you know what he was going to do to you?!” Dust lunged for the gun, but Precious levitated it higher in the air above her. “Give. Me. That. Gun!”

“No!” she screamed desperately, constantly backing away from Dust as he kept trying to get the gun.

Dust grunted and ran at his sister, knocking her to the ground. Precious let out a small cry and ducked away from her brother, almost curling into a small ball under him.

“If you let him walk away, he’ll be responsible for the rape and murder of hundreds of other ponies! Is that what you want?”

“No,” she cried. “But I don’t want you to kill him, either!”

“I don’t think you’re allowed to tell me what to do!”

“Dust, stop!” I shouted. The screaming halted instantly, replaced a second later by the sound of soft crying.

Dust moved away from his sister, staring down with a hollow look on his face as she slowly and shakily rose to her hooves. She wiped her face with a hoof and started walking towards me. Dust put the gun away. Precious picked up her saddlebag.

“Get your stuff,” she said, almost too quietly for me to hear. “We’re leaving.”

I watched Dust slug his way over to his saddlebag, not sure of what to do.

Precious looked towards me and sniffled. “Didn’t you hear me? I said get your stuff. We’ve got a long way to go until we get to the next town.”

The two of them turned away from me and started walking, keeping their distance from each other. Picking up my bags, I threw a final glance towards the raider. Standing over him was the silhouette of a large pony, but when I blinked, it disappeared. Shaking my head, reassuring myself that nothing had actually been there, I turned around and followed after them.

Footnote: Level Up!

New Perk: Fast Liar - What’s a white lie every now and then to conceal something that others don’t need to know about? You find that it’s easier to lie (which equates to a +10 to your Speech skill).

Secondly, thanks to Rising_Chaos for proofreading and listening to my never ending babbling.

Company

“So what you are saying is that this...” I nudged the bottle cap I had removed from the Sparkle-Cola that was now on the ground. “Is money? And this...” I nudged the yellow coin lying next to the bottle cap, which Spitfire had identified as something called ‘a bit’. “Is not?”

Dust, who so far throughout wandering had been eyeing me suspiciously when he thought I didn’t notice, clearly still not trusting me, snorted. Precious glared at him before she turned to me with a patient smile. I had taken up her offer on asking her about anything. This had to be the hundredth question I had asked since we had started walking.

“Exactly. Although the gold coins still have some value, since you can’t buy anything from these,” – she tapped her hoof against the vending machine with the Sparkle-Cola symbol, which we had found standing by the road in the middle of nowhere – “with bottle caps.”

I took another sip from the Sparkle-Cola bottle I had in front of me as I eyed the bottle cap suspiciously. The carrot tasting soda was, surprisingly, not warm. I couldn’t for my mind phantom how a bottle cap, a grey, boring piece of metal that had been stuck on a Sparkle-Cola bottle until I had removed it, was used as a currency while the gold coin was… junk really. It was something that bugged me about it. And it bugged me that it bugged me. I sighed. “It is bloody weird. It just feels… wrong.”

I brought up the bottle to take a sip from it, but froze in the middle of the motion, part of the soda spilling down over my coat. Spitfire, I thought, as I brought the bottle closer and eyed the label at the side of the bottle. How did I know that this soda tasted like carrots?

“Cogwheel! You spilled on yourself. Here, let me help,” Precious said, rising from where she sat.

“You… knew that?” Spitfire asked, hesitating slightly. “It might be a subconscious memory that made you know, or remember, the taste of a carrot.”

I didn’t move at, only dully noting that Precious floated out a towel from her bag and started to rub the soda out of my coat with it. So I can remember trivial things, like how a carrot tastes, but nothing of my life? I can’t even remember how a carrot looks like! I only know that this tastes like a carrot.

“While you don’t have the memory left of tasting a carrot, or otherwise encountered one, maybe your body remembers and makes you remember parts of it.” Spitfire went silent for a moment. “I’m sorry, but I don’t know. That is the only thing I can guess. I wasn’t created with injuries around memories in thought, so I only know the basics.”

“Bloody weird.”

“Excuse me?” Precious said, looking away from the towel and up at me.

“No…nothing,” I stuttered as I pushed the towel away, first now fully realizing that she was cleaning me with it. “Thank you.”

She looked surprised at me for a moment, before she packed down the towel again. “You’re welcome,” she said with a smile.

Dust, who had looked at us with disgust in his face, spoke up. “It’s not the only thing that’s weird here.” He took the last sip from his bottle, eyeing me over it.

“Dust,” Precious said sharply.

“Oh, you can’t deny it, sis.” He sat down the bottle on the ground behind himself. “He shows up from nowhere, kicks the ass of a bloody raider that tries to kill us and even has healing potions with him!”

“Dust!”

“But do you know what the best part is?” the buck continued, ignoring his sister’s protests. “He had food with him, which was exactly what we needed, and he just gave it to us!”

“That is enough, Dust!” Precious said as she rose. “He saved our lives, especially yours. Maybe you should be a little grateful instead of complaining all the time?”

“But—“

“No. Listen to me, this has to end, Dust. Right now!”

This time it was Dust who rose, glaring down at his sister. “No, you listen to me! Don’t you get the feeling that all this is a bit off? How many questions has he asked since we started traveling together? Ten? Fifty? It doesn’t matter, because he hasn’t needed to ask. He knows more than he tells us.”

“That’s absurd,” Precious said, taking a step back from her brother. “Listen to yourself!”

“I am. Maybe you should try it sometime!” he said as he turned around and started to walk quickly, muttering under his breath.

Precious looked apologizing at me as she rose from beside me and threw her own bag over her back. Without a word she started galloping to catch up with her brother. I looked after her as I picked up my own bag. Although I only had travelled with them for a short while, I felt lonely as I started to walk after them. Precious had caught up with her brother, and they stood now eye to eye arguing with each other, too low for me to hear more than a few words. Dust pointed at me multiple times, each time with more anger.

Maybe it would be best if I just leave them, I thought. If they just walked on without me. I looked around me. The barren wasteland spread out around the small path we walked on, without any other change than the cliffs, stones and trees that stood alone or in small clusters. Looking up, I could see the clouds covering the sky, the sun only shining weakly through it -- not seen, always with a layer of clouds in the way. I could leave, but how far would I get? How long would I survive?

“We still don’t know about all the dangers out there. We have a bigger chance of survival than we had this morning, so I believe it is better if we stay with those two,” Spitfire said.

I looked at the two arguing siblings. For my survival, maybe, but Dust clearly doesn’t want me to be here--

“Fine, just go then!” Precious shouted, interrupting my train of thought. Dust stood there, his mouth open and his eyes wide. “If you can’t see that not everypony out here is a threat, then leave!”

Dust shrank back some and looked wide-eyed at his sister. He looked over at me and suddenly he seemed more confident again, whispering something I couldn’t hear to Precious as he turned around and galloped away. The mare looked after her brother.

“Go to her,” Spitfire urged me. “I can nearly promise you that you are the reason for that.”

Thank you, for making me feel better, I thought as I sighed and walked up to her. She looked sternly at me, as if all this was my fault. I could see tears in her eyes, but if they were from anger or sadness, I couldn’t tell.

“Not a word,” she hissed at me before she started to walk in the same direction as her brother just had. I looked after her as she walked, a lump in my throat. Maybe I should just leave now. I thought as I turned around. She should be able to catch up with her brother before the sun sets.

“Are you sure about this?” Spitfire asked. “To just—“

Yes, I am. I took a deep breath to clear my head. There is a crossing down this road, I can take another way there.

I hadn’t even taken a step before I could hear Precious behind me. “And where do you think you’re going?” she asked.

“Away,” I said as I turned around to face her.

She glared at me, her eyes hard as stone. “Away?” she repeated angrily. “Away? You wouldn’t last for a day out there without me! Stop being such an idiot and come here.”

“It’d be better if you traveled with your brother, he—“

“He’ll come back,” the unicorn growled, taking a step closer. “Besides, he will survive out there. He might seem really stupid, but he knows how to take care of himself.”

“But—“

“Not a word,” Precious snapped, punctuating her words by jabbing her hoof into my chest. “You’re coming with me. We’re not going after him. He’ll come crawling back once he’s stopped sulking.”

I opened my mouth, but quickly closed it again as she raised an eyebrow, silently daring me to say another word. Her raised eyebrow changed to a thin smile as she turned around without a word and started to walk towards the same way her brother had disappeared.

“Like a dog after its master,” Spitfire mused as I took a step after the unicorn.

I took a deep breath, the dirty smell of the world around me filling my nostrils. What else can I do? I thought bitterly as I breathed out again. I can’t just leave her after causing her brother to storm of.

“And you enjoy the company.”

I won’t deny that it’s nice to have company, and she has taught me a lot already.

“Will you hurry up? We have to find a place to sleep before it gets dark.”

Realizing that Precious was far ahead of me, I started trotting to catch up.

{^-^}

“Stop it, now.”

I looked up from the skeleton my eyes had lingered on. I can’t help it, I thought bitterly. The question is there all the time, in the back of my head. The sight around me wasn’t encouraging. The dead grass spreading out from the dirty road we walked on. Hollow, decaying trees stood or lay in the grass.

How can I be sure that I didn’t do anything that caused this?

“Stop it, Cogwheel. Why poison your mind with questions you cannot answer?”

But what if I did do something? What if I made this the future?

“Then you will know when you get your memories back. And if you were the prime reason for all this to happen, what should you do?”

I didn’t answer her as I continued to trot after Precious, who had barely spoken a word since we started to walk after her brother for what felt like hours ago. I knew that Spitfire was right, and the logical part of my mind wanted to listen to her. But I couldn’t get the question completely out of my head.

“Cogwheel, this isn’t the future. If you actually did something back then, that was two hundred years ago. This is now, this is the reality.”

Precious looked back at me with a worried frown, but quickly looked back again as she saw that I had seen her. It wasn’t the first time she had done that since we started walking, looking at me when she thought that I wouldn’t notice. Or maybe she didn’t care that I noticed. The first time she had looked back at me had it been with a smile, but the smile had quickly vanished, turning into the worried frown she wore now.

I sighed. You’re right. I can’t do anything about it now, I thought as I pushed the thoughts of what I might have done into a dark corner of my mind. At least not before I get my memories back. “So, where are we going?” I asked, trying to get my mind off the questions that were already coming back to me.

“Somewhere we can sleep tonight,” Precious said absently, focusing on the T-intersection we just had stopped at. Hesitating, she looked side to side before she shrugged and started to trot down the left way. “And hopefully find some food as well.”

“Any plans?”

“Find an abandoned house, barn… or anything really. Anything that protects more than the outdoors will do. As for food,” she paused as she looked around the barren ground. “We will see what we find.”

“Sounds promising…”

“Well, it’s all we have right now. You’ll have to get used to it.” She turned around and gave me a smile. “I’m sure we’ll find something soon.”

It was still light, but I had no idea for how long it would stay like that. “Yea, what’s the worst that could happen?” I asked as I returned the smile.

“In worst case, we will have to sleep under the open sky, without anything to keep us warm.”

The smile died on my lips. That didn’t sound very promising. “We will find a place to sleep, right?” I asked with a frown.

Precious didn’t answer, instead she laughed heartily as she looked on the road ahead.

{-.-}

“Are you sure that this is safe?” I asked, looking up at the house in front of us. With its door hanging on the hinges and the windows hidden beneath thick wooden planks, not to speak about the state the walls were in, the entire house seemed as if it should fall apart at any second. Or rather, as if it should have years ago.

“Not exactly what I wanted, but it’s the best we got.” Precious said cheerfully as she trotted past the open door and into the house.

It was true that it was the best we got. We had walked, mostly in silence, for hours without seeing any place to stay. On top of that, the sun started to set an hour ago, the world around us was getting darker and darker for each passing minute. The sky above was grey, nearly black, and it felt as if the trees would jump at me without any warning. Hasting my steps, I followed the unicorn into the house. Who knew what the dark could bring?

Like this house would protect us against anything, the logical part of my brain pointed out as I entered the dusty hallway. Without a door that can even be closed! It didn’t take long for my eyes to adjust to the dim light in the hallway. Curiously, I looked around me in this new place as I followed the two trails of hoofprints into the house.

A drawer had photo frames in various sizes lying on it, and the wall around it was decorated with photo frames as well. The photos within them had long since faded away. The only furniture besides the drawer was a hatrack that stood empty above me.

The wooden floor protested with each step I took, the creaking echoing in the otherwise silent hallway. Light shone from a room before me, only blocked by Precious who stood in front of the doorway with a smile on her face. “Sleeping like a baby,” she whispered, audibly enough for me to hear it, as she motioned me to come over.

Tiptoeing over to where she stood, I looked in into the room. The room wasn’t big, but still there was room for a sofa, three bookcases and two armchairs, as well as a fireplace, without it being cramped. Photo frames, these as empty as the ones in the hallway, stood side by side by books and broken statues in the bookcases. Dirt and dust lingered on the floor, although not as much as had been in the hallway. But the thing that Precious most likely smiled at was Dust, who lay snoring in the sofa with a deep pink saddlebag in a tight hug.

Precious yawned and took a step into the room. “I’m going to get some sleep,” she whispered as she crawled up in one of the armchairs. “You should, too.” She looked at me with one eye. I nodded at her, keeping silent, lest I risk waking Dust up. It seemed to be enough, as she closed her eye and moved her head slightly between her fore-legs. “Good night, Cogwheel.”

“Good night,” I whispered as I walked deeper into the house. The tiredness had started to get a hold over me as well, but I doubted that I would fit in anything but the sofa. And, seeing that it was occupied, I could as well try to find a bedroom.

I quickly found out how small the house really was. Besides the living room, where the siblings lay asleep, there was nothing more than a kitchen, a bedroom and a bathroom, all of them smaller than the living room. However attractive the bed was right now, there was one thing I wanted to do before sleeping. So I steered my steps into the kitchen instead, hoping to find some food for tomorrow. I might still have one or two tin cans left, but that wouldn’t be enough for the three of us to survive very long.

A table, crafted in dark wood, took up most of the small room. Cupboards and Drawers were stacked effectively around the stove. At the opposite wall, thick planks covered the windows and doors that I guessed had once lead to the backside of the house. A layer of dust covered everything. A paper lay on the table. I gently dusted of the note and saw to my surprise that the words were still there, as readable as the day the note was printed.

Dear Ms. Mane:

Congratulations on your recent inclusion in the Stable 31 community!

You will find outlined in your application materials a full review of rules and procedures related to preparing for shelter in a Stable-Tec facility. We will outline a few key points here:

·Stable-Tec provides all clothing, bedding, and accommodations for residents. Personal belongings must be reviewed and approved of by an authorized Stable-Tec hermetics technician before such belongings can be delivered to your reserved quarters within the Stable. In the event of an emergency entrance to the Stable, no personal belongings will be permitted beyond the main door of the facility.

·All Stable residents must attend an orientation seminar. If you did not attend such a seminar as part of the application process, you must make an appointment with your Stable-Tec representative.

·In the event of a Stable activation, whether actual or drill, Stable-Tec will sound a siren audible in the immediate vicinity of the Stable facility entrance, and residents will be contacted via message at the address provided in their resident profile records. Please report promptly to Stable 31 to await admittance and processing upon such a notification.

Stable-Tec looks forward to having you and your family as valued residents!

Sincerely;

Stable-Tec.

What’s a Stable? I asked myself as I read the note again.

“Considering the first lines, it sounds like some kind of shelter. Maybe a shelter from the bombs?”

Maybe. My eyes stopped at the last word. Stable-Tec. The name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t put my hoof on why.

“Maybe Precious know?” Spitfire asked.

Maybe. I put the note in my saddlebags. I will check with her tomorrow. With the note out of my mind, I trotted over to one of the cupboards and opened it, hoping to find some food. The dust whirled up and into my nose, causing me to sneeze violently. I quickly moved my hoof up to my nose, preventing the next sneeze before it could escape. Standing completely still, I listened for any sign that I might have awoken the siblings.

A minute crept past, and I didn’t hear anything else than my own breathing and the steady beating of my heart. Thanking my lucky star, I returned to searching through the cupboard, careful as to not repeat the sneezing accident. The first two cupboards I looked through contained plates, cups and drinking glasses, some of them in pieces. I opened the last one, but quickly closed it again at what I saw inside of it.

“What was that?” Spitfire asked.

“I don’t know,” I whispered, my pounding heart starting to slow down from the shock. “But I have to check if there is any food in there.”

I softly nudged the cupboard open and took a step back when it was opened enough for me to see inside it. Staring back at me was the biggest, fattest cockroach I had ever seen. Not that I remembered seeing any before this, but the name cockroach came into mind as soon as I saw it, together with the feeling that this one was a lot bigger than it should be. Its red eyes bored into me. For close to a minute I stood there, eye to eye with the cockroach, until I realized what I was actually doing. I chuckled softly to myself as I looked away from the strange creature. My smile broadened as I saw the boxes and tin cans that were hidden behind the insect’s body.

“Sorry, little big insect, but I just want to move you a little so that I can get that food,” I murmured as I brought forward a metallic limb to nudge him away. I yelped and drew it back as he started to bite on it. It was strong, it held tight even as I flayed wildly with my hoof, desperately trying to get it away. “Come on, come on!” I whispered between clenched teeth. “Just let go already!” to my surprise, as well as the cockroach I assume, it actually let go, landing onto the floor with a thump. It glared at me for a second before it marched into one of the other cupboards I had opened earlier.

I could feel the cockroach’s eye on my back as I started to move the carton boxes and tin cans out from the cupboard and onto the table. What I saw wasn’t very encouraging. The cartons had been chewed into, and the food inside had been eaten. I suspected that the cockroach was the guilty for the state of the cartons. The cans weren’t much better.

Who put empty cans back into a cupboard? I asked myself as I hold up one of the cans in question. Why? I thought as I sorted away all the empty cans, ending up with a single, unopened can left on the table.

“Maybe they liked the colors?”

I snickered quietly as I showed the can down together with the cans I had since earlier in my saddlebag. Yes, maybe. Yawning widely, I stepped out of the kitchen and staggered down the hallway into the bedroom. The sound of rain against the roof, soft at first but quickly becoming hard, accompanied me as I walked. It surprised me that the water didn’t find its way through the roof and into the house.

The paint on the bedroom walls had flaked off, blending together with the dust on the floor. A bed stood against a wall, a desk on the other side of it. A stool lay shattered against a bookcase, the books within had long since withered. A couple of photo frames stood on the bookcase, most of them faded, the rest showing pictures of a young earth pony.

I slumbered down in the soft bed, sneezing and coughing violently as the dust reached my nose and mouth. Once again covering my mouth so to not get any more dust in it, I listened after any sign of that I might have awoken the siblings. When no sign from the siblings came, I rose from the bed and removed the cover. Gently, while holding my breath, I shook the dust out of it.

But not even holding my breath could help me from sneezing as the dust grains rose in a mighty cloud around me at the first shake of the cover. Apparently, shaking something which had laid and gathered dust for two hundred years wasn’t the smartest thing to do. Especially not in a room in which floor had done the same for that time.

Maybe the cloud would have set faster had I not been sneezing, but I couldn’t help it. Every time I thought the sneezing had stopped, a new grain of dust had tickled my nose. It took minutes before the cloud had completely set and I could lay down the cover on the bed again. It was a miracle that I hadn’t awoken the siblings. That, or they slept really deep.

One thing the sneeze had done was give me a headache. My head pounded as I once again slumbered down in the bed. I ignored the headache and turned around in the bed until I had found a comfortable sleeping position. Slowly, accompanied by the sound of the rain hitting the roof, I started to relax. It didn’t take long before sleep overtook me.

{Z.Z}

A mighty roar, followed by an even mightier bang, violently stirred me awake. I looked frantically around me, trying to locate the source of the sound. The rain was hitting harder against the roof now than it had when I fell asleep. I had kicked off the blanket in my sleep, and it now lay abandoned on the floor.

A bright flash shone through the barred window, lighted up the every corner of the bedroom I lay in. The flash was followed by another mighty roar and bang, the sound overwhelming the sound of the rain for a second. What’s happening? I thought as I rose from the bed.

“Come, Cogwheel.” Precious suddenly appeared in the doorway. “You have to see this!”

“What is it?”

“Just come already!” she said, tugging me to follow.

I followed her, or, rather, she dragged me out to the door. Dust already sat there, the only proof that he knew that we were there was him giving me a dark look as he moved aside to give space to his sister and me. He didn’t say anything, but the sour look he gave his sister made me believe that they had talked. And that he had lost the argumentation.

“What is it?” I asked again.

“Stop asking and look,” she said as she sat down, motioning for me to sit down next to her.

The rain poured down on the other side of the door, droplets shattering against the ground and nearly splashing into where we sat. A bright light shot down from the pitch black clouds in the sky, dividing the world in two and lighting up the forest around us. Another mighty roar followed the flash.

I just sat there, completely unable to move. My heartbeat came in fast and the blood rushed in my ears, cancelling out all other sounds. I wanted to run, to hide. I wanted to get away. My mind clawed against me, screamed at me to run, cried loudly. But I couldn’t move. My eyes were still locked at the place where the light had split the sky. I started to breathe faster and shorter, the air flowing down my throat but never reaching my lungs. Run, flee, escape!

“Cogwheel!” Spitfire shouted.

Run, flee, escape!

I heard Precious shout something, but I couldn’t make it out.

Another bolt of light divided the sky, the thunderous roar piercing through to me. My mind screamed for me to run, flee, escape. But I couldn’t. Whimpering, I jumped down on the floor and tried to make myself as small as possible, protecting my head with my front limbs. I have to get away from here. I closed my eyes tightly. If I couldn’t see it, it wouldn’t be able to hurt me.

“Cogwheel!”

Run, Flee, Escape! The words continued to repeat themselves in my head, forcing out every other thought. My heart started to pump out the blood faster, the fiery ice in my veins threatening to burn me from the inside.

“There’s nothing to be afraid of,” Precious whispered in my ear, her voice like a cliff around the ocean that was the blood rushing in my ears. “The lightning won’t hurt you.”

Another bolt lit up the world through my closed eyelids, causing me to yelp and start trembling.

“It can’t hurt you. It’s far away.”

“It can’t hurt me,” I repeated her words. I felt how my heart slowed down some, even if it still pounded hard in my breast.

Keeping my eyes shut, I listened to her voice. She repeated the words over and over again as she gently stroked my back. At every flash I yelped and started to tremble again, and she would continue whispering to me. For every boom the distance between them increased, until the point where it had completely stopped.

I could still hear the rain pouring down from the other side of the door as Precious whispered “It’s gone. The thunderstorm’s passed.”

My legs trembled as I removed them from my face and opened my eyes. The clouds above us weren’t nearly as black as they had been before, and the weak light of the morning sun illuminated the rain through them.

I took a deep breath as I rose. My real leg wobbled slightly, threatening to make me fall over, but my mechanical legs stood fast.

“Feeling better?” Spitfire asked. A question that Precious mirrored.

“Ye… Yes,” I said.

“Come here. Let’s get you back to bed,” Precious said. “No need to get up yet.”

“But—“ Dust started, quickly shutting his mouth again.

I walked slowly to the bedroom with Precious walking next to me, ready to steady me should I need it. “I… I just need to lie down,” I said as I lay down in the bed. “No need for sleep.”

“Are you sure you are better?” Spitfire asked with concern.

Yeah, I’m fine.

“One-hundred percent sure?”

I sighed. I… was afraid. I wanted to run and hide. I couldn’t think, I couldn’t move. Whenever the lightning struck, I couldn’t do anything but sit there. Then there was that loud bang after each thing of lightning. My heart started beating faster only thinking about it. I don’t know. I lay there in silence for a moment, allowed my heart to slow down again. But I’m fine now.

“It was nothing like that, Dust!” Precious voice reached my ears. She sounded angry. “He was scared.”

Dust must have answered something that I couldn’t hear. “Enough, Dust!” she shouted.

I rose from the bed and, after a growl from my stomach reminded me that I hadn’t eaten since the day before, picked up my saddlebags. I walked out in the living room, where the siblings sat and looked sternly at each other. Dust opened his mouth as I entered the room, but a look from Precious made him stay silent.

Not even the dim light shining through the cracks in the wall, illuminating every dust grain that danced in the air, seemed to warm the room. I put down the saddlebag and sighed as I looked between the two siblings. “Are you hungry?” I finally asked as I picked up the two cans of food I had left. “I only have this food left.”

Dust sighed and, after giving his sister a quick, disapproving look, nodded. “I think we all are,” he said.

Precious smiled wide at her brother’s word. “Yes, I think we are.”

I looked between the siblings once again, Precious smiling and Dust… well, at least he didn’t glare at me. “Well, I have already eaten, so you can take what food is left,” I lied.

“What are you doing?” Spitfire asked as Dust jumped down from the sofa and picked up a can, giving me a hasty “thanks” as he did. Precious floated over the second can to herself, looking at me with a disapproving frown.

They’re barely adults. It’s better that they eat and I go hungry, than we all eat some and all go hungry. I answered as I sat down on the floor, my stomach growling. Hopefully it was low enough for the others not to hear it. Precious smiled at me as she tilted the can in small circles, seemingly thinking about something, while Dust had nearly finished the can already.

“Are you sure?”

Absolutely, I thought, before I raised my voice. “So… you said something about your—“

I didn’t get any longer before my mouth was suddenly filled with food and my jaws violently forced shut. It had happened faster than I had time to react. Surprised, I looked over at Precious, who still sat in the sofa, smiling gently at me. Her horn glowed as she not only kept the can afloat, but also my jaws shut. “Oh, don’t look so surprised, Cogwheel. Just swallow your food,” she mused at me as she looked down at me. “You didn’t eat yet. Don’t think you can lie to me like that.”

I nearly choked on the food as I swallowed it. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?” Precious asked as she released my jaw and took some food herself from the can. “It’s not like that’ll keep you from starving, but it should help a bit.”

Coughing, I took a deep breath. “You… you could have just asked!” I panted out between breaths.

“Where’s the fun in that?” she asked with a smile.

Dust couldn’t keep the laughter back. “You aren’t the first one she’s done that to,” he said between laughs. “She did the same to me when I tried to tell her she could take all the food when we were younger. I even saw her doing it to Vigil once.”

“Just because there isn’t enough food for everypony to be satisfied doesn’t that mean that one should give up his part of the food,” Precious said as she floated over the last of the food to me. “Now, open up.”

I could hear Spitfire snicker at me as I opened my mouth, quickly swallowing the watery, tasteless food that Precious pushed into it.

“Good,” the unicorn mused as she threw away the can. “Now, what were you saying?”

“You said something about your brother. That you were looking for him?”

“I did,” she said, glancing at her brother who just sat there, seemingly ignoring us. “And we are.”

“We left three days ago,” Dust spoke up from where he lay in the sofa. “We bought food for a week, deciding that that would be enough time to find a merchant or something to buy more from.” Dust sighed and nudged the can in front of him, causing it to fall over. “We had walked to nightfall before we realized that half the food we had bought was rotten.”

“But we decided that it wasn’t time to give up yet, that we would find a merchant to buy some food from. Or in the worst case, find somewhere to scavenge,” Precious said, looking at her brother with a small smile.

“And that wasn’t the end of our bad luck.” Dust sighed, not even looking at her sister. “The second day, we came across a raider. He surprised us, and I had only got up my revolver when he aimed his shotgun at my head and started to talk about my sister. Then you came and saved us. Not only that, but you gave us food.” Dust’s face darkened for a second. “... And you saved the raider.” Precious raised an eyebrow at her brother, who quickly added. “I never thanked you for saving us, or giving us food. Thank you.”

I looked surprised between the two siblings. Precious smiled widely at her brother, who sat there and looked at me. I shook my head. I’m not sure I want to know what happened with Dust, I thought. “I would do the same thing again,” I said with a smile. A smile that Dust, surprisingly enough, returned.

“I don’t want to know either, actually,” Spitfire said. “Let us just be happy that she talked to her brother before he decided to take the matter in his own hooves.”

I nodded. “Didn’t your parents try to keep you back?”

The smile that Precious and Dust had slipped away. The unicorn looked down in the floor, while the earth pony just glared at me.

“Our parents died years ago,” Precious whispered. “Vigil’s the one that takes care of us now.”

“Oh… sorry.”

“You couldn’t have known,” Precious said, her voice wavering. Dust snapped his head away from me and looked at his sister. Sighing, he walked over to her and hugged her.

I just stood still and looked at them the minutes it took before Precious pushed her brother away, mumbling something I couldn’t hear.

“Always, sis,” Dust answered as he picked up their bags from the floor. “Time to leave if we want to get somewhere today. We need to find food as well.”

I nodded as I picked up my own saddlebag. “Yes. Any idea where to go?”

“There should be a town not very far from here,” Dust said. “I looked over some maps at home before we left, and after seeing which way Vigil left, he’s probably going through that very town. The worst that can happen is that we find somewhere to buy food. Hopefully, we can find something about Vigil there, too.”

I looked surprised at Dust. “But didn’t you say yesterday that you wouldn’t travel with me any longer than next town?”

Dust laughed as he gave over Precious saddlebag. “I sort of overreacted yesterday. You might be a bloody raider-saver, but you also saved us, without asking for anything in return. And besides,” he said, scratching his head with a hoof. “Precious… convinced me to trust you. Not that I do trust you completely.” He paused to look at Precious, who shot him a disapproving glare as she rose from the armchair. “What? I don’t!”

Precious walked over to her brother and nudged him with a hoof. “I know you don’t, but you won’t run off again. Understood?”

“Yes, sis.”

I smiled at the two siblings. Maybe someone in that town knows about SAT, I thought.

“Someone is bound to know something about SAT. And it is better to follow these two than to go alone, especially since you don’t know where you would go,” Spitfire agreed.

“Let’s go then,” Precious said.

Together we walked out from the small house that had been our shelter for the night, out into the rain. It didn’t pour down as it had done before, instead coming down light and carefully, dampening our coats. The road had nearly turned into mud from the rain.

“So,” I started. “Where are you from?”

“We are from Marvel, a smaller town in the ruins of a pre-war city,” Precious answered absently. “A trading town, a place where traveling merchants and caravans stayed and traded before continue their travels.”

I sighed and continued walking on the muddy road. The sunlight barely touched the ground around us, not as big of a surprise seeing how cloudy it was. I wished that the clouds could just disappear and the rain stop. But it didn’t seem that it would happen soon; the grey clouds were everywhere around us, covering every inch of the sky above us.

It didn’t take long before the road started to go up a hill. From the top of the hill I saw a valley, bordered with trees. In the middle of the valley lay a city. Most of the buildings were in ruins, dead trees growing in them and dark ivy growing on the walls, but there was a part of the city that still seemed alive. The road we had followed ventured down the valley and into the city. A sign, slanting on its hinges, read “Welcome to Green Valley – Equestria’s Greenest City!”

Footnote: Level Up!

New Perk: Don't stir the sleepers: Luck or drugs? Nopony knows, but one thing is certain: You don't have to be careful when around sleeping beings. They usually don't wake up! (This perk gives a +10 bonus to sneak around sleepers)

Note: Cogwheel can, at this point of time, have a maximum skill of 50 in Sneak. Yea, his metallic legs are not only for the better!

Secondly, thanks to Rising_Chaos for proofreading and listening to my never ending babbling.

Death

Green Valley was greener than anything else I had memory of, but I don’t think that it was green in the way the founder of the city had planned two hundred, or more, years ago. The few trees left along the road were as dead as the trees in the rest of this wasteland, and the same was true for the grass. Dark green ivy crept, to some extent, on nearly every building I could see.

But most surprisingly were the patches of green I could see in the ruins from the road down the hill. Circles of them grew up from the city, stretched up towards the sky, grew in a lighter green color than anything else I had seen here. According to the gasps I could hear from beside me, both Dust and Precious were surprised as well.

“That… It’s beautiful,” Precious breathed. “Are those living trees? As in real, growing trees?”

“I’ve heard caravan guards talk about places like this. Where trees grow instead of just a few patches of wheat and maize. But I never thought there’d be this much. It must be even bigger up close!” Dust said, as breathless as his sister.

I couldn’t help but smile myself as I started to trot down the hillside, the rain around me finally stopping. The trees growing in the city seemed so right, like they should be a natural part of my surroundings instead of the dead and decayed logs that stood around.

“Do you think they’re hard to get to?” Precious asked as they followed me down. “I want to see them up close. Can you believe it -- real trees? Just like the ones in the radio!”

Dust didn’t answer before we had gotten so far down the valley that the trees were mostly hidden behind the ruins of the building they grew among. “I don’t think they’d be very hard to get to,” he said, raising his hoof to keep his sister silent. “But we’ll do that after we get some food and ask around about Vigil.”

“You’re no fun,” Precious teased as we walked under the ivy clad arch that seemed to be the gate into the city.

Although there weren’t many ponies out here, there were more than what I had seen in one place since I woke up. Each and every one of them seemed to cease what they were doing and look up at us when we entered the town, before they stepped out of our way or hurried past us with their heads down, not saying a word.

“That’s weird,” Dust mumbled. “It’s like they’re running from us.”

“That is weird,” Precious added as she looked around at the ones hurrying past.

The street quickly cleared out. Ponies hurried inside the ruins that probably served as their homes and closed their doors and windows tight around them. I could see some of the inhabitants peek out between the curtains, but they closed them as soon as they realized that I saw them.

Dust stopped in the middle of the street, looking around us. “What’s with everypony? In Marvel, they at least say hello, or something.“

“Green Valley was like that once,” a raspy voice spoke up behind us. We spun around, and I found myself looking down a double barreled gun into a pair of hard, brown eyes that glared at me from the shadows of a hat. “But then your kind came.” The owner of the voice spat at my hoof. “Taking what you wanted, killing those who oppose you. Are you surprised that we’re afraid o’ you?” He raised an eyebrow and smirked at me. “Or are ya surprised that one of us finally is standin’ up t’ you again?”

“What do you think you’re doing?” Precious snapped. She embraced the weapon in her own magic with the intent of pulling it away.

The unicorn who aimed the weapon against me didn’t even look away from me as he spoke. “Try anything, missy, an’ I’ll shoot. I got a hard-slug and a pulse-slug in here. That should do t’ kill one o’ his kind.”

“What do you want?” Dust growled.

“Justice -- like everypony here does -- justice for the sons who stood up against his kind.”

“M… My kind?” I stuttered. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, don’t try an’ play dumb, Cyborg. Call yourself what you want; you’re just fancy raiders, killin’ an’ takin’ what isn’t yours.”

“Cyborg?”

“Short for Cybernetic Organism, a collection name for being with both biological and artificial parts. These parts aren’t necessary visible, instead they can be parts like an artificial heart or lung,” Spitfire answered.

“Robo-ponies,” the unicorn spat.

“You mean there are others like me out here?” I asked.

The unicorn raised an eyebrow at me. “O’ course! What’s wrong with you? You’ve been raidin’ this town for the last week!“

“Cogwheel is not a raider, mister,” Precious said. “Not even close.”

“He looks awfully much like one of ‘em. All metal an’ armed t’ the teeth,”

Precious raised an eyebrow at the old unicorn. “Armed to the teeth? He’s not armed at all.”

“O’ course he is! All of ‘em are,” the unicorn insisted as he took a closer look at me. “He… He’s not armed.”

Precious smiled at the unicorn as she gently moved the weapon to point completely down in the ground. “He isn’t, and I can assure you that he’s completely harmless. Like a fly.”

“So he’s not one o’ Exo’s thugs?” the unicorn said as he looked between me and Precious, pointing a hoof at me.

“Exo?” Precious mirrored. “As in—“

“Who’s Exo?” I asked.

“Oh my,” the unicorn said as he gently pulled the weapon out of Precious’ magic and placed it in a holster. “You younguns have to forgive me. It seems like this old man’s made a mistake, what with all the trouble we’ve been through. Easy done, too, when y’ look like that...” he muttered. “Name’s Radio Flash, self-appointed sheriff here.” Tipping the hat, he smiled at us, the wrinkles in his face helping his grayed-out mane to prove his age. “Let me try this again. Welcome t’ Green Valley.”

“Thank you,” said Precious, bowing a little. “I’m Precious, and this is Cogwheel and Dust.” She pointed at each of us. “You said something about Exo? The Exo that DJ Pon3’s talked about these last few months, right?”

“The same.” The smile on the old stallion’s lips died as he sighed. “Walk with me,” he added as he turned around and started to walk towards the core of the living part of the town. “It all started ‘bout a week ago—“

“Is it safe, Radio?” a mare, who stuck out her head from one of the houses, asked worriedly.

“It’s safe, Rose, dear,” the unicorn answered. “Like I said, it all started a week ago. Outta nowhere, five or so heavily armed cyborgs entered our town from the old ruins. They said they were here for supplies an’ picked up as much as they could carry. When the shopkeeper asked about payment, the biggest o’ the cyborgs laughed and put a bullet in his head, sayin’ ‘You should have been happy with your life as payment’. Poor Clip didn’t deserve t’ die like that. He was a good pony.” The stallion hung his head as he opened a door. “Now, now, step inside. You look hungry. I think I’ve got somethin’ in here for you t’ eat.”

“What did you do?” I asked at the same time as Dust, while Precious just stood there and stared in the distance.

“I asked ya t’ come inside?” the stallion said, raising an eyebrow.

“No, not that,” I said. “About the cyborgs.”

“That’s not somethin’ the whole town needs t’ hear,” Radio said. “Come on in, an’ I’ll tell ya ’bout it.”

Surprisingly, Dust was the first to enter the small house. I followed him in, and Precious trailed behind. The door lead into the kitchen, where a table took up most of the space, illuminated by the light that flowed in through the window that was placed over it. Another door opened up to a bedroom.

“Aren’t you comin’ in, miss? Or do you wanna stay outside? I don’t mind if y’do.”

Precious shook her head and quickly stepped inside. “I’ve heard about this,” she said before Radio had even had time to close the door and walk in himself. Either it was my imagination, or she had tears in her eyes. But even if they were there, her voice was steady as she spoke. “DJ Pon3 hasn’t talked about anything but Exo and his gang for the last few months. But I didn’t think he’d be this close...”

“What are you talking about?” Dust asked, looking at her sister.

“Haven’t you listened to the news, lad?” Radio said as he stepped over to the fridge and started to float out a couple of vegetables. “Those robo-ponies have been terrorizing parts o’ the country side for months, wandering from area to area, not stoppin’ for longer than a day or two anywhere. But they set up shop in the ruins here and have been there since.” He sat down at the table, motioning for us to do the same as he turned on the radio standing there, a low song filling the room. “Take a seat an’ have some food. You all look hungry.”

“DJ Pon3 said something about twelve new victims,” Precious said as she sat down beside me and started to nibble on a carrot. “But it doesn’t sound like Exo’s been here for long. What happened?”

“Green Valley underestimated those robo-ponies. We don’t normally let ponies mess with us. We make sure raiders an’ the like never get too close. So, we did as we’ve always done; we fought back.” The unicorn sighed as he went silent, tears in his eyes.

We didn’t say anything to make him continue talk, instead allowed the food to keep us quiet. Is that the answer to everything out here? Weapons? Everything I have heard out here seems to revolve around them in some way...

“Survival of the fittest,” Spitfire said. “When there isn’t enough food or room for everypony, likely the later in this case, the strongest can take what they want and survive.”

I sat there stunned as the song on the radio ended with a drawn out note. Survival of the fittest. Was that what the world had turned to? Or had it been like that before the war as well? During the war?

The old unicorn turned off the radio. “The day after Clip was killed, a lot more of those ponies showed up -- maybe twenty-five of ‘em. But we didn’t back down. A stupid choice made by the ol’ sheriff. Fifty stallions, most of ‘em nothin’ more than lads like you, armed with whatever they could find, against twenty five robo-ponies. It was a lost battle before it began.” He took a deep breath, the tears continuing to run down his cheek.

“You don’t have to continue if you don’t want to,” Precious said as she brought a hoof across the table to pat the older stallion’s hoof. She had tears in her eyes as well.

I sat there completely still, not believing what I heard. This was worse than I could have imagined.

“No, no. I’m tellin’ the whole story. I’m makin’ sure I at least get this right, for their sakes.” He flashed Precious a smile before he continued, his voice heated with anger. “That idiot Trigger fired a shot as soon as he saw somethin’ move. Maybe somepony could’ve stopped him, but he shot one o’ the robo-ponies’ heads clean off. That’s when we crossed the point of no return. They shot back, an’ in the blink of an eye, five bucks lay dead in a pool of their own blood, Trigger one of ‘em. I an’ some younger stallions took cover. It was awful. Seven more bucks died on our side in less than a minute, but we only took down one robo-pony.” He paused as he floated up a bottle and took a deep sip out from it before he passed it over to us.

Dust sniffed on the bottle before he shrugged and passed it over to me without drinking himself. I mirrored Dust and inhaled the aroma of the bottle. Unable to pinpoint the smell I took a light sip of it and nearly coughed it up again, unprepared for the strange, yet fairly familiar, strong taste.

“Too strong for you, lass?” Radio laughed as he took a deep sip from the bottle before he continued. “After that, we heard a deep voice roarin’ to the robo-ponies to lay down their weapons immediately. He told us t’ come out, said there wouldn’t be any more killing. Old as I am, I told the younger ponies t’ stay down while I got up. That was the first time I saw Exo. He was big, bigger than your friend here,” he said, pointing at me. “Completely clad in metal, like a Steel Ranger. But he could move like he wasn’t wearing anything. He had this fog around him, too. He looked right at me an’ said he came here with peace in mind. Even though some o’ his ponies were dead, he still wanted peace.”

“Peace?” Precious interrupted, her voice thick. “After that?”

“Remember that we shot first, lass. Exo didn’t shoot anypony, either. He barked some orders, an’ got the pony that killed Clip bound up in a bunch o’ metal wires on the ground. He said that pony overstepped his rights and that justice’d be done. And then that fog around him got thicker and darker an’ covered the poor pony.” Radio paused again as he brought up the bottle for a new sip, before he banged it down in the table. “Now, don’t think I feel sorry for him for what happened, but... As soon that stuff started to surround him, he started screamin’. Not a normal scream. It was like it wasn’t natural... Then the fog disappeared, an’ you could see the wires melted into him everywhere.” The stallion shuddered. “An’ he was still alive, but he couldn’t move. An’ he was still tryin’ t’ scream, but he couldn’t, ‘cause the wires sealed his mouth shut. Then Exo stepped forward and crushed the his skull against the pavement. Just like he was steppin’ on a bug.”

The unicorn’s word made me feel sick.

“That’s… outstanding,” Spitfire said. “Now, I’m not saying that the act was right, but to crush a skull like that… it would require that he had enough power in that blow to move around five to six hundred kilogram at a rate of one meter per second, and that is taking into account that the hoof is metallically reinforced, as well as the damages that might have occurred to the skull during the fusing--”

Thanks, but I really don’t want to know, I thought as I once again fought down the food.

“That’s… How…” Precious stuttered, unable to form the words. Her eyes still had tears in them.

“He got what he deserved,” Dust spat.

“Nopony deserves that kind o’ death, lad,” Radio sighed. “Not like that... Exo kept talkin’, said he wouldn’t do anything t’ harm us as long as we gave him what he wanted. Before anypony said anythin’, I told him that we would. He seemed t’ like that, but he told us t’ give up our weapons. When I asked about protecting ourselves, he told us we didn’t have t’ worry. He said he’d keep the town safe ‘till he found what he was lookin’ for an’ left. He didn’t say what he was lookin’ for, though.”

“So you gave up your weapons?” Dust asked in disbelief.

“It was that or die tryin’ t’ keep ‘em,” he said, giving Dust a hard look. He continued. “The day after, we buried our dead. Even buried the poor robo-fella. Since then, most ponies have stayed indoors when any of ‘em show up. A few of us give ‘em supplies, but sometimes they need somethin’ fixed an’ they go to Bolt. She was the one who gave me the shotgun.”

“So, you’re okay with them being here, but you point guns at us?” Precious asked. “Why now?”

“We thought they’d only be here a few days. But they want food and water, too, and we’re runnin’ out. We’re gonna die if we try to keep feedin’ ‘em. I’d never shoot one of ‘em, I just wanna get the message to Exo. We’ve had ponies promise they’d say somethin’, but they never do. I thought I could scare ‘em into talkin’.”

“You could have gotten yourself killed!” Precious shouted out.

“At least that’s one less mouth t’ feed,” Radio deadpanned.

“You can’t be serious!” Precious gasped.

“Lass, I’ve lived a long time, more than anypony should out in the Wastes. Death is common out here.”

“But throwing away your life like that?”

“Is it throwin’ away when your food might go to those that need it more? When the younger might get a chance for a nice, long life? I don’t think so.”

Slowly the realization hit me. “So you mean that this,” I said, pointing at the few vegetables left on the table. “Is close to all food you have?”

“That’s the ration I was given for today. Don’t worry about me, lad. It’s not the first time I’ve gone hungry to allow the younger t’ eat.”

“Remind you about somepony?” Spitfire asked.

“But—“

“I said, don’t worry about it,” he said, wiping his eyes dry. “But I’m done with my story now. Tell me, what brings you younguns to Green Valley?”

Dust looked at his sister, before he sighed and turned his attention to the elder unicorn. “My sister and I are looking for our brother, Vigil. He traveled in this direction a month or so back.”

Precious nodded, before she looked at Radio, whose smile had disappeared and been replaced with a worried, scared frown. “What’s the matter?” she asked.

“Vigil… he didn’t happen to be a young lad, unicorn with a light green coat and an aqua mane?” Radio answered.

“That’s him,” Dust said as he lit up. “Have you seen him?”

Radio sighed. “I’ve seen him alright. He was here ‘bout a month ago, said he was hunting someone down, repaying an old debt. I’m sorry, but I don’t think your brother’s alive anymore.”

Both Precious and Dust looked like they had been slapped right across their muzzles. “No,” Dust whispered before he raised his voice. “He can’t be dead! He can’t! How can you even say that!”

“Dust,” Precious said, holding back her tears. “Dust, please. Listen to him.”

“He can’t be dead, Precious. He can’t. Not Vigil.” Dust slumbered down, tears dripping from his muzzle.

“I’m sorry, I truly am. Vigil didn’t stay here for long, but he was kind an’ helped the ones he could while he did. He only planned t’ stay here for a night, but stayed here for a week as soon as he realized we need some help. But I don’t think he’s still alive.” Radio had tears in his eyes as well. He rose from the table. “Wait here, I have something for you.”

Precious leaned closer to her brother, hugging him tightly. “It’ll be okay, Dust. We’ll find him. I know he has to still be alive.”

I raised my hoof to pat them both, but lowered it again. There’s nothing I can do will help them with this, I thought as I felt the tears run down my own cheek. Nothing at all.

It didn’t take long before the unicorn returned, carrying an envelope in his magic. “Vigil told me t’ give this to you. Told me that you would probably come through here searching for him. I guess I should’ve recognized you, but my memory seems t’ fail me in my old age,” he said as he floated over the envelope to the siblings. “He gave it t’ me and said that if you got here before he returned and picked up it, he was most likely dead. I’m sorry.”

Precious took it in her own wavering magic and slowly opened it. She read it aloud. “To Precious and Dust, whom I know will try to follow me. Turn back. What I’m about to do is something you might be able to understand, but I cannot tell you what it is. If I can’t do it, then I don’t want either of you to try. I’m most likely marching to my death. I’m sorry that I said that I would come back, because I knew that I most likely wouldn’t. Dust, take care of your sister.” Precious paused to wipe her tears as she carefully patted Dust on the back and draw a ragged breath. “She might be tough on the outside, but you know that she needs your support. Precious, take care of your brother. And to both of you, don’t follow me. Go home, be safe, continue your lives. You are both strong. With love, Vigil.”

As soon as she had finished the last sentence, she dropped the envelope to the ground and clutched Dust tight to herself, crying out in his mane.

Once again I lifted my hoof, before putting it down on the table again. Nothing I can say to help. Nothing I can do that wouldn’t make it worse, I thought bitterly as I took a deep breath.

“The best might be to let them take care of each other first. They have grown up together, they most likely know how to solace each other. You could, however, make sure that they have somewhere to be, so they don’t have to care about a place to stay during this recovery. Sorrow can be a wound like anything else, and can take time to heal. The first time is crucial for the healing process, and it’s never certain how long time it will take.”

I nodded and, wiping away my own tears, raised my head at Radio. As I opened my mouth, he motioned me to be silent and pointed at the door. I followed him out to the street, where we stayed just outside the closed door. Before I could say anything, Radio started to talk.

“You’re all free t’ stay here as long as you need. Those poor kids will need some time t’ recover. They’re not the first ones this week who have gotten some bad news...”

“Thank you,” I whispered. “But, are you sure you can take us in? I mean, we’ve already eaten your ration and—“

“Vigil helped out a lot before he left. The least I can do is make sure his family has a place t’ stay.” Radio looked at me, the tiniest of smile on his lips. “Now, tell me lad, where d’you get into the picture?”

“Maybe he knows if there are any SAT buildings in the region,” Spitfire said. “And after promising to take you in and make sure the siblings have a safe place during the time, I think you can tell him.”

I nodded. “I woke up yesterday at the Fluttershy Clinic a little more than a slow day’s walk from here. My memories about how I got there, or what happened to me… how I became this,” I said, motioning with my biological limb over my cybernetics. “I don’t know. But on the head doctor’s terminal I found a note about how I should be transferred in a week,” I sighed. “But something interfered, the war ended in all this before I could be transferred. The receiver of the mail was a Chief of SAT, and I’m now trying to find out why I was supposed to be sent there. Maybe I’ll regain my memory in the process.”

Radio looked with a raised eyebrow at me. “A pony from before the war? Who isn’t a ghoul? Now I’ve seen it all,” he exclaimed. “But you didn’t tell me how—“

“What’s a ghoul?”

The unicorns face darkened at my question. “A ghoul is a feral killer, killin’ everythin’ that gets close. They’ve been around forever. They’re decaying corpses walking around as if they were alive. Monstrous creatures,” Radio spat. “Have been hearing stories about ‘em sneakin’ around in the ruins, both day and night. I’ve heard a lot o’ ponies have died because of ‘em. ... But don’t avoid the question. How’d you end up travelin’ with those two?”

“I met them not far from the clinic and gave them some food,” I said, avoiding the part about the raider. Something told me that Radio wouldn’t be very glad to hear that kind of news. Or, if I had understood what Precious had said during the short talk we had about it when we walked yesterday, no one in the wasteland would be glad to hear it. “I’ve traveled with them since, and they’ve told me about the life out here.”

“There’s somethin’ you aren’t tellin’ me. But,” he added and raised his hoof, silencing me before I had the time to say anything. “That’s okay. Everypony has the right to keep secrets. Now, let me see if I can help you. What is this SAT you talked about?”

“I don’t know, not more than that they created these legs—“

“Robo-part company then? Now, that’s not somethin’ I can help ya with, but I know somepony who might. Go an’ talk with Bolt; she lives just down the street. When you hear the sound of metal against metal, you’ll know you’re in the right place.”

“How will we ever be able to repay you?”

“Nothing to worry ‘bout lad. This is me repaying for things Vigil’s already done, nothing you need to worry about,” Radio smiled at me. “As I said, it’s the least I can do.”

“Thank you,”

“Now, you go an’ ask Bolt about what it is you need. I’ll make sure the younguns get the time they need. You just come back if somethin’’s wrong,” Radio nodded.

I smiled at him as I turned around and walked down the street. Ponies once again walked on the street, and this time they didn’t run away from me. Sure, some of them might have been looking strangely or hateful at me, or took a step extra just to be sure not to be too close to me, but they stayed and continued with what they were doing. Most of them kept their eyes away, all their focus on their work except for some. Some looked straight forward, their eyes unseeing but their hooves working on the task in front of them, whatever it was. A few foals were around as well, the ones old enough to work doing so, while the younger jumped around in the dusty road. As soon as they saw me, however, they quickly hid behind their parents, looking wide eyed at me from their cover.

“The mothers and fathers, the sisters and brothers, the widows and widowers, all mourning the death of their loved ones. Some of them have started to move on. Others don’t know how. And some… some will never manage.”

Looking out over the ponies around me, I noticed details I hadn’t seen before. None of the adults or foals old enough to understand the concept of death were happy. The hate in the eyes of the ones looking at me was mixed with fear. A foal, a smaller earth pony, crawled up in the embrace of one of the elder ponies. Unseeing eyes started to see again, smiling down at the little one in their embrace.

Green Valley was a town that had been through a tragedy. A town that had lost nearly a tenth, at least counting the ponies I had seen, of its inhabitants. But still they continued living. Still they continued to care for each other.

They will manage, I thought as the sound of metal against metal reached my ears. Smiling I turned towards the door where the sound came from. A sign reading ‘Bolt’s service’ hung in the door’s window just above a sign saying ‘Closed’. Ignoring the second sign, I opened the door and stepped inside.

Six benches stood spread out in the workshop, only dimly illuminated by lamps that hung on the wall. Various objects in metal, plastic, or wood lay scattered, alone or in small piles, on both the floor and on the benches. A couple of toolboxes stood in the room as well.

I wasn’t alone in the workshop. In front of a bench stood a unicorn with her back to me and five different tools floating in the air around her.

“I’ll be with you in a sec,” the brown mare said as she brought down the hammer on whatever she worked on. The sound of metal against metal filled the workshop as she continued, until she seemed satisfied. “Now, what can I—“ she started as she turned around, but stopped as soon as she saw me. She removed the goggles from her eyes and put them on her forehead as she looked wide eyed at me, blinking a couple of times.

“I’m looking for—“ I started, but was interrupted as the unicorn walked closer. She looked wide eyed at my legs, before her eyes wandered up to my mechanical eye.

“Beautiful,” she whispered as her eyes returned to my legs. “Just beautiful.” She slowly started to circle me, her eyes fixated on my legs. “Are these… SAT’s certificated and patented P-prosthesis? I can’t believe it. The magazines said that they were phased out and replaced years before the war ended! How did you get a hold of these?”

“I—“ I tried, but was quickly interrupted by the mare hitting my leg with a hammer, causing me to take a step back as I yelped out something that might have been “What was that for?”

“Sturdy,” she commented. “Just as the magazines said! Sure, a lot of ponies thought they weren’t durable enough for a combat prosthesis, especially not when it came to being shot at. They said amputees that got them would be back in the hospital just as soon as they left ‘cause bullets would tear straight through them. When it came to EMP attacks, though, they were glorified. While the built-in energy talisman wasn’t protected, a core with the ability to restart the energy talisman was. They also said it was a painfully slow process, but who knows?”

“EMP—“

“They seem a little off color, but it’s hard to tell. I’ve only ever seen pictures of them before.” She stopped circling me, only to raise her head and stand at the tips of her hooves to stare at my eyes. “And then we have the eye. The P-prosthesis I had at least seen in pictures before, but that? Never seen anything like it. No pictures. Nothing. What is it?”

“What?” I asked.

“Sure, Exo’s thugs come around every now and then since they arrived last week,” she continued as if she hadn’t heard my question. “And most of them have a replaced leg or two. I know of one who even has a replaced wing. But I have never seen an optic prosthesis before. Yeah, sure, they say that Exo himself is a complete cyborg, with nothing but the brain left. But I have yet to see him myself, though. Was out of town when they attacked.” She looked into my eyes another moment, before she turned away and started to sort up some of the objects that lay scattered over the floor. “Now then, you’re obviously not one of his thugs. If you were, then I would have a weapon up my rear by now. That brings me to my question. What’s an independent cyborg doing here?”

“I’m searching for information regarding SAT—“

“Oh, there are a thousand and one things to know about SAT. You have to be more precise,” the unicorn interrupted me.

“I just want to—“

“I don’t know everything, of course. I don’t think anypony does. But I might know the answer for your specific question.”

“As I tried to say, I want to know where SAT’s headquarters are.”

The unicorn was silent for a moment. “Sorry, can’t help you there,” she finally said. “The only building I know of that might have had something to do with SAT in this area is this service place,” she said as she motioned to the room around her. “Or maybe the workshop that stands in the ruins.”

“A workshop?”

“Yeah, standing somewhere in the east side of the ruins. Found an old record when we broke up an old safe in the other room, told us about how the business was going down after the workshop had opened. I can’t say for sure that it has anything to do with SAT, but it’s the only place I can think of.”

“Any idea how to get there?”

The unicorn whirled around and looked at me. “You—“ she started, before she looked me from head to hoof with a thoughtful frown. “You’re planning to travel into the ruins?”

“If that helps me get closer to SAT’s headquarters, then yes.”

“You, travel into the ruins? Alone?” She laughed. “I give you ten minutes, if even that.”

“Wha—“

“You aren’t armed,” she remarked, interrupting me. “You’re soft. You didn’t try to interrupt me when I interrupted you, allowed me to finish instead. How could you survive out there?”

“Hu—“ I quickly ducked down at the floor as her horn started to glow and a hammer suddenly flew towards my head.

“You have decent reflexes, at least,” she smirked as two pointy metal objects started to float in the air, tips against me. “Maybe fifteen minutes.”

“What are you—“

Without any warning one of them rocketed towards me where I lay on the ground. This time I was to slow, the object plinking of a mechanical leg as I rolled to the side. “But not good enough, thirteen minutes.” Not letting me get any ground, she sent the second object against me, brushing up a swallow gash on my cheek as I once again was too slow. “Definitely not good enough, eleven minutes.”

Instantly, the pony body appeared in the corner of my eye, indicating the damage on my cheek. “Try to block instead. If she sends the projectiles out in a constant speed as my calculations shows, without varying it, your prosthesis will be able to take a direct hit without any problem,” Spitfire said as the unicorn pulled the objects back, aiming them down on me again.

When the first of the object came down I raised my metal front hoof and deflected it, causing it to rocket deep into the wall. “Adaptation! Good, you learn! Seventeen minutes.” The second projectile came down towards me, and I couldn’t move before it hit my organic leg. “Know your weaknesses!”

I continued to dodge and block the single object that she slashed towards me multiple time as she forced me back. Spitfire talked with me, coming with small tips or just cheering me on. But in the end I found myself in a corner, panting heavily, with the cold object pressed against my throat. The unicorn stepped closer, until she could look me into the eyes. “Are you sure you want to go into the ruins? You can’t even take me on, a simple repair pony.”

“I’m going into those ruins if that’s what it takes to find SAT.”

“Determined, I like that. Well, then, count me in,” she said as she removed the metal from my throat and took a step back, offering a hoof to help me up. “The name’s Bolt.”

“What?” I asked, staring at the unicorn’s outstretched hoof.

“Hey, you didn’t think I would send you to your death, did you? You need somepony to look after you, and I might be able to find some useful spare parts in that workshop. So I’m coming with you.”

“What?”

She sighed. “Slow fella, huh? Tell me, what do you know about the ruins?” she asked as she put down her hoof again.

“That Exo and his thugs are there, and that there are ghouls living among the ruins as well.”

“Do you know any safe routes in there? Any way to get into and out from this workshop?”

“No, but—“

“And still you are determined to go in there, knowing only a few of the dangers awaiting you?”

“Are you really sure about this, Cogwheel? We could travel to another town and see if somepony there knows about SAT. Maybe stay here for a couple of days until Precious and Dust feel that they want to move on and then go with them? Maybe go to Marvel and ask around there?”

“If that workshop has any connections with SAT, then I want to see if they have any location information about the headquarters. Or something else I can continue after instead.” I need to get my memories back, Spitfire. This is a chance to maybe find out a location. Precious and Dust will most likely need a couple of days, I can go into the ruins during that time and then return to go with them back, should I not find anything.

“I don’t know—“

“Exactly. No matter what I say, you would enter those ruins knowing that you might find out something about SAT, even if you died trying. I could just give you the little I know about how to get to the workshop, which would cover maybe half the way and then you would have to guess the rest yourself, and send you to your death. Or I could go with you. I have knowledge about the ruins and traveling alone is not something I highly recommend. And at the same time I would get the opportunity to scavenge some spare parts from the workshop.”

“If you decide to really go in there, I highly recommend taking that offer.”

“Why would I trust someone who just tried to kill me?”

Bolt looked surprised at me. “Just tried to kill you?” she laughed. “Boy, had I tried to kill you, you would be dead. No offence. I barely proved that you aren’t fit to go in there alone. Both the ghouls and Exo’s thugs, as well as everything else that might run around in those ruins, will try to kill you. If it makes you feel better, you adapted faster to blocking instead of dodging than I thought you would.”

“And who do you have to thank for that?” Spitfire mused.

“But, to be honest, you don’t stand much of a chance going in there. Now, are you going to get up from the floor today? I didn’t hurt you that badly,” the unicorn said as she reached forward a hoof, a smirk on her lips.

“But why would you want to go into the ruins with me if I’m that worthless?” I asked as I accepted her help.

“You’ve already decided to enter the ruins, so you’ll probably go there no matter what I say, even alone. Don’t try to deny it, I know that look. My brother had the same once he had decided on something. Sure, I could just trail you, stay behind and maybe bolt past whatever wants to kill you and hope that I won’t run into something myself, but, to be honest, I would prefer to have some company instead. And, besides, I was planning on going into those ruins and search up that workshop anyway. Now I don’t have to pay someone to come with me.”

“Your brother?” The question slipped out of me before I had time to think.

The smile on Bolt’s lips died. “Trigger. Got himself killed when I was out of town. I heard it was he who shot first. Doesn’t surprise me one bit.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Don’t be. My brother was an idiot to shoot and think that there would be a different outcome, and he killed eleven of his friends doing so. He never listened, only acted,” she said, a ghost of a smile returning. “Now then, you aren’t armed. Tell me, what weapon can you use? A shotgun? Revolver?” She brought a hoof to her head, scratching her chin. “Not that I have any of those. Come to think of it, my weapon stock is kind of non-existent right now. Unless—“ Her eyes wandered over me one more time. “Well, you sure look strong enough.”

I shook my head to clear it as I tried to keep up with the unicorn. “For all I remember, I have never used a weapon.”

She looked at me, an eyebrow raised in disbelief. “How old are you? Forty? Forty-five? And you haven’t used a weapon? What part of this hell hole did you grow up in? Candy land?”

I raise my head. “Forty?” Can I really be that old? I thought, looking around in the room for something to look at myself in.

“Well, your late-thirties at the least. The important thing is: how have you survived all these years without any weapon knowledge?”

“You aren’t young, Cogwheel. The years might have been kind to your appearance, but you should be around your mid-forties.” Spitfire paused. “Or, technically, mid two-hundred and thirtyish.”

I sighed. “I said that I couldn’t remember using a weapon. I woke up yesterday without any memories, and—“

“And somehow a pre-war company is the way to regain those memories?” She asked, the eyebrow traveling even further up on her brow. “On a scale of one to ten, that is a minus five in believability.”

“Actually, I had been in stasis for nearly two hundred years.”

Bolt snorted at me. “Whatever,” she said as she started to walk towards a door leading deeper into her workshop. “If you don’t want to tell me the truth, then so be it. ... I might have a weapon that you can use in here.”

“But I was telling the truth!” I called after her as I followed.

“Whatever.”

The room was a little smaller than the workshop had been, filled with shelves in cold iron. Most of the shelves were empty, but some of them had various objects, that I wouldn’t call anything else than junk, spread out on them. The only illumination we had in the chill room was the light that Bolt’s horn radiated as she moved various objects with her magic.

“It should be here somewhere,” she mumbled as she moved down everything from a workbench onto the floor and started to quickly sort it through.

“What are you looking for?” I asked as my eyes wandered over the dusty shelves.

“This,” the unicorn proclaimed as she levitated up a strange device from the mess she had caused on the floor.

The device was made of metal, painted yellow and black, with two clasps and an adjustable strap to keep it steady on the hoof. A set of cylinders connected the metal bracelet with a metal fitting holding a saw blade. The blade’s teeth were rusty, but I didn’t doubt that they were still sharp. From under the cylinders, a metal plate stuck out a couple of inches. At the bottom of the plate some wires were connected and ran back to the base of the bracelet.

“What is that?” I asked, taking a closer look at the device. Just above the cylinders a small switch was placed, now set on ‘off’.

“This is a pre-war beauty. It was a tool created to help in industries with cutting up materials like plastics or metal to the required sizes. A powerful tool, got this one working just the other day. Try it on,” she said, floating the device over to me and placed it before my hooves.

“A cruel tool,” Spitfire remarked. “It would easily be able to saw through both flesh and bone, taking lives in the blink of an eye. Are you a killer, Cogwheel? Is this something you can see yourself use against others?”

I hesitated before I put down my hoof in the bracelet, slowly fastening the claps and the strap. No, it’s not. But if something attacks me, don’t you want me to be able to defend myself?

“Not like this, not with a weapon that would bring pain and suffering, as well as leave wounds like this one will.”

“Now,” Bolt said as soon as I had fastened it. “Flick the switch to on, and be careful to not put down your hoof on the floor once you have.” She paused for a moment. “Actually, don’t flick the switch. Put up your hoof in the air, and see how balanced it is.”

I did as I was told, nearly falling over at the extra weight on the hoof I held in the air.

“Good, good. Now, try and flick the switch.”

As I changed the switch from ‘Off’ to ‘On’, a low humming emitted from the bracelet. “Now what?” I asked as small metal pieces on the sides opened up and dust started to blow out.

“Now, you stay completely still,” the unicorn said as she floated over a piece of rusty metal to me. “As you push down the pressure sensors under your hoof, the saw will start to spin and merge forward, sawing through anything that you have under your hoof. It will not, however, saw further down than a couple of inches from the tip of it. Try it,”

I looked down at the rusty metal lying in front of me, and brought forward my hoof to connect with the cold metal. The moment my hoof came into contact with the metal, the saw spun up with a high screech. I jumped back, not prepared at the sudden sound, and put down my hoof on the floor. The saw sank down in the floor with an even higher screech, sparks flying in all directions. I suddenly realized that the metal plate between my hoof and the saw was protection from sparks and flying debris.

My hoof jerked upwards and to the site, causing me to fall over on my back with my hoof up in an awkward angle, stuck in Bolt’s magic field. I could feel the coat on my back singe against the warm floor where I had held the saw just a moment ago. The saw quickly slowed down and came to a stop with a final screech.

Bolt looked at me with a frown. “Take it off again,” she said as she started undo the clasps and the strap. “You aren’t fit to use a thing like this.”

“But—“

“You didn’t have any control over it. What would have happened if it decided to go to the side instead of down in the floor?” She sighed as she threw the industrial tool back into the heap she had taken it from. “It was my fault, really. Thought you could handle it. Instead you jumped like a colt that someone finds with his hoof in the cookie jar.”

“Maybe it is for the best,” Spitfire said. “That kind of tool should never be used against another living being.”

You’re right, I thought as I sighed. “Now what? I can’t go into the ruins unarmed, can I?”

“Give me until the morning. I will come up with something, and then we leave. Deal?”

“That long before we leave?”

“Trust me, you want to spend as much of the times in those ruins with the light illuminating them,” she said as she shivered. “Nasty place. Now, help yourself out, I need quiet around me as I work.”

“What a strange pony,” Spitfire remarked with an amused tone. “Pleasant, but strange.”

I couldn’t help but agree.

{A-A}

More and more ponies had emerged onto the road during the time I had been in the workshop, most of them working with one thing or another, keeping the community alive. Some stopped and talked with each other, their voices low so to not disturb the others.

Sure, they still avoided eye contact with me or took an extra step around rather than pass close by, but the town felt so much more alive now than it had before. A couple of foals ran past me, chased by a young buck in a game of tag. The buck, a mint green unicorn with ears that seemed to hang down over his eyes as he ran, was braver than the others and ran under me, effectively reducing the distance between himself and the other foals.

The only thing that really could make it all better would be if the sun had peeped out from the cloud cover that still hid the sun from my view. But the clouds hadn’t changed at all since earlier. Come to think of it, the only difference I’ve seen in the clouds was when they got dark before the storm, I thought, shivering slightly at the thought of the lightning.

“Well, maybe the pegasi have kept them in place?” Spitfire joked. “But it is strange, isn’t the sky supposed to be clear, or at least visible, after rain?”

I’m not sure, I thought as I stepped up to the door leading to Radio’s house. Maybe I could ask Precious or Dust how long it usually takes before the clouds disappear? It feels like they should have disappeared long ago.

I softly nudged the door opened, but stopped dead as soon as I had taken the first step into the room. Dust and Precious sat close to each other, a blanket wrapped around them, looking at the radio. Radio Flash sat there as well, and he lifted his eyes as I entered the room, his eyes burning.

“—Now, I’m not one to say that violence is the solution, but saving a raider? Really? That’s all for now—“ a voice I didn’t recognize said from the radio as Radio turned it off, his magical field nearly breaking of the button.

“Saving a raider?” he hissed as he slowly rose from his place on the floor. “You saved a raider!?” he raised his voice as he took a step closer, the shotgun floating up in front of him. “A. Raider?”

Footnote: Level Up!

New Perk: Like a Fly: Maybe, it’s the way you walk. Maybe, it’s the way you talk. Either way, ponies like it when you’re not walking around with weapons out. You receive a +5 bonus to all social skills when you are not armed.

First, a really big thank you toMasquerade313, not only for proofreading and editing, but for giving the story a hell of a lot more life than it had from the beginning. I can’t thank him enough for all the time he devoted helping me with this! (Seriously, I soon have to move him to Co-Author for all his editing work with dialogues) (I suck at dialogues)

Secondly, thanks to Rising_Chaos for

proofreading and listening to my never ending babbling.

Education

I took a step back from the shotgun, but Radio followed me, his eyes burning. “How can ya be so stupid?” he hissed. “You just let a raider go? D’you have any idea how many ponies you’ve killed because o’ that?”

“I—“ I lost my breath as he jabbed the end of the shotgun in my chest, forcing me to take a couple of steps back.

“What’d he say? Did he say he’d change? Did he say he’d do better?” the unicorn growled as he followed me, shutting the door behind himself.

“Yes, but—“

“Once a raider, always a raider,” the old stallion said as he spat on the ground.

“I don’t—“

“No exceptions,” he said as he forced me down to his own eye level by pressing the shotgun against my head. “I was like you, once. Did some stupid stuff like you, too. I found a raider this one time, being picked apart by a bunch o’ birds ‘cause he was nearly dead. But my pa always said kindness pays off. He showed me how ta take of others. So, I scared the birds away an’ fixed him up. I watched over him for two days until he was ready to get up.” Radio spat on the ground, his voice darkening. “As soon as he could stand, he took my gun an’ shot me in my sleep. He took my food and left me there ta die. But I was harder to kill than he thought. Not even a day later, I fixed myself up and started trackin’ him down. I found him, knee deep in blood, rapin’ a young mare over the corpse of her father.” He got closer, until he was eye-to-eye with me, and growled: “A raider never, ever, changes, an’ the only raider I trust is a dead one.”

I felt something clutch around my stomach, and once again I had to force down the food. “A… young mare?” I asked, my voice wavering.

“Not much older than Precious, if even that old. Just because I saved that raider, I let him kill four other ponies and ruin that young mare’s life. I hope for your sake that somepony killed that raider you let go before he did anything else. If he kills somepony, that’s your fault.”

I gulped as I looked into his eyes, the fire in them nearly concealed behind the tears that had sprung forth. Words came uninvited to my mind. Get the fuck away, boy. It’s the fucking girl I want. The words of Frost Mane the first time I had seen him. Did I doom somepony to death, or worse, by saving Frost Mane?

“I should kill you right now, seein’ as you’re no worse than a raider for savin’ one of them... But, I guess I did the same thing. At least I can tell you’re thinkin’ ‘bout it. ... I’m too old for this,” he muttered as he took a step back, lifting the shotgun from my head. “There’s nothin’ we can do ‘bout that, now, though. You better just hope that raider doesn’t kill anypony before somepony kills him. And hope that doesn’t come back to you, somehow.”

“I… I didn’t know,” I stuttered. “Have I made a mistake that serious?”

The old unicorn sighed as he turned around. “Only time will tell. But, if you’re lucky, no.” Without another word he walked into the house again, leaving the door open.

Have I made a mistake, Spitfire? Was it wrong to let him live?

“Would you have been able to kill him, Cogwheel?”

No. I didn’t even have to think of it. I wouldn’t. But Dust would, and he was ready to.

“But you stopped him. You valued a life that nopony else valued.”

But isn’t that what Radio did?

“It is, but that doesn’t mean that the outcome has to be the same.”

I sighed. I guess not.

“And, besides, there is nothing you can do about that now. Frost Mane ran off in another direction, and neither of us knows where he is right now. We can only look forward, and hope that nothing bad comes of this.”

And the first step, I thought as I looked through the open door. Radio sat on a couch, looking over the two siblings who still sat close together. Would be to tell them about my decision to travel into the ruins.

I sighed as I walked into the room and closed the door after me. Precious lifted her head from Dust’s shoulders, her teary eyes looking at me for a second, a faint smile on her quivering lips, before she buried her muzzle in her brother’s mane again. Dust just sat there, absently stroking his sister’s mane as he stared into nothingness.

“How do you feel?” I asked as I walked up to them, my steps heavy.

Dust didn’t answer, and nothing about him told me that he had even heard the question. Precious mumbled something I couldn’t hear into her brother’s mane. And maybe that was for the best, I couldn’t think of any way to comfort her had I heard what she said.

“I’m going to leave for a few days,” I continued. “Bolt told me that there was a workshop that might have connections with SAT in the ruins. I shouldn’t be gone for more than a day or two.”

Precious looked up from her brother’s shoulder again, her teary eyes searching for me as she rubbed her nose with a hoof. “You… you’ll come back, right?” she asked through her tears.

“I’ll only be gone for two days at the most. I’ll come back,” I promised with a smile, which she faintly returned.

“What’s a promise mean?” Dust muttered. “Vigil promised, but he never returned.”

The smile died on Precious’ lips as the tears started to run from her eyes again. She punched her brother in the stomach and rested her head against his shoulder again. “Don’t say that! Don’t ever say that!” she bleated into his mane. Her expression made my heart sink in my chest.

Dust didn’t seem to even notice the hit, much less her words. He sat there unmoving and looked straight forward.

“I promise,” I whispered once more. I lifted my hoof to pat her shoulder, but stopped halfway through the motion and allowed my hoof to fall, sighing. Instead, I rose from the floor again.

Radio rose with me. “Well, now, I think it’s time for the younguns t’ go to bed. They’ve had a hard day, but maybe some sleep’ll help,” he said as he walked up to the siblings still sitting in the blanket.

I looked out the window. The sun’s light was still visible, and, taking into account how many ponies still worked outside, I assumed that it could be mid afternoon at the most.

“It’s too early to go to bed,” Precious protested weakly from her brother’s shoulder.

“You’re both tired, an’ you know it,” Radio said as he slowly helped them up. “Come now, you can take my bed for the night. It should be big enough for both o’ you.”

“But—“

“No ‘but’s, lass,” the old unicorn said with a smile. “Come on, now, you need your rest.”

Dust rose without a word, his eyes still looking at a point further away. Precious slowly rose after her brother, and Radio helped them into the small bedroom.

“You know that you might not return,” Spitfire said as I sat down on the table, resting my head against it. “Bolt told you about the dangers.”

I know, but that’s not something I could tell her, is it? You saw her yourself.

“And what if you don’t return? What then?”

I willreturn, I insisted

Spitfire sighed, a strange sound to hear inside your head. “If you say so.”

I could hear both the bedroom door closing and Radio gently walking up to the table. “You’re goin’ into the ruins?” he asked as he sat down opposite me, uncorking the same bottle from earlier and taking a deep sip from it.

I raised my head. “I am,” I said, my eyes on the unicorn in front of me.

“An’ Bolt’s goin’ with you, I reckon?” He raised an eyebrow at me. “Oh, don’t look so surprised. She’s talked about it ever since I helped her crack that old safe open.”

“She is,” I confirmed.

The old unicorn sighed. “Did she tell y‘bout all the dangers in there?”

“She did.”

“An’ y’still want t’ go?”

“If it can help me regain my memories, then yes.”

The old unicorn took another sip from the bottle, before he passed it over to me. He laughed as I rejected the bottle. “You’ll take care of her in there?”

“I think it will be the other way around,” I said with a smile. “I’m not proficient with any weapon, nor do I own one.”

The old unicorn took the bottle again, but didn’t drink from it. Instead, he leaned forward over the table. “There are things in there that no weapon helps against,” he whispered before he sat back normally again. “Now, I’m not one t’spread ghost stories, but this is somethin’ else. I’ve heard things since I first arrived in Green Valley, stories about the ponies in the shadows -- a predator, just sittin’ in the growin’ parts o’ the ruins, huntin’ after the ones enterin’ its glades. Only a few have entered those places and lived t’tell the tale. There was this one time a group o’ seven entered the ruins t’prove there wasn’t anything t’fear.” He sighed and took a sip from the bottle. “Only one of ‘em came back, and he just wasn’t the same anymore... He was all bloody, he was real quiet. But he told us ‘bout the glades, ‘bout the monster inside ‘em. They tried shootin’ it, but no luck. He said it was like their bullets just shot through fog. It was fast, too. It come up, they’d blink, and another one of their group would be dead. The only thing the poor fella had seen of it was a pair o’ jade green eyes.”

“How did he survive?”

“He ran -- turned tail and ran. Smart fella. He didn’t get hurt; the blood on him wasn’t his own. But it was like the thing messed with his mind.”

“How will I be able to take care of her then, with something like that running through the ruins?”

“Stay clear o’the glades. If you find yourself inside ‘em, get her out of there. She thinks the stories are just that. She’ll try t’fight whatever’s in there. Just get her away as quick as you can.” He looked pleadingly at me. “Please.”

“I promise.”

Radio shrunk down into his seat, relief clear in his face. “Thank you,” he said. “She can take care of a few ghouls, an’ she’s smart enough t’stay clear of Exo’s thugs if she comes across ‘em, but the glades… She’s been fascinated by ‘em for years. She doesn’t think they’re dangerous.”

“Has she ever been inside of the ruins before? She made it sound like she’s been inside dozens of times.”

Radio laughed. “Dozens? She’s only been there five times! The first two times she didn’t even get out o’sight from the walls. The third time she was a little braver, and rounded the corner. Got attacked by a group o’ghouls, killed all but one of ‘em as they hunted her back to the wall. After that, she looked at some o’the old maps of the city, and even climbed the highest places she could find t’find out if she could see anything. The fourth and fifth time she went in a little deeper and brought back some stuff she found. Sure, she knows how t’find her way, or at least she thinks she does, but she’s always been scared of goin’ in there alone. Or,” he added, muttering. “At least the five times I know of.”

“She’s afraid of going in there by herself, but not afraid of the glades?”

Radio sighed. “I hope she is, but I don’t know. Maybe she has enough sense in her t’stay away from ‘em, but she’s old enough t’do whatever she wants, I guess.”

“But why would she ask me to go with her?”

Radio chuckled lightly as he took a sip from the bottle. “I guess she’s gotten restless this last week. She wanted t’check out that workshop as soon as she found that old recordin’, but she knew she wouldn’t be able t’go there alone. Then you showed up and asked about SAT, and she pointed you to the workshop--”

“You set this up,” I said.

“I gave you both the chance t’get what you want,” the unicorn said simply.

“I…” I paused. “I guess you did, didn’t you?”

Radio flashed me a smile. “Listen, kid, I know your kind. You find somethin’ you wanna do and you stick with it. You want t’find SAT, and she wants t’find the workshop. You don’t know anythin’ ‘bout the ruins, but you can keep her company and make sure she’s not scared all the time. And she’s the only one ‘round here who knows how to get in and out safely. Trust me, she’s just like you -- impossible t’hold back for long.”

“And you’re just letting her go? She might die in there!”

“You might, too, but I don’t see you gettin’ all worked up about it.” Radio shook his head. “Both o’you would’ve gone in eventually. You probably would’ve heard about it from somepony else. She probably would’ve paid somepony to go with her. To be honest, I’d rather she goes in with you, anyway.”

“Why do you trust me so much?”

“I wouldn’t say I trust you, but you’re in it for more than just a few caps. Besides, it sounds to me like you kept Dust an’ Precious safe even though you didn’t know ‘em. I think you’ll do the same for her.”

I nodded slowly. “I will do my best.”

“That’s all I needed t’hear,” Radio said as he looked out the window.

“You are still sure that you are going to enter the ruins?”

I am. We only have to be careful, that’s all.

Radio floated up a wooden board, covered in black and white squares, onto the table. “Care for a game?” he asked as he started to arrange a couple of figures to the board.

“What is it?” I asked, eyeing one of the figures. It was carved out from wood and pictured an alicorn.

“A pre-war game.”

“Well, it’s not like I have anything else planned for the day,” I said as I moved my chair closer, eyeing the board. “How do I play?”

“It goes like this...“ Radio started to explain.

{^l^}

“Move your earth pony to C2,” Spitfire instructed me. I carefully bit down on the piece and made the draw. As I sat down the piece I looked at the unicorn in front of me.

The unicorn raised an eyebrow, before he burst into laughter. “And you won again. You’re a natural, lad,” he said as he started to move the pieces back to their starting position. “Best o’five?”

I yawned widely. While the game in itself had been entertaining, I hadn’t really learned it. Sure, I knew how the different pieces, from the simple foal, through the strong earth pony, the easy moving pegasus, the sly unicorn, the all-around student up to the mighty alicorn, moved and worked. But since I had lost the first game, Spitfire had been the one playing, winning two matches in a row against the older unicorn.

“I’m afraid three games will have to be the limit for me,” I said, suppressing a second yawn. The sun had gone down during our second match, but a couple of candles had allowed us to continue playing without its light. “If I’m to get up tomorrow, it might be best for me to go to bed tonight.”

“Today, technically,” Spitfire corrected me. “The last two games really went on longer than they should, had he known that he would lose.” Spitfire sounded strangely amused.

Whatever.

“Yea, you’re right,” Radio said. “But Dust an’ Precious have the bed... I guess you can sleep on the couch.”

“And let you sleep on the floor? Oh no, that won’t happen, I’m afraid,” I said with a chuckle. “The floor will work for me, you take the couch. You have done enough for us, at least you should get as good sleep as you could.”

The old unicorn sighed. “Are ya sure? I’m okay with the floor. I’ve slept there a few times after goin’ too heavy on the drink.”

I had already moved down onto the floor, placing myself on the widest open space I could find. “Take the couch,” I said, waving a hoof in dismissal.

Radio blew out the candles, the world around me darkening some. “Alright,” he said as he lay down on the couch. “Sleep well, then.”

“The same to you,” I said as I yawned.

I had nearly fallen asleep as Radio spoke up again. “I’m sorry ‘bout how I got mad at you for the raider,” the old unicorn started. “Hearin’ about it just brings up... Bad memories.”

“That’s understandable,” I yawned as I turned around, tried to find that comfortable sleeping position I had been in just a moment before.

“Doesn’t make it right that I almost shot ya, though.”

“No damage done,” I said, waving a hoof in his general direction. A thought came to my sleepy head, and without thinking, I asked it. “What happened to her?”

“The young mare?” Radio hesitated. “She… she died. Eleven months after I found her, she gave birth. Died in childbed. That raider pig got her pregnant before I did anythin’ to stop him. The child was healthy, so I took care of her. Didn’t tell her who her father was, only that her mother loved her dearly. She grew up to be a strong mare, but each time I see her...” Radio sighed. “Each time I see her, it reminds me about that mistake. I guess that’s just something I have t’live with.”

I didn’t know what to say, so I only lied there in silence. Finally, I opened my mouth. “I’m sure you made a great father.”

“Cogwheel!”

“Not that you are the father, not like that, I mean—“

Radio interrupted me with a laugh. “Just stop, lad. I raised her the best I could. My adventurin’ days had ended, in a way, but it was an adventure just havin’ her along. We lived in Green Valley ever since. They took care of us when we got here, both me and the young mare, and, when she passed on, her daughter.”

I yawned widely, and finally found a comfortable sleeping position again. “That sounds nice,” I said absently.

“It has been, most of the time. But that’s a story for another time, lad.”

I didn’t answer. The dreams had already started to take over.

{Z-Z}

A piercing scream shattered my sleep as if it was glass. Blinking a couple of times, I tried to bring a hoof up to rub the sand out of my eye. But I couldn’t move it that far. I was restrained, just like I had been in the stasis pod, but differently.

The sound of metal clanging again metal reached my ears as I tried to move the hoof again. I slowly opened my eyes completely, and looked at my hooves. A crude iron bracelet hung around my hoof, connecting it with the wall behind me by a metal chain. The rest of my limbs were fastened in a similar fashion. Even my neck was connected to the wall, although much more loosely.

“Hello?” I asked, looking around me. The light barely shone up a foot in front of me, a compact darkness lounging over me, threatening to swallow me. I could feel the sweat running down from my brow as the hair on the back of my back stood at an end, my throat burning as I tried to breath. “Is there somepony there?” I shouted.

“Is there somepony there?” the walls around me echoed, twisting my voice so that it barely resembled my own.

“Can somepony hear me?” I shouted, the words ending in a violent cough.

“Can somepony hear me?”

“Anyone?”

“Schhhh,” something further away urged me as the light started to spread, revealing the scene around me.

Hundreds of dead lay scattered around the floor. Foals, mares and stallions, unicorns, earth ponies, pegasi and zebras, all lay in their own blood where they had fallen. Some of the corpses were barely anything more than bones, while some of them were still fresh. Others had started to rot, the various stages of decaying filling the room with a thick stench, much stronger than the one that had been in the clinic.

The stench made me want to throw up, my stomach heaved, but nothing came up.

“Don’t disturb the dead,” a voice I recognized whispered in my ear. “Let them rest.”

I tore my eyes away from the bodies in front of me and looked up. On the other side of the room stood a simple cushion, upon which Frost Mane sat, his ice blue eyes looking down at the little body in his hooves. “They don’t feel any pain. Not any more. They have moved on,” he whispered as he gently stroked the mane from the eyes of the little foal.

“What… what happened here? Where am I?” I coughed, my throat hurting.

The unicorn looked at me, his eyes looking through me at something else. Something only he could see. “I… I don’t know. Every time I blink, I see this place. Their faces and their bodies. Their souls.” He started to laugh, an icy, hollow laugh that made every single hair on my body stand on its end, but still his eyes looked through me. “I killed them. Every last one of them,” Frost Mane cackled, tears of amusement running down his cheeks. “Oh, some tried to run, some tried to hide. But in the end, I reached them, found them. Some of them I killed quickly, others I had begging to be killed for hours, days. And a few.” His laugh died out, and his eyes focused on me. “A few I had my fun with,” he said, wheezing as his laughter tried to escape again.

I turned my eyes away, disgust and hatred filling my body. He continued cackling, but slowly the laughter died out until it was nothing but an echo. “But you… I can’t remember killing, or torturing… and I have definitely not raped you. That, I would have remembered. So what are you doing here? Who are you?”

“I saved your life,” I croaked. “But I already regret it.”

My head was forced forward, caught in Frost Mane’s magic. He slowly rose, without a care in the world about the body he had just had in his hooves that now fell to the floor. But before it hit the floor, it turned to dust together with the rest of the bodies, leaving the unicorn and myself alone. For each step closer the greyish white pony took, the light around us shrank, as if it followed him.

All the time, his eyes were on me, venturing over my body. “So, you are here, but I haven’t killed you? Or done something else against you?” he asked with an eyebrow raised. “No, this isn’t right,” he said as he started to cackle again. “You aren’t dead. The dead never speak, they just watch, silently judging me. But you. You speak. You talk with me.” He stopped before me, the foul stench of his breath hitting me dead on. “Who are you?”

“I’m Cogwheel, the pony who allowed you to live.”

“Cogwheel… Cogwheel… Cogwheel. I… recognize the name.”

Suddenly he whirled around, and the darkness engulfed me once more. “Yes… Yes. Cogwheel. I remember now. Luna sent you in my path, as a test. Yes, a test of my faith towards her. But also a test of you, Cogwheel. She wanted to see if you were the right one, if you would allow me to live,” he wheezed as his icy eyes bored into me, taking up my entire view. “Yes… she was happy with you. Very happy, indeed. Luna guided my steps, and still guides me. But… this isn’t right. You aren’t supposed to be here. She doesn’t want you to be here. Not now.” He paused before he whimpered. “Not yet. She will be mad.”

He blinked, and when he opened his eyes again they seemed lighter than they had a moment before. “Leave, Cogwheel. Leave this place at once. Our paths will cross, but not yet. The time isn’t right.” His voice had changed as well. It was more feminine now, but a lot harder.

The light returned, and instead of Frost Mane an alicorn stood before me, her coat the same color as a dark sapphire and her mane flowing around her like the night sky. The eyes were on me, as if she judged me, before she nodded for herself. “Go!” she growled, her voice strong and hard, her horn glowing and her eyes flashing.

I felt my eyelid starting to get heavy, impossible to keep up. As I blinked, everything around me was replaced with darkness. Screaming, the darkness engulfed me completely.

{O.o}

I opened my eyes, quickly looking around in the small room. The sound of light snoring drifted from the couch to my ears, the first light of a new, cloudy day reaching in through the window. I could feel the sweat running down my back, even though it felt as if I was freezing.

“Cogwheel, what’s the matter?” Spitfire asked worried.

Just… just a nightmare, I answered as I slowly stood up. Nothing more.

The thought of the nightmare brought with it the memories of the bodies, and I could feel the stench from the room filling my nostrils again. I need air. Fresh air. Right. Now, I thought as I galloped towards the door and, nearly smashing it off its hinges, opened it as I practically threw myself outside.

“Just a nightmare?” Spitfire asked as I emptied my stomach, leaning against the door post. “Last time I checked, nightmares aren’t supposed to make you throw up. Tell me.”

I draw the back of my hoof over my mouth, tried to get the last remains of the vomit away from the lips. I dreamed about Frost Mane, I thought with a sigh. I… dreamed about this room, filled with corpses of ponies. Hundreds of them. The room smelled… I can’t even describe it. It was like the clinic, but worse. Frost Mane told me that it was ponies he had killed. Or… done other things too.

“It was just a bad dream, Cogwheel. Probably sprung forth by your worries after what Radio told you yesterday.”

I know, I thought as I spat on the ground, taking a step back from where I had just emptied my stomach. But it felt so real. And then he started to talk about Luna, how she had tested us both. I… I don’t know.

“It was just a dream, nothing else. Don’t think about it.”

“Up already, lad?” Radio said as he trotted up behind me, looking at the doors that hung on its hinges. “You know, if you needed t’get the drink from yesterday up, there was a bucket next to the door. No need t’destroy the house,” he yawned as he started to scratch his chin with a hoof. “Come to think about it, we didn’t drink that much yesterday, did we?”

“Weak stomach,” I lied with a weak grin.

Radio blinked, surprised at me, before he laughed again. “You must have a really weak stomach, then. I can’t recall you drinkin’ anything during our game.”

“Yea…” I smiled at him. “Really weak to that stuff.”

The old unicorn shrugged it off. “A beautiful day, isn’t it?” he said, looking around at the still empty street. “Nothin’ like the still air in the silent morning.” He sighed happily.

I took a deep breath, allowing the fresh air, which brought with it a faint smell of roses, to enter my lungs. “It really is a beautiful morning. If only just the clouds could disappear so we could get some sun as well,” I said and looked up at the clouds above me. “It’s so dull with them up there.”

Radio shot a sidelong glance at me. “Lad, if the clouds disappear, I can die happy. They’ve been there in the sky since I was a little colt, and they’re not goin’ away any time soon. You’ll just have to live with that.”

I snapped my eyes away and looked at the unicorn. “Are you serious? But, aren’t the pegasi controlling the weather?”

Radio chuckled. “Pegasi controllin’ the weather? Now, that’s a knee-slapper! No, the cloudcover’s been there as long as anypony can remember. Some ponies think a unicorn messed up a spell and made it permanent, others think it was the zebras. But most say the pegasi put ‘em there and make sure we never see the sun again. It might be true, seein’ as you hardly ever see a pegasi down here anymore. All I know is, if the pegasi can do somethin’ about the clouds, they’re not.”

“That doesn’t make any sens--”

“Don’t worry ‘bout it, lad. Best just accept it for what it is. It’s been that way ever since the war ended, from what I remember.”

A cloud cover over the world for two hundred years? How… how have the ponies survived? I thought as I once again moved my eyes upward. The only memory I have from the sky is from what I remembered back at the clinic. But this… it feels so wrong.

“No wonder the world looks so dead. Without the sun, how is anything supposed to grow?” Spitfire asked. I couldn’t answer.

Radio followed my gaze upwards, before he sighed. “Bolt should be up an’ gettin’ ready by now. D’you want somethin’ t’eat before you leave?”

I shook my head without taking my eyes from the sky. “Are you sure you have enough? I don’t want you to go hungry. To be honest, I’m not even sure I could eat anything right now.”

“Don’t you worry about me, lad,” the old unicorn snorted. “As I said, Vigil helped us a lot, and the townfolk remember that. They’ll make sure the younguns get food. But if you don’t want anything now, at least take some with you for later.”

“I couldn’t ask you to feed me,” I said as I took my eyes away from the sky. “You have already been too kind.”

“Oh, you wouldn’t need to ask. I insist. You can’t go into the ruins without food. And, knowing Bolt, she’ll probably forget t’take any with her.”

“But—“

“Don’t you start, lad. You’ll need food in those ruins. Just nod and accept it.”

“He’s right, you know,” Spitfire said. “Since you soon are going into those ruins, I recommend to take this offer. It would be one less thing to worry about, how to get food.”

I sighed. “Fine.”

“That’s better. Go an’ get your saddlebags, and I’ll come back with some food for you,” he said as he started to walk towards the town, where the first signs of ponies waking up could be seen.

A few ponies were on the streets and greeted Radio when he walked past them. It seemed as they still didn’t like to have me here. The ponies out this early morning looked at me when they didn’t think I was watching, and more than once a pony quickly turned his attention somewhere else when they realized that I noticed. Some of them looked between me and Radio with a raised eyebrow.

I sighed and walked inside to fetch my saddlebag, which lay where I had placed it to the right of the door. Before I wriggled the saddlebags on, I opened them and left a couple of the healing potions I had found earlier on the table.

“Payment?”

Payment. I thought as I walked up to the door leading to the bedroom. Peeping it open, I looked inside at the two still sleeping siblings.

I hope I’m not making a mistake, I thought as I turned around.

“You are,” Spitfire assured me. “But that won’t make you stop, will it?”

No. I sighed and stepped out from the house again. Sitting down on my haunches, I started to wait for Radio.

More and more of the life returned to the small town for every passing minute. Foals started to play around on the dusty street, running between the legs of the working adults. Some paused up to chit-chat with each other, keeping an eye on the foals running around. I couldn’t help but smile for myself at it all.

It didn’t take long before Radio returned, three small bags floating in front of him. “Enough food for five meals, figure that would be enough for you to eat three,” he said as he opened my saddlebags and placed the food therein.

A few of the ponies around looked angrily at us, but Radio didn’t seem to care. “Are you sure I can’t pay you anything?” I asked. “The rest of the town isn’t looking too happy for you giving me the food,” I added with a whisper.

“Lad, if they have any problem with me giving you some food, they can take it up with me,” Radio said, his voice high enough for most onlookers to hear him.

“Thank you,” I said, giving Radio a smile.

“You’re welcome, lad. Now, take care of Bolt for me out there, would you?”

“I will do my best,” I promised. “And you take care of Dust and Precious.””

“They’ll be safe. And you return now, d’you hear me?”

“I will,” I said as I nodded to him. “Thank you. For everything.”

“You’re welcome. Now, off with you. Don’t let Bolt wait too long.”

I flashed him a smile as I turned around and started to walk down the road towards Bolt’s workshop, enjoying the slow morning.

{^-^}

“I’ll be with you in a minute,” Bolt’s voice reached me from the inner parts of the workshop as soon as I had closed the door behind me.

The workshop was in even more of a mess now than it had the day before. Piles of scrap and junk, both metal, plastics and wood materials, laid scattered over the floor and workbenches. A narrow walking path had been cleared through the layer on the floor, but it didn’t look as if had been sorted in any way, instead laid where there had been room. I carefully walked on the path towards the door.

“I said that I would be there in a minute! What could possibly be so—“ Bolt said annoyed as she walked into the workshop. “Oh, it’s you. Up early, are we?”

“Yea, had trouble sleeping. Radio told me that you would be up already, so I figured that I might as well come over.”

Bolt rolled her eyes. “Just like my father to take in every stray dog he can find.”

“Radio is your father?” I mentally kicked myself as soon as the question had slipped out.

“Smooth move.”

“He is. Although it surprises me that he would take in a cyborg.” She rolled her eyes again. “But, if there is anypony in the village who would do that, it would be him.”

“I wasn’t alone. I came here with two others -- siblings.”

“Let me guess. Two, relatively young siblings, not much younger than me? Yeah, he has always had a soft spot for keeping kids and younger adults safe.”

“I wonder why. Is it his way to try and repay for the raider?”

“Dust and Precious, a couple of years younger than you,” I said. How do you mean?

“He made a mistake in his life, and is now trying to repay that mistake.”

“Doesn’t matter to me what their names are. I guess it doesn’t really matter, if they’re not coming with us.”

I raised an eyebrow. “How—“

“They aren’t with you. Now, do you have everything with you?”

“I think so. Everything except the weapon you said you would have fixed.”

“Yes, that. Luckily, I found the perfect thing,” Bolt said as she started to move around some of the scrap lying on the floor. “It should be here somewhere, I know that I placed it here.”

I had to duck or dodge a couple of times as the mare threw various objects in all directions during her hunt for whatever it was she searched for. In the end, she stood there alone with a small holster containing an even smaller revolver, not much different from the one Dust had. “Found it,” she exclaimed as she floated it over to me. “What do you think?”

The revolver was smaller than a fifth of my outstretched hoof, and was barely anything more than a pipe with a cylinder mounted on a mouth-grip. “It’s… small,” I said.

“Well, it will have to do,” Bolt said as she tried to place the holster on my only biological leg. Muttering to herself, something that sounded close to “Thick legged bull,” she floated forward a new strap and added it to the already existing one, and fastened it tight over my leg.

“What did you say?”

“How does it feel?” she asked, completely ignoring my question. “Try to draw it.”

“It is a little tight,” I said as I brought my mouth down to take up the weapon as I had seen Dust use his revolver.

“I don’t think that’s—“

I got this. As I got a hold around the mouth-grip, a crack was heard, followed by a flash of pain from my hoof. The little pony popped up in the corner of my eye, promptly telling me that I had a hole close to the base of my lower limb. Yelping in pain and surprise, I took a step backward and let go of the revolver.

“Cogwheel! Are you alright?”

I’m fine, I thought, clenching my teeth in pain and taking a deep breath. Just… fine.

Bolt had been surprised and taken a step back at the sudden sound, a step she now took back. “You have to be the most clumsy, pea-brained idi—“ she started, before she took a deep breath and floated the revolver out from the holster, practically showing it up my face. “This here, this small part here, is a trigger. Push it down,” she said, empathizing the words by clicking down the part in question. Her action was followed by the same crack. “And you will fire a round in the direction this part--” She turned the revolver around so that the cylinder pointed directly into my eye. I took a step back, grunting as the pain from my wounded leg shot through my body, as she continued. “--points. Is it that hard to understand?”

“I thought—“

“Don’t think. Just do.” she said as she showed the revolver into the holster again. “Come over with that leg, let me look at it.”

I carefully walked over to her, limping slightly as I tried not to put too much weight on the wounded leg.

“It could have been worse,” Bolt said as she looked down the hole in my leg. “The bullet didn’t go completely through, and it missed the bone completely. Steel yourself, this might hurt.”

I screamed in pain and took a step back as she ripped the bullet out. Without even looking at it, she threw it away.

“Thanks,” I breathed through gritted teeth. “For the warning.”

“You’re welcome. Now, try it again, and do it right this time.”

“Don’t bite down that hard this time, and take the grip a little further down. You practically bit down on the trigger last time.”

This time I took it slower, made sure that I wouldn’t bite down on the trigger again. As I lifted the revolver, a magical field jerked it out of my mouth.

“Good, you understand the first rule, don’t bite on the trigger. Second rule, never, ever, point a gun towards someone you aren’t going to shoot.” She pressed down the revolver in the holster again. “Now, try again, faster this time.”

I sighed as I moved my muzzle down to draw the weapon, turning my head slightly away from Bolt as I did.

“Good, but you are still slow. I guess that will do for now. Now, let us train your aim,” she said as she floated up two rusty cans from the heap around us. “One bullet in each. Go.”

As I tried to locate the trigger with my tongue, I actually pushed it down, firing of a round that missed with miles.

“Are you even trying?” Bolt asked. “Seriously?”

I grunted in response as I moved my head to line the weapon with the can. Pushing down the trigger, I once again missed the can.

“Listen, you see that small iron thing sticking up on the barrel? That’s the sight, where it point you will shoot. Try again.”

“Right here,” Spitfire said, and a small circle came to view around the sight.

Thanks, I thought as I tried to focus on it. Pressing down the trigger, I once again missed, but this time I was a bit closer.

“One mo—“

Before Bolt had finished, I fired a new round and hit the can. Smiling, she floated it down before her eyes and looked at the small hole. “Barely hit,” she said. “But it’s a hit. One can left.”

I took a deep breath through my nose as I lined up the tin can. After another moment, I fired, and missed completely. I moved the gun a teeny bit to the right, and pushed down the trigger again. But the gun only clicked.

“Rule three, know how many bullets you have left. The .357 revolver has a cylinder with enough room for six rounds, which means you will have to reload it every sixth shot,” she jerked the revolver from my mouth again, and pushed open the revolver, spilling out six metal pieces from it. After quickly have floating up six new similarly looking pieces and placed them in the cylinder, she slammed it back in place, all in less than five second. “I will teach you how to reload later, but for now try and hit the last can.”

I clenched my teeth around the revolver once more and slowly adjusted my head to aim down the iron. Pressing down the trigger twice to fire two rounds in quick succession, two low pings reached my ears as both shot hit home.

“Not bad,” Bolt said as she floated down the can to look at it. Without any warning, she hurled it towards me, forcing me to jump to the side. “Rule number four, never waste ammunition. One shot would have been enough, don’t shoot more than you have to.”

I dropped the revolver as I yelped in pain when I landed on my hurt leg.

“You are a terrible shot, slow at drawing the weapon and even slower at lining up for a shot,” she said as she took the revolver mid-air and threw up four cans from the floor in the air. “Draw. Aim. Fire. Reload,” she said, each word punctuated with a crack from the revolver and a ping from the can it hit. As all the cans hit the floor, each one with a new hole to their addition, she floated over the revolver and placed it in the holster, before her eyes wandered down to my injured leg. “Now, a healing potion would fix up that wound like a charm. I know that I have one stuffed away here somewhere,” she said as she spun around.

Sighing, I reached down in my saddlebag and picked up one of my own healing potions.

“And this is the mare you are going to travel with into the ruins? A mare who focused on your skill to use a gun and ignored your injuries?”

I chugged down the healing potion, the cold liquid chilling my throat. It wasn’t a serious wound, and I believe she wanted to be sure that I could at least use a gun without shooting myself. The potion had effect immediately, a cold creeping sensation seeping up my leg as the flesh and skin started to crawl into place.

“It’s more likely that she wanted to make sure you didn’t shoot her than yourself,” Spitfire muttered, barely audible. “And the way she treated your wound, just rip the bullet out without a care? She could have damaged you even worse.”

But she didn’t. I lifted up my hoof and inspected it. Not a single trace of the wound, not as much as a shifting in the skin tone or a missing path of coat, was left. The healing potion really made wonders.

“Found it,” Bolt exclaimed as she floated up a healing potion from a couple of saddlebags she had dug forth from one of the heaps. She turned towards me, and raised an eyebrow at me as she saw my hoof. “But it seems you don’t need one anymore.”

“I have a few with me,” I said with a tiny smile. “Can’t go completely unprepared into the ruins, can I?”

“You learn,” Bolt said with an approving smile. “Now then, next stop the ruins.” Bolt levitated her own saddlebags onto her back and slammed open the door.

“Aren’t you going to have a weapon?” I asked her with a raised eyebrow as I followed her outside.

“Of course I have a weapon with me,” Bolt snorted as she continued walking. “Don’t trust you to keep anything away with your skills. No, I got my own weapons with me, don’t you worry about that.”

We turned around two corners, and I found myself standing on a narrow road leading down to an opening that had been cleared in the rumble that otherwise surrounded the small town. On each side of the opening, a unicorn lazily sat. As the sound of our hoofsteps reached them, they quickly stood up and turned their attention to us.

“Good morning, Bolt,” the smaller of the two unicorns said with a wide grin.

The other unicorn bitterly overlooked me, before he too turned his attention towards Bolt. “Leaving for the ruins?” he asked with a thick voice. “With one of his kind?” He spat on the ground. “Is that really smart?”

“Is that your business, Thick?” Bolt snarled.

“As a matter of fact, it is. As guards of the gate, it is Thin and mine’s task to keep you and the rest of the people of Green Valley safe from whatever—“

“Guards of the gate?” Bolt mocked. “The only thing you are guarding is the stones you rest your lazy haunches on as soon as no one is around. And how are you supposed to keep us safe, without any weapon? The only thing you can do is run back and scream ‘Cyborg!’ or ‘Ghoul!’ at the top of your lungs as soon as you see anything that even resemble a pony.”

The bigger unicorn tried to get a word in, but Bolt continued without giving him a chance. The smaller unicorn, Thin, just stood there and giggled silently.

“Now, be a good guard of the gate and tell my father that I will be back soon, and maybe, maybe, I won’t tell him that you didn’t keep lookout as you are supposed to.”

“Y-yes, Bolt,” Thick stammered as he took a step backward.

“Before you go.” Thin spoke up, seemingly unaffected by the glare Bolt gave him as she averted her gaze to him. “We saw some of Exo’s cyborgs pass by earlier, not more than an hour ago. They were going towards the middle of the ruin, but walked close enough for us to believe that they wanted us to see them. We believe that Exo just wants to prove that he is a stallion of his words and that they are protecting us against the ghouls. Thought you might want to know.”

Bolt smiled at Thin. “Thank you, Thin. You have always been a good colt.”

“H-Hey, that isn’t fair! I knew that as well,” Thick spoke up. He quickly closed his mouth as Bolt turned towards him, her smile melting away and her glare once again returning.

“You might, Thick. But it was your brother who said it,” she growled, before the smile returned. Without another word, she walked past both the unicorns. I hurried after her, doing my best to avoid looking at Thick, whose cheeks had turned a slightly deeper color of red.

“What was that about?” I asked Bolt as I reached her just before a sharp turn.

“I used to foal sit those two when I was younger,” the unicorn said as if that would explain everything.

I stopped dead after we had turned. The turn lead to a smaller plateau, which allowed me a smaller overlook of the ruins in all its glory. The few glades with their light green color stood out amongst the ruins that were clad in ivy. Roads and bigger streets laid scattered in irregular patterns over the city, most of them blocked by parts of the buildings that had collapsed over them. Among the ruins pony-like shapes moved around, too far away for me to make out anything else about them.

“Welcome, to the ruins,” Bolt said as she started move down the road into the ruins. “Let me be your guide.”

{^-^}

Footnote: Level Up!

New Perk: Quick Learner: Learning is painful, and now, you never want to spend more time learning than you have to. For each rank of this perk you get a bonus 5% experience from all sources, as well as a +1 skill point bonus at each level.

Secondly, thanks to Rising_Chaos for proofreading and listening to my never ending babbling.

Lastly, thanks to James Tonto for reading through and telling me what he thought.

Free

Green Valley was a beautiful city, even in its ruined state. Trees grew along the street, clad in as much ivy as the otherwise grey and dull ruins of the pre-war city were. The street was mostly clear. Few, if any, of the parts that had come loose from the ruins had fallen over the road, and only a couple of wagons stood where they had been abandoned on the pavement. Not even the bones, which otherwise had been a common part of the wasteland I had seen, was represented in any larger scale.

The only thing interrupting the silence in the slumbering city was the echo of our hooves against the stone pavement, especially my own heavy, metal-clad steps.

“You pea-brained idiot!” Bolt screamed as we ran through the streets. “We could have just avoided those ghouls, but no! You had to take a closer look!”

The sound of the ghouls screaming behind us as they came closer echoed with our hoofsteps. It felt as if my heart wanted to jump up in my throat or punch through my chest as I threw a look back at the ghouls following us. They were gaining on us, the first of the rotten pony bodies not more than fifteen steps behind us.

“I told you, they wouldn’t have seen me if it wasn’t for that small pebble falling down!” I quickly looked forward again, my legs pumping a little faster.

“I’m telling you, those things are not scientifically possible!” Spitfire said, clearly shocked.

“That small pebble,” Bolt growled as she made a sharp turn, starting down a new alley. “Caused a landslide! Next time you want to do something like that, make sure the ghouls come under the rocks. And make sure the rocks don’t end up making a ramp for them to get to us!”

“I mean, their bodies… They have rotted! How long must they have been dead for that to happen? They shouldn’t be able to move, much less be alive! This is not scientifically possible! They aren’t scientifically possible!”

I don’t care if they’re impossible, I care that they’re chasing us! “I’m sorry, okay?” I screamed to Bolt. “I didn’t see the pebble!” My sides heaved under the strain of breathing as I ran.

“Saying you’re sorry doesn’t do much for us now!” Bolt yelled as she made another turn. “In here!”

I quickly followed her, and she slammed the door shut after me. As soon as I had entered the room, I slumped against the closest wall and tried to catch my breath. I could hear tthe ghouls scratching at the door, trying to get in, but for the moment it withstood the assault.

The room we had run into (well, it was more of a hallway, really) wasn’t very big. Three doors lead into other parts of the house. In one of the rooms, I could see stairs leading to a floor above me. A few pieces of furniture, mainly two bureaus, an old armchair that had clearly seen better days, a hatrack and a bookcase were the only things that had adorned the small room. Three of the walls seemed to be in a good state, at least if you compared them to the other buildings I had seen. The fourth wall seemed to have fallen out partially, bringing some of the ceiling down with it.

“Get… up,” Bolt hissed between her teeth, her sides heaving as much as mine. “They’re going to break through that door any second now, and I don’t want to be here when they do!”

“And they shouldn’t be able to breathe! I mean, didn’t you see the throat of one of them? Completely ripped out, and the area around it looked as if someone had chewed on it!”

“Get up!” she said as she tugged at my biological leg. “Or I will leave you here!”

I slowly rose up, my throat burning for each ragged breath. “Now what?!”

“Help me with this,” Bolt said as she hurried over to the bookcase and started to move it. “It’s heavy.”

“Are you sure it will be enough to keep them out?” I asked as I helped her push it over to the door. My cybernetic legs moved as easily now as they had before we started running, but my real leg felt heavier and could barely keep my weight up. “And what about that?” I asked, pointing towards the gap in the wall.

“It should keep them out, but I don’t know for how long,” Bolt said as she took a hurried look over the room. “And they can’t jump that high. At least I hope so. You stay here and take a breather. I’m going to go and look for another way out.”

“Y-You didn’t know if there would be another way out from here?!”

“How would I be able to know that? I barely know where we are. Now, make yourself useful and lean against the bookcase while I look around. Yell if they start to come through. or jump over the wall.” She threw a quick look back at me. “And I really need to find something for your hooves.”

“What’s wrong with them?”

“They’re noisy. You know, metal against stone? We were lucky there weren’t more ghouls that heard you,” she stated as she hurried through one of the other doors in the room. “I’ll be right back. Be ready to run!”

“Run from… what?” I finished the sentence in a lower voice, certain she wouldn’t hear me. I did as I was told and leaned against the bookcase. I could clearly hear the sound of the ghouls screaming and trying to get through the door through the obstacles, but it seemed to hold them off for now.

“There must be a logical explanation behind all this,” Spitfire said. “Maybe magic is keeping them together and going? No, wait. That’s ridiculous!”

I tried to shut her voice out of my head, with no success. Sighing, I allowed my eyes to wander the room as my breathing started to return to normal, leaving my throat yearn for water, as she continued to talk about how scientifically—

“They are completely, one hundred percent, scientifically impossible! I don’t get it! How can they work, live, and breathe? Are they sentient? They haven’t shown any sign of it yet, but what if they are? What kind of life form are they?”

The books and smaller decorations that had been placed in the bookcase now lay scattered over the dusty floor where they had landed when we moved their former home. A cleared path in the dust showed exactly where we had moved the bookcase.

Debris lay where it had fallen from the floor above, and I could see small grains of dust falling from the ceiling, probably from where Bolt walked on the floor above. I silently prayed that the wood above me would hold. I shifted slightly to not be close to any part of the ceiling that leaned down into the room. I could hear the soft sound of Bolt’s hooves against the floor above, but I could no longer hear any sound from the ghouls outside.

“It seems like they gave up!” I yelled in the direction Bolt had disappeared. Barely had the words left my mouth when a thump and a crack came from the other side of the door. I swiftly moved myself from the bookcase. “You know what, scrap that,” I yelled as I moved towards the location I hoped Bolt was in. “They are kicking in the door!”

“They’re what?” Bolt asked wide-eyed as she ran down the stairs and towards me. Three cloth bundles floated after her. “Quickly, put these on. I found a way out, but there’s something in the way and I can’t get it to move.”

She floated over the bundles of cloth to me, and I quickly stepped into them, using my teeth to fasten them. They started to glow softly as Bolt jerked them in place, and suddenly I was very happy for my cybernetics. Had they been real legs, my blood circulation would most likely have been cut off by the clothing.

“Hurry up!” she hissed. “We don’t have a lot of time! This way!”

Her words were followed by the sound of something heavy, most likely the bookcase, hitting the floor.

“Hurry up!” she yelled again as she ran into another room. “There’s a backdoor in the kitchen!”

I hurried after her as I tried to listen for the ghouls. I couldn’t hear their screaming, so it seemed that the door withstood their assault. Hopefully it would be able to hold for a few more minutes.

The kitchen was a bit bigger than the other rooms, with debris from the hole in the ceiling blocking parts of the way. I quickly saw the door that Bolt had talked about. Luckily, not much of the rubble had blocked the way, but there was a stout wooden table blocking the way out.

“Help me move it. Quickly!” Bolt said as she started to throw away the debris on the ground.

I hurried over to the opposite side and drove my hoof into the wood, heaving my entire bodyweight against the poor leg. It creaked loudly in protest as the table started to slide over the floor, causing a screeching sound. I heard something hit the floor in the other room, followed by hoofsteps and the ghouls’ screams. I grunted and redoubled my effort, and was rewarded with the table moving enough for us to be able to open the door.

“Run!” Bolt screamed as she bolted out the door.

I threw a look over my shoulder as I followed her, only to see that the ghouls were close behind us, nearly close enough to lunge for my legs. Pumping my legs and ignoring the pain that slowly started to creep up from my biological one, I ran after her out in the garden behind the house. Luckily, the small door in the fence was unlocked and opened easily out to a back alley. Turning right, we soon found ourselves on the road again.

“Now what?!” The ghouls were closer to us now than they were before. If anything, we had closed the distance between us and them with our detour through the house.

“I don’t know, okay?!” Bolt yelled as she looked wildly around herself. “I’m not even certain that I know where we are anymore!”

“They don’t even slow down, and they don’t seem to be affected by muscle tiredness or any lactic acid build up!”

“Our best shot is to outrun them or lose them! In here!” Bolt said as she made a sharp turn. “I think we’re close to the western parts of the city. The workshop should be only a couple of blocks away.”

I followed her, nearly falling over as my leg threatened to fold beneath me. The only thing saving me from falling over was that my cybernetics quickly shifted to follow the real leg in the motion and give it a split second to recover.

“Be careful, Cogwheel! You can’t keep this running up for much longer!” Spitfire said. “I was lucky to be able to catch you this time!”

She was right. My breathing came in short, ragged bursts, and my throat burned with each breath. I made another turn, the scream from the ghouls following me close behind. They sounded even closer now. “How far away? I don’t think I can keep this running up for much longer!”

I quickly looked around me as my question went unanswered. “Bolt?” I couldn’t see her. She had disappeared from my side. “Bolt!”

The only things answering me were the ghouls coming closer and my own scream echoing from the ruins. I turned around another corner, trying to get back to the road I had diverged from. The lighter green suddenly showing up in my view, breaking the otherwise dark green on the ruins, made me slide to a halt.

“What are you doing?” Spitfire screamed. “Run!”

I looked frantically from side to side, trying to find some other way out than the glade. Unable to find one, and hearing the ghouls screams closing in, I started to run towards the glade. This is madness!

“Rather the glade than those… impossible things!” Spitfire said. “Just try to run along it, don’t enter it!”

My legs drummed against the stone pavement as I ran, the sound of them nearly drenched out by the ghouls behind me. As soon as I arrived to the line of green that ended the road and started the glade, I turned left and started running along it. I saw from the corner of my eyes that the ghouls were starting to run alongside me. Not trying to get any closer, but still keeping up with me.

“Are they afraid of the glade?” Spitfire asked.

I’m not taking any risks, I thought as I continued to run.

The edge of the glade came to a sudden stop as a building had fallen over and blocked the way. I eyed it up and down, but there was no way I could jump over it. I couldn’t cut through the glade to try and pass it either. To my left, the collapsed building was strewn about all the way to the base of the building. The ghouls had stopped with me. Each one of them faced me, but none of them made any move towards me.

“Just look at them! So—“

I don’t care if they are scientifically impossible, okay?! They are here, and they are chasing me! I thought as I turned around and started to run in the other direction, back to where I had just been. The ghouls followed me, their screaming starting as soon as they took their first step. I started to wonder if it was their hooves that made the screaming.

“I was going to say something else!”

Like what?! My sides heaved as I ran, and my throat burned with each breath.

“Okay, nothing. But just look at them! They shouldn’t be able to exist!”

Able or not, they are here!

“I can see that. But they shouldn’t. Parts of the muscles are clearly exposed under the rotten skin and flesh, and it work as yours. But what keeps it together? They don’t need to breathe, like the one with a torn out throat shows, so what is keeping them going?”

Maybe just a will to kill me? I don’t know! And I’m not going to go and ask them!

I followed the outline, at times running a little bit closer to the ghouls as I avoided a branch or something else shooting out from the trees and blocking my way. Each time I did, the ghouls screamed higher, some of them even trying to jump at me, only to hesitate in the last moment and instead continue running. Whatever was inside the glade was something the ghouls seemed to fear.

What happened to Bolt? I asked myself as I ran. Did she get away? Did the ghouls only follow me?

“Bolt is most likely fine. I think she can take care of herself.”

What if she is hurt? Or dead?

“Or maybe all the ghouls followed your shiny backside and completely ignored her?”

I grunted. Radio is going to kill me.

“She is fine, Cogwheel. I believe that she can take care of herself.”

I guess.

This path ended as abruptly as the other one had. Without a warning I found myself in front of the remnants from one of the ruined buildings. I stopped in my tracks, my sides heaving as I slumbered down to catch my breath, my vision going double for a second or two. The building that was before me wasn’t the same as before. That I was certain of. It wasn’t as high as the other had been, neither was it completely covered in green ivy. Yet, it was too high for me to jump over, especially in my breathless state. I looked between the ghouls on my right side, and the glade to the left. A small path had been opened alongside the stone from the building, inviting me to step into the glade. I could practically see the center of the glade, as well as the other side of it, as I looked along the path.

The glade or the ghouls. Not much else I can do.

“Promise me that you will only go along the building and then out again?”

I heard what Radio said as well as you, I thought as I rose up again and turned my back to the ghouls. I don’t want to take any risks.

The ghoul screamed in rage behind me as I took the first step into the glade. But after I had taken only a few steps, the sound disappeared. It was replaced with the sounds of my hooves against dry leaves or the occasional cracking of a twig under my hoof. Looking back, I couldn’t see the ghouls anymore. I took a deep breath, and my nostrils were filled up with the smell of thousand and one flowers, each and every scent working out with the rest. The burning in my throat lightened with each breath, until it had completely disappeared.

{/-}

My heart slowed down with each step I took until its beat came in a slow, steady, and nearly hypnotizing rhythm. The sound of running water reached my ears, drenching out nearly every other sound I could hear. As I reached the end of the path, the sound of running water and my own heartbeat were the only things I could hear. I lazily looked around the glade.

The trees around the glade swayed gently in the eerie wind that played with the dark green grass under my hooves. Sunlight shone down from a clear sky above me, the rays warming my body and the bright light forcing me to squint slightly. A few logs, partly overgrown with moss, lay placed around a stone circle in the middle of the glade. I couldn’t find the source of the water, and neither could I find an opening out from here as I looked around. It felt as if it should bother me, but instead the fact ran of me as if it had been water, and I had soon forgotten about it.

Something in the back of my mind tried to get my attention, but it came to me as nothing but white noise -- a noise that played along the eerie wind, the running water and my own heartbeat to create a harmony I had never felt before. Yet, it felt as if I had forgotten something. There was something important about this place. Or was it something important about someone else? I couldn’t remember. As soon I tried to remember, my mind started to wander to other subjects.

I slowly shook my head from side to side, trying to clear it of any thoughts as I stepped toward the center of the glade. My right foreleg moved without problem, but the other three refused to move at all. Surprised, I looked down at them, then up again at the center of the glade.

It enticed me, called out for me to come closer. But I couldn’t; my leg refused to move. The white noise in the back of my mind grew stronger, until it nearly drowned out every other sound. For a split second, I thought I could hear someone call my name. Someone I should remember. But then it disappeared again, the sounds of the glade subduing the white noise in my head.

Once again, I tried to walk towards the glade, and this time I managed to lift my legs to take a step. I slowly walked forward. My legs tried to refuse -- they tried to keep me in place, tried to stay still -- but the call from the glade was stronger, and in the end, my legs had to give up and allow me to continue.

I lied down in the soft grass as I reached the center of the glade. The sun-warmed grass tickled my hide. Shifting slightly in the sun, I tried to find a comfortable position. It wasn’t hard to find one, and as soon as I did, I put down my head on my forelegs, sighing happily. All the tension in my shoulders and haunches disappeared nearly instantly as I lay there. My eyelids started to get droop down...

I blinked, and suddenly the world around me was hidden behind a blue filter. The noise was back in my head, stronger than before. A light blue pony head appeared in front of me. “Resist, Cogwheel! Don’t fall asleep! Get out of here!” it urged me, its voice full of panic.

But I didn’t try to fight the sleep. Instead, I allowed it to take over me as the voice turned back to noise, before disappearing completely. The last thing I remember before I fell asleep was someone shouting my name, but I barely grunted in response as I fell asleep.

{z.z}

“How are you holding up?”

I sighed. The smile on my lips slipped, but only just. I had known that the question would come sooner or later. But that didn’t help, my heart still ached as she asked the question. Pain from memories of her -- memories of a mare I would never speak to again. I would never again see her smile. I would never again slip into bed next to her after a day of work.

It was nearly a year since she died, and it pained me to even begin thinking of her again. But I tried not to show anything of that as I turned to the mare sitting next to me.

“I’m not, Pod,” I said. “Not an hour passes without me thinking about her, not a night goes by when I don’t have trouble sleeping, without her there to calm me to sleep. During the days I try to be strong, both for my customers and my son, but when I get home? When I have tucked him to bed?” I sighed as I looked to the young colt who played around in the grass, who was chasing a butterfly and flapping his wings to get speed.

He had a slightly lighter brown coat than I had, and his mane was redder than mine. It made him look as if someone had put one of the logs lying in the glade aflame. “He still asks for her. Some evenings he stays up and looks out from the window, and he tells me that ‘mommy promised to get back tonight’. It’s as if he doesn’t understand when I’m trying to tell him that his mother won’t come home again. And it pains me.”

Honey Pod looked up at me, a hint of tears in her eyes.

“The only thing I have left of her is the shop. Every day it reminds me about her. Of all the work we put into it. How much she helped me with it, both when she was pregnant and the few months after the birth. We have started to expand, and it’s a lot of work to keep up with.” I sighed again and rested my head against my forelegs, smiling as I looked at the colt finally catching the butterfly, only to release it again and begin anew. “It feels good to get away from it for a while. I can’t remember the last time I took a couple of days off.”

I could sense Honey smiling at me as she followed my gaze. “I’m happy you could come. I haven’t seen you since I moved here.”

“I’m happy you invited us. I think we both need a change of environment, if only for a couple of days.”

“You’re free to stay for as long as you wish.”

“We aren’t interrupting your studies, then?”

The mare laughed softly. “No, no, not at all. I think I can afford to fall behind a few days without it affecting my end grades in any way.”

“Don’t go away too far now, son.” I raised my voice slightly as the small pegasus chased the butterfly towards the end of the glade. “Stay where I can see you.”

“Yes daddy,” he said as he looked back at us. He tripped on something on the ground, but managed to keep himself afloat with the help of his tiny wings. “Look daddy, I’m flying!” he screamed with joy as he flapped his wings, moments before he crashed into the ground again. A memory from another time, in a not so different place, came unbidden to my mind. Another pegasus taking a few flaps with her wings, kept aloft not much longer than my son had now. I could feel my heart arch at the memory.

“More falling with grace,” Honey Pod snickered next to me.

I smiled at her remark. “You are doing great, Son.” The aching in my chest was replaced by pride. “He is the first of the pegasi in his school to be able to keep himself aloft, and the teacher even offered to teach him to fly on her free time. Seeing his… situation.” I finished the sentence with another sigh.

“How sweet of her.”

I only nodded in response.

A brownish streak came zipping towards me, and I quickly rose to catch him in a hug. He returned the hug, before he wriggled free and lay down a blue flower in front of Honey. “For you,” he chirped before he zipped away again, leaving both me and the unicorn smiling.

{^v^}

I slowly blinked the sand out of my eyes as I stretched out my hooves, yawning widely. The sun was pleasantly warm against my coat, and the grass I lied on tickled me. Slowly, I rose up to a sitting position and looked around. The trees swayed lazily in the wind, a wind that brought with it the scent of flowers to my nose.

The sound of the water was still there, as was the noise in the back of my head, although the last one was barely audible. Calm spread through my body, hiding away worries I didn’t even know I had. I sighed happily as I rose to my legs and started to idly stroll in the glade.

Even thought I felt calm, there was something about the glade that made me uneasy. It felt as if something observed me, but as soon as I spun around, there was nothing but a soft green glow among the thick trees. As soon as I blinked, it was gone, making me wonder if it was my mind playing tricks on me. No matter how thoroughly I searched, I couldn’t find a way out of the glade.. It’s not that I wanted to leave, but a question came to mind.

“How did I get in here?” I asked the air around me.

“You walked in, I conjecture.”

I whirled around at the sudden sound.

“That’s what most poor souls did to get here.”

An older earth pony sat on one of the logs in the middle of the glade. His coat resembled the bark on an old oak tree and his mane its leaves. Weaves of silver, like spider webs, were spread through his mane. The voice reaching me reminded me of the wind blowing through the leaves in the trees around me. His eyes were hidden beneath a piece of cloth tied around his head. Before him, close to eye level, two small logs of wood floated in a jade green light.

Surprised, I took a step back. “Where did you come from?”

“I have been here all along, Cogwheel,” the earth pony smiled. “But I didn’t want to awake you. You looked so… Peaceful when you were asleep.”

“How do you know my name?”

“I know a lot of things. They say that knowledge comes with age, and I have lived longer than most,” the earth pony laughed, a hollow laugh, like wind blowing through a hollowed out log. “And, before you ask, I’m not going to give you my name.” He smirked at me. “No, like you I will hide my real name behind a façade. Until you have remembered your real name again, and can give it to me in exchange, you won’t know mine. For now, you can call me Free.”

“A façade? What do you mean?”

“Your name. It’s nothing but a placeholder, a name without a meaning. You wear it as a façade, to hide your true nature. But you aren’t here for asking questions about names. No, something else brought you here. Fate? Luck?”

I tried to think about what had happened. I could remember waking up, I could remember falling asleep, and I could remember entering the glade. Everything beyond that was hidden beneath a fog. “I-I don’t remember,” I said. “I… I think I was chased by something. Someone screamed for me to continue. I found the glade, and whatever followed me stopped as soon as I stepped in.”

“Fate, then.” Free smiled at me. “And now?”

“Cogwheel! We have to get out of here!” The noise in the back of my head formed into a voice again, but was quickly subdued by the sound of running water. But it had awoken something inside of me: memories. Avoid the glades. Get out of there as quick as you can. Something waited in there, killing anything that entered.

I started shaking. Sweat started to form on my brow. “I want to get out. I don’t want to be here anymore.”

“You wish to leave? A wise choice.”

I spun around, my heart beating faster. There was no way out. I couldn’t see any breaks in the tree line. I started to walk along the line, frantically looking for a way out. The earth pony stayed silent, and from the corner of my eye I could see small chunks of wood disappear from the logs that floated in front of him, as if an invisible knife carved them. I could feel his eyes on me as I circled the glade. Even when he wasn’t facing me, I could feel them.

“You won’t find a way out like that,” Free said as I finished the third lap around the glade.

My breath came more quickly as I spun around. My sides heaved as if I had been running for miles. “Then how do I get out?!”

“Through me.”

I took a step back. “What?” I could feel the old earth pony’s eyes on me as he tilted his head slightly.

“This glade... It likes me. It gives me what I want, be it food or water, or even...” He turned his head to me as he spoke, his neck nearly doing a full turn. “You.”

I blinked in surprise and jumped backwards, my heart racing, but as my hooves hit the ground again his head was back to looking straight forward, and I wondered if I had only imagined it.

“A pony that the glades saved from ghouls.”

I tried to get my heart to slow down, but with no success.

“Of course, it also lets me leave whenever I wish.” The trees seemed to move at the other side of the glade, clearing a path at his words. I started to run towards it, my heart threatening to beat through my chest. Moments before I reached it, branches shot forward and blocked the path again. “And it lets me keep others here by my will.”

“I want to go,” I whimpered, trying to push through the branches. “I don’t want to be here.” The branches wouldn’t budge under my strength. Instead, they seemed to push me back towards the middle of the glade.

“I can give you that freedom.” Free was suddenly next to me, whispering sweetly in my ear. “I can let you leave. All you have to do is give me... A promise.”

I jumped and shrank away from the pony. “I-I just want to leave. Please, let me leave.”

“All I need is a promise,” he said as he raised my chin with a hoof, smiling down gently at me. Although I couldn’t see his eyes under the cloth, it felt as if they stared into my soul. “And you are free to leave. A small promise, that is all.”

“What do you want me to do?” I tried to shrink away from the eyes I could not see, but his hoof held me firmly in place.

“Oh, it’s easy. Not far from here is a workshop. In the basement, there is an entrance to a… Shelter. Inside that shelter, in the maintenance area, there something that belongs to me. An… Ornament, if you will. Promise me that you will receive that item and bring it back here, and I will open the way out here.”

“If I refuse?” I asked, trying to steel my words.

Free raised an eyebrow. “If you refuse?” He chuckled lightly as he moved his mouth to my ear. “Then you will stay here, and in the end it will get you.”

“I-it?” I shied away from him as his hoof released my chin. It felt as if the trees had crept closer to us to listen to us talk.

“It -- the protector of the glade. A predator, lurking in the shadows. It is asleep now, but for how long? Minutes? Hours? Days?” Free took a step backwards. “The only way for you to escape it, is to leave this glade before it wakes up.”

“I don’t want to be here anymore,” I whimpered and looked around me. “I’ll do what you want.”

“What was that?” He smiled down at me.

“I promise to get your ornament back. Please, just… just let me out.”

“That wasn’t so hard now, was it?”

I looked up, and found myself facing the tree line. The tree branches slowly moved away, clearing a path for me to leave. With my heart still thumping in my chest, I ran for it. I hadn’t gone far on the path before Free’s voice reached me.

“And Cogwheel, don’t try to fool me. Its claws reach far. I will wait for you.” His hollow laugh followed me as I ran.

{q.p}

“Where did you come from?”

I blinked in surprise, disoriented. My body trembled, but it wasn’t from the sudden loss of warmth from the sun, that now once again was hidden behind a cloud cover. I was lying on a patch of grass, which lacked the warmth from the glade. The sounds of the glade had disappeared as well, replaced with the sounds of hoofsteps walking over the dead grass towards me. Looking up, I could see Bolt walk towards me. She stopped as I looked at her.

“What happened to you?” Her voice seemed distant.

“Are you okay?” Spitfire’s voice rolled in my head, thick with worry. “I-I’m sorry. I couldn’t do anything. I don’t know what blocked me out, but I couldn’t speak with you. I-I—“

I buried my head in my hooves, pain flashing through my head. “I-I don’t know. One second I was being chased by ghouls, the other… The other, I ran into the glade.”

“You were in the glade? How was it?” Bolt practically jumped at the spot, before she suddenly eyed me suspiciously. “How did you get here? I’ve been running laps around this glade, but there’s no way in!”

“It was warm… and I felt secure there. At least, at first I did. I-I fell asleep, and when I woke up.” I felt a lump start to form in my throat. “I-I don’t want to be here anymore,” I whimpered.

“Nothing will hurt you out here,” Spitfire soothed. “It can’t reach you here.”

I felt my heart slow down slightly at her words, but my body still trembled. “Can we please go? Please?” I looked pleadingly at Bolt.

She looked between me and the glade, before she sighed. “You know, for being so big and tough looking, you really are nothing but a cryborg.” She took a step closer to the glade, a wistful look in her eyes and her hoof stretched out. After a moment, she put her hoof down again and turned towards me. “Okay, come on then. I’m not going to carry you if that’s what you think.”

I hurried up on my hooves, my leg shaking slightly as I took the first step. Bolt threw a last look at the glade, before she started to walk as well.

“W-what happened to you?” I asked, trying to take my mind away from the glade.

She raised an eyebrow at me. “After you ran off for Celestia-knows-why? Most of the ghouls followed you, only two of them thought of me as easier prey. I surprised them after a turn and killed them, staying there a couple of minutes to regain my breath. As soon as I could breathe easily again, I started to look for you... And the workshop.” She smirked slightly. “Was happy when I found the thing I wanted, but I was getting bored, waiting for you. I saw the glade sticking out above the ruins and decided to check it out.” She turned around a corner. “Went two laps around it, and then I found you.”

I stopped in the middle of a step, but the unicorn didn’t seem to notice as she continued walking. “Two laps?” I asked. “As in, two full laps around the glade, without anything in the way?”

Bolt didn’t even stop in her steps. “Yes, two laps. As I said. Why?”

“That… that isn’t possible!” Spitfire said. “You walked into two ruined buildings, forcing you to turn around! It’s impossible for her to have made two laps!”

“N-No reason,” I said as I moved faster to catch up with her. It’s impossible for a glade to close and open paths like that one did, isn’t it? I shivered slightly at the memory.

She looked at me, the eyebrow still arched questioningly. My mind raced. I really didn’t want to talk about the glades right now. “Why did you wait for me outside the workshop?” I blurted out just as she opened her mouth to say something. “I mean, it’s kind of you to wait, but—“

I was cut short by the rough sound of her laughing. “I didn’t wait because of you. I simply couldn’t get in. Think I broke th… The locks on the doors were broken.”

“Then why did you wait for me?”

“You really are slow, aren’t you?” Bolt snickered as she looked me over. “Muscles, but no brain. I figured that you might be able to buck those doors in if you had survived the ghouls. Thought that I would give you until the evening to get here, otherwise I would return home and hire someone to buck them in.”

As she spoke she stopped before a two-story building that seemed mostly intact, despite the look of the buildings around it. Letters had once adorned the wall above the double doors, but they had since long fallen away, the only one left was a “w” hanging awry close to the middle. Four big windows had planks barred over them.

“Should be an easy job for you,” the unicorn said as she waved a hoof towards the double doors. “Just bash them in, but try to keep it down. I don’t want every ghoul in the city to know we’re here.”

I walked up to the doors. They were made of wood, and it didn’t seem as if they were very sturdy. On the pavement in front of them, an area had been cleared. A few small and bended metal pieces lay scattered in the cleared area, and I could see that another metal piece had stuck inside the lock. Lightly tapping my hoof against the door proved me right that the door wasn’t sturdy.

“Just bash it in already,” Bolt groaned behind me. “I’d like to get in there today, you know.”

“Yea, sorry,” I said as I turned around with my back legs against the door.

With a loud slam my hooves connected with the doors. I could practically feel the area I had hit crumble as the doors were torn off their hinges. A second slam followed from inside the room when the door landed.

“Oops… Maybe a little too hard.”

“A little? You kicked the door off its hinges! We’re lucky if not every ghoul, or even one of Exo’s thugs, heard that!” She took a deep breath and seemed to relax slightly. “You must be the biggest idiot…“ With a groan she walked through the doorpost, not even bothering to finish the sentence.

I carefully followed her. The workshop’s entry room was surprisingly tidy. The cause of that might have been that it was so empty. Besides the half-moon shaped counter that stood against the wall, and now had the wooden door lying on it, only a few cushions in a corner took up the generous space. Numerous frames hung on the wall behind the counter, and most of them seemed to still be intact. The room had two doors beside the ones behind us, one placed behind the counter and one at the far back of the right wall.

Bolt walked over to the cushions and sat down on one of them, her eyes towards the door.

“Let’s eat some before we continue. If we’re lucky, we’ll get to eat in peace.” Bolt floated off her saddlebags and opened them. “You have food with you, right?” She raised an eyebrow at me as she floated out a small package.

I shook my own saddlebags off my back and picked up one of the small bags Radio had given me.

“Good, was afraid I would have to feed you,” she smirked as she started to eat.

Without a word I dug into my own food. “What is this place?” I asked between bites. “I mean, I know it’s a workshop, but what did they do here?”

Bolt rolled her eyes, clearly annoyed. “Didn’t I say I wanted to eat in peace?” She paused, sighing and shaking her head, before she continued. “Basically, they repaired different pre-war things, like your cybernetics.” She continued eating.

It didn’t take long before I had finished my food, but Bolt was taking her time eating. Bored, I rose from my cushion and, with the unicorn’s eyes on my back, walked over to the frames hanging on the wall by the counter. The frames, or at least the ones still readable, were certificates and nominations from different companies. Amongst them were Stable-Tec, Red Racer, Ironclad Industries and Clip-Clop’s Clipboards, the last one with the slogan Like maintenance should ever be needed. But one of the frames quickly drew my eyes to it.

Over the picture of a cogwheel surrounded by a bluish aura were the words Certificated SAT Repair and Maintenance Station. Under the cogwheel was a slogan, reading ‘SAT: For all your magical technology needs’. I just stood there and stared on the logo.

“We found something about SAT.”

Yes, we did, I thought as I smiled. Not the destination, but maybe a place that can point us in the right direction.

“Told you that this place had something to do with SAT,” Bolt said as she trotted up to me. “I guess this isn’t the place you really wanted to find, but there might be something around here that points to a factory or headquarters.”

“Maybe there is a terminal with the different factories’ locations?”

“But, for now,” Bolt said with a smirk as she floated my saddlebags onto my back. “We scavenge. I took the… liberty to do a quicksort of your saddlebags, so you should be able to take something with you for me.”

“For you?” I asked as I turned to face her.

“Yes, for me.” She looked sternly at me. “I don’t think that you would find any use to most of the things in here on your quest to find a pre-war company to restore your memories. Do you? Think of it like a favor for bringing you here in the first place.”

I sighed. “Fine.”

“Hey, I might even throw in some caps for you.”

She looked at me for a second, but when I didn’t say anything she rolled her eyes and trotted over to the closest door, mumbling something that sounded dangerously close to ‘ungrateful, pea-brained idiot’ to herself.

“A currency is always good to have. You can’t expect the kindness you have encountered here everywhere.”

I sighed. I guess you’re right. “Thank you,” I said as I followed her.

She looked up from the door, a hoof still resting on it. “For bringing you here or offering you caps?”

“Both.”

“Don’t mention it. I wanted to get here anyway, and I guess you deserve some payment if you help me out with carrying whatever we might find.”

“It’s still nice of you.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Now, if you’re finished, shall we get started? The faster we’re done scavenging, the faster we-- you can find something about SAT and w-- you can be on your way to find your memories.” She snorted as she pushed the door open. “That’s still a ridiculous story, like a pre-war company—“

She froze in the middle of motion, her jaws hanging slack. “T-this… It’s,” she stuttered as I quickly looked past her into the room beyond.

The first thing I noticed was the hole in the opposite wall, through which the ruins could be seen. Light from outside shined through the hole, as well as the windows that were placed in a long line at the top of the walls, basically creating one long line from the left wall to the right wall through the middle wall. Some storage racks had fallen over, the various objects that had once rested them now scattered over the floor. Most of them stood amongst the many workbenches also scattered over the floor. A few metal ponies lay spread out over the floor on pools of blood around a pony that I guessed was one of Exo’s thugs. He had the cybernetic leg to match the name. A metal ramp went from the door and down to the workshop area.

“How?” Bolt’s eyes scanned the area. She slid down on her haunches, her eyes going from side to side of the workshop. “I can’t believe it,” she yelled, bringing her hoof down in the ground. “This isn’t happening!”

Surprised, I took a step to the side. “What’s the matter?”

“What’s the matter?” Bolt glared up at me. “You want to know what’s the matter?”

I nodded affirmatively.

“You’re a blind, pea-brained…” she growled, bringing down her hoof into the floor again instead of finishing the sentence. “Look!” She motioned with her hoof to floor below us. “The problem is that someone’s already been here! Odds are, they were Exo’s thugs, if the cybernetic on that dead pony is anything to go by.” She pointed out the pony in question, before she sighed and allowed the hoof to fall to her side. “And, as long as they weren’t just here for a picnic, they’ve probably taken everything valuable already!”

“Are you sure?”

She raised her eyebrow in disbelief. “You really don’t know anything about the wasteland, do you? If you pass something that’s valuable, you take it. It doesn’t matter if it’s something you can use or not. If you can’t, you just sell it to someone who can.” She rose again. “There’s no way they left anything here. ... They didn’t even have the decency to use the door! They had to bash a wall in!”

“Well, we bashed the door in,” I reminded her.

“Not we, you. But at least we used the door.” She sighed as she took the first step into the workshop. “I guess if we came all the way for this, we might as well see if there’s something left.”

“Hey, I’m sure there is something left!” I said as I stepped after her down the ramp. “I mean, it’s impossible that they could carry away everything in here, right?”

“I guess we might find something, but I’m not getting my hopes up,” she said as she started to look around.

I wasn’t sure what we were looking for, so I let Bolt pick and choose what she wanted me to carry. Besides, she was a much more experienced scavenger than I was. I was sure it would be better to let her decide what was of value and what was junk. Instead, I walked over to the corpse and the metal ponies lying around it.

My body trembled slightly as I walked closer, my eyes on the ponies completely made of metal. What happened here? I thought as I walked closer to the metal ponies that lay scattered around the cyborg. “What are they?” I softly nudged one of them with my hoof. They were made of a blackened metal, and all of them had holes spread over their bodies.

“Protectrons, low tier defense and working units,” Bolt said without looking away from the rack she was sorting through a couple of steps away. “Often armed with a laser, but rarely anything else. Just leave them alone, I can check them for anything of use later. You know, this place seems to be untouched! That or there was something really valuable here that made them not care about all of this.”

I looked away from the robot, and accidentally looked at the thug lying in the middle of them. The pegasus lay in a pool of his own blood, his limbs bent in unnatural angles. His coat was scorched and at some places the coat was completely gone, leaving nothing but burnt flesh. It looked like parts of his cybernetic leg had melted and then hardened again. Besides him lay a weapon I hadn’t seen before, its barrel nearly as big as my leg. The weapon was destroyed, its muzzle split in two and half of it black from soot. He seemed to have landed on one of his wings, as it was bent even more than his others limbs and many of the feathers had come loose. His other wing was burnt, as if he had tried to protect himself with it. The feathers lay scattered around the scene, some of them moving in the light breeze that found its way through the hole in the wall.

The sight of the pegasus was enough to make my stomach turn, but the thing really tipping me over was the smell of blood that reached my nostrils. It reminded me all too much about the clinic. Running up to one of the workbenches, the sound of my hooves loud against the stone floor, I emptied my stomach in a bucket that luckily enough stood there.

“Seriously? Can’t even see a corpse without throwing up?” Bolt sneered from behind me. “Okay, that one was uncalled for.” She sighed. “You know what? There are stairs just behind you, to the right of where we entered. They should lead to an office or something like that. Go there and see if you can find anything about SAT while I scavenge here. It’s not like you’re helping me.”

I brought up my cybernetic hoof and carefully wiped my lips clean as I turned towards the stairs, careful not to look at the body again. “Thank you,” I said weakly.

“Don’t mention it. Get going, I’ll yell for you when I need your saddlebags.”

“Can’t I just leave them here?”

“What if you find something up there? You’re just going to roll it down the stairs? No, you bring them with you.”

I sighed and started to walk towards the stairs, my eyes locked on the door that stood open at the top of them. My stomach had yet to settle. At each step, it felt as if I should throw up again. The thoughts whirling in my mind didn’t do anything to settle it. How can Bolt be so calm about things like that?

“I assume that death is common out here in the wasteland. Who knows what she might have seen out here?”

But still, being that calm? Is it normal?

“I… can’t say that it is. Or at least was when I was created. Now, my feelings are artificial, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t have them. I felt sorrow and pain for each of the fifteen ponies I killed to keep you alive, even if it was the logical thing to do to keep any of you alive,” her voice was heavy. “But now? I don't know how the wasteland has been evolving, but for what we have seen and heard we can take for granted that death is common out here. I believe that, after a while, you stop caring about the deaths of those who don’t mean anything to you.”

I grunted as I started to climb the stairs. So that is a sight I should be accustomed to?

“No,” she quickly answered. “You shouldn’t. Grieve the dead, no matter whothey are, because that is a life lost. If you can save a life rather than take it, then do that. Just as you did with Frost Mane.”

I felt my stomach turn even more as she mentioned Frost Mane, memories of the nightmare I tried to suppress now coming up again. I could once again smell the stench that had been there. Pausing in the middle of the stairs, I leaned against the rail. Yes, and that is something I regret after that nightmare.

“You can’t trust a nightmare, Cogwheel. Are you seriously thinking about judging him over it?”

I am. It was too real for me to think anything else! I thought as I walked up the last part of the stairs and peeked in through the open door. Besides, what else should I believe after what Radio said?

“You should judge him from his actions, not from your dreams. That nightmare was most likely a spawn after the shock that Radio’s words caused you and nothing else. A play by your subconscious.”

I didn’t answer her as I pushed the door completely open, revealing the spacious office on the inside. Three bookcases, filled to the brim with ring-binders, stood along one of the walls and a line of paintings decorated the other, nearly untouched by time. The paintings all showed the same scenery, a small house by a river lying in the shadow of a giant tree, but at the different times of the year. It started with the scenery being completely covered in snow, and slowly it changed over the course of the paintings to spring, summer, fall and back to winter. A wooden desk stood in the middle of the room, a big comfortable armchair standing behind it. A terminal sat upon the desk. The terminal spread its green light over the wall and the armchair.

I slowly walked past the paintings, looking over each and one of them. They were beautifully made, each of them showing a reality long gone. Each flower, every snowflake, each path of green grass -- it was all done with care and love for the painting, in harmony with everything else in the painting. This feels so… right. As if it was supposed to be like this. I felt a lump in my throat. Like it was in the memory I had in the clinic.

Sighing, I walked around the desk to the terminal. Will this place ever go back to that?

“I don’t know. I hope it will, but who knows how the end of the war might have poisoned the land? Besides, there’s nothing you can do aboutit, Cogwheel.”

I know. And although I don’t remember anything about my life, it still feels as if all this is wrong.

“But there it is at least one thing we can do, and that is getting your memory back. Let’s see what we can find out about SAT, Cogwheel!” Spitfire said with a cheerful voice.

It helped slightly. A smile played on my lips as I looked down at the monitor and the connect option showed up. You sound certain that I will get my memories back. Quickly I plugged in the small wire to the terminal. The world was obscured by a layer of blue as the eye connected to the terminal.

“This is strange,” Spitfire said as the words scrolled past my eyes. “The terminal is full of shipping addresses to what I believe are companies or customers, but I can’t find anything about SAT.”

Nothing at all?

“I… not that I can see. But it seems strange. There are dates that are completely missing. Let me…”

I stood completely still as the words started to slow down, before suddenly coming to a complete halt. Before my eyes a map started to spread out.

“This map was tucked into something that seemed to be a digital journal kept by the terminal owner. Most of the journal is corrupt, it had been deleted and I could only restore small parts of it, but I can make out a few notes. One of the notes is an address, Manufacturing Lane 16 Biomechatronic, and the other is that SAT was involved in something down in the basement.” As she spoke the address came up beside the map, and the map zoomed in on a point. “Right here, just to the right if we go back down the stairs again, is an entrance to the basement hidden in the floor. I can’t open it from here, but there should be a way to open it once we get down there.”

My eyes were locked on the address. Manufacturing Lane 16, Biomechatronic. Sixteen. The same number as the stasis pod I slept in.

“Now that you say it, yes. I’m afraid that I don’t know where this Biomechatronic is, but maybe Bolt or Radio has a map you can look at?”

I slowly shook my head. Yes, maybe. But first I want to go down to that basement.

“Why?”

I want to know what SAT was doing here.

“And you are afraid of Free. You want to find that ornament so you can give it to him.”

I hung my head slightly as a cold shiver ran down my back at the thought. Yes, that too.

“I understand.” Spitfire sighed. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t talk to you back there. Something was blocking me. Not that I think that it would be any different if I had been able to.”

You couldn’t control it, I thought as I terminated the link and removed the wire. The world once again returned to normal, the vision of the map lingering for a second more before disappearing. Don’t think about it.

“I’ll try not to. Thanks.”

I smiled slightly as I started walking towards the stairs. “Bolt!” I yelled as I walked down the stairs. “We found a basement.”

Bolt shone up. “You found it? I mean… What basement?” She hurried over to meet me at the base of the stairs, without a care in the world of the objects she pushed over on her way. “Where is it?”

“Are you okay?” I asked as she slid to a halt next to me.

“Yes, yes, I’m fine,” she said as she brushed away the hair that fell in front of her eyes. “Where is it? Where is the entrance?”

I lifted my hoof and pointed to the area around the stairs. “It should be here, hidden beneath the floor.”

Bolt quickly looked around. “Hidden beneath the floor? Well, then we just have to find a way to move the floor!”

“Move the floor?” I looked at her in disbelief. “What do you mean?”

Bolt eyed the wall under the stairs, and seemingly quickly found what she was looking for. “Like this,” she exclaimed as she slammed her hooves against a button I hadn’t seen before.

With a screeching sound, like metal against stone, the floor I stood on started to slide apart. I yelped in surprise and hurriedly took a couple of steps back, watching in awe as the floor revealed a staircase going down into darkness. Before my eyes, lamps started lighting up above the stairs.

“It seems like you are good for something!” Bolt laughed as she started to walk down the stairs. “Come on!”

It took a moment for me to realize what just had happened. “You knew?” I asked as I started to walk after her.

“Of course I did,” Bolt said from halfway down the stairs.

“Why didn’t you say something?”

“Why would I? From all I’ve found, SAT didn’t have anything to do with this place.” She took a sharp turn at the end of the stairs and disappeared from sight.

“What is this place anyway? I thought it would just be a basement.”

“A basement?” I could hear the unicorn’s laugh as I reached the end of the stairs myself. “Yea, that would be one hell of a basement, wouldn’t it? This isn’t a basement,” she said as I rounded the corner.

I stopped in the middle of a step as soon as I saw what was before me. A giant cogwheel was carved out in the wall, with the number “31” written in giant text across it. At the side a terminal stood and flickered with a green light.

“This is a stable,” she exclaimed with a smile.

I could barely hear her. Suddenly I felt dizzy and fell down on a knee, my head spinning around and my vision blackening. The last thing I could hear before passing out was Spitfire yelling my name.

{O-O}

Footnote: Level Up!

New Perk: Rapidash: Like a streak of fire, you whizz past everything in your way. Your running speed is raised by 10% while you are chased by hostiles.

Secondly, thanks to Rising_Chaos for proofreading and listening to my never ending babbling.

Lastly, thanks toJames Tonto, not only for catching a lot of awkward phrasings as well as telling me when I use bad words or something I should think about, but also for keeping me company in the docs.

Gloom

”I can assure you, Mayor Eco, that SAT has kept all environmental and ecological principles that Green Valley deemed necessary in mind for this project. The engine that will supply Stable 31 with electricity is the most ecologically efficient on the market, with an emission intensity at less than zero point zero zero two kilograms per capita. SAT is very proud of this achievement, which is less than a hundred kilos of what Green Valley put out as a standard limit.”

My voice echoed slightly in the dim hallway. The stallion next to me, a deep blue earth pony with a dirt green mane and a tree as a cutie mark, had a hard time keeping up with my long strides. He seemed uneasy as he walked, his head slightly lowered and his steps careful. The stable was different from the world above, not as spacious and definitely not as open. But then, of course, a stable was never meant to be a replacement to the real world, marely a shelter in a worst case scenario.

“And Stable-Tec?” the mayor spoke up. “Did they follow our principles as well?”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m afraid I can’t answer that. I’m here solely as a representative of SAT, and therefore I can’t speak for Stable-Tec. You’ll have to ask their representative that question. I’m here to answer the questions you might have about M.A.C., and nothing else.”

“I understand,” he said as we stepped up to the elevator. “I take it that I will meet one of their representatives soon?”

“I am to take you down to the maintenance and tell you whatever you might want to know about M.A.C. and the system. When you’re ready to move on, Stable-Tec’s representative will be ready to continue the guided tour. I will go with him, and continue to answer any and all questions you might have about SAT.” I pushed on the elevator button and the door slid aside.

“What exactly is this mac?” The earth pony stepped into the elevator with me close behind. As soon as I had gotten in, I clicked on the maintenance button and the doors closed again.

“M.A.C., or Magical Accumulation Current, is the engine that keeps the entire Stable running,” I explained as the elevator silently started to move.

“Is it safe?”

“We have deemed it reliable after heavy testing, both in our own facility as well as here. You see, both SAT and Stable-Tec have used it to fuel most, if not all, of the machinery that was used to build this stable. In fact, we don’t believe that it will fault once during a period of five thousand years, should it be necessary to keep it running that long.”

Eco became pale at the number. “Five thousand years? How long does Stable-Tec plan on keeping us down here?!”

“I can assure you that five thousand years is not a time that is likely. In fact, the Overmare will be able to open the entrance whenever she feels like it, should she deem it safe to do so. Her terminal will be linked to a network of meters placed at various locations in and around Green Valley. This will allow her to monitor the living conditions on the surface. Even if the Overmare decides to open the door, it will stay shut until the meters confirm that conditions on the outside are safe to live in.”

“Overmare? That sounds like something of a leader. Tell me you’re joking about a mare holding a stallion’s job,” Eco chuckled slightly at this, but he quickly went silent as he looked at me. “You aren’t joking, are you?”

“I’m afraid not. Stable-Tec will decide who leads the Stable.”

“But… what will happen to me?”

“I’m sorry, but that question is not mine to answer. As I said, I’m only here as a representative of SAT, nothing more.” I couldn’t help but smile at the poor stallion.

He stayed silent for the rest of the elevator ride. As the elevator came to a stop, and the door slid open, he shook his head and stepped out first. “Okay then. I guess I can try and understand as much as possible about this anyway, even if I might not run the place,” he said with a weak smile. “This… mac, how does it work?”

I paused for a moment before I stepped after him into the hallway leading to the maintenance, a slight smirk at my lips. “I could try to tell you in detail how it works, but then we would be stuck here for the rest of the day. To keep it simple, M.A.C. takes up the magic leftovers that are created whenever a unicorn, or an earth pony or pegasus for that matter, uses magic. These leftovers are then transformed into raw electricity after the needs of the Stable.”

“Earth pony and pegasus magic?” the mayor asked as he suddenly stopped, causing me to nearly walk straight into him.

“Yes, even we earth ponies or the pegasi have magic. We use it when we work, no matter what we do. A pegasi, on the other hoof, uses their magic to fly. It’s not as powerful as unicorn magic, but it’s enough for our sensitive collectors to gather it,” I said as I walked past him.

“Collectors?” He hurried to me. “What collectors?”

“Built in every wall and floor, even the ceiling, are small magic collectors. Even as we walk they gather up the magic emitting from us and store it until the M.A.C. needs it. I can assure you, this procedure is completely harmless.”

“Store it?”

I rounded the last corner and stepped into the engine room. Pausing in the doorframe, I took a deep breath, allowing the fragrance of the forest fill me up. The room was lit up in a soft green color that the rhombus shaped engine in the middle of the room emitted. Thick cords went from the five crystals that stood around the room, each one glowing in a softer green color, to the engine. Three circles slowly rotated around the glass case of the engine, and occasionally a small spark jumped between them and the case. Each time it did, a low sound resembling that of thunder rolled through the room, causing me to wince slightly. The mayor had stopped behind me and looked in awe at the scenery in front of him.

“The crystals standing around the chamber are storing vessels, which make sure that the engine always has the magic it needs. The vessels can together have enough magic stored to keep the engine running for twenty five years without any new magic being collected, and it doesn’t take more than a year for a fully working Stable to keep them filled.”

“Impressive,” the earth pony breathed, his eyes wide as they wandered around the room. “How is it controlled? What would happen if the vessels were to be destroyed?” ‘

I chuckled slightly. “M.A.C. is fully automated. In an event when direct control would be needed, a terminal on the other side of the room can be used to completely cut off M.A.C. from the vessels and start the emergency generators. The vessels are near to impossible to destroy. Should they be destroyed, however, a built in security mechanism will make sure that the magic in the vessel dissipates under controlled forms.”

“And this energy has no emissions whatsoever?” the mayor asked, arching an eyebrow. “I find that hard to believe. There has to be some sort of catch.”

“The only emission it has is the light you see around you, which is incandescence created during the electricity transforming procedure. There is also the forest fragrance that that you can smell, which we were unable to pinpoint. We did, however, examine it and did a CaMT on it, and found that it was nothing to worry about.”

“Camt?”

“CaMT, Chemical and Magical test. The results showed small traces, less than one trillionth gram for every cubic meter of air, hydrogen cyanide. These small traces in the air around us are far from enough to cause any harm. In fact, should you stand in this room without any ventilation running, it would take six years for you to notice anything, which would most likely be an increase in lactic acid buildup if you move around too much. It would take another twenty-five years before the cyanide had actually killed you.”

“Do you mean that you are poisoning the entire stable? This is outrageous!”

“I was just about to come to that point. This entire room will be magically and chemically enforced to remove the traces quickly, and an obligation to wear the specially constructed hazard suits at all time will be enforced. Moreover, the air ventilation system has multiple filters to make sure that no cyanide will escape the maintenance rooms. We at SAT have taken all measure of precautions possible, so that we can give each and every inhabitant of the Stable a worry free environment, without any risk of M.A.C. to interfere negatively in any way.”

“Magically enforced? Hazard suits?”

Here I had hoped that this would go fast. Silly me... Of course this mayor would want to know everything about the Stable, even if it wouldn’t matter to him later. I could feel my smile straining some.

“Basically, every trace of cyanide will be split into other materials, mainly hydrogen, and then used to create other, harmless materials. The hazard suits are nothing but a safety measure that the personnel in here will be wearing all the time, should the cyanide level peak before the security system can take fully care of it. These suits are to be equipped in a special room between the engine room, this room, and the stairs to the rest of the Stable. But you have no need to worry, if the cyanide would peak, this room will be sealed until it’s deemed safe again.”

“So you mean that we are practically standing in cyanide?”

“You might have gotten a few traces of it into your system, yes. But those small traces are non-lethal, and I want to remind you that the contract you signed free both SAT and Stable-Tec from any liability and prosecution.”

“I… I think I have seen enough,” the mayor hurriedly said, taking multiple steps back as he went pale. “Where can I find the representative of Stable-Tec?”

“Right this way, mayor,” I said with a genuine smile as I lead him around the M.A.C. towards the room on the other side.

Standing inside the room, patiently waiting as she flicked through a deck of cards, stood a young unicorn. At the sound of the door opening, she quickly folded the deck away and turned towards us, a wide smile on her lips.

“Mayor Eco, I’m Folder, the representative from Stable-Tec that will show you around. Now, to start our tour. This is the changing room for all maintenance personnel and the room where the Hazard suits are to be contained at all time. The elevator you used to get down here will not be active for anyone else but the Overmare, once the Stable is finished and fully functional.”

“About that Overmare—“

{U.U}

My eyes shot open as the cold water ran down my torso onto the floor. I lay on my side in front of the giant cogwheel door, my heart pounding in my chest. Bolt stood over me with an empty bucket gripped with her magic and a smirk on her face.

“Wakey, wakey,” she said with a small laugh as she slammed down the bucket on the floor next to me, causing my ears to ring. “You can’t sleep now.”

I moved my hooves up to my ears, trying to stop them from ringing. “Wha…” I tried to speak, but my words ended with a violent cough. I spat out into the bucket, before I continued. “What happened? How long was I out?”

“You just kind of fell over. Not sure why, though. But I couldn’t just let you sleep down there, so I ran to get a bucket of water, and here we are. You can’t have been out for more than five minutes,” she added.

“You poured water on me?” I asked with a raised eyebrow as I looked at my legs.

“I did. And I must say, the look on your face? Priceless!” She laughed. “Now, are you going to get up today?”

“You poured water on me? What about my cybernetics--?”

Bolt rolled her eyes. “Waterproof. I can’t believe that you have those cybernetics, and still you don’t know anything about them.”

I grunted slightly as I rose. From the corner of my eye, I saw something that caused me to stop halfway up. In the bucket I had just spit in, a jade green leaf lay. I blinked in surprise, and when I looked again, it was gone. “I’m starting to see things,” I muttered to myself as I got up completely.

“What now?”

I thought I saw a leaf in the bucket, but there wasn’t anything there.

“Yes, that was only your imagination. I didn’t see anything. What just happened? Did you get a memory back?”

I think so. I worked with… This. Or, rather, SAT worked with it. I was a representative from them here to guide the mayor of Green Valley—

“The Equestrian Wasteland to Cyborg!” Bolt snapped beside me.

I nearly jumped in surprise. “What? What is it?”

“Shall we continue? I’d really like to go home today. I’d rather not sleep in these ruins, if I can help it.”

“Oh, yea sure,” I said as I stepped towards the Stable door. “But… How do we get past this?”

“I might be able to open it from the terminal, should the terminal be connected with the door. I don’t see why the door wouldn’t be connected with the terminal, seeing that it stands here.”

“Oh, that should be easy,” Bolt said as she brushed past me and started to work on the terminal.

I stopped in surprise and looked at Bolt as her hooves worked the terminal, hesitating slightly every now and then as her eyes wandered the screen. For minutes the only sound in the hallway was the tapping of her hooves against the terminal.

“She doesn’t know what she’s doing,” Spitfire remarked. “That or it’s harder than it should be.”

You know, not everypony calculates over a thousand problems each second. I smiled slightly.

“It doesn’t matter how many calculations Ican do. She should have gotten past it by now.”

I sighed and walked up to Bolt. She turned around and glared at me as I tapped her lightly on her shoulder. “What? Give me a minute, I’m almost done. Geez, are you impatient or what?”

“You were the one who said you wanted to get home today.”

She looked at the terminal. “Fine,” she said, taking a step back from the terminal. “If you think you can get in there faster, be my guest.”

I rolled my eyes and looked down on the terminal.

“That’s… Gross,” Bolt said as the wire rolled out from my eye. “What is that?” She stepped around me with her eyes on the wire, standing way too close for me to plug it in. “Is it a connection wire? It is, isn’t it?”

I nodded slightly. “Yep, it is. Now, if you could move so I can connect it?”

Bolt shuffled half a step back, her eyes still on the wire. “How does it work?”

“I plug it in, and it allows me to work through my eyes,” I said before I took the wire and plugged it in, the blue filter filling my vision and text starting to scroll past.

“So it allows you to work with your brain and mind directly, instead of using your hooves? I guess that makes sense, seeing that it would go faster than using your hooves. But for the eye to interact like that, it must be connected to your—“ she suddenly went silent.

“What?” I asked.

“Well, that was easy,” Spitfire mused as the words stopped, showing a single sentence. ‘Open Stable door Y/N?’

“Your eye… It just turned blue. It was orange a second ago. Is it supposed to do that?”

“Yes,” I said, causing the sentence to be replaced with a new one reading ‘Stable Door opening, please stand back’. “I don’t know. I can’t see my own eye, you know. Actually, I can’t see anything when I’m connected.”

“But you just said yes, can’t you decide?”

The filter quickly faded away together with the words, and I lowered my head to remove the wire. “I’m not completely used to controlling the terminals, so I say commands out loud.” The wire quickly reeled in.

She opened her mouth to say something, but the loud siren that pierced through the silence interrupted her.

I quickly took a couple of step backs. “I wouldn’t stand so close if I was you,” I said as a red warning light suddenly illuminated the room, throwing shadows in every direction.

The warning light was followed by multiple low thumps, followed by a screeching sound as the cogwheel shaped door started to move outwards towards us. Bolt hurriedly took a couple of steps back and nearly backed into me. I sunk down on my haunches and tried to protect my ears with my hooves, but they couldn’t suppress the grinding noise of metal against metal. After a painfully long minute, the door came completely loose and rolled to rest on the side, showing a wide room through the cogwheel-shaped entrance.

“Seems that you can do something right, at least,” Bolt breathed as her eyes wandered across the newly opened doorway. She hesitated for a moment before she walked towards it. “Hello?” she yelled into the opening. “Is anypony there?”

I followed her closely, looking from right to left as I stepped into this new world. A metal railing ending with a small staircase leading up to a platform in height with my head divided the room in two. On the platform, the green light of a terminal spread from a desk, and I could see an opening leading deeper into the Stable. At both sides of the entrance stood a strange device. They were completely metal, which seemed to have been unkempt for years. Both resembled a pillar with a triangular base and a large, strange ‘head’. The head, which was looking down in the floor, had a barrel on each side of a red lens as well as a coil under it, and wires connected every part of it.

“We don’t want to hurt you,” Bolt said with raised voice, before she turned to me. “Seems like it’s empty.”

“What is that?” I asked, pointing at the pillar.

Bolt looked at the pillar, and her eyes suddenly went wide. “Get out!” she screamed.

I snapped my eyes to her, and could see from the corner of my eyes how the head slowly started to move upwards. As soon as it was looking straight forward, it started moving from side to side. By now, I was looking right into the red lens of its head. Something started whirring.

Without any warning, Bolt violently tugged the revolver from its holster at my leg and fired three rounds at the closest pillar before she jumped out through the entrance again.

“Cogwheel! Get out!” My cybernetic limbs didn’t wait, instead they kicked down in the floor hard, causing me to fall onto my side just as a roar filled the small room. The roar was followed by a loud rattle as the rounds fired from both the pillars hit the other pillar or the wall around it, missing me completely. I quickly crawled towards the door, the roaring sound still echoing in the room I left behind.

“What is that?!” I yelled over my ringing ears and pounding heart.

“Turrets. Automated defense systems. It must have been a long time since they were last active, as slowly as they reacted. That probably saved our lives.”

I could still hear them shoot. The fact that they didn’t have any target didn’t seem to bother them at all.

“Now what?”

“We wait. It seems like I hit it,” Bolt said, her eyes locked at the terminal inside the room.

“For what?” I followed her gaze, before I looked back to her. “What are you talking about? What did you hit?”

“They aren’t supposed to continue shooting. They should have seen us as terminated once we left their field of vision, and stopped shooting. Or, at least the magazines I’ve read said something like that. They also said that they have this built-in security system. If the lens became damaged, the turret would shoot at anything that moved until they were turned off from the security terminal connected to them.”

A loud crack suddenly erupted from the room, ceasing every other sound.

“What was that?”

“I believe that was one of the turrets being shot to pieces.” Bolt smiled at me. “I guess we’re lucky. These turrets had the security system.”

“Is that good?”

“Well… the good part is that we have one less to deal with. The bad part is that the one left will shoot at everything that moves, and quicker than it would otherwise.”

“Why does there always have to be a bad part?” I asked as I shrunk back on my haunches.

“Welcome to the wasteland.” Bolt snorted as she tugged down the revolver in the holster on my leg again. “This was the easy part. I have never seen a turret more than on pictures, so me hitting it like that was lucky. Besides, had they been in good condition, they would have fired directly when we entered the room and had most likely killed us before we had been able to do anything.”

“Killed us?” I stuttered as I looked up at the mare.

“In best case we would only have been hit by a couple of rounds each, in worst case we would have been dead. Nasty things, really.”

“Yea, I got it, we were lucky. But what now?”

“Now?” Bolt giggled softly. “Now comes the fun part. You see the terminal on the desk over there?” she asked, pointing at the terminal in question. “I bet my left hoof that it’s a control station for the turrets, as well as for opening and closing the door. I’ll go distract it and try to disable it while you get your shiny metal flank over there and turn it off.”

“That… that’s suicidal! I can’t let you do that!” Spitfire protested.

I looked between the unicorn and the terminal. “Are you serious?! It will shoot at you!”

“Of course it will. But you saw how slowly it reacted earlier. There’s no way it could hit me!”

“But… It will shoot!”

“Tss, don’t be such a cryborg,” Bolt said, rolling her eyes. “You know what, let’s make a competition out of it. First to disable the turret wins.”

“But—“

“On your mark, get set, go!” Bolt yelled with glee, before she ran into the room again.

I could hear the turret starting to spin up again, and then the rattling sound starting to echo through the room. With a sigh, I rose and peaked in through the entrance.

“Don’t you even think about it!”

I have to. Bolt darted from side to side in the small room, unable to get any closer to the turret without being hit by the deadly spray. I can’t just let her… I sighed as I started to run towards the stairs, trying to run alongside Bolt and still do a wide circle towards the blown out turret to get further away from the other. The sound of my hooves against the metal nearly drenched out the rattling the bullets from the turret caused.

Spitfire grunted. “You really are a pea-brained idiot, you know that?”

I guess. That doesn’t matter right now. You need to get into that terminal and hack the turret before Bolt gets hurt. Can you do that? I asked as I ran up the stairs and slid to a halt before the terminal. I hadn’t been hit by the turret, now I just had to make sure that Bolt wouldn’t either.

“Of course I can,” Spitfire reassured me as the wire popped out. Without pausing, I jabbed it into the terminal.

The blue filter obscured my vision once again, words whirling past faster than they usually did. Come on, come on! I urged, my heart beating faster. A cry in pain reached my ear over the sound of the turret, but I was unable to see anything when I looked up. Hurry up!

“I’m working as fast as I can!” Spitfire yelled as the words came to a halt ’Turrets Deactivated’. “There!”

Silence filled the room as I jerked the wire out of the terminal. Barely had the blue filter disappeared before I moved around the desk and started to run down the stairs. On the floor, with her sides heaving up and down and a trickle of blood running from a wound in her leg, Bolt laid.

“Bolt! Are you okay?”

“Can’t you see the bullet wound, you idiot?! Couldn’t you be a little faster?” she snarled as she looked up at me, her features softening some. “Just… give me a minute, okay? No need to worry.”

I picked up one of my last health potions and put it down next to her. She flashed me a thankful smile, before her horn started to glow softly. Without hesitating, she tore out the bullet from her leg, grimacing and giving out a small cry as she did.

“You know, there is no need to use the entire bottle. Instead, it is enough to bathe the wound with the potion, like Precious did with Dust’s wound when we met them.”

I scooped up the health potion with my limbs and poured a small tendril over the wound. As the ruby red liquid connected with the wound it started to close up, the skin and muscles crawling back.

“It was just a lucky shot,” the unicorn muttered as she grimaced.

“It didn’t hit you anywhere else?” I asked, my eyes searching for any other bullet hole.

“That thing?” Bolt snorted. “It wouldn’t even be able to hit a barn door if it stood in the way. I took a misstep, that’s all.” She kept her eyes where the bullet had penetrated as she rose, groaning slightly. “It will take hours to get that blood away.”

“Why did you do it?”

“Get blood on my coat? I didn’t do that. It just happened.” She smiled at me as she started to move towards the stairs to the platform.

Sighing, I followed her. “No, why did you run in like that?”

“If I hadn’t, you would have tried to talk me out of it, right?”

“I--” I hesitated. If I had been able to talk her out of it, would I have done that? The mere thought about Free made me shiver. I really didn’t want to find out if his threat had been empty or not. “Yes, I would have,” I lied. “Or, at least try to make you do it differently.”

“Exactly. So I forced your hoof.” She walked past the desk and continued towards the opening that led deeper into the Stable. “Besides, I could have gotten back out in a few steps if you didn’t follow me.”

I walked after her into the small hallway. “Next time you could at least let me try to get a word in?”

“You got plenty of words in. It’s just that I didn’t really like any of them.” She looked through an opening in the wall, which a sign above it told me was an Emergency Medical Lab. Without pausing, she stepped in, her body bouncing slightly as she walked. “Where do you want to start? Who knows what kind of stuff we’ll find down here? This is so exciting!”

“Exciting? Exactly how is this exciting?” I followed her into the small room, and looked at her as she poked around the different drawers and cases in the room.

The room wasn’t very big. A few beds stood alongside one wall. A desk stood out from one of the other walls, a terminal standing among clipboards and a single lamp, which had long since burnt out. The green light from the terminal illuminated the back of the wall, where a planch with the text “Trust in the Overmare, Work for the Overmare” hung.

Bolt stopped what she was doing and looked up at me. “How this—“ She motioned with her hoof at the things around her. “Is exciting?”

I nodded. “Yeah, and what is a Stable anyway?”

“The hard part first,” Bolt started as she went back to poke through every corner she could find in the small room, occasionally dropping something into her saddlebags. “A Stable was basically a giant shelter, created to host and protect thousands of ponies during the war. They were independent, had their own water and food supply. So the exciting part,” Bolt said as she walked up to the terminal. “Is what we can learn! This place is basically a source of knowledge about how life was during the war and how it was in a Stable! You of all ponies should understand how exciting it is to learn about the past, with you looking for your memories and all!” She paused as she glared at the terminal. “Besides, who knows what pre-war tech we might find down here?!” She looked between me and the terminal. “Would you mind taking care of that?”

“Let me get this straight,” I said as I walked up to the terminal. “You wanted to get into the ruins just to get down here and find out how ponies lived during the war?”

Bolt moved to the side as I looked down at the terminal and the wire emerged. She gently took the wire in her magic and tucked it into the terminal.

"What I really want to do is find any pre-war tech that might help Green Valley, or least something I can use to trade." She hesitated as Spitfire started to work with the terminal. "But I do want to know how life was like before -- before the Wasteland. You say you don't remember what it was like, but... It had to be better than what life is like now. There hasn't been a week that I can remember where somepony hasn't been murdered or disappeared."

Her voice dropped and wavered slightly.

"Like Trigger." She turned to look at me, confusion in her eyes. "He died less than a week ago... But there are so many ponies dying in the Wastes that he's 'just another pony'. He was so close to me that I would call him my brother, but when he died, I didn't feel anything. He just... Disappeared..." She sighed. "Sorry, I... I don't know what came over me."

I could feel tears in my eye as the words stopped and the blue filter disappeared. “The dead live on. In your memory, in the memoires of the ones they loved. Even if they aren’t with us in flesh, they will be here in spirit,” Spitfire said.

What?

“Talk to her, Cogwheel. She needs it. The terminal can wait.”

I gently tugged the wire out from the terminal and walked over to where she had slid down on her haunches. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine… It’s just…” She looked away and took a deep breath. “The day that Trigger died, I was scavenging in the ruins. It was like seeing into another world. I found old books that had been left behind, diaries and journals. They talked about pain and suffering, but also happiness and joy. Some of them talked about the dead, fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, friends and loved ones. How they were missed years after they had passed. It made me think. About the differences between my world and the worlds described in the books. There is nothing but pain and suffering out there. Is it so strange I want proof that this hasn’t always been the case? That there was a time when everything was better? That I want to know more about that time?”

I sat down next to her. “No, I guess it isn’t strange,” I started. She looked back up at me, a hint of tears in her eyes. “Since I woke up, the same thing has bothered me. I don’t remember how you are supposed to feel when someone dies, but completely ignoring it can’t be healthy either. After all, the ones around us are a piece of ourselves. And when they are gone? They are still there. Maybe not in flesh, but in spirit. In our memories. And as long as we have those memories…” I sighed, remembering all too well that I didn’t have memories, but yet knew that I had lost someone. “We can remember the times we had with the ones who have now left us.”

“Maybe you’re right,” the unicorn sniffed. “But how am I supposed to feel? Death is so common out here… I can remember my father crying when he told me about my mother’s death. I can remember that I cried at times, but never for long. It just…” she didn’t finish the sentence.

I sighed. “I can’t tell you how you are supposed to feel. That is something that only you can know. But I guess that we all feel different about the loss of a loved one.” I looked up from the unicorn. “Grieve the dead, because that is a life lost.”

“I guess you’re right.”

I stayed there next to her, my eyes looking into the distance and my mind wandering, not touching a subject for more than a second before it continued on. But one thing returned to my mind, all the time. A voice from the first memory I had. I know that life’s been hard for you after your wife and son’s passing. The voice of Doctor Honey Pod. Once, I had had a wife and son. What had happened to them? How had they been, who were they?

A sudden nudge at my side caused me to tear my eyes away from the wall and look down at the unicorn next to me.

“The terminal?” she asked with a weak smile as she pointed at it with a hoof.

Rising, I nodded slightly and walked over to it.

“I never thought about asking,” Bolt said as I tugged the wire into the terminal. “What’s your name?”

I sighed as the words once again started to flow past my vision. “I can’t remember my birth name, but I took the name Cogwheel when I woke up.”

“Cogwheel… That’s better than going around and call you cyborg all the time, I assume.” She laughed, but I could hear how forced it was.

“Or cryborg,” I said as the words stopped before my eyes. She laughed at my words, a more genuine laugh, although it still sounded forced.

“Thanks, Cogwheel,” she said.

“You’re welcome,” I said, before I added. “I’m in.”

“You are?” she said. I heard how she hurried up on her hooves. “What does it say?”

I looked over the different alternatives. Medicine Journals didn’t seem like the subject Bolt was here for, and I didn’t even look twice at Death Journals. But there was a third option. “Logs,” I said, and the words disappeared. Nearly directly, a long list of entries took their places. How many are there?

“Seven thousand nine hundred and fifty nine. Nearly two entries each day for twenty years.”

“What does it say?” Bolt asked. “The screen is blank, I can’t see anything!”

“There are nearly eight thousand logs here. I don’t think we have time for them all. Not if we want to get out of here today, or even this week.” How?

“I have been going through most of them. I think they, since there were at least two or three doctors here each day, became bored and started to write these logs. It looks like they made it into a game of some sort…”

Bolt was silent for a moment. “Can’t you… read like, two or three, then jump over a couple of hundred before you read two or three more?”

“I can pick out the ones you might find interesting,” Spitfire offered. The list of logs disappeared, and sentences started to build up over my vision instead.

“I can do that.” I nodded slightly as I skimmed through the log. “The first one seems to be a message from Stable-Tec. Welcome, to Stable 31’sEmergency Medical Lab. The Emergency Lab is to be occupied at all time, regardless of occasion. Yes, this includes, but is not limited to, Hearth’s Warming Eve…”

{ô-o}

“Making the score twenty – twenty five, still in your favor. The next point goes to whoever first encounters a patient with a bullet hole in any area of the right side of the body. The challenge doesn’t start before your first duty time in two days.” I finished the latest of the numerous logs I had been reading through during the last hour. My throat was dry after reading for so long, but I couldn’t help but chuckle at the strange notes. Most of them had, like this, been a competition between the two bored doctors on duty, while others had been about the stable in general.

Bolt had been silent most of the time, and had only commented briefly or stifled a laugh at the often ridiculous challenges. “Do you honestly want me to believe that they found a patient that had got stuck in a lampshade?” She joined in my chuckling. “That’s just ridiculous.”

“I… I think you should read these, Cogwheel. Something isn’t right here. The last entries… amongst the hundreds of last ones, there are corrupted files everywhere. I only managed to extract a few of them, but…”

I stopped chuckling. What do you mean?

“Is something wrong, Cogwheel?” Bolt asked worriedly.

“Read for yourself… I don’t think we should be here.”

The log I had just read was quickly replaced by another, dated nearly a year after the last. “Nothing… yet. Give me a minute.” I silently started to read the log.

Yet another disappearance tonight, this time a young stallion who didn’t come home after hanging out with his friends. He was reported missing this morning. Security started searching immediately. Can’t blame them after all the disappearances these last few months. They scanned the entire stable after the poor stallion’s PipBuck tag. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Like every other time. The Overmare has stated that security will patrol the corridors at night, to keep us safe.

As soon as I had finished the log, another one popped up.

The Overmare is trying to calm us down, saying that the disappearances are being investigated. Sure, call me a fool, but I trust her. But the investigations aren’t doing anything to stop it. In two weeks another five ponies have gone missing, one of them a security mare from the night guard that the Overmare established.

“This…” I was interrupted by a third log coming up.

“What is it, Cogwheel?”

The Overmare has decided to open the stable door. She has deemed the stable unsafe after all the unexplained disappearances. According to her the surface is clean enough for us to leave. Chief, that idiot, is still trying to talk her out of it.

The last log disappeared, and was replaced by a single line. May Celestia watch over us all.

I shivered as the filter disappeared and the wire unplugged without me touching it, slowly reeling into my eye again.

“What’s wrong?” Bolt looked up at me.

I could only stare at the terminal, where the last line stood in yellow letters against a black background. May Celestia watch over us all.

My heart started to pound faster. Something about this wasn’t right. “Ponies disappeared,” I stammered as I tore my eyes away from the terminal. “They were never found, and the Overmare deemed it unsafe here. I don’t think—“

I saw something moving in the corner of my eye, and quickly spun around. Before me hung the poster, but the words were definitely not the ones that had been there when we entered the room. “The Overmare is dead. Long live the Overmare,” I whispered the words. They echoed in the small room, slowly gaining in strength and twisting my voice. In the end, I had to bring up my hooves to protect my ears from the sound.

I don’t know how long I lay there before Bolt walked up and nudged me in the side. “It’s gone,” she said, looking wide eyed at the room around her. “What was that?”

“I… I don’t know,” I whimpered as I looked up at the poster again. The words were once again as they had been when we entered. “And I don’t want to stay and find out.” I quickly rose and walked towards the door. “Let’s get out of here.”

“But—“ Bolt started, before she seemed to think better of it and instead followed me.

Barely had we stepped outside the room before a crackle could be heard from the hallway around us. I hurried up my steps as I looked around me, trying to find the source of the sudden sound. The crackle was soon followed by a panic-stricken female voice.

“This is the Overmare. All inhabitants of Stable 31 are to evacuate immediately! This is not a drill! The security personnel are keeping… whatever it is at bay, but we don’t know how long we will be able to. Special personnel have been sent to each living quarter to make sure that none are left behind, but you have to hurry! We don’t know how long—“

Together, we galloped down the hallway back to where we came, the voice echoing around us. As suddenly as it had started, it ended. The crackling sound took its place, before it also disappeared. Together with the crackling, the light disappeared. I stopped abruptly, and Bolt ran into me, causing us both to tumble over.

“What happened?” I asked, my voice high pitched, as I tried to get off her and get up. “Who was that?”

“I don’t know.” Bolt yelled before she let out a scream of pain. “Be careful!”

“Sorry,” I said as I got up to my hooves. I noticed that, while I couldn’t see completely, it was still possible for me to make out shapes, like Bolt who rose next to me and the entrance further away.

“Can’t see shit in this pitch darkness,” Bolt growled beside me. A red lamp started to light up the part of the entrance room that I could see from here.

“What do you me—“ I began to ask, but was cut off by the high screeching that emerged from the other room.

Bolt threw a horrified look at me, and I was pretty sure that I returned it as we started to run towards the Stable door.

As I reached the stairs down, the whole floor vibrated and a low thump filled the room as the cogwheel shaped door came to rest.

Sealing us inside Stable 31.

{O.o}

“This is the Overmare speaking. For your safety, non-security personnel are to stay inside their room until further notice. If you are seen outside your dorm without permission, force may and will be used to see you safely back. This is not a drill. Stay in your room until further notice. All security personnel are to directly report to Security Chief for further orders. Don’t worry, Stable 31. Your well-being is in safe hooves,” the calm, feminine voice informed me. Again. “This is the Overmare speaking…”

“That repeating message is starting to get annoying,” Bolt grunted besides me.

“Yea.” I could only agree, but stopped myself from nodding so that I wouldn’t pull out the wire connecting me with the turret’s terminal.

After the Stable door had closed, both Bolt and I had started to beat on it with our hooves, screaming to be let out. Of course, it hadn’t opened just because we wanted it to. Why would it? At least the lights had switched on again once the door was closed.

After some wailing, Bolt had asked me about the terminal. The same terminal we now stood before and hoped could open the door.

“Open Stable Door,” I read from the blue filter over my eyes. It gave me a yes or no option. “Yes, I’m sure. Just let me out already!”

The option faded away and was replaced by a single line of text. I stared at the text in disbelief. “No, no, no, no! What do you mean that the option is disabled?!” I screamed to the terminal in front of me. “It can’t be disabled! Who would disable it?!”

Right on cue, the repeating message started over again. “This is your Overmare speaking.”

I unplugged the wire and rested my forehead against the cold desk.

“So we can’t get out?” Bolt asked, earning nothing but a grunt in response.

She sighed as I heard her sit down. “Now what? I mean, if you can disable the option then you must be able to enable it from somewhere.”

In fact, the Overmare will be able to open the entrance whenever she feels like it, should she deem it safe to do so. The words from the memory echoed in my head. “You can,” I said and raised my head from the desk. I dully noted how the message repeated again. “From the Overmare’s office.”

Bolt gave me a sidelong glance. “How do you know that?”

“I… I was here, a long time ago. As a representative of SAT. I… remembered. When I lost consciousness outside the door. I had this… dream. It was like a memory, and I walked these halls. Long ago, when it just had been finished. In the memory, I mentioned something about how the Overmare could open the entrance whenever she felt like it.”

Bolt looked at me with a raised eyebrow. “You lost consciousness, and just happen to remember something like that? Do you really want me to believe that? I’m not stupid, Cogwheel.”

“What?”

“If you want to try and fool me, then at least make sure your story adds up. You don’t know what a Stable is, although you remembering being in one, and even working with it?”

“I was only in the maintenance area and told some pony named Mayor Eco about the basics of it. He started to ask questions, and I answered that they wouldn’t have to be here forever. That the Overmare could open the door.”

Bolt snorted. “And you want me to believe that?”

“It’s true!”

“Whatever,” she said and rolled her eyes. “If you want to continue with your lies, feel free to do so.”

“I’m not—“

“The important thing is that we have a way out of here.” She didn’t give me a single chance to defend myself. “Do you know where the Overmare’s office is?”

“No. And I didn’t lie.”

She rose from the floor, completely ignoring my comment. “Then we’ll just have to figure out where it is. It shouldn’t be that hard to find.”

I looked after her as she started to walk towards the entrance. “Are you coming?” she asked, without as much as looking back.

Sighing, I walked after her into the hallway, all the time followed by the calm voice of the Overmare that informed me that my well-being was in good hooves. It was first after I had passed the Emergency Medical Lab that I caught up with Bolt.

“Do you know anything about this place?” Bolt asked as we turned around a corner.

“Not more than that Green Valley wanted it to follow some kind of ‘Emission Standard’ and that the Overmare had an elevator down to the maintenance, where a M.A.C. engine stood.”

“Mac engine? I’ve never heard of something like that,” Bolt said, barely stopping at a T-junction, directly turning right. Towards the atrium, living quarters and Overmare’s office if the signs were correct.

“Some kind of device that created electricity out of magic.”

“Is that even possible?” She paused in the middle of a step and looked at me, before she continued walking. “I mean, sure, if you use magic to spin a wheel or something like that, but just create electricity out of magic?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Apparently it works.”

The silence that lingered in the air around us as we walked down the hallway was only interrupted by the soft echoing of our hoofsteps and the ever repeating message from the Overmare.

She could repeat that our well-being was in safe hooves however many times she wanted, but it wouldn’t help me feel that what she said was true. The absence of life spoke against the clean and well-kept hallway that was beyond the entrance. Not a grain of dust covered the floor tiles my hooves walked upon and not a stain was to be seen on the dull walls, but whoever kept our surrounding in its impeccable state stayed out of sight.

More than once, my skin crawled and I could feel the hair standing on my neck. But if anything was there to cause me to feel that way, whenever I looked, it was gone.

Bolt, on the other hoof, didn’t look unnerved at all. If she did, she didn’t show any sign of it as she walked on, her eyes forward. She didn’t even react to me repeatedly looking back. It didn’t take long before a door hindering our way proved that we had reached the end of the hallway. A sign above the door read “Atrium”.

“Didn’t the signs say that this was the way to the Overmare’s office?” I asked as Bolt stepped forward, eyeing the door.

She brought forward a hoof and tapped against a button on the side of the door. “It did,” she confirmed as the door glided into the ceiling with barely any sound. “But it also pointed out other places. I guess that the way continues from the atrium.”

The atrium was a spacious room, the ceiling reaching up for several meters. There was a rail on both sides about halfway up to the ceiling, probably from rooms on floors above us. Multiple catwalks connected the two railways. On the opposite wall from the hallway, with its lower base at the same height as the catwalks, there was a big window.

For a second, I thought I could see something on the other side of the dark tinted window, but then I blinked and whatever it was disappeared again. “Did you see that?”

“What?”

Bolt looked back at me without stopping. “See what?”

I stopped and pointed towards the window. “There was somepony in the window.”

“Nothing’s there,” the unicorn said after looking at the window for a second. “It’s just your imagination.”

“I-I swear. Something was there!”

Bolt just continued walking, leaving me standing alone staring up at the window. I swear I saw something. I thought as I tore my eyes away from the window, shivering slightly. There was something there.

“It was likely just a piece of curtains that moved or something. Nothing to be afraid of,” Spitfire soothed.

Yes. A pair of curtains. That was it. I chuckled nervously as my eyes wandered over the rest of the room. Spare for a few couches and a billiard table with its necessary adjunct lying tidy on it, as if someone just had prepared for a game, the room was empty. Multiple ways lead out of here, the signs above them pointing to locations as “Living Quarters”, “Cafeteria”, “Security”, “Utility” and “Overmare’s Office”.

“Wait for me!” I shouted to Bolt, who nearly had reached the door to the Overmare’s office, and hurried up my steps to catch up with her.

Without even waiting for me to catch up, the unicorn moved her hoof to the instrument panel for the door. After nothing happened, she looked down at the panel. “Locked?” She moved her head closer to the panel. “Or just not willing to work?” She pressed the button again, but the door stayed as closed as it had before.

“Locked? What do you mean locked?” I asked quickly. “Can’t we get in?”

Bolt rolled her eyes as she took a step back from the door. “Locked, we can’t open it. Or it might be malfunctioning, hard to tell.”

“We can’t get in there, then?”

“Not from this door we can’t. Where did you say that elevator was? Maybe we can use that one.”

“Maintenance.” I hastily looked around me. “But how do we get there? None of these doors seem to lead to it.”

“We could go back to the first junction and turn left instead of right. The sign there pointed towards maintenance. But I’m certain there’s a faster way from one of these doors.” She spun around on the spot. “But which one?”

”Wouldn’t it be better just to go back to maintenance? I don’t want to be here.”

Bolt rolled her eyes as she stopped and started to walk towards the door marked “Utility”. “I promise you, one of these ways will lead to Maintenance, and faster so than going back.”

“But—“

“Tell you what,” she sharply interrupted without even looking back at me. “If we don’t find another way there through this door, we go back instead. Does that sound good?”

“I don’t have any choice, do I?” I sighed as I hurried to catch up with her.

“If what she says is true, then it might be worth taking some time to find a faster way down. There is only four ways, and as long as you turn back quickly… I think you might spare time going through at least one of these places,” Spitfire interfered. “And, in worst case, you can turn back to that junction and go from there.”

I just want to get out of here. I felt a shiver running down my back as the thought of Free came back to my mind unbidden. For a brief second, the uncertainty I felt for the Stable tried to overcome the fear I had felt in the glade. Get the ornament, then get out of here. I corrected myself. As it was now, I would have to go through maintenance either way.

“You’re right, you don’t,” Bolt said as she brought her hoof forward and pressed the button to the door, which glided open without a sound and revealed another hallway. Without another word, Bolt continued forward and I hurried after her, looking nervously from side to side.

{>.>}

“Can we go back now?” I asked as we entered the Atrium for the third time, this time coming from the Cafeteria. “We might have been out of here if we had gone to maintenance the first time.”

“Oh, quit your whining,” Bolt said as she floated some sugar bombs from the carton she held in her magic and happily started to chew on them. “Not counting that irritating repeating message, there hasn’t been anything bad happening since we got locked in.” She peered down the carton, before she threw it away. “We found a great amount of trading goods without encountering anything or putting our lives at stake. This is scavenging as it should be! Easy as pie.”

Utility had been little more than rooms filled to the brim with, in my eyes, junk. Bolt, on the other hoof, had started to tear down things from the shelves they had once rested upon and placed them in our saddlebags. At times, she had dug through the bags and thrown out something, only to replace it with something more valuable, to the point where the saddlebag were heavy on my back. But we hadn’t found any way towards maintenance, and Bolt had decided to go on towards the cafeteria, completely ignoring my protests.

Even though I didn’t want to go to the cafeteria, a part of me was happy that she hadn’t listened to me. We had found food in the cafeteria, and although we already had food with us we had decided to take what we found instead. Other than that, the cafeteria had been like the other rooms and hallways we had been in -- well kept, tidy and devoid of any life.

I could feel my skin crawl as I looked around at the cleaned floor. The house I had stayed at my first night outside, a house that had been standing abandoned at the mercy of the weather, both wind and rain, since the end of the war, had been dust filled. But a Stable that had been abandoned for goddesses-know-how-long?

“Is it meant to be this clean?” I asked. “I mean… You would think that a Stable that has been abandoned would be dustier.”

Bolt stopped in the middle of a step and looked around herself, before she shrugged and walked on. “I don’t know. Maybe Stables got some kind of automatic cleaning device?”

“Automatic cleaning device?”

“I don’t know,” Bolt said as she once again looked around as she stepped up to the door towards the security section. “But it’s actually kind of nice.”

“Nice?” I asked in disbelief as the door to the security glided open, revealing the hallway beyond. “How is it nice?”

“It’s a change from the dust and grim I’m used to.” She stepped into the hallway, and I followed after her.

“You aren’t thinking it’s strange at all?”

“Not really,” Bolt said as she opened another door, placed halfway down the hallway, and walked into it. “With the technology needed to create the prosthesis you have to be able to walk, don’t you think that you could create a device that automatically cleans your surroundings?”

“I… guess,” I admitted as I followed her.

The room behind the door was basically a bigger office. A number of desks, each one with a broken terminal on it, or at least one that didn’t emit the green light I was used to from terminals, stood in neat rows on one side of the room. On the other side stood multiple lockers, the clean metal reflecting the light of the lamps. The other side of the room, past the desks, was another section divided from the office by a wall made of bars. That section was cut into smaller rooms by walls in the same manner. None of the smaller rooms had anything else than a bed inside it. Behind the desks was another door.

“Could you look through the desks?” Bolt asked as she eyed the metal lockets. She floated up a screwdriver and something that looked like a hairpin from her saddlebags. “I will look through these.”

I looked at the desks. “What should I look for?”

“Anything that looks valuable,” she said, waving me off with a hoof. “I’m sure you saw what I took from utility. See if you can find anything like that.”

“Small objects with as much metal as possible on them. Got it.”

I walked over and started to search through the desk. Barely had I been able to look through half of the first desk’s drawers, before the sound of Bolt muttering something under her breath caused me to look up quickly. She had moved over to the next locker, leaving the first locker seemingly untouched.

“Aren’t you going to check the first one?” I asked as I went back to the drawers.

“There wasn’t anything important in it,” she said sourly.

“I couldn’t hear her opening or closing the locker. Shouldn’t that have made any sound?” Spitfire said, before she snickered.

What so funny?

“Oh, nothing.”

Nothing? You had to find something funny, I thought as I continued to the next desk. Spitfire only snickered again, and I decided that it wasn’t worth to try and get an answer out of her. Quickly I looked through the desks, without finding anything of value at all. When I was done, I looked up to see that Bolt had finished as well. She walked back from the last locker, three objects that looked like bigger version of the revolver around my leg floating after her and into her saddlebags.

“Found anything?” I asked, as I looked down the row with lockers. Only three of the fifteen lockets were open, including the one she had just stepped from.

“Some pistols and ammunition.” Bolt answered as she walked towards me. “And you?”

“Nothing. Most of the desks were empty and the others only had papers in them.”

Bolt walked past me and up to the door behind the desks. “What about the other lockers?” I asked as I followed her.

“They were empty,” Bolt sneered as she opened the door. “And that’s that.”

I could hear Spitfire snicker in the back of my mind as we stepped through the door.

“Chief. Come in Chief.”

I stopped as I heard the voice coming from nowhere, drenching out the repeating message from the Overmare. I quickly looked around me, tried to find the source of the voice. The room wasn’t very big, and it was very scantily furnished. Beside the desk, which took up most of the cramped room, and the cushion behind it, the room was empty. On the desk stood a terminal, lightning up the back of the room in its green glow. Next to the terminal laid something that looked like a bracelet. I looked back at Bolt, but her eyes were only on the bracelet.

“What is it, Sentry?” A darker, impatient voice boomed from the bracelet. I could hear what sounded like gunfire in the background.

“It’s the Overmare, sir. She has sealed her office and refuses to answer through the intercom.” The first voice said as Bolt walked past me.

“What are you doing?” I asked as I stepped after her.

She hushed me down as the second voice returned. “She did what? What is that mare thinking?! We need to evacuate the Stable immediately!”

“Your orders, Sir?”

More gunshots were heard, as well as multiple ponies yelling to each other.

“Sir?”

“Use my terminal. You can remove the seal from there.” I could hear how the second voice shouted out retreating orders, before his voice came back to full. “Hurry up. I don’t know how long we can keep it away!”

“What’s the password?”

I heard a last bullet shot, before a crackle exploded from the device and everything went silent.

“Sir? I need a password to operate your terminal. Sir?”

The voice disappeared from around us, and the Overmare’s returned to fill its void. Bolt stepped up to the desk and looked down at the strange bracelet laying there, her eyes wide as plates. She moved around it, as if the desk was a pedestal only to empathize the bracelet. The bracelet gleamed softly in the light of the terminal. She brought forward a hoof, as if to scoop it up, but stopped it barely a couple of inches from the metal device.

“What are you doing?” I asked as I stepped up to her. “Shouldn’t we try to get out of here?”

She tore her eyes away from the bracelet and looked at me. “Getting out of here? Yea, right. Could you… try to get into the terminal?” Her eyes returned to the bracelet. “I’m just going to…” she didn’t finish the sentence.

I rolled my eyes as I walked over to the terminal and plugged myself in. Do you think you can get in? It is the terminal of the head of security after all.

“I cannot guarantee anything, but I will do my best,” Spitfire reassured me as the filter with its words covered my vision.

“What is that anyway?” I asked as Spitfire started to work.

“A PipBuck,” Bolt said slowly. “A Pre-War multi-tool. I knew that they were distributed to the Stables… found some magazines briefly touching the subject. But seeing one in real life? This…” I could hear her take a deep breath. “The audio we heard was likely an audio log stored on it. If I remember correctly, you could use it to store any and all information, play logs, connect with terminals like you do with your eye and… anything you can think of, really.”

“So that was just a recording?”

“I think it was. The big question is, what triggered it? Maybe some auto setup when someone gets close to it.”

“I’m in,” Spitfire said as the words disappeared and rearranged to a single sentence ‘Welcome, Chief’.

“Already?” I blurted out.

“What did you say?” Bolt asked.

“I’m in,” I quickly said. Was it that easy?

“The password was one two three four five. No joking.” Spitfire deadpanned. “Whoever this chief of security was, he didn’t know anything about computer security.”

“Good, good. Can you open the door to the Overmare?”

“Give me a sec, I will try,” I answered. Can you?

“I don’t know. Something seems—“

Spitfire’s voice disappeared, and words started to form sentences on my filter. “What’s happening?” I asked.

“Cogwheel? What’s wrong?”

“I… I don’t know. Everything was replaced by… something that looks like a log.”

Spitfire? What happened?

“I don’t know. I don’t have any control over it.”

I looked over the text. What is this?

“It’s one of the logs of the Chief. An early one, I believe. I’m not a hundred percent sure though…”

Please say that you can remove it. I thought as I looked at the words. I just want to get out of here.

“I’m afraid not. I’m working on it.”

I can’t just… unplug it?

“You can, but I can’t promise that it won’t come up again once you plug me in again. Just give me some time to work around it.”

As Spitfire worked on the terminal, I quickly realized a small problem. I couldn’t look away from the text. Wherever I averted my eyes, it was there, taunting me with its bare presence. Closing my eyes, I tried to get my heart to slow down. I really didn’t like to not be able to control what was happening.

“What does it say?” Bolt asked. “Is it something about the life of the stable? Can you read it? And why are you closing your eyes?”

“Hu?” I asked, opening my eyes again.

“You said something about a log? What does it say?”

I looked back to the beginning of the log, and started to read it. “The small foal was later found, alive and sound, in the maintenance area, sitting and talking to the engine. None of the workers knew how she had gotten there, neither had anyone seen her during the hours she was missing. Seeing how she didn’t wear a Hazard suit, she shouldn’t have been able to enter the room. When she was later asked how she ended up there, she said that it brought her there as she pointed at the engine. The foal has been returned to her parents.”

As soon as I finished reading, the sentences disappeared and were replaced with new ones. “What?” Did you do something? I asked Spitfire as I eyed the new text. Not that I could do anything else, but.

“No, I didn’t do anything. It just… Changed.”

“What happened?”

“The log changed to something else without me doing anything.”

“Is it something more about the life in the stable?”

I eyed the short log, before I started to read it. “An old stallion was reported missing earlier today. As usual, we first tried to track him with his PipBuck tag. However, there seems to be some interference in the maintenance area. Instead of pointing towards the tag, the marker was reported to start spinning wildly. The pony in charge decided to ignore the maintenance area for the moment, and the stallion was later found in the atrium. The stallion, who seemed a little at loss but otherwise healthy, asked the officer where he was. He was quickly returned to his wife.”

“I’m having trouble with getting around it,” Spitfire said as the log once again was replaced with another one.

Without even thinking, I started to read the next log. “Another pony disappeared tonight, a young unicorn mare. The group who was searching for the mare followed the marker to the maintenance area, but as soon as the group entered, the marker started to spin wildly, and it was impossible to pinpoint it. A sweep was made of the room, but the boys didn’t find anything.”

I stopped as I realized what I was reading.

“What’s the matter?” Bolt asked.

“This… this is from one of those disappearances.” I read the last line from the log. “Lemon Bloom was declared dead after the fourth sweep of the Stable. Our thoughts and condolences go to her family.”

As I had finished reading, the log was replaced with multiple options. One of them was the one I had been looking for. “Unseal Overmare’s Office.” At my words, the options were replaced with a new line, and the repeating message suddenly ended. “Seal removed. Distress call and broadcast canceled.”

“That means we can get to the office now?” Bolt asked as I tugged out the wire.

“I think so,” I said as the blue filter disappeared. Bolt sat on the other side of the desk, her eyes on the device in front of her. Her hoof tapped gently on the floor.

“Good, good.”

A rumble, low at first but quickly working up in noise, filled up the empty room after the message that had followed us before. It felt as if the entire floor shook, before it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

“What was that?” I asked, looking around me.

“I don’t know,” Bolt said as she hurried up on her legs. She looked over at the PipBuck on the desk again.

“Can we leave now?” I walked over to the door. “Please?”

Bolt looked between me and the PipBuck. Her horn flared up, and the PipBuck was surrounded by the same aura. She floated it over to herself, and looked closely at it, before she dropped it in her saddlebags. “Yes, let’s go,” she said as she whirled around and hurriedly walked past me.

We walked quickly towards the door leading to the Overmare’s office, and when we got there, Bolt pressed the button to open it. A low rumble was heard again as the door slowly slid open, revealing the staircase behind it. This part was as clean and well-kept as the rest of the Stable had been, and it started to make me nervous. This part had been sealed, even more than the Stable itself. It had been a seal inside a seal, and yet it was as impeccably clean as the rest of this place was.

But Bolt didn’t seem to notice anything as she quickly walked up the staircase. Shivering slightly, I followed her up. The staircase ended in a hallway, and close to halfway through was the door that, according to the sign, lead to the Overmare’s office.

Without even stopping, Bolt pressed the button. Slowly, with a high-pitched screech, the door slid open. Both Bolt and I jumped back at the sudden sound, but I quickly tried to brush it off. With the desire to get out of here as quick as possible, I took a step towards the door, looking into the room beyond.

The room was engulfed in darkness, the only light inside the trickle that found its way through the door from the hallway and the soft green light I assumed was from a terminal. A thick layer of dust covered the floor, completely uninterrupted. I saw the outlines of something that I believed was the desk.

Stepping inside the room, I tried to find some light switch. After a little bit of fumbling on the wall next to the door, I found one. As I switched it on a lamp in the roof started to flicker, throwing a bleak light over the scenery.

The room was pretty spacious, and barely anything but a desk in the middle of the room took up the space. Upon the desk, a terminal flickered, and a vase with flowers long since withered stood next to it. On the left wall was a door like the elevator in the clinic, and on the opposite wall stood the window I had seen from the Atrium. The window had curtains covering it, blocking out any light from there. Behind the desk, on an armchair, a skeleton lay. I took a couple of steps back and nearly backed into Bolt, who still stood at the other side of the door, a hoof nervously tapping on the floor.

“Are you okay?” I asked as I looked back at her.

She quickly shook her head, before she looked up at me. “Okay? Of course I am,” she snorted as she brushed past me into the room. “A little surprised to see the dust, that’s all. You would think that the cleaning device would be able to keep all parts of the stable clean, don’t you?”

“I guess…” I said slowly as I walked into the room again, looking at the unicorn. “Are you sure you are okay?”

“I am. No need to worry about me,” Bolt said as she started to eye the room. “Let’s just try to hack the computer and get out of here.”

“I’m going to try and get—“

The screeching sound of the door closing behind me interrupted me. Once again I jumped in surprise, but this time I whirled around and looked in disbelief at the door. Bolt ran past me and started to repeatedly press the button next to the door, but without any response.

“What happened? What’s going on?” My heart started to beat faster.

“I don’t know!” Bolt screeched as she jabbed her hoof on the button a couple of times more. “It won’t open!”

I turned around as I heard a pinging from behind me. Before my eyes, the elevator doors started to slide open.

{O.o}

Footnote: 55% level gained

New Companion Perk:Old World Computing: Spitfire have started to get used to the security systems in the terminals. The experience have made her able to work past, or completely ignore, some elements, resulting in a 25% percent speed to the hacking. Moreover, her science has been raised by 10.

Secondly, thanks to Rising_Chaos for proofreading and listening to my never ending babbling.

Helplessness

“For years, I’ve watched over this Stable. For years, I have seen it grow. But today, it all ends. I dare not tell them that I can’t open the door. In the blink of an eye, the values on the outside reached critical conditions, and the system refuses to let me open the Stable door. But the evacuations have already started. Hundreds of families stand in the entrance hallway, waiting for me to open the door, waiting for something that will never happen. How many of them would die if they panicked after I told them I couldn’t open the door? Ten? Fifty? A hundred? If I don’t open the door… It doesn’t matter. Security can’t hold back it forever. That creature will be free soon enough. I’ve sealed myself inside my office, and I’ll stay here until the values are low enough for me to open the door. No matter what happens, I’ll watch over the values. Maybe I can open the door in time to save one. If I can just save one of those ponies, then I can die happily. But with the circumstances… May Celestia watch over us all.”

“That’s all there is. The only log on the terminal,” Spitfire said as the words slowly wrinkled out and were replaced with a single command. ‘Open Stable Door’.

“So the Overmare couldn’t open the door, but you can, right?” asked Bolt from behind me. “I mean, I’ve been living out there for years! The values have to be acceptable by now! ... Right?”

I didn’t answer her. And after a moment she muttered something and her hoof started tapping against the floor once again.

“I can’t see any values at all.” I gritted my teeth and kept working despite my annoyance at Bolt. That tapping sound was driving me insane. She’d been doing it ever since the elevator came up. I probably wasn’t alone in thinking something would jump out at us, but the elevator had been completely empty inside save for a nice layer of dust. “So I assume the value is below the limit. Open Stable Door.”

“You know, you still don’t have to say it. A mere thought is enough.”

The sound of the tapping stopped. “Did it work?” Bolt asked. “Is the door open?”

“No,” I whispered as new text replaced the command. “No!”

‘Energy level non-sufficient. M.A.C. malfunctioning. Emergency generators offline.’ I stared at the text that enveloped the filter. “That can’t be true!”

“What’s the matter?” I could hear Bolt scramble to her hooves. Air rushed past me as she ran up to look at the terminal. “Is the door not working? Did the computer lock you out?”

“The engine is malfunctioning.” I beat my hoof down on the table. All this! We had gone through all this for nothing! “It’s impossible to open the door!”

“Does that mean we’re trapped here? I thought you fixed it! Can’t you do something?”

“I have already checked; you cannot start the engines from here.”

“I didn’t work with the M.A.C.. I was only some representative from the company that made it.” I carefully tugged out the wire from the terminal. “Or, at least that’s what I think I was...”

“Then what are we going to do?”

“There’s another way to turn the engines on.” But I don’t want to. I turned towards the elevator. “The elevator should go to the maintenance area. Down there are emergency generators, but they have to be started manually. I can’t start them from here.”

“Well, then what are we waiting for?” Bolt asked as she brushed past me towards the elevator.

“I don’t think we should--” I started.

“What?” She looked at me from inside the elevator with a raised eyebrow. “We go down, turn on the engine, and leave. Simple.” She looked expectantly at me for a while, and she started tapping her hoof again. “Well, are you coming or not?”

“That’s the thing,” I said as I took a step closer. “It’s too easy. We just need to go down to maintenance, in this elevator that conveniently arrived just a few minutes ago, without either of us calling it here.”

"Easy?” the unicorn sneered. “Easy would be us starting the engines from here. But you just said that’s not possible, so get in."

“But—“

"I guess I'll just have to go without you, then," she said as she raised her hoof, likely reaching for the button that would send the elevator to the generators.

“Wait,” I said as I stepped up to the elevator. “I really don’t think we should--“

Bolt didn’t allow me to finish the sentence. She slammed her hoof against the panel, and the doors started to slide shut. Luckily for me, they closed slowly enough for me to have enough time react and hastily take the last few steps inside the elevator.

"About time you got here." She laughed weakly. "I ought to encourage you like that more often. We never get stuff done with you just standing around."

I spun around just as the elevator started to descend. Quickly my eyes searched the panel for anything that would stop the elevator. The panel was right past Bolt, and I went to go push the button that would send the elevator back up.

Her eyes widened as I approached "Woah, hey! What are you trying to do?" She quickly pushed me away from the panel. "We're going all the way down to the engines. No stops, no detours--"

“But--“

"No 'buts'!" she said a bit forcefully. She coughed and looked away from me, lowering her voice back to normal. "Just pipe down and enjoy the ride, okay?"

I opened my mouth, but closed it again without saying anything. Instead, I took another half step back, walking into one of the elevator’s walls. I don’t like this at all.

“What’s the matter?”

Everything here. The clean state the Stable is in, the lack of… anything really. If the Overmare couldn’t open the door, why is she the only dead pony we’ve seen in the entire Stable? I shivered.Not that I want to see one, but… And that thing that the log spoke about? The thing that was coming up from maintenance? Is it still there? Will it be waiting for us? I looked at Bolt, who was absently looking around the elevator and tapping her hoof once more.

“Would it matter? You would have to go down to the maintenance anyway. The emergency generators weren’t operable from the Overmare’s office, and without them,” Spitfire paused. “We wouldn’t be able to get out of here anyway.”

But there were other ways down there; we wouldn’t have had to take the elevator.

“Does it matter?”

Maybe not, I thought as the elevator slowed down. I had to come down here eventually, to find that ornament. I shivered at the thought.

Without a sound the elevator door opened up, revealing the hallway that lead to the maintenance area. The hallway was empty except for the small lamps placed on the walls that emitted the dim light that illuminated our surroundings. No dust lingered in the air or on the floor, making this part of the Stable as clean as any other part had been.

Bolt hesitated slightly before she stepped out of the elevator and looked down the hallway. Without a word, I followed after her. “Which way to the generators?” she asked her head going from left to right. “Why aren’t there any signs to tell us where to go?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t think we should--”

She whirled around to face me. “Stop that,” she said, poking me in the chest. “I get it, okay? You don’t think we should be down here. You don’t have to say that at every chance you get. Just…” She looked down and shook her head, quickly bringing it back up. A curl of her mane fell down across her face and obscured one of her eyes. “Just stop.”

I nodded frantically.

The unicorn stood still for a moment, her hoof still in the air and her eyes locked on me. Then she sighed, letting her head fall down. “Good. Good.” She pushed the part of her mane that had fallen down out of her face. “Let’s get going, then.” She quickly looked to both sides of the corridor, before she started to walk down the path to the right.

I stayed behind, confused as to how Bolt was acting.

“Are you coming or what?” Bolt spun around to look at me. “You want to get out of here as much as I do, so come on!” She threw a quick glance behind her before she looked at me again. “Please?”

“Are you alright?” I asked as I walked towards her.

As soon as I started to walk again, Bolt turned around and did the same. “I’m fine, really. I just…” She paused. “What do you know about maintenance?”

“About maintenance?” I watched as Bolt kept walking, not looking around but simply looking straight ahead. “Well… There is the M.A.C., the main engine, and then there are the emergency generators--“

“Where are the emergency generators located?”

“From here?” I paused and tried to remember. “I think the terminal to control them was on the other side of the engine room, close to the locker rooms.”

“Wait, what’s that?” Bolt had frozen in her track halfway around a corner, one hoof still lingering in the air. “What’s that light?”

I hurried up my steps until I stood so that I could see the dark green light that I believe she was talking about. It was coming from another corner further away.. “That’s the light from M.A.C..” A gentle breeze stroked my coat, bringing with it the smell of the forest I remembered from the memory I had of maintenance. I shivered slightly. It felt as if a cold hoof ran down my spine as I remembered not only the fragrance of a forest, but also the fragrance of the glade. I could feel my heart beating faster as the memories of the glade brought with it the fear I had felt then.

“A predator, lurking in the shadows.” Free’s words echoed in my mind, and I thought I could feel a hoof against my chin. I tried to shied away, but with no success. It was like something restrained me with that simple ghost of a touch. I couldn’t move my head or any other part of my body.

"But I thought you said the engine was down,” said Bolt. “What was the point of us coming down here if it was on the whole time?"

I could feel something breathing in my ear, as if somepony had moved their mouth close enough to whisper to me.

“It will soon awake, Cogwheel.” A hollow laugh reached my ears. “I would hurry up if I were you.” The feeling of the hoof left my chin. “It will be hungry when it awakes, Cogwheel.”

“What do you mean?” I whimpered as I quickly shied away from where I had just stood, traces of sweat forming on my brow.

“Cogwheel? What’s the mat—“

"What do I mean?" Free chuckled lightly. I took a few steps back, trying to get away from the voice, but I didn't succeed. Free kept whispering, almost sweetly, in my ear. "It has your scent, Cogwheel. The entire glade practically reeks of you. It won’t be able to miss it. It'll be looking for you."

My heart skipped a beat.

"Recover and bring that ornament to me before It wakes up, and I'll stop It from tracking you down."

“How do I know that I can trust you?” I looked wildly around me.

“Cogwheel, who are you talking to?” Bolt asked. She had walked past me, but had now turned around and looked worryingly at me.

“You can’t,” Free hissed at me. With a hollow laugh, the breath in my ear disappeared, and soon the laugh had disappeared as well.

“Cogwheel? What’s the matter?” Spitfire and Bolt asked simultaneously.

My entire body trembled as I looked up at Bolt. She had walked closer to me, not standing more than a couple of steps away. She shifted slightly from one hoof to the other as she looked down at me with worried eyes. “Cogwheel?”

“It’s after me,” I whispered, my eyes darting from wall to wall.

“What are you talking about?”

"I need to get out of here," I whispered as I rose from the ground, my eyes locked on Bolt. “Now.” My heart started pounding harder, faster, as I saw the green light behind the unicorn. I broke into a gallop and headed for the maintenance room.

"Wait!" Bolt screamed after me. "What are you talking about? Cogwheel!"

I could barely hear her over the blood pumping in my ears. It didn't matter. I had to find that ornament. Bolt couldn't stop me, I wouldn’t let her. I had to get out of here.

"Stop running!" Spitfire shouted. I could feel my cybernetic legs lock under me just as I got into the engine room, sending me sliding across the floor even as I flailed to try and get back up.

"Cogwheel!" Bolt yelled at me again, rushing into the engine room. She skidded to a halt before me and leaned over to look me in the eyes. "What are you running for? What's wrong?"

"Spitfire, let me go!" I screamed, flailing with my organic leg in a feeble attempt to get up. "I have to get out of here!"

“You are not going anywhere until you calm down, Cogwheel.”

“What are you talking about?” Bolt stopped next to me, shifting nervously from one hoof to another, looking around. “Who are you talking to? Who’s Spitfire?”

“Cogwheel, listen closely to me. You have to calm down. Don’t let the fear take a grip of you. Fight it.”

“Please… release me,” I whimpered as I stopped flailing with my leg, tears running down my cheek and dropping onto the floor.

I could see Bolt standing there, looking between me and the rest of the room, her eyes darting back and forth as she shifted nervously. She looked down at me, and raised her hoof as to walk away, but quickly put it down again and looked away.

“Cogwheel, listen to me. You have to calm down. Tell me, what happened?”

Free… he talked to me. Told me that it was about to awake. He-he… I took a ragged breath.

“That’s impossible. How…” Spitfire paused. “Listen to me, Cogwheel. He can’t hurt you here. He wants you to be afraid. Breathe. Don’t let him play around with you.”

“Cogwheel? You’re scaring me,” Bolt whispered.

“I have to get out of here.” I looked up at Bolt. “Please...”

“What happened?” Bolt looked from side to side. “What can I do?”

“I will let you go, but you have to do one thing first,” Spitfire said slowly. “On the wall, there is a poster. Read it. Focus on the poster, forget everything else. Just breathe and read it. Don’t think about anything else but the poster.”

How will that he—

“Just do it.”

“Cogwheel? Talk to me,” Bolt pleaded as I averted my eyes away from her and looked at the poster behind her. “Please.”

My eyes darted through the text on the poster, not once stopping. There, I read it. Release me now. I pleaded as I kicked with my leg, hoping that the other legs would start to move as well.

“Listen to what I say, Cogwheel. Read it, without thinking about anything else. Take a deep breath, and then read it again.”

“But—“

“Just do it,” Spitfire interrupted me firmly.

“Cogwheel?” Bolt’s voice wavered slightly. “What’s wrong with your legs? They shouldn’t be able to lock like that. What’s going on?”

I looked up at her. She stood with her head lowered and her eyes gazing worriedly at me. I opened my mouth, but quickly closed it and averted my eyes to the poster on the wall once again. I felt my heart calming down as I took a deep, ragged breath and wiped the tears away from my eye so that I could see the poster more clearly.

Bolt mumbled something I couldn’t make out as I focused on reading the poster, ignoring everything else. Know your hazardous chemicals: Do not inhale the fumes, no matter how good they smell. I blinked and then quickly read through it again. Had that poster been one of the security measures that had been taken for the maintenance? Or was it just—

“Cogwheel! Say something to me!” Bolt begged.

My heartbeats had slowed down to a more steady rhythm. I took a deep breath and looked up at Bolt. “I’m fine. Just…” I met her worried eyes where she stood, shifting from hoof to hoof, and I sighed. “Fine.” Can you release me now?

“Repeat what you just read, without looking back at the poster,” Spitfire instructed me with slow and steady voice. “Then I will release you.”

What? Why can’t you just release me now?

“Take a deep breath and tell me what the sign warned you for,” Spitfire said firmly.

“Stupid…” I muttered and sighed. Don’t inhale the fumes, no matter how good they smell. I repeated silently to myself. Why should I—

“To calm down. Stress and or fear may be helping you to think clearer, but not in the amount you felt them. Your thoughts were clouded by the fear and stress, and the only one who could change that was yourself,” Spitfire said. She continued before I could say anything. “I have given you back the control over your legs. Be careful.”

Thanks… I guess, I thought as I waved slightly with my legs, taking a deep breath. “There, all better.”

Bolt still looked down at me. “You… what?” she asked as I slowly rose from the floor, wincing as a dull pain spread through my body from my side.

“I’m all better now.” I saw that the pony was back in the corner of my eye, notifying me that I had various scratches on my side.

“You’re… all better?” She asked with a dangerous tone, practically biting off the question.

“Yes. I’m—“ I went silent as I rose my head slightly and found myself looking into Bolt’s hard eyes. “Tha… That’s good, isn’t it?” I took a step back from her glare.

“Oh, yes, I’m sure that’s good,” she sneered as she stepped closer to me. “Then maybe you can tell what that was all about!” She took a deep breath.

“I fell and—“

"First," she interrupted me with a jab to my chest. "You stop moving. And then you just start cowering down like a filly getting being caught stealing something. And then," she jabbed her hoof into my chest again for emphasis. "You just take off and start screaming about how you have to get out of here!"

“I thought I heard som—“

Bolt didn't allow me to say anything. As I tried to speak, she jabbed her hoof in my chest again. "No, you listen to me. You just fall over and start crying for Spitfire to release you! Then you started practically begging me for help, but you just ignored me!" She jabbed her hoof at my chest one last time. "And you expect me to believe that everything's just fine?!"

“It’s not fine,” I quickly said, trying to get away from her hoof. “It’s better, but I’m not—“

The echoing of Bolt driving her hoof into the floor silenced me. “Then what was all that about?!” she shouted forcefully.

“I-I…” I hung my head and took a deep breath. “I swore that I heard something, whispering for me to hurry up, that it soon will be too late. I panicked and ran until…” I paused. If I told her about Spitfire, how many questions would follow? We didn’t have time for that.

“Are you sure about this, Cogwheel? Isn’t it better just to tell her?”

“Until what?!” She slammed her hoof against the floor again.

“Until my cybernetics locked up. I fell to the floor, and…” I racked my brain for something to say.

"P-prosthesis don't lock unless they encounter EMP interference, but yours just suddenly stop working?" She snorted, still glaring me down. "Sure, sure. That still doesn't explain who you were talking to. Or how you could calm down so quickly."

“Uh…” My mind stood completely still.

Spitfire sighed. “If you aren’t going to tell her about me, and insist on lying, at least try to keep it as close to the truth as possible.”

“It was some kind of…” I hesitated.

“Medical program that…”

"Medical program that locked my prosthesis up," I said firmly, meeting Bolt's hard glare. "It noticed that my heart rate was higher than it should have been, and--"

“Medical program?” Bolt asked, raising her eyebrow. “Is it part of your eye or something? How is it able to control your prosthesis? What else can it do?" She started moving towards me, her eyes a bit wider than they had been.

It was as if her anger had completely vanished as she tried to peer into my eye. “Uh…“ I hesitated and took a step back.

“You have to tell me about it! Is it more advanced than the PipBuck’s health monitoring?” Bolt took a step closer. “Does it show heart rate? Blood pressure?”

“Can we talk about that once we get the engine started?” I asked as I turned around, letting out a sigh in relief that she seemed to have forgotten about everything at the thought of my cybernetic. “I I’ll tell you all about it when—“The words died in my mouth as I stared at the scenery in front of me, my mouth slowly closing.

“Hey, wait a minute!” she shouted behind me. But I only dully noted her words.

In the middle of the room stood the rhombus shaped engine that I could remember from my dream -- the M.A.C.. But something looked horribly wrong with it. The circles lay dead around the base of the rhombus where they had landed when whatever had kept them rotating had disappeared. A rift divided the rhombus in two, vines and ivy spreading out and around the giant engine. “This… isn’t right.” My eyes wandered from the engine and across the room.

“What’s the mat…” Her words died out just as my own had just a second ago.

The growth had spread alongside and over the cords and had followed them up to the five gathering crystals placed around the room. Each of the crystals were close to completely overgrown, but the light they still emitted shone through small cracks in the plants and was reflected a thousand times over by the rest of the ivy and vines to the point where the entire room where bathing in a dark green light.

“Is that… mac?” The unicorn whispered from beside me as she took a step closer to the engine. “It’s… beautiful.”

“I don’t think you should go any closer,” I said, placing a hoof on her shoulder. “It’s not supposed to look like this. I don’t think that we should…”

Bolt shrugged off my hoof as she stepped closer, stopping just before the ivy running across the floor. “It’s like the glades. Growing life in the middle of the wasteland.”

“I don’t think that M.A.C. was malfunctioning,” I said, taking in all of the damage the engine had sustained. “I think it was completely destroyed...”

“Bolt, listen to me,” I said as I stepped up to the unicorn, gently pushing her back a couple of steps from the ivy. She glared up at me and tried to walk forward again. “Bolt, please, just listen to me. M.A.C. isn’t supposed to look like this. The rings are supposed to float around the engine, and that rift is definitely not supposed to be there, neither are the plants growing out from it.”

“And your point is?” Bolt glanced towards the growth. “It’s not like some leaves can harm us.”

I sighed and removed my hoof. “Just don’t go too close to it. Please? We don’t know if it’s dangerous.” I took a deep breath. The fragrance from the countless number of plants around me reminded me too much about the glade.

She looked back at me, her eyes softening some. “Well…” she started, biting her lower lip. “You do know more about it than I do.” She looked wistfully towards the engine, before she sighed. “And if you think it’s dangerous… I guess I’ll have to trust you.” Whirling around towards me, she jabbed her hoof in my chest. “But don’t think you’re getting away this easily. You still have a lot of questions to answer.”

I took a quick step back in surprise. “Ye… yes. As soon as we get out of here.”

“Good.” She held my eyes for a second longer before looked towards the rest of the room. “Getting out… You said something about a terminal to get the generators running?”

“Yes, it’s on the other side of the room, close to the locker room,” I said, looking at the floor where I had walked so long ago, in a time I only remembered thanks to a single memory, now completely clad in ivy. Careful to not touch the growth, I walked alongside the stems until I stood so that I could see the other side of the room.

“Sweet Celestia...”

The ivy had spread out across the other side of the room as well, even more than it had here. Not only the floor, but the walls and even the glass panels to the locker room could only be partially seen through the layer of growth. I looked down at the floor again and steeled myself as I brought my hoof towards the closest ivy. Brushing against it, I quickly jumped back and raised my hoof to my eyes, looking for any traces of… anything really.

“What are you doing? It’s a plant,” Bolt deadpanned as she walked up to me. “It’s not like it will kill you or anything.”

“I know.” I smiled sheepishly as I put down my hoof again. “Just making sure.”

“Making sure of what? That they won’t bite you?” Bolt laughed, before her features turned worried. “They can’t do that, can they?”

“I don’t think so, at least they didn’t do that when I…” I blinked. “Why should I know?”

“You knew about that,” she said, motioning towards the rhombus. “And it seems to grow from there, so I thought that you might know about it.”

I shrugged. “I was only a representative. I’m fairly sure I didn’t actually work with anything of this,” I said, warily eyeing the ground as I took a step forward, prepared to jump back should anything happen.

When nothing happened, I sighed in relief and continued going. I could practically hear Bolt rolling her eyes as she followed behind me.

“Besides, even if I did have something to do with it I don’t remember it.”

“Yeah, you say that.”

With a snort I continued walking, each breath bringing the scent of the forest to my nose. My eyes wandered over the room in search for the terminal I knew should be here somewhere. It didn’t take long before I saw a desk, partially overgrown, standing alongside the wall. On the desk stood a terminal, its dark green light melting together with the lighter green that was reflected around the room.

I walked to the desk and placed myself behind the terminal. Looking up, I saw that Bolt continued walk around the rhombus, her head going from side to side as she looked from the M.A.C., along the stems to the vessels. For a moment I looked at her as she made her way towards one of the vessels, gently brushing parts of the ivy away to peer inside it.

As I moved my eyes back to the terminal, something else caught my attention. Lying next to the terminal was a small pendant of gold with a silver link. The shining metal, carved as a tree with small leaves of emeralds, seemed to gleam in the green light.

“Is that... the ornament?” Spitfire breathed.

I... I don’t know. He never told me what it looked like. I gently picked up the chain with my hoof, staring in awe as the pendant slowly rotated around.

“He never told you? Then how were you supposed to find it?” Spitfire paused. “Didn’t he want you to find it?”

The pendant came to a stop, my face reflecting clearly a hundred times over in the gold and emeralds. He must’ve thought I couldn’t have missed it.

“It ispretty difficult to miss...”

I nodded as I, with a feeling of regret, tore my eyes away from the pendant and opened my already overfull saddlebag, gently laying it on top of the scrap therein. It seemed misplaced, a jewel among rocks. Shaking the thought about the pendant from my mind, I looked back to the terminal.

As always when I plugged myself into a terminal, the blue filter filled my vision nearly instantly. But, unlike the other times I had been interacting with terminals, the words stayed still instead of moving like they usually did, spelling out Logs and Options.

“The terminal wasn’t protected by any password,” Spitfire informed me. “I could take you directly to the main screen.”

Let me guess, I thought eyeing the two options. The ‘Options’ option is locked?

“Not that I can notice. However, I think that you should read this log first. Most of the logs are completely normal, reports on the daily work down here, all except one. It mentions a little filly being found down here, the same as every other night, but in this one...”

In this one what?

“Read for yourself,” she said, and the options on the filter was replaced by a log.

My night shift had just started, when I found a figure I recognized all too well. Sitting close to M.A.C., staring into the depths of the engine was the same filly as every night. She shouldn’t be able to get inside, not without a hazard suit equipped, and yet here she sits close to every night. But I don’t mind the company, even if she doesn’t speak much. It’s better than being all alone down here.

Anyhoof, I started my shift as normally with checking the values of M.A.C.. They were all off the chart, at least in comparison to the values they usually show at night. The Stable was using more energy than during a normal day, and M.A.C. was working with an efficiency of two hundred percent. I have never seen the circles work that fast before, the sound of the sparks jumping sounded like someone firing a fully automated weapon in here.

I was just about to start emergency protocol 11-b, but remembered the filly. Moving over to her, I told her that we had to get away from the engine. She looked up at me, a wide smile on her face. “But it’s about to be free, mister,” she said, looking back and placing a hoof at the engine. At her touch, it was as if the engine slowed down to normal, the green light from within pulsating slowly.

I hurried back to the terminal, and the values had gone down drastically. When I looked back, the little filly was gone. The rest of the night continued on, although it felt as if my every move was observed. I swear that I saw the little filly more than once in the corner of my eye, but when I looked, she wasn’t there.

My shift is now ending, and nothing else has--

“And that’s it. That was the last log on the terminal. There were multiple logs mentioning the filly, but this is the only one mentioning her speaking more than one word answers. The date of the log is the same as the date on the last log on the Overmare’s terminal, so I guess this was the start of the end for Stable 31.”

I reread the log once more, absently noticing what Spitfire said.It’s about to be free. What was about to be free? And what caused the engine to work that hard?

“It? The creature the Overmare’s log mentioned?”

Can it be the same It Free talked about? The predator of the glades?

The log disappeared and was replaced by the two options again. “I don’t know, but I don’t think so. The stable door was locked when we entered, and the terminal didn’t mention any opening of the door since the day the Overmare tried to get out.”

They all died down here then? The inhabitants of Stable 31? I took a deep breath. Killed by… it, whatever that was. Was it something from M.A.C. that killed them? Something that SAT was a part of? Was I a part of it as well?

The Option choice was selected without me doing anything. “Does it matter?” Spitfire asked as new options filled the filter.“If you had something to do with it, it’s nothing you can change. Right now, the only—“

“I don’t care if I can’t change it. If I had something to do with it, then…”

“If you had something to do with it, that was two hundred years ago! There is no possible way that you can change that. The ponies of this Stable are gone, you aren’t. So let us get out of here, and keep it that way.”

“Did you say something?” Bolt’s voice reached me.

“No, nothing.” I sighed and scrolled through the options until I found the one I was looking for. Protocol 16-C – Start the Emergency Generators.

The protocol was selected, and the filter became empty except for a couple of lines.

Preparing M.A.C. for hibernation.

“Cogwheel, what did you just do?!” Bolt asked. She sounded nervous.

“I started the Emergency generators.”

Warning: Damages in the vessel containing M.A.C..

Warning overridden by Protocol 16-C.

“Cogwheel, is it supposed to be like this? There’s some sort of fog coming out from the crack in the engine.”

Nitrogen activated, hibernation inbound.

“I… I don’t know! You might want to stand—“

Temperature of M.A.C. core: 5 degrees Kelvin.

M.A.C. core shielded.

“What happened? Everything turned dark! Cogwheel, are you still there?”

“I’m here. M.A.C. was just shut down. It should only take a moment before the emergency generator starts up.”

Emergency Generators enabled.

I could hear a low humming from somewhere around me.

Protocol 16-C finished. Terminating link.

Barely had I read the words before they, and the filter, disappeared. Looking up from the terminal, I couldn’t believe my eyes.

The rhombus in the middle of the room had stopped emitting any light, the earlier clear glass now a muddy grey, and the vessels were in a similar state. A weak yellow light, shining down from the ceiling, had replaced the soft green color that had illuminated the room earlier. Before my eyes, the growth covering everything died, the green plant turning black and slowly crumbling to dust. At the base of M.A.C., white mist had started spreading over the floor.

“What happened?” I asked before I could think, my eyes drifting around the room.

“I think that the ivy was kept alive by the engine. Somehow,” Bolt said from the other side of the engine. “Is it done? Are the generators running?”

“I think so,” I said as I walked to her, eyeing the white mist.

“We can get out then?”

“Yes.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Bolt said and turned around on the spot. “Let’s get out of here.”

I nodded and hurried after her towards the elevator, and together we left the maintenance, and the Stable, behind us.

{l_l}

A lazy wind welcomed us as we stepped out from the building. The sky above us was as clouded as it had been when we entered, but the obscured sun still hung up there, illuminating the street and buildings around us.

“How long do you think we were down there?” I asked as I took a deep breath. It was nice to be out in the open again. Not that I had a hard time down in the Stable, but there was something about an open surrounding that was much more pleasant.

Bolt glanced up to the sky. “I don’t know. Five, maybe six hours? And now that we’re out,” she said and looked up at me. “You have some questions to answer.”

“I do, don’t I?” I sighed. “Can I talk as we walk?”

“Can you focus on more than one thing at a time?” Bolt snorted as she started to walk down the street.

"Hey... uh, let's go this way," I said, turning to the path that lead to the glade.

"Why make the detour?" Bolt walked back to me and tried nudging back to the path we were on. "What's wrong with this road?"

"We came through this way, so... I just thought it'd be good that we... Sort of know where we're going." I started walking down the road.

"You know," she said, hanging back for a second. "That's probably the smartest thing you've said all day." She started down the path, following me almost gleefully. We had walked in silence for a few minutes before she spoke again. "... You never told me about that medical program, Cogwheel. And you said you'd tell me all about it once we got out of there. So." She turned to face me, her tone changing instantly from somber to cheery. "What is it? What's it do? How does it work?"

I didn’t answer directly. “To be honest, I don’t really know,” I said as she opened her mouth again. “I barely have any knowledge about it. As I understood it, it was created by SAT and what I have is nothing but a prototype.”

“A prototype? What was it created for? You said something about it being able to check your heartrate, and that it locked your prosthesis until you calmed down? Some kind of medical program?”

Here goes... I thought, taking a deep breath. “I lied.”

“You... lied?” Bolt stopped in the middle of a step.

“Only partially. It’s not a medical program. It’s more of an... AI.” I finished awkwardly, stopping next to her.

“OSAI,” Spitfire corrected.

“AI? Like a robot or something?”

“A robot? Robot?! I’m not justa robot!” Spitfire shouted.

I grinned in pain at the high-pitched sound. “Apparently, there’s a difference.”

“Of course there is! A robot is programmed to do one thing, and only one thing, forever! An OSAI can be programmed, but it can think for itself! It can help ponies take care of themselves! It can calculate, and understand, how much medicine a pony would need! It can change its way to calculate things after discoveries and experience! It can--”

Okay, okay, I get it! I smiled, apologizing to Bolt as Spitfire went silent. “Apparently, there is a great difference.”

“Was it... talking with you?” Bolt raised her head higher and tried to peer into my eye. “Did it say something about me? Can it hear me?”

“Yes, I can,” Spitfire said dryly. “I thought she was supposed to be intelligent.”

Woah, somepony’s grumpy, I thought. “She can hear you, but she seems to be pretty... cranky right now. Being called a robot seemed to hit a nerve.” I pondered for a moment. “Although, I’m not certain that she has any nerves.”

“She?” Bolt brought her head closer. “It’s a she? What’s her name?”

I took a quick step back, and before Bolt had had the time to close in once again I turned towards the street. “Well, it has a feminine voice, so I assume it’s a mare. Her name is Spitfire,” I said, starting to walk again.

"Spitfire?" she asked, hurrying after me. "You're telling me that the whole time you were flailing around on the floor in the Stable, you were yelling at some robot?”

“Please get her to stop saying that,” Spitfire groaned.“It’s humiliating. I don’t go around calling her an earth pony, do I?”

“She wants you to stop calling her that,” I snorted. “She said it would be as if she called you an earth pony.”

Bolt blinked. “Oh... I guess that means there’s a really big difference.” She looked around for a second. “What would that be, exactly?”

Maybe it was only my imagination, but I could swear that I heard Spitfire take a deep breath. “I think that an AI can learn from doing things, while a robot has to just do what it’s told. It’s more of a pony than it is a computer or a robot, but it’s still mechanical.” I said before she could start ranting. “When you attacked me yesterday, she quickly saw that I could block your attacks instead of trying to avoid them.”

”She can learn? Like us?”

“Yes, I can. The process of learning is fairly simple. It’s all about acquiring new, or modifying existing, knowledge, behaviors, skills, values or preferences...”

“You know what? It’s kind of annoying to be a messenger for both of you,” I muttered.

“Oh, hush. You promised me answers, didn’t you? Now, what did she say?” Bolt’s voice carried more than a small hint of glee.

I sighed. “She says that she can learn, and that it’s an easy process. According to her, it’s all about acquiring new or modifying existing knowledge, behaviors... And a whole lot more.”

Bolt hurried up next to me, looking up at the eye with a puzzled frown. “But wouldn’t she have to be able to remember things to be able to learn from experience? Wouldn’t that mean that she has your memories from the past?”

We rounded a corner, and I could see the glades further away. “I wish. She hasn’t been in my eye for that long. She jumped in there after I woke up in the clinic two days ago,” I said, quickening my pace.

“Jumped in? I think you meant to say ‘downloaded’.”

“Jumped in there?” Bolt had to nearly run to keep up with my strides. “What do you mean?”

“I downloaded her. Or she downloaded herself. I’m not sure. I was locked in a room, and couldn’t open the door out. She didn’t have any direct contact with the door, and she couldn’t open it from where she was, so this was the only way. We’ve been stuck together ever since -- not that I really mind... When she isn’t cranky, of course.” I smiled.

“Hey!” Bolt tripped and staggered behind me, rushing afterwards to meet with me again. “Slow down, would you? What’s the hurry?”

“There’s something I have to do before I return to Green Valley,” I said, my smile slipping. “In the glade.”

I heard something like a squeak before Bolt ran ahead and turned around to look at me. “The glade? You mean you’re actually going in the glade again? “

“Yes,” I sighed, trying to emulate Bolt’s glee. “We’re going back into the glade.”

Bolt sat down with a confused look on her face. She tracked me with her eyes as I continued walking past her. “But the last time we were there, we couldn’t get in. The trees were too thick for us to actually get inside.”

“I’m pretty sure we’ll be able to find a way in,” I muttered. Someone’s going to let me in, for sure...

“Can I come with you?”

I stopped in my tracks and turned around to see Bolt staring up at me. “You can’t be serious,” I said, looking at her confusedly.

She raised an eyebrow and cocked her head. “Why not?”

“You know how dangerous the glades are.”

“Those are just old mares’ tales my father told me to try and get me to stay away from them. Besides, if they are dangerous, I can’t rightly let you go in there yourself.”

“I’m not letting you follow me in there,” I said, stomping my hoof on the ground for emphasis and turning away.

“I’m not letting you go in without me,” she retorted, hurrying up to walk alongside me.

“Stay. Put.”

“Make me.”

I turned around, only to see Bolt staring at me with a smug look on her face.

She smiled briefly and passed me, flicking me sharply with her tail. Without a word, I fell in behind her. For each step I took towards the glade, I could feel my heart starting to beat faster.

“You know everything’s going to be okay,” Spitfire reassured me.

No I don’t. What if Free does something to Bolt? He could attack her... and I don’t think I could stop him.

“He doesn’t have any reason to do so, Cogwheel. All he wanted was the pendant. Once he has it, there’s no reason for him to hurt either of you.”

What if he doesn’t need a rea-- I stopped dead in my tracks as Bolt sprinted ahead, towards an arch of trees that seemingly opened up just for her. “Bolt!” I yelled and ran after her along the path the trees cleared. “Wait!”

The glade I ran into was silent -- to the point where the sound of dry leaves crumbling under my hoof shattered the otherwise eerie silence. A gentle breeze rustled against my coat, bringing with it the scent of the glade. The trees didn’t seem as alive as they had the last time. Many of the leaves had turned orange and were slowly drifting towards the ground before my eyes. This time, the sun was not shining within the glade. It was just as overcast as it was outside.

Bolt was hopping around, taking everything in. She stopped in front of me, still twisting and turning with wide eyes at the scene before her. “It’s... beautiful,” she breathed. “The colors. And the scent. I could live here forever!”

“Bolt, wait! Before--”

“Fall was always my favourite season.”

A whisper reached me from behind, and I spun around only to see Free standing before me. The trees that moved earlier to form the archway in slowly creaked back into place, closing us off from outside. The silvery threads Free’s mane reflected the bright sunlight that was now shining down on us. It was odd when considering the sun wasn’t shining just a few seconds ago.

“The end of life...” Free continued his speech. “Mother nature preparing herself for a new era -- a new life.” Free smiled at me. “Without anything of the past to weigh her down...”

“I brought the pendant,” I swallowed, a lump rising in my throat. I quickly pulled my saddlebag open and took the amulet out. “It was this one, right?”

“Yes, that’s the one...” Free took a step closer to me. Even though I couldn’t see his eyes, I could see his head tilted down at the pendant as he approached.. “After all these years...”

“You wanted it, right? Then take it and let us go.”

“Wanted it?” Free’s hollow laughed echoed in the glade, causing my coat to crawl. “I don’t want it. I want to see it destroyed!” He spat on the ground. “I want to erase it from the soil of Equestria!”

“W... what?”

“That... pendant. It was created many years ago in the fire of war and anger, by a pony mad with the thought of victory... Of revenge.” He began circling around me and hissing occasionally, always with his head pointed at the pendant. “When he started working, he did it to help those who needed it... But the further he strived to help, the deeper he sank. In the end, he wished for nothing but to see pain and suffering in the eyes of those who had brought those feelings upon him!” the earth pony sneered. “I can’t even look at it...” He turned away, looking back over his shoulder, sounding defeated. “Just... destroy it. End my mistake, and you’ll be free to go...”

“Destroy it?” I lifted the pendant up and stared into it, watching the reflections of myself and the forest jump around as it twinkled in the soft breeze.

“You want to get out of here, don’t you?” The wall of trees behind Free thinned out as he spoke.

I nodded.

Free whirled around and jump so that his face was merely inches from mine. “Then destroy it!” he boomed, blowing my mane back. The trees thickened once more and the sun disappeared as a cold breeze blew through the glade.

“Cogwheel?” I saw Bolt’s reflection flit around in the pendant. One of her hooves was protectively raised before her chest. Her eyes wide. “What... What’s happening?”

“Nothing!” shouted Free. “Nothing is happening! I’m sick of nothing! I’ve been watching nothing for too long!” Vines sprouted up from the ground and began to entangle Bolt. She barely got the chance to scream before the tendrils wrapped around her mouth. “Destroy it!” he said, turning back to me. “Destroy it now!”

“Let her go!” I pleaded as the vines began to cover the rest of Bolt’s body. “You’re going to kill her!”

Free became calm. He turned towards me and spoke. “I’ve done worse.”

“Just let her go, and I’ll--”

“You have the gall,” he said, stomping towards me. “To order me to save your friend’s life while you stand there with that atrocity in your hoof?! That pendant is responsible for the death of hundreds of ponies, and you’re trying to keep it intact while your friend is dying?”

I looked once more at the reflections dancing in the pendant. “But I--”

“Think, Cogwheel! This mare’s death is only going to be another casualty of that pendant unless you destroy it this instant.” I could see the vines starting to tighten down on Bolt’s body. There was the faint sound of a muffled scream. “Destroy it!”

I threw the gleaming pendant down onto the ground and brought the full weight of my metal hoof down onto it. The soft gold buckled under the force, and when I took away my hoof I could see a deformation in the emeralds. Before my eyes a spiderweb of cracks spread out from the center of the deformation, a soft glow emerging from within.

“Yes,” Free hissed, stepping closer and brutally shoving me away from the pendant. “Finally...”

I looked up at him from where I had landed, the glow illuminating his features from below. Just beyond that, I could see the vines holding Bolt release her and snake back into the ground.

“After all these years...” Free smiled down at the pendant, and it was if the glow pulsated with his voice. “I can finally be whole again...”

Thin tendrils of light worked their way out from the pendant, slowly ascending towards the pony standing above it. Some of the tendrils leeched to his legs and torso, while others worked their way up to his head.

“Cogwheel!” Bolt had rushed up to me and was now shaking my shoulder. “Let’s go!”

But I couldn’t move, and I couldn’t tear my eyes away. Bolt tugged on me as the last of the light reached Free’s head, his entire body now covered in it.

“I’m Free!” the earth pony hissed as he turned towards us. “And I’m complete...” The light around him dimmed some, and two jade green eyes looked down at me. “After all these years, I’m Free...”

I stood up and looked around, not noticing a single path back through the trees. I pushed Bolt behind me. “There, I did what you told me to do. Now let us go.”

“Oh, I’ll let you go...” Free laughed, the hollow sound causing cold shivers to run down my back. “There is just one, last thing...” At his words, I felt my eyelids become heavy. and I heard a low thump as Bolt hit the grass next to me. “Sleep...”

I collapsed down on the ground, the dead grass pricking against my coat. Blinking, I tried to shake the feeling of disorientation from my head.

“Thank you, Cogwheel,” Free mused as he stepped up to me, laying a hoof against my head. “For finally setting me free...”

His body slowly turned to dust, starting with his hoof and going up to the rest of his body. The last thing I remember before I fell asleep was a face with a pair of green eyes smiling down at me...

{z-z}

Footnote: Level up

New Perk: The Calm of an OSAI: As long as Spitfire is a companion, you know that you can depend on her to keep you calm. It’s harder for you to become panicked, and it’s easier for her to help you calm down if you manage to panic.

First, as always, a really big thank you toMasquerade313, not only for proofreading and editing, but for giving the story a hell of a lot more life than it had from the beginning. I can’t thank him enough for all the time he devoted helping me with this!

Seriously, without this dude SAT would be deader than Stable 31 in the silent winter wind! Also, to give you guys (and girls, if there are any), an insight from this editing session, directly quoted from Masquerade313:

“Once again, I chuckle at your grammar. It's like "D'aw, that's too adorable for me to correct."

Imaginary

My eyes bolted open. My heart was racing, my breaths were quick and swallow, and I could feel trickles of sweat run down my back. Shaking like a leaf in the wind, I brought up my hooves and stared at them.

“Just a nightmare,” I muttered, rubbing my shoulders and looking around the room, sighing in relief. “Nothing else.” My heartbeat slowed down to a calm pace.

Luna’s moon was still in the sky, sending silvery threads of moonlight finding their way through the window to light up the room. Apparently, I had fallen asleep on the couch. The empty glass and nearly empty bottle of alcohol sitting next to it on the table nearby was the probable cause for that... Grunting, I brushed away a white book and some other papers on the table and scooped up the bottle. In a single, trembling sip I emptied it, some of the liquid missing my mouth and running down my chin instead.

Wiping off the liquid from my chin, I tried to get up from my improvised bed, my legs still shaking slightly. Taking a deep breath, I steadied myself against the armrest until my body had calmed down completely, looking down at my front-legs to make sure that neither of them had suddenly turned to metal.

As soon as I was sure that my legs would support me, I pushed away from the sofa and walked over to the mirror hanging on the wall. Glaring back at me with hard, orange eyes was a tired stallion with a messy mane and bags under his eyes. I shook my head slightly.

“Just a nightmare,” I told myself again, bringing my hoof up to brush my mane away from my face. “Just a…”

In the mirror, my leg had just turned to metal. I saw it, my fleshy leg, right in front of my face, but the mirror’s was metal. Beyond that, a robotic orange eye glared at me, accompanied by a wicked smile. The cold metal reflected my features as I looked into the depths of that eye, paralyzed. My heart started thumping.

A hard knock, as one would do after having done so several times or was in a hurry, caused me to tear my eyes away from the mirror. Snapping my head back, I saw nothing but my own reflection looking back at me. “Coming!” I shouted, muttering a couple of well-chosen words over ponies knocking on my door in the middle of the night as I went to go open it.

Passing the window, I threw a glance outside and noticed the first sunrays of the day dancing on the horizon. “Still too early for someone to visit,” I muttered as I opened the door, allowing the chill winter night entrance to my house. “Yes, what is… it?” Raising an eyebrow, I looked out at the nothingness.

Muttering darkly I looked from side to side into the night. Just as I was about to close the door again, I saw something from the corner of my eye. Looking back, a pony seemingly materialized in front of my eyes, nearly causing me to jump in surprise. Half expecting her to show up, I took a deep breath. “Jackal, what have I told you?” I growled.

“I’m sorry, Sir,” the black-clad earth pony excused herself, bowing slightly. “It won’t happen again.”

“It’s not the first time,” I reminded her, grunting in annoyance. “It’s done, then?”

“As you ordered. The courier’s relatives have been notified, and our condolences have been given.”

I sighed. “Far too many murders of the zebra population are left unquestioned. Their father wasn’t the first one, and he won’t be the last. Was there anything else?”

“Sir…” Jackal hesitated slightly. “I offered them jobs, seeing as how their situation was--”

“Their situation? Was it worse than we thought?”

“The wife, their mother, was murdered when they fled from the Zebra Empire. They killed her for treason.” She paused to take a deep breath. “The children are all alone, now. The war has taken both of their parents.”

I nodded, giving her a reassuring grin. “You did the right thing, offering them a way to survive in an otherwise hostile environment.” I sighed, my smile faltering. “But I assume they didn’t accept?”

“The son refused the offer. The daughter, however, did not.”

“Do they have anywhere safe to stay?” I didn’t wait for her to answer. “If not, SAT can arrange something for them without charge. It’s the least we can do.” I raised an eyebrow at her, in silence. “And I trust that you can find a department that fits the daughter to work with.”

“The girl was an herbalist and alchemist in her home town. I made sure to place her in Project Aiónios.”

“Aiónios?” I mused, looking away to hide the tiny smile on my lips. “Can she be trusted with that?”

“She’ll only be told of the essentials, sir. And besides,” I could feel Jackal smile even though I couldn’t see her face under the helmet. “If she would chose to tell someone, it would be your word against hers. Not even the Ministry of Morale will listen to zebras when it comes to that.”

“Especially not MoM.” The smile on my lips widened as my eyes fell on the white book lying on the floor where I had pushed it down. “You have done well, Jackal. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a book to return to. Dismissed.”

“Then I wish you a good evening, Sir.” I barely noticed the earth pony bowing as she made her leave.

Closing the door behind me, I walked up to where the book had landed. Each step sent shivers through my coat. When I was next to it, I bent down and scooped it up, careful not to bend or tear it anywhere, and put it on the table. Placing myself on the couch with the book and some paper for notes in front of me, I once again started to make my way through the crude and incomprehensible letters, making a small note every now and then. It didn’t take long before I had completely forgotten about the nightmares I had earlier.

{8-O}

I slowly opened my eyelid, blinking multiple times to get the sand out of my eye. It felt as if someone was using my head as an anvil as the pain spread through my entire body in a steady pulsating rhythm. Closing my eyes again, I moved up my hoof and started to massage my head, the cold metal slightly oppressing the pain.

The cold metal?

Snapping my eyes open, I stared down at my cybernetic limb. Looking back at me from the reflective surface were two eyes -- one a natural orange and the other cybernetical.

“Good morning, Cogwheel,” Spitfire greeted me. “Did you sleep well?”

“My... my legs,” I stuttered.

“Oh, that. Bolt took the liberty to clean them up some.” She paused. “You’ve been asleep for quite a while.”

“Was it just a dream?” I followed the polished metal with my eyes. “It... It felt so real.” For a second, I lost myself in the reflection. Looking up again, I blinked. “Where am I?”

“You’re in Green Valley, more precisely at Radio Flash’s house. Some of Exo’s thugs found you and Bolt unconscious close to one of the glades. They brought you back here.”

I narrowed my eyes, trying to remember what we were doing in the glade, but the focus set off a searing pain in my head again. I started rubbing my forehead once more in an effort to relieve the pain. “What were Exo’s thugs doing here?”

“They returned our weapons, lad,” Radio said as he stepped in the bedroom, smiling down at me. “Exo’s finally leavin’, and Green Valley’s gonna have to learn to hold its own again. But I wouldn’t have ya worry ‘bout that too much. ... Now, how d’you feel? You’ve been out for nearly a day. And you’re lookin’ a bit pale...”

“I’m fine, really,” I said, waving my hoof dismissively. “Just a slight headache, but I’m sure it will go away soon.” I paused, thinking, but only until the searing pain came back. But this time, memories of Free came back with it. What had he done to us?... “A whole day, you said?”

“Give or take a couple of hours.” Radio tapped a hoof against his chin. “I bet you’re mighty hungry by now.”

“Oh, it’s not that...” My stomach thought otherwise, interrupting me with a growl. I clenched my hooves to my sides, hugging myself. “Okay, maybe a little hungry,” I said, smiling sheepishly.

“I think there’s some of my daughter’s...” He trailed off, looking around the room quickly before speaking more quietly. “... Cooking... left in the dinin’ room.”

“I heard that!” Bolt’s voice reached me from the other room.

Radio gave me a pained smile and lowered his voice even more. “She’s tryin’, she really is. But tryin’ and... Makin’ edible food are two totally different things.”

“That was clearly edible!” She shouted again. “You just ruined your tastebuds with all that whiskey!”

He stood up and shouted back out the door. “Oh, yeah, I forgot about that! You must be right!” He turned and leaned even closer to me. “I’ve eaten things that look like rotten bloatsprites that taste better than that mush she’s made.” He took a step back, looking anxiously out the door as if awaiting her response. She said nothing. “Whenever you’re ready, the... Food is on the table.” He sighed, a tiny smile on his lips, as he turned around. “I’m sure I could find a few carrots for ya if you’re interested.”

“Dad!”

The unicorn chuckled lightly and left the room, muttering about something being ‘worth it’.

“They were talking like that earlier today, amongst other things,” Spitfire informed me. “When Bolt was in here cleaning your cybernetics, Radio talked with her about trying to cheer up Precious and Dust.”

I slowly steadied myself on one hoof in the bed, massaging my head lightly. “How are they?”

Spitfire sighed. “They are still mourning.” She paused as I rolled out of the bed. “But both Bolt and Radio are trying to help them through it. Precious has been here a few times since you were brought here. She’s never come in the room; she just watches you through the door.”

“It’s only been two days since they heard about their brother.” I tried to get the stiffness out of my leg and back. “Isn’t it normal for them to still be mourning?”

“It is.” Spitfire hesitated. “What are we going to do now, then?”

It took a moment for me to understand her question after the sudden change of subject. “I still want to find my memories. And I think that continuing to follow SAT would be my best chance to remember.”

“What about Precious and Dust?”

I sighed and rested my body against the bed. “I... I don’t know. I don’t think there’s anything I can do to help them.”

“Right now they can only help themselves.” Looking up, I saw Bolt standing in the doorway, a sad smile on her lips. “I don’t think that death was as common back in Marvel as it is here. They took the news hard, and they don’t seem to be open to what we have to say.” She sighed. “At least they have each other.”

“Will they be alright?” I pushed myself away from the bed again, taking a step closer to her.

“My dad doesn’t know how long it’ll take, but he’s confident that they’ll move on soon. And I believe him.” She looked away for a second. “He knows what they are going through -- we both do -- but he also knows just what to say to... Ease the process.” Hesitating, she looked back at me again. “How about you? How do you feel?”

My stomach answered for me with a dull rumbling. “Hungry,” I agreed with it. “Otherwise I’m feeling fine.”

The unicorn laughed softly. “There’s food on the table. And no matter what he said, it’s edible. I would even go so far as to call it tasty.”

“I think I could eat anything right now,” I said, my stomach the one agreeing this time. Seeing the dangerous look on the unicorns face, I quickly changed subject. “And you? How do you feel? Free didn’t hurt you, did he?”

“Free?” Bolt snorted. “He barely pinned me down. Was weird when he started to glow, and it’s safe to say that I didn’t sleep too well. But all in all? No wounds, bruises, broken bones or other injuries.”

“That’s good.”

“Who was he, anyway?” Bolt asked, stepping aside so I could walk into the bigger room.

Precious and Dust had settled down on the two old, worn out sofas that stood against the wall, barely even looking up at me as I walked into the room. Radio had taken a seat in an armchair even more worn out than the sofas, carefully polishing his shotgun. The old unicorn flashed me a quick smile, which faded when he looked at the two younger ponies. After a moment, he went back to polishing.

“I don’t know.” With a sigh, I walked up to the table and made myself comfortable, looking down at the food Bolt pushed over to me.

It was a grey, shapeless paste with strings of orange creating a spider-web across its surface. Moving my muzzle closer, an odour that reminded me about mud and rain filled my nostrils.

“Just try some, you wuss!” Bolt smiled at me when I looked up at her. “It’s not that bad.”

“I’m getting the carrots,” Radio mused, just loud enough for everyone to hear.

Bolt glared in his direction, an amused smile revealing the falseness of it, before she returned her gaze to me. “At least try it.” She motioned towards the food. “I promise you, it’s not that bad.”

I looked down at the food and, cautiously, took a small bite of it. The paste tasted vaguely of carrots, and it was salty. But neither my tongue nor my stomach complained, and soon, the plate was empty.

“See, I told you it was edible!”

“I could’ve sworn that his tongue wasn’t metal,” Radio said as I leaned back with a sigh and a smile of satisfaction. “But if he could eat that, I pray for him that his stomach is metal as well.” I didn’t even need to look at Bolt to know that she rolled her eyes, earning a laugh from the old unicorn. “Just teasing. You know I like your cooking.”

The smile on my face widened slightly as I started to relax. Warmth spread through my body after the food, leaving me pleasantly full. For a moment, I felt at peace. In that single moment, it felt as if I could sit there forever, without a trouble in the world, a calm oasis in a world I couldn’t understand.

Then the moment passed -- shattered like glass by the low sound of a snivel. The smile died on my lips as I looked at Precious and Dust, who still sat close together. Both of the other unicorns had their eyes on them as well, their faces masks of concern and sympathy.

It hurt seeing them like this. I wanted to say something, anything to ease their pain, but every time I opened my mouth to say something, I slowly closed it again. I didn’t have anything to say. The words that came to mind all sounded too hollow, and it felt as if they’d hurt more than help.The pain they felt was something I couldn’t relate to.

“I think anything you say would help them.” Spitfire sighed. “But maybe Bolt is right. The only ones who can help them now are themselves.”

Each minute passing felt like an eternity, and a feeling of helplessness crept over me. It felt as if I knew what they felt, as I myself had battled those very feelings too many times. But every time I thought that I knew what to say, how to react, the feeling slipped out of my grasp, leaving me looking blankly forward. A light tapping on my shoulder brought me out of my thoughts, startling me. Tearing my eyes away from the two siblings, I looked up at Bolt who motioned me towards the door with a sad smile, turning towards it without a word. Throwing a last glance towards the mourning brother and sister, I rose from the chair and followed her.

A light trickle of rain, as if the dull sky above mourned as well, met me as I stepped outside. The smell of wet mud reached my nostrils as I stepped up the small slope to where Bolt stood and looked out over the silent settlement. We were the only two ponies in sight that were outside in the rain.

“Your share of the profit,” Bolt said without looking back, floating a small pouch over to me. “Don’t spend it all at once.”

I just looked at the pouch floating in the air.

“What are you waiting for?” She asked as she turned around, bringing the caps even closer to me. “You’ll need the caps sooner or later if you want to get anywhere out here.” She snorted. “Or do you expect everyone to be as nice as my dad?”

“I... I guess not,” I admitted as I bit down on the pouch. I turned my neck around with the intent of putting the pouch in my saddlebags, but then I remembered I left them inside. I turned back to Bolt. “Fhanks.” Somehow, I managed to keep the pouch in my mouth even as I spoke.

The unicorn rolled her eyes as she tugged the pouch out of my mouth, keeping it floating between us. “Don’t mention it. You’ve earned them after all.” She paused for a moment, as if waiting for me to say something. She sighed when I didn’t. “So... What are you going to do now?”

I looked up at the ever present cloud cover, a sigh escaping my lips. On a day like this, the clouds felt appropriate. “I... I don’t know. I want to continue tracing my memories. I want to know who I was and what happened to me. But I can’t just leave them here. Without them, I would never have gotten here in the first place -- or anywhere else for that matter.”

We stood there in silence, the rain starting to come down more fiercely. “If you would go anywhere...” Bolt hesitated, as if breaking the silence had been a bad idea. “To get your memory back, I mean. Where would that be? Have you found somewhere, or...” She didn’t finish the question.

When I looked down at her, she had the slightest inkling of a smile on her muzzle. “The terminal in the workshop mentioned some place...” I said slowly, trying to recall the name. I couldn’t remember it, so I shook my head. “Can’t remember it now, thou--”

“Biomechatronic,” Spitfire reminded me. “Manufacturing lane 16. The log said that SAT’s equipment for the stable was shipped from there.”

“Biomechatronic, if Spitfire is correct.”

“Biomechatronic? I have heard that name somewhere...” Bolt tapped a hoof lightly in the ground. “Come.” Without even waiting to see if I followed her or not, she turned around and started to walk towards her workshop.

Blinking in surprise, I stared after her. With a sigh and a last look back at Radio’s house, I moved toward her through the muddy street. Stepping into the workshop, I had to quickly dodge a magazine flying towards me.

“I know that it’s here somewhere,” Bolt muttered as she dug around in a box standing on the floor. She was kicking up plenty of magazines and metal scraps, whatever she was doing. Poking up from the box with a magazine balancing on her head, she glared at me. “Well, don’t just stand there! Help me find it.”

“Uh... what exactly are we looking for?” I asked, swiftly walking up to the closest box, nudging it open. The box contained an assortment of objects, ranging from what looked like twisted metal to dirty old rags, all of it laying without any order.

“Found it!” The unicorn exclaimed, floating up a magazine from a box she had practically torn inside out. She quickly turned the pages, until she found whatever she wanted to read. “The war... SAT’s big announcement... aha, here it is! Listen to this. At place in Biomechatronic we had our top reporter, Featherweight, ready with the questions you readers had sent in for the upcoming press conference.” She looked up at me, a wide smile on her muzzle, and threw away the magazine. “I knew I had seen the name Biomechatronic somewhere!” Throwing a quick glance around her, she started to spin in place. “Now, where is that map?” she muttered. “I know I put it here somewhere.”

I heavily sat down, not sure of what the unicorn was doing at all. “What...”

“There!” Bolt sat down next to me, levitating away debris from the floor to make room for the map she hastily opened out, leaving a few of them to weigh down the ends of the map. “Let’s see... Here.” A sharp piece of metal pierced the map. “Is Green Valley. And, over here,” Another piece of metal pierced the map, not very far from the first piece. “Is Biomechatronic.”

“And... What?” I looked down on the map, where two cities, one of them considerably larger than the other one, were marked out with the metal pieces. Other cities were marked out as well. The city in the middle, Canterlot, was by far the largest of them all.

“According to this map, it shouldn’t be very far between Green Valley and Biomechatronic!” Bolt exclaimed happily, placing one hoof at each mark and bringing them up before her face, smiling brightly through the gap they made. “It wouldn’t take us more than a day or three to get there, and then the same to get back!”

“Wait... What do you mean ‘us’?” I stuttered out, looking between the smiling unicorn and the map. “Who said you were coming with me?”

She blinked quickly, before she raised an eyebrow. “You don’t think I’d let you go alone, do you?” She snorted. “You might survive a day, and that’s only if you don’t encounter any raiders or slavers.”

“I never said I was leaving!” I quickly lowered my voice. “I can’t just leave them like this.”

“It would only be for a couple of days -- a week at the most.”

“But--”

“Besides,” she continued, not allowing me to get a word in. “Didn’t you want to get your memory back? Where’s the cryborg who entered my workshop a couple of days ago, determined to get his memory back even if he had to walk into those ruins alone?”

I sighed. “But what about Precious and Dust? I need to be here for them.”

Bolt rolled her eyes. “They won’t even have time to miss you before we’re back again.” She rose and unfurled the map, floating it into a saddlebag standing close to a workbench. “And the sooner we leave, the sooner we’ll get back.”

“I...”

“She’s right, you know,” Spitfire silenced me with a soft voice. “Precious and Dust may need days, if not weeks to come to terms with the news about their brother -- at least enough to be able to move on. The more time they get to mourn, the better their mental... recovery will go. Wouldn’t it be better for you to go now and leave them to their mourning than to wait here and force the journey on them later?”

“I...”

“Or maybe you’ve given up the thought of getting your memory back?”

“Fine...” I sighed again, suppressing the urge to throw my hooves in the air in annoyance. “I’ll go to Biomechatronic.”

“We’ll go to Biomechatronic,” Bolt corrected me, levitating the saddlebag onto her back. “So, when do we leave?”

“You seem eager,” I remarked as I rose from the floor. “Why do you want to go with me anyway?”

The unicorn stopped in the middle of a step. “Well... I already told you. I’m going to make sure you don’t get yourself killed.”

“Bolt, I’m half-made of almost indestructible metal,” I said with a smirk. “I think I can handle myself.”

She chuckled uneasily. “But you’re too clumsy to be walking around by yourself. And what if someone runs into you that knows about Exo? They might mistake you for one of his thugs. And what if your prosthetics short out again?” Bolt started to walk again.

“Spitfire can just restart my limbs or something if that happens--”

“That’s not true, Cogwheel,” Spitfire interrupted me. “If your limbs short out, I’ll probably short out, too.”

I shook my head, snorting, as I hurried after her. “Why do you really want to come with me? I thought Green Valley was your home.”

She stared at me blankly for a few seconds. “Well, you’re going to a place that might have something to do with SAT, one of the biggest cybernetic manufacturers during the time before the bombs.” Her eyes practically sparkled as she spoke. “I want to see that! It’ll be like the Stable, but better! There’ll be so much stuff in there for us to get! And it’ll be fun getting to see everything on the way there, and...”

I had blanked out and was now walking absentmindedly next to Bolt. I honestly couldn’t imagine her wanting to walk to and back from a place for a solid week only for some scrap metal.

When I came back, I noted that I didn’t walk next to her anymore and, looking back, I saw her sheepishly scratching at the ground.

“It was just fun, you know? I never get the opportunity to do things like that, and if you go, I’ll be lucky to do anything but--”

“Wait, what?” She stopped scratching to look up at me. “What was fun?”

“... Being in the stable? That whole adventure we just had?”

“You were having fun being attacked by Free in the glade? ” I asked incredulously. “You weren’t afraid?”

“Of course I was afraid. I’m not saying I wasn’t scared when we were being chased around by ghouls or attacked by Free... But I wasn’t just sitting at the shop, bored out of my mind. Maybe it wasn’t fun, but it was exciting.” She resumed her scratching at the ground and looked away from me, her voice dropping to a whisper. “Besides, you’re... Fun to be around.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means what it means. It was a compliment.” She shook her head and cleared her throat, looking back at me. “But I meant what I said earlier, too. If you don’t know how to use a gun or something, and I don’t come with you, you’re probably going to die.”

I sighed. “What is it with you ponies and guns? Wouldn’t it be better to... I don’t know, cooperate?”

“Trust me, Cogwheel, I don’t like it anymore than you do. That’s just the way it is.”

“But--”

“Think about it this way,” Bolt interrupted me. “You might never have to use a revolver, but in a situation where you have to, wouldn’t it better to be able to actually use it?”

“... Yes,” I admitted.

The unicorn nodded with a smile, and we walked the last of the way back to Radio’s house in silence. The old unicorn stood outside the house, looking up at the cloudy sky, when we got there.

“I’ll fetch your saddlebags.” Bolt quickened her pace before I could say anything, leaving me alone with the older unicorn.

“You’re leaving.” He said. His tone was not questioning. “Can’t say I blame you. There’s better things you younguns can do than look after two mournin’ siblings.” He looked down from the sky at me, the ghost of a smile on his lips. “Make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid, y’hear?”

“We won’t be gone for long. No longer than a week, I promise.” I sighed. “Enough time for them to recover, I hope.”

Radio’s smile vanished. “It might take longer than that, I’m afraid... Sure, they’ll get over Vigil soon, but, from what Vigil told me, their parents are dead. They’ve been dead for a while, actually. He was the only thing keepin’ ‘em alive. He was almost the father they never had. And now he’s just gone.” He stared down at the ground. “It’ll take a while for them to get used to that...”

“But they will recover eventually, right?”

The old unicorn sighed, a tremendous weight now resting on his shoulders. “I hope so, but only time will tell for certain.” He shook his head quickly, as if he tried to get the thought that they might not out of his head. “Where are you an’ Bolt headed off to?”

“Biomechatronic. A terminal in the ruined workshop mentioned that city, and I hope that I’ll be able to learn more about my past while we’re there.”

“Biomechatronic?” The unicorn looked surprised as he wiped some of the rain from his brow. “Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in years. Used to be a slaver nest around the time I first got here. They’re gone now. Kind of odd, if you ask me. It’s like they just disappeared! Same thing with anypony else that’s tried keepin’ it for themselves. If you’re going up there, you’ll have to be careful, y’hear? I don’t want either o’you disappearin’.”

“Disappearing? A whole group of slavers just disappeared?”

“As if the ground swallowed them whole. DJ Pon-3 would talk about the town all the time, ‘specially about their disappearances. Might’ve been a week or not even a whole day, but he’d always have to say that one group or another just vanished.” I just stared at the old unicorn as he spoke, and he met my gaze without even blinking. “What?”

“So you’re just letting us go?!” The words left my mouth before I could stop them.

Radio laughed softly. “Lad, I know my daughter. From the way she ran in the house, she’s too excited to go for me to get her to stay. Besides, you’re both adults who can take care of yourselves, an’ I don’t have the right to hold either o’you here.” He sighed. “I just wish I could help you out somehow--”

“Don’t you worry about that,” Bolt said as she trotted up to my side, causing me to take a step to the side in surprise. I hadn’t even heard the door open. “I traded some of the things we scavenged for food, so we should have supplies for a few days at least.” She levitated my saddlebags over to me and put them on my back before turning and embracing her father. “Don’t you worry, we’ll be back as soon as we can!”

“You just take care now, alright?” Radio said, hugging Bolt close to him, tears visible in his eyes. “Always find a house to sleep in ‘fore nightfall, and keep a fire goin’ the entire night if you don’t, understood?”

“Yes, Dad.” Bolt nodded, rolling her eyes slightly, as she ended the hug. “We’ll be extra careful.”

“And don’t--” The old unicorn stopped mid sentence, silenced by Bolt’s patient smile. “Sorry, just worried. Just... take care.”

“I will. Trust me, would you?”

“I always do, you know that.” He sighed, his eyes wandering to the door. “Are they still asleep?”

Bolt nodded, her smile slipping. “They are.”

“Nothing to do then,” he said and turned to me. “Take care of my daughter out there, lad. Don’t let her run into any situations she can’t handle.”

“I think she’s going to be taking care of me,” I said with a snort. Looking between the door and Bolt, I frowned. “Can’t we wait until they’re awake? I... I just don’t want to leave them without saying anything.”

“We don’t know how long they’ll be asleep,” Bolt argued. “And the faster we go, the faster we’ll come back for them.”

“But...”

“Lad,” Radio interrupted me softly. “In the state they’re in now, they might not even remember tomorrow that you spoke to them.” He sighed. “I’ll tell them that you left and that you’ll be back soon. It might be better for you t’get some distance before nightfall rather than stay here and wait for them to wake up.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but quickly closed it, thinking over what I was about to say instead. It just doesn’t feel right...

There was a gentle exhale of breath that didn’t come from Bolt or Radio. “Cogwheel... What do you mean? Both Radio and Bolt have said that it’d be better just to go now. If that’s the correct way, why does it not ‘feel right’?”

“Because I don’t want to leave them,” I said, not noticing that I said it aloud. Both unicorns turned towards me and raised an eyebrow, but I only partially noticed. If Dust and Precious had just left me in the Wasteland without saying anything, I’d be dead right now.

“But that was different. You weren’t mourning, and they intended to help you. ... Or, at least they did not just abandon you.”

That feels the same to me, I responded. Why would I just abandon them, after all they’ve done for me? How could it be right for me to just leave them in the condition they’re in?

I didn’t get an answer.

I turned to see Radio cocking his head at me. “... Who were you talkin’ to just now?”

“Spitfire...?” No recognition showed on Radio’s face. I turned to Bolt. “You did tell him about Spitfire, right?”

Bolt shook her head and snorted. “The robot-thing, dad...”

I heard Spitfire mumble something, but I couldn’t make out what it was.

“Oh, yeah... That thing,” said Radio, also shaking his head. “Boy, let me tell ya, I thought Bolt was crazy when she told me that you could hear voices. That’s somethin’ a lot of raiders are known for, the voices, an’ you really don’t strike me as one o’them.”

“She’s artificial intelligence -- kind of like a robot, but more like a pony. I don’t know how to explain it, really. Just don’t call her a robot.”

“You know what, that doesn’t matter,” Radio concluded. “As long as it’s not just a voice. ‘Sides, Bolt’s told me that it helps you out a lot, and anything that helps keep her safe is fine with me.”

“We all know that it’s going to be the other way around,” Bolt snorted, her horn starting to glow softly. “But, speaking of that.” She tugged out the revolver I had worn earlier from her saddlebags. “Even if you’re a horrible shot, you should hold on to this.” She quickly fastened it to my cybernetic foreleg.

I looked down at the revolver, once again glad that there was no risk of my prosthesis’ circulation being cut off. “I don’t have a choice, do I?”

“Nope,” Bolt confirmed as she smiled to her father. “It’s time for us to get going. We’ll be back in a couple of days, I promise. Let’s go, Cogwheel,” she said, turning around and walking off.

“You should visit your mother before you leave,” Radio said softly.

Bolt stopped mid-stride at her father’s soft voice, the smile on her lips dying. She stood frozen in place for a moment before she finished the step, blinking away tears that had started welling up in her eyes. “Yes, I... I should do that.” Her voice was thick. “Like I said... I’ll see you in a couple of days.” Without another word, she continued walking.

“But I thought--”

“Go after her.” Radio didn’t take his sorrow eyes away from the young unicorn. “Take care of her.”

I followed his eyes to Bolt, who had stopped to pick up a flower from a pot standing at the entrance to another house. The earth pony who I had seen when I first came to Green Valley, Rose, stopped her. She said something with a sad smile on her face, plucked another flower from the pot and stuck it in Bolt’s mane, gave her a tight hug, and waved her off.

“I will do my best,” I promised as I turned around. “Let them know that we’ll be back soon!”

Hurrying up my steps, I walked up beside Bolt. If she noticed that I was there, she didn’t show it. We walked in silence, except for our steps in the mud and the rain that had already started to fade away.

Cogwheel, what’s happening right now? Is Bolt upset about something?

I looked over at the unicorn that trudged along beside me. Through the rain on her face, it was difficult to tell whether or not she was crying. But her face told the story; her eyes were dead, her lips were quivering, and her head was drooping, bobbing along gently whenever she took another step.

Yes, I answered. She’s upset.

“Then it would be a good idea to leave her alone, right? That’s what Radio said to do when a pony is upset.”

It was a good idea for Dust and Precious--

“But they’re all upset!” she shouted suddenly. She paused for a second and lowered her voice once more, likely noticing the silence as I did. “Won’t the treatment be the same?”

I don’t think that’s how emotions work, Spitfire.

“How are you able to really know? You haven’t asked her if she’s upset. She hasn’t told you that she is upset. What makes you so sure?”

You can just feel it, you know?--

“No!” she shouted again. “I don’t know! I’ve never known!” She made an incomprehensible noise, something that sounded electronic, before continuing. “Sadness: emotions experienced when not in a state of well-being. Bolt’s readings are fine. Her brain is functioning normally, her heart is beating steadily, and she is breathing. How is she not in a state of well-being?”

Emotions aren’t just something you can observe--

“You just observed them! You were the one who told me that Bolt was upset. How could you tell?”

She just looks upset, okay?

“But Dust and Precious didn’t look upset. Radio said that they were, though. And you’re saying that Bolt’s upset now. How did he know? How did you know? What makes you, a pony, so much better at observing something than myself? How can I not do what I was made to do?”

I had no answer for her.

Bolt stopped before a twin gate that seemed to be fused into the stone pillars holding it up. The matte black metal had to be almost three times my height, even though it was warped and rusted and missing parts. Bolt hesitantly nudged the gate open. A shrilling shriek pierced through the silence, shattering it like glass, as the gate swung open at Bolt’s light touch. Following the unicorn, I took in the surroundings.

Around me stood statues and monuments -- depictions of unicorns, earth ponies, and pegasi -- as well as engraved stones rising up from the ground. They were tombstones, marking the final resting place of ponies long forgotten. The dead grass, swaying lazily in the gentle breeze, spread out over the precinct like a brown rug. On the top of a small hill that rose in the middle of the cemetery stood the ruins of a temple, the clock tower above it the only intact piece.

An eerie silence fell around us as we walked along the fence. This time, not even our hoofsteps dared make noise. As we moved towards the hill, the tombstones standing around us abruptly changed, looking more crude than beautifully somber. Some of these graves had flowers on them, others were paired with a flickering candle-lantern.

Bolt stopped halfway down the line of graves. The one she stopped in front of was more detailed than the ones around us. Small birds and flowers were engraved into the stone, and in the middle of the engravings was written a short poem.

Sisters, our help in ages past

Our hope for years to come,

Our shelter from the stormy blast,

And our eternal home.

In memory of Melody, beloved mother.

With teary eyes Bolt gently placed the flower next to the lantern already standing on the grave. Taking a step back, she wiped away the tears that had made their way down her cheek. For minutes, the only sound around us was from the dead grass and an occasional snuffle from Bolt.

“... Is that her mother’s grave?” Spitfire asked calmly.

Yes, I believe it is.

Then Bolt whispered something I couldn’t hear, and as I looked at her she smiled weakly. She turned around and continued down the line. Without a word I followed her, and she stopped again further down, this time at graves that looked newer. Standing at one of them, she tucked out the flower that Rose had placed in her mane and gently placed it at its foot.

“He was always such an idiot,” she whispered fondly. “Never knew what was good for him, and always acted before thinking. I... miss him.” She wiped her eyes again. “He could always make me laugh, no matter how down I was.” A sad laugh escaped her. “I’m just thinking about him in that ridiculous duster he found when we were foals.” She gently patted the soil. “I will see you soon again, cowboy,” she whispered before turning towards me. “Sorry, I just--”

“I understand,” I said, wiping my own eyes dry.

She gave me a little, grateful smile. “Shall we?” Without waiting for me to answer, she started to walk.

I followed after her and together we left the cemetery, and Green Valley, behind us. Forgoing its warmth and safety in place of the mysteries of Biomechatronic...

~(-)~

This chapter is in memory of my father. Know that I think about you even today, and wouldn’t have been the one I am without you.

~(-)~

A really big thank you to Masquerade313, not only for proofreading and editing, but for giving the story a hell of a lot more life than it had from the beginning. I can’t thank him enough for all the time he devoted helping me with this!

Also thanks toJames Tonto, not only for catching a lot of awkward phrasings as well as telling me when I use bad words or something I should think about, but also for keeping me company in the docs and giving me ideas.

Chapter 11 (Unnamed)

“All this is your fault, you know.” Bolt said, for what had to be the hundredth time. “If you had just awoken when I tried to wake you up, none of this would have happened.”

I didn’t lift my head from the packed dirt that served as floor in our prison, neither did I make the mistake of trying to argue with her about it again. Knowing how it had ended earlier, I would be surprised if...

“And when you do wake up, you try to defend yourself with something as ridiculous as that Luna, the princess of the bloody war, forced you to stay asleep?” She snorted. “That is such a likely story, I mean--”

She had allowed it to pass. Rolling my eyes, I closed out her voice, and went back to looking at the wooden door to our prison. If I was lucky, it would take some time before she noticed that I didn’t listened to her and, once again, remind me about how much of my fault all of this was. It started to get irritating, hearing the same words over and over again.

The walls to our prison were created of thick wooden planks. When I had first awoken, before Bolt had started to blame me, the unicorn had urged me to try to buck a hole into the wall. But while the planks had looked murken on the outside, once my metal legs had connected with the wood it had done nothing but peeled the first layer off, revealing the sound wooden planks beneath.

While the door looked even more fragile than the walls had been, Bolt had stopped me when I had lined up to bring it down, hissingly reminding me that there would, most likely, be raiders guarding the door out.

If it hadn’t been for the door, the walls would have been completely empty. The walls had neither windows or decorations, and the only light source in the room was the dim light coming down through a hole in the ceiling and the little light that found it’s way under the door.

“Are you even listening?”

I could feel her eyes at me, but I couldn’t barely see her as I looked away from the door and into the darker parts of the room. “If I say no, will you stop?” I mumbled, louder than I had intended. Realizing my mistake, I quickly tried to talk it over, stumbling over the words. “I mean, not--”

“Of all the feather brained idiots I could travel with--”

“So this... Luna kept you asleep, to give you time to coupe with the feelings from the memory?”

I don’t think she wanted me to wake up. She said something about events working out in the best way possible, as if she kept me asleep so that I wouldn’t fight against these raiders. I sighed. She said she did it for me and for Bolt. I... I don’t know.

“She wanted you to be captured by raiders? Why would she want that? What’s--”

I don’t know, okay? I grunted. If I had known, I would tell you.

“Why didn’t I stay home?” the unicorn murmured, burying her head in her hooves. “Why did I have to go with you?”

“You didn’t have,” I said and looked back at the door. “If I remember correctly, you was the one wanting to go with me. Something about me being fun to be around.”

I heard how she took a deep breath, and prepared myself for a sharp comment. But, to my surprise, none came. Neither did any other word. For five minutes, none of us spoke a word, we just sat there in complete silence.

“Is she okay?” Spitfire asked, breaking the silence.

I don’t know. I peeked my ears at the sound of hoofsteps passing by the door.

“You should check on her. She haven’t been this quiet since... well, I don’t think she have been quiet for this long before. Not while we have been traveling with her, at least.”

There is nothing wrong with a little silence every now and then. The sound of the hoofsteps disappeared again. I, for once, find it pretty pleasantly to have her not just yelling at me over how all this is my fault and--

“Cogwheel...”

I sighed and rolled my eyes. Fine. “Spitfire got worried about you.” I looked back at the unicorn. “How do you feel?”

“I did say that, didn’t I?” Bolt looked up from her hooves. “And I guess that...” She took a deep breath. “But it wasn’t meant to be like this! We should find SAT! You should be able to tell me about your memories! About the time before the wasteland! I should find something worth scavenging, or maybe even unlock some great pre war technology!” She sighed and put down her hooves, slumbering down and rested her head on them. “It was meant to be fun.”

“Hey, it can still be fun.” I gave her a weak smile. “We will just have to tell that boss pony that he got the wrong ponies, that I ain’t one of Exo’s thugs, and I’m sure he will let us go.”

“You can’t be as stupid as to think so yourself. Not after what you heard him say.”

The smile died on my lips. “No, I can’t sa--”

“Great. If I get out of here, father will never let me leave Green Valley again.” She pouted slightly, before she sighed. “Maybe I shouldn’t blame you.” She eyed me quickly. “Or, at least not all the blame. I shouldn’t have given up in trying to wake you up, shouldn’t have feel safe enough to just go to bed. I should have kn--”

“You couldn’t know.” I silenced her rambling, rolling my eyes. “Somehow, I think it had been worse had you been awake when they came.”

“Don’t you think I could have done anything?”

I snorted. “I don’t think any of us could have done much.”

“I could have--”

“They were more than us,” I noted drily.

She threw her hooves in the air and shaked them dramatically. “And suddenly the cryborg is an expert around combat.” Taking down her hooves again, she added with a mutter. “I’m sure I could have taken down a few of them at least.”

“Without a doubt.” I threw a quick glance towards the door as hoofsteps were heard outside again, but once again they just passed.

“Why would Luna keep you in your dream anyway?”

“She wanted to give me time to think over my dream.” Somehow, I doubted that Bolt would trust me if I said that Luna also held me in the dream to keep the ‘events to work out in the best way possible’.

“You had another dream? About the time before the war?” Bolt’s eyes practically sparkled as she scrambled up to a sitting position. I nodded. “Can you tell me about it?”

I’m so sorry. “I rather not,” I said, looking away from her.

“Why not? What happened?” I didn’t answer her.

I’m so sorry. I took a deep breath.

“Cogwheel? Are you crying?”

I wiped the lonely tear away from my cheek. “I threw out my own son.” My voice was barely more than a whisper. “Threw him out just because he joined the army and told me that his mother would have been proud over him.”

“I-I’m sorry to hear that.”

I laid down on the floor, once again keeping my eyes on the door, a sigh escaping my lips. “I have thought a little about it,” I said, avoiding to look back on her. “It had to be something more to it, I can’t just have thrown him out on those grounds.” Can I?

“Uh...” Bolt started awkwardly.

“Sorry. It’s just...” I didn’t finish the sentence. Didn’t know how to. I sighed again. “There has to be something more to it.”

“I... I’m sure it is.”

“Cogwheel,” Spitfire started softly. “You shouldn’t push it all over to Bolt. She doesn’t have the answer for you.”

“I know, Spitfire,” I muttered sourly.

“You can see the positive in all this. At least--”

“Positive? What could possibly be positive with being locked in here?”

“I didn’t talk about that. I talked about you regaining memories. You have been gaining back a few memories these few days, and I think we can be sure that your memories haven’t been removed. It’s simply amnesia, and I believe that, in time, you will get all your memories back. Although, it’s a strange amnesia, seeing that amnesia actually is caused by brain damage, diseases or psychological trauma. The scan I did some day ago didn’t show any brain damage, nor did it show disease. Maybe you suffered psychological trau--”

“Spitfire...” I rolled my eyes, a thin smile brought forward by her rambling on my lips.

“Or maybe we should just continue to call it memory loss ? Sounds much better,” Spitfire sheepishly added.

“What does she say?” Bolt asked curiously. “She can’t mean that it’s good to be locked in here, can she?”

“It didn’t have anything about our situation as such to do. She just told me that I had memory loss.”

“But... didn’t you already know that?” She sounded confused, and I understood her.

“It could have been something else. The day I woke up in the clinic, Spitfire told me that memories could be removed magically, and in that case could only the container that held my memories restore them.” I pondered for a moment. “Or something like that. But, it seems like me regaining memories means that she doesn’t think they were removed magically any more.”

“Actually, I have suspected that since you blacked out the first time, just before you asked me. I didn’t want to get your hopes up, should it only be a memory that had been missed or left by purpose. But after these many memories which, if what you have said is correct, have been from different periods of your life, I’m pretty certain that you only suffer of amne... a memory loss, and nothing else.”

“You went around looking for your memories, knowing that you might have had them... magically removed? Why would the ponies back then do that anyway? What could possibly be so bad that you removed pieces of who you are?”

“Maybe they just wanted to forget everything about the war. I don’t know.” I shrugged. “What else should I do? As you said yourself, the memories are something of who I was. Who I am. I want to know.”

“I guess I can understand that.” Bolt sighed. “But right now, I guess we have a more pressing problem. How are we to get out of here?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “It’s not like we can just open that door and walk out of here, is it?”

“Not with guards on the other side. And with a door that fragile looking to lock us in, they must have ponies guarding the door.”

“There must be another--” I went silent at the sound of the door unlocking.

“I’m sorry to interrupt your plans of escape.” The light grey mare spoke softly as she stopped just inside the room, the door closing behind her. Multiple wounds, both old and new, scarred her body. Even though she had tried to obscure the left side of her face with her grey mane could I still see the black eye that had swollen up enough to hide her eye. She wore a collar of black-painted metal around her neck, a small lamp on it blinking a steady red. “But Sawdust have ordered you to receive food, and--”

“Tho... those wounds,” Spitfire stuttered. “I...”

A small filly, nearly a complete copy of the mare in terms of coat and mane color, jumped down from the mares back, carefully carrying a brick with two bowls containing... something in her teeth. She quickly made her way to me and put it down before me, sitting down on her haunches and looking up at me with big, bright-blue eyes. “Are you one of those meanies who kicked us out from our home? You look like one of them.”

“Tiny!” the mare shouted out in surprise, quickly stepping in between me and the filly, the only thing keeping her from stepping on the brick with food being Bolt who quickly levitated it away. “I’m sorry. Ple-please don’t be angry, she doesn’t know better.”

Surprised I looked up at the mare. “What are you talking about?” I slowly rose to my haunches. “Why would I be angry just because she asked a question?”

I could hear how Bolt snorted from behind me. “No need to be afraid of him being angry. He’s as harmless as a fly, really.”

The mare looked between me and Bolt, her eyes as wide as they could be. “Yo-You mean he’s not one of those--”

“He’s not one of Exo’s thugs, no.”

“Oh, thank Celestia.” She took a step back, completely ignoring the protests from the filly as she pushed the little one back with her. “I just overheard some of the others talking about the prisoner being one of Exo’s, and he look just like one of his, and--”

“But he isn’t.” Bolt said firmly. “They made a mistake, he isn’t one of Exo’s thugs.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend.”

“No offense tak--”

“Tell me, what happened between the raiders and Exo’s thugs?”

I glanced at Bolt, not surprised over the interruption. It seemed like allowing me to finish a sentence was some sort of crime here. Rolling my eyes, I looked back to the earth pony, who took another step back under the weight of our gazes.

“I-I really don’t think I should,” she stuttered.

“Don’t we deserve to know?” Bolt pressed. “After all, we are here for no other reason than those idiots thinking that he’s one of Exo’s thugs. Don’t we at least deserve to know why we are here?”

“Didn’t she just answer her own question?” Spitfire remarked, causing me to stiff a giggle.

“It really isn’t my place.”

The small filly poked forth from the earth ponies back legs. “You meanies just wanted to kick us out!” she chimed in.

Bolt looked surprised between the filly and the mare. “They wanted to kick you out? That... that doesn’t make any sense! Why would they want to kick you out, just to move on later?”

It took a moment for the mare to regain her senses, and once again closing her mouth. Snapping her neck back, causing her mane to whirl around, showing the wounds on the left side of the earth pony’s face and along the neck, she glared down at the filly, causing the younger earth pony to take a quick step back behind her leg. She looked back up at us again, and once again she seemed... vulnerable. “I-I’m really not the one to--”

“Oh, just tell us already,” Bolt snarled. “He might be as meek as a fly, but that doesn’t mean that I am too.”

“I would really appreciate it if you--” I didn’t get further before the unicorn silenced me with a hard glare. Once she had made sure that I would keep silent, she looked back to the earth pony.

“Either the guards outside thinks that you can handle yourself, or they don’t care. Seeing how you spoke when you came in here, I take for granted that you can hear out, correct?”

“C-correct.” The mare looked around towards the door, seemingly measuring the distance between herself and it. While she did, Bolt took another step forward, causing her to nearly come muzzle to muzzle with the earth pony as she turned back her attention to us.

“And, seeing how you wear that fancy collar of yours, I take for granted that it’s the last option, correct?” The mare didn’t answer, she only stared into Bolt’s eyes, paralyzed.

“How does that collar have anything to do wit--”

“I take that as a yes,” Bolt smiled, taking half a step back.

“Hey, stop being so mean to her you big meanie!” The filly shouted, running head first into the unicorn’s leg.

Bolt looked down at the small filly, her lips turning into a scowl, and it was as if the mare woke to life again. Her eyes bolted from side to side, before she looked down again and, dragging the filly back with her, took a step back. “I will tell you. Just, please, don’t be angry at her. She doesn’t know better.”

“Then speak,” Bolt growled, taking a step back, further widening the distance between herself and the mare.

The earth pony glanced quickly at the door, before she, to my surprise, took a step forward and lowered her voice. “L-Let me start from the beginning. Around four months ago, Sawdust order us to get move from the ruins we then ruled over, without any explanation why. After having... removed the ones wanting to stay, he led us to a hole beneath a ruined farmhouse around a half day walk from here. The hole led to an enormous metal cave, a stable. It took us nearly a whole month to work our way past the door, but once inside we met resistance. The stable inhabitants, cyborgs like you each and one of them, fought hard, but in the end we had scared them away, and Sawdust declared the stable ours.”

“So Exo’s a stable pony?”

“I-I don’t know. I didn’t see him during the initial battles, and none of those I talked with later had seen him during the fightings. He-he came later.”

“But it didn’t end there, I take it?”

“No, it didn’t. It only got worse from here. About two weeks after we had taken the Stable, Tiny disappeared.” She shot a quick glance back, as if to make sure that the filly was behind her still. “I started searching for her, and... a couple of cyborgs captured me.”

“Exo’s thugs?”

The mare sat down on her haunches, looking down at the floor. “They had Tiny. I-I couldn’t do anything but agree to help them. They had my daughter. I knocked out the guards and opened the stable door for Exo. He... he promised me that nothing would happen to Tiny. They killed everypony opposing them, but spared those who didn’t fight back. Sawdust wouldn’t stand down. He was captured. Tortured. His wife and daughter tried to stop it. They were captured as well. Some of the cyborgs wanted to use them, but Exo stopped that. Said he wouldn’t tolerate it.” The mare sniffed, tears dripping from her muzzle down at the dirt floor. “The cyborgs misunderstood him, killed them without a word.”

“I can understand why Sawdust is so upset about cyborgs,” Bolt whispered. “But... it doesn’t sound like torture is something Exo would resort to. Not after what I have heard about him.”

“He didn’t. I... I don’t know, but it didn’t seem like he was the one ordering it. Sawdust lost his conscious shortly after the execution of his family. That’s... That’s when one cyborg put him aflame.” She looked up at us again, tears in her eyes. “But that’s also when Exo had had enough. That... creepy cloud that had been circling him started to creep out, engulfing the one with the flamer and the two who had killed Snowflake and Snowdrop.” She shivered violently at the thought. “He screamed that they had gone to far... that they had overstepped their boundaries. I couldn’t see what happened to the ones he captured, but I could hear their scream as the cloud melted together into one piece, and I could see how their bodies had melted together when it crept back to him. I... I thought he would kill everyone in there, and I wasn’t the only one thinking it. The entire attire we had been gathered in was silent, you couldn’t even hear anyone breathe. That’s when Exo seized control. He ordered the fire engulfing Sawdust to be put out, and said that everyone of us was allowed to leave, but that we should take oru leader with us, give him a proper funeral.”

“He just let you go?”

The mare nodded silently. “He, as well as most of the cyborgs, left the stable with us. The other cyborgs, the ones who didn’t want to follow him, sealed the stable behind us. They escorted us away, before they left us to survive on our own. Exo’s last action was to give us a couple of healing potions and tell us to look over Sawdust, that he was still alive.” The earth pony looked away. “He recovered, and since then we have been hiding here.”

“What’s that around your neck?” I asked, pointing at the weird collar.

“This,” the mare spoke softly, moving a hoof up to the collar. “Is my punishment. Sawdust wasn’t happy when it came forth that I had been the one betraying them. The only reason he didn’t kill me was because of my daughter, that I had done it all to save my family. Each day he remember me about my betrayal, and each and every one of the others have right to remember me whenever they want.” She looked down at the filly, who had been silent all the time she spoke and had moved next to her mother. “But I would do it again, would something happen to Tiny.”

“Remin--”

“I think it’s time for you to leave, then, before they start to wondering why you disappeared for so long,” Bolt quickly interrupted me.

“Didn’t she say that the guards would hear us? Then they know why she was away for so long.”

“I guess.” The mare rose again. “I’m sorry. If there was anything I could do.”

“You could tell them that they have made a mistake,” Bolt mumbled.

“I’m afraid that wouldn’t help. I’m sorry.” The mare scooped up the filly on her back and walked up to the door, pausing with her hoof on it. “Someone will come and pick you up for the arena later. I... good luck.” The small filly on her back waved carefully at us as the mare opened the door and walked outside, softly closing it behind her.

I turned to Bolt and raised an eyebrow. “The arena?”

{Y-Y}

“Watch out!”

The cheer from the ponies standing around the arena, or rather, the deep hole with flat walls and two created entrances, both now blocked with a heavy looking iron gate each, filled my ears as I desperately jumped away from the giant sting shooting down towards me. My breaths came quick and swallow and my eyes darted from side to side, desperately looking for a way around the over sized scorpion in front of me.

Multiple red eyes peered down at me as the scorpion retracted it’s tail. For a second we just stood there, looking at each other, two creatures forced to fight for others entertainment. Then, snapping loudly once with it’s mouth, it rocketed forward, one of it’s pony-sized claws shooting towards me.

I quickly sidestepped towards his other claw, and luckily for me the scorpion was slow to react, allowing me to slip behind it. Bucking hard with my metal hooves against it’s tail, I was rewarded with a sharp hiss as the scorpion tried to turn around in the, for it, narrow space.

“Don’t piss it off!”

I stared at the enormous legs as they started to move the body around, the sound of the scorpion snapping it’s claws violently drowning, or cutting off, the sound of the audience. Then what am I supposed to do? That kick was meant to wound it, but it’s armor is too thick!

“Exoskeleton. It’s called an exoskeleton. I don’t know. Maybe try to flip it over or something? A creature with that mass and those legs shouldn’t be able to flip over again once on it’s back.”

My eyes darted to under the body of the scorpion as I moved together with it, desperately trying to stay at it’s side all the time. And if it decides to sit down on me?

“On second thoughts, don’t try to flip it. Give me a second, I will figure something out. Just stay alive!”

Yes. Stay alive. Good idea. I quickly jumped to the side as the scorpion decided to try and bring down the stinger on me again, much to the enjoyment of the audience. But I wasn’t quick enough to completely dodge it, something the pain in my shoulder and the health monitor directly announced to me. Luckily, the cut was swallow, but each step I took brought forward a jolt of pain.

“The outcome of this situation doesn’t look too good, I’m afraid.”

I barely heard her. My eyes followed the stinger up again, a plan forming in my head. Do you think the stinger would be able to penetrate the exoskeleton?

“No,” she said sharply. “Don’t you even think about that. You’re wounded, the chance of you keeping yourself on it’s back is to slim!”

“Is it possible?!” I growled as I hastily took a step to the side, this time completely dodging the stinger. Another wave of pain shot through my body from the wound and I fell down on a knee.

“I guess. I’m not sure.”

“Then we will have to find out.” I rose up again and, trying to ignore the pain, galloped the small distance to the scorpion and jumped onto it’s back, nearly sliding over it as my leg folded under me, the pain shooting through my body causing me to howl.

“If you survive this, I’m going to--”

The scorpion didn’t seem too happy about the addition on his back. Spinning around, it tried to make me fall off. It was close to succeed as well, I felt how I started to slide across it’s back with nothing to grab onto.

Then the scorpion abruptly stopped, just as I was about to fall of it. My eyes quickly darted upwards, to the stinger I knew was about to come down on me. My legs worked frantically as I desperately tried to crawl up on it’s back, the stinger cutting through my tail as it came down. With a final heave I managed to get up on it’s back. My breaths came quick and painfully, my throat was burning and it felt as if the world spun around me as I rolled over onto my back. But the scorpion didn’t give me time to breathe. I could already hear the sound of the stinger being brought up again.

The pony monitor announced that the cut was bleeding violently, and a small green box announced that I had been poisoned. I closed my eyes and took a deep, shaking breath. “I’m sorry.” The words was not more than a whisper on my lips.

“Movel!” Two of my cybernetic legs violently slammed into the scorpions body, causing me to spin around. I could feel the draught as the stinger passed inches from my face, could hear the scorpions scream and feel trickle of blood spray over me as the stinger penetrated it’s exoskeleton. “Don’t you dare think that you can die here! What about Precious and Dust? You promised them you would return! What about Bolt? What about your past?!”

A sickly sound reached my ears as the scorpion violently tugged the stinger out of it’s own body, without a doubt preparing to bring it down at me again.

“You can’t give up! Not now.”

I slowly opened my eyes and peered up at the dark, cloud filled sky above me. My head spun as I slowly averted my eyes to the wound the scorpion had caused itself. Beneath the exoskeleton, the scorpions brown flesh was exposed, the green-blue blood seeping out of the wound, slowly running down the scorpions back. “Help me, Spitfire,” I whispered as I tried to roll over to the wound.

“I can’t, Cogwheel. I would only end up wounding your shoulder, and leg, even more. You will have to do this on your own.”

With my eyes fixated at the wound, I slowly started to crawl over to it, each small step causing a jolt of pain to jump through my system and my head to start spinning. I could hear how the scorpion hissed as it stopped it’s stinger from shooting down over me again. Maybe it was intelligent and realized that it would hurt itself. But why it didn’t start to flail with it’s legs again was something my dizzy mind couldn’t understand.

“I think it managed to hit the spine,” Spitfire commented as I reached and looked down on the wound. “But... how it manages to move the stinger is beyond my understanding.”

“I don’t care,” I growled weakly between gritted teeth. “Just try and end it’s suffering.”

With all the power she could muster, Spitfire brought down one of my cybernetic legs into the wound on the scorpion’s back. The sound it caused couldn’t be explained as nothing but a scream of utter pain, but it didn’t move. Maybe Spitfire was correct, maybe it couldn’t. Again my cybernetic leg was brought down. And again. And again.

The whole arena was silent, the only thing heard was the scorpions screams of agony and the sickling sound as my hoof was brought down on the wound over and over again. Then, with a last scream, the scorpion stopped moving. The monitor at the bottom of my sight screamed out that I had lost a lot of blood, and that the poison was spreading.

“Stay awake, Cogwheel! We can fix this!”

As the world started to black out, I felt something thug in my body.

{x-X}

“And he couldn’t be a little faster?”

I opened my eyes just enough to allow the slightest traces of light to reach them, quickly closing them again as my head exploded in thousand pieces. Grunting, I tried to move over to my back, only to be stopped by... something holding me down.

“Lay still, Cogwheel,” the mare who had brought us food earlier softly spoke. What was her name? Had she said her name?

“What happened?” I mumbled. My mouth tasted funny, as if someone had grounded dirt and lemon together and forced it down my throat. “Where am I?”

“Apparently,” Bolt snarled as something cold hit me on the shoulder were the stinger had hit. “Somepony wasn’t quick enough to dodge the poisonous end of a scorpion, and now I have to tend that somepony’s wounds.” She sighed and gently started to smear that cold stuff over the wound on my shoulder. I gritted in pain as each small circle caused a jolt of pain to spread through my body. “Lay still. You don’t want to have dirt in the wound.”

“How long was I out?” I mumbled. My head felt as if someone was hammering onto it with an anvil.

“Not long,” Spitfire said soothingly. “An hour at most.”

“Not long,” the earth pony said. “Sawdust said that you should be given the antidote as quickly as possible, that it wouldn’t be fun if you died after having fought so bravely.”

“But he couldn’t dispose some drops of the healing potions we had with us here, could he?” Bolt growled and stepped away from my leg, cleaning her hoof against my coat. “There, all better. Now, don’t get dirt in it, or it might get infected. I think.”

“Thanks,” I said and opened my eyes. This time could I at least keep them open enough to see something. As I tried to sit up on my haunches, my entire world started to spin, and I quickly decided that the floor was better. I duly noticed the pony in the corner of my vision, prompt reminding me that I had a shallow wound on my shoulder. As if I couldn’t feel that myself. “Does that mean that we are free to go?”

The mare shook her head. “I’m afraid not. He was sure that you would die against the scorpion, and I don’t think that he’s happy that you actually bested it.”

“Then why did he give me the antidote instead of just letting me die?” I tried to sit up again, this time succeeding better. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“I don’t know,” the mare said as she rose. “For all I know, he doesn’t even have something to throw against you next time, as long as he doesn’t want you to fight one of the others.” She sighed and walked over to the door. “Get some rest. I have my...” she hung her head, her ears sloping slightly. “Duties to return to.” Without another word, she opened the door and softly closed it again after her.

“I guess we’re still stuck here then, hu?” Bolt started, glancing at me. “Tell me, how did you even manage to bring down a scorpion? For that matter, how did they even get a scorpion that size here?”

“How did you--”

“Blueberry told me.” I rose an eyebrow and quickly glanced towards the door. “Yes, the mare who just left.”

“I don’t know how they got that scorpion there,” I started, bringing up a metal hoof to my forehead and slowly started to massage it, tried to make the pain go away. While massaging, I summarized the battle in the arena for her “I guess Spitfire is the one to thank, really. Without her... She reminded me why I had to continue, why I couldn’t give up.” I ended the story.

“You’re welcome, Cogwheel,” Spitfire cooed. “After all, my primary function is to look after you.”

Bolt raised an eyebrow at me. “You used it’s own stinger against it? By climbing onto it’s back, after having been wounded?” I nearly jumped in surprise as she smacked me at the back of my head. “That’s for not showing this toughness earlier.”

“Hey, this was an--” I cried out as the pain in my head violently grew in intensity and spread through my body. Hadn’t it been for Bolt catching me, I would have fallen down on the floor as I buried my head in my hooves, tears starting running down my cheek.

I could hear how she called my name, asked what was wrong. I could hear Spitfire scream, if it was in pain or my name I couldn’t make out.

Then, without any warning, it stopped. As sudden as it had arrived it disappeared, leaving me rocking back and forth, the tears still running down my cheek. The health monitor blinked one last time before it disappeared as well.

“Cogwheel? Are you alright?” Bolt asked. She sounded shocked. I understood her.

“I... I don’t know,” I croaked, my throat hurting after the screaming.

“I... have never felt something like that,” Spitfire said weakly. “Was it the salve? I have never heard about a salve that would cause such pain during the healing process but... Your wound has healed, so it must have been that. Right?”

Looking up from my hooves and blinking the tears away from my real eye, I took a deep breath. “I don’t know. But I feel better now.” It felt as if I had just awoken from a full nights sleep. My entire body felt rested. “Actually, I feel a lot better.” I gently brushed away Bolt’s hooves from myself and stood up, turning to face the unicorn. “What was that salve?”

“I... don’t know.” Bolt blinked up at me, surprised. “Something that Blueberry brought with her. Said it would help. But she said it would take days for the salve to take effect! Not minutes!”

“I’m glad it didn’t take days. That was painful, to say the least.”

“But it doesn’t make any sense. It shouldn’t be that painful. Not even had the wound been infected should it feel like that, neither should it have ended that quickly. At least not according to any of my medical records.” Spitfire sounded confused. “If nothing else, you shouldn’t have felt as refreshed as you do. Scratch that, you shouldn’t beas refreshed as you are! That is not logical at all, the body needs rest after having healed a wound! Not much after such a shallow wound, maybe, but still. You shouldn’t be refreshed!”

“I... heard that. You scared me.”

“Sorry about that. The pain was just... very sudden.” Miracle salve?

“There is no such thing as a miracle! Everything is explainable.”

How about this then. I ask Blueberry the next time I see her. You don’t have to scratch your head off, figuratively speaking of course, trying to come up with the answer, and if anypony knows it should be her, shouldn’t it?

“Yes, because she gave it to you and thus she have to be the mind behind it, great logical connection there.”

I rolled my eyes and sat down. Well, who do you want to ask then?

“Talking with Spitfire again?” I glanced at the unicorn. “What does she say?”

I nodded. “She wants to know what was in that salve. Apparently, it doesn’t make any sense to her.”

“Didn’t you download her in the clinic? Shouldn’t she know about salves like this?”

“You know, she nearly got the same logic as you. Just because I was downloaded from the clinic, doesn’t it mean that I had to had something with the patient to do. For all she knows, I could be a janitor or something!”

You did have something to do with the patients, I pointed out. “Apparently, I shouldn’t be this refreshed. And it shouldn’t be as painful as it was, or end as quickly as it did. It seems like there’s a lot of things that aren’t correct with this in her errrr.... eyes.”

“That she’s correct is beside the point!”

“And, apparently, not knowing something like this makes her upset,” I added, rolling my eyes.

To my surprise, Bolt actually laughed at that. “If she’s so worked up around it, maybe we can ask Blueberry about it? She might know something.”

“You know what the keyword there was? Might. Unlike you, Bolt seems to understand that you can’t just assume that she knows about it.”

I sat down on my haunches. “Give me a second, would you?” She blinked once, before she nodded. I gave her a thankful smile, before I closed my eyes. Okay, what’s the matter.

“There’s nothing wrong,” Spitfire said, a little too fast and defensive for me to believe her.

I sighed. That’s a lie. You haven’t been this touchy since... well, I don’t even think you was this touchy when Bolt called you robot. Would you really mind telling me? She didn’t answer me. Spitfire?

“You was about to give up,” she finally mumbled. “After all you have done, you just... stopped. I mean... I understand that you lost blood and that you was poisoned, that it drained you. I could feel it as well, although not as powerful as you. But just... lying down and stop moving, not even trying?”

But you helped me out of it. I smiled softly. Without you I would have died there.

“And when you woke up...” Spitfire continued, ignoring my comment.“I knew that you was alive, that you had been given the antidote, but... you were very close to death when it was injected into you. In worst case you would have fallen into coma, and out here? Who knows how it would go! But you woke up. It didn’t take more than an hour. You were weak, as should be expected, but quickly regained enough energy to sit up again. Your body’s endurance and resilience is remarkable. But I was worried. Can you blame me for that?”

I shook my head. I can’t, but that doesn’t explain why you are so edgy.

“And then the headache suddenly erupts violently, nearly burning up your nerves with information! The pain I could feel was unbearable, I can’t even begin phantom how you felt! But after just a couple of seconds, it disappears. As does your wound! Not only that, but your health monitor shows that you’re as sound as a bell, without any traces of tiredness or... anything, really! It just disappeared!” She sighed. “I guess I’m just overreacting, but I can’t help but feel irritated about something unexplainable like this happening. And I don’t like the feeling of irritation!”

Isn’t it good that I feel well?

“Of course it is! I never said anything else. But... I want to understand. As I said, a salve can’t, shouldn’t be able to, replenish your health like that!”

You know what? I took a deep breath, a tiny smile returning to my lips. I promise you that I will try my best to help you understand this. The next time I meet Blueberry, I will ask her about it. She mightknow something about it, as we have said, and if nothing else she might be able to point us in another direction.

“I can’t ask you--”

It’s the least I can do, and that’s that. Feeling better?

“I... guess. Thank you.”

Smiling, I opened my eyes again. “Sorry about that, Spitfire was a bit... edgy.”

Bolt lay her head to the side. “What’s wrong? Does she feel better now?”

“I think so. She... was worried. And irritated that she didn’t understand how I could just get all my energy back like that from the salve. So I promised her that I would ask Blueberry about it the next time I see her, to put her mind at ease about it all.”

The sound of a key unlocking the door caused me to rise and spin around. “Or I can ask her no--”

My words died on my lips. Stepping through the door wasn’t the mare. Instead it was Sawdust, flanked by a guard on each side, the smile on his muzzle twisting his already malformed face. “A spectacular show! I thought you was done with, but--” The former pink pony went silent, an eyebrow raised in question at Bolt. “Viper,” he said in a dangerously low, rumbling tone. “I thought I gave order about the mare to be released.”

“Y-yes boss. You--”

“Then why is she still here?”

“Released? What do you mean?” Bolt said confused. “Why would you--”

“Shut it,” Viper snarled, just to get a hard slap on the muzzle from the smaller unicorn. “What did you--”

“I don’t want to deny a free mare her... freedom. After all, we weren’t after you from the start, but your friend here. My plan was for him to die by the scorpion’s stinger and then release you, using you as nothing but a way to make sure that he stayed put. Seeing that he clearly survived... Let’s just say that I rather see that you return home to your family than having to stay here because your friend couldn’t just die.”

“But you’re raiders! Why would you--” Bolt went silent as the small unicorn snorted.

“Raiders? Is that how you see us?” He smiled. Had his face not been as destroyed as it was, it would have been counted as sweetly once. “While it’s true that we have killed others to take what’s theirs, we haven’t done it out of glee as a raider would. No, our reasons have solely been to feed the youngs and make sure that they have somewhere to live.”

“What about the stable? Or Blueberry?” Bolt moved closer to the leader. “How can you justify that with--”

“One step closer, and I will blow your head up with the gun you have hidden.” Bolt stopped in the middle of a step, and the two guards suddenly tensed. “Oh, you didn’t think I knew about it? Please, just because some of the guards are blind idiots doesn’t it mean that I am. Now, let’s keep this civil, shall we?”

Bolt eyed the smaller unicorn, taking a step back. “Let’s.”

I looked between the two unicorns, before I stepped up to my friend. “You should take the chance to leave.”

“Are you going to answer my questions?” She ignored me.

“Extreme times calls for extreme measures. The stable had the food and shelter our youngs needed, but they refused to take us in.” His face darkened. “Blueberry is simply paying the price for betraying us, a low price if you ask anyone of the ones losing someone they loved because of her actions. Now, I will count to ten. If you leave before then, I will promise you an uninterrupted travel away from here. Everyone under my command will let you go freely, as long as you don’t draw your weapon towards anyone. If not...” He left the sentence unfinished. “One.”

Bolt turned towards me, but before she could say anything I spoke up. “Go.”

She blinked. “I can’t just leave you with him!”

“Two.”

“You can and you will. Don’t worry about me, I will be fine.”

“You won’t. Just see how you--”

“Bolt. I’ll be fine.”

“Three.”

“But what about your memories? What about finding SAT?”

“I will come back to Green Valley.” I gave her a smile that hopefully didn’t mirror the lack of confident I felt. “As soon as I’m free from this place. I promise.”

“Four.”

“But--”

“Your father told me to look after you, I can’t do it while imprisoned.”

“You can’t do that if I go either!”

“Five.”

“Do you think he will keep you in here when he counts to ten? He wants to get to me, do you really think he will let you continue to be here like before?”

“I--”

“Please, Bolt. Take this chance. I’ll survive, I promise.”

“Six.”

She blinked, a few tears forming in her eyes. “I don’t want to leave you here.”

“And I don’t want to be alone. But if you don’t go, who knows what he will do to you? So please, just go.”

“Seven.”

“You promise to come back to Green Valley?” She sniveled.

“The first thing when I get out of here.”

“Urgh, such sentimentality. Eight.”

“You survive now.” She gave me a quick hug before she turned around. “I don’t want to tell the siblings that you died, you hear.”

“I promise.”

“Nine.”

Without another word she ran out from the prison, leaving me alone with the leader and his guards. Her departing left an emptiness inside of me. I was all alone, without anyone I could trust.

“You did the right thing,” Spitfire said sadly. “And you still got me.”

“Now, what shall I--”

“If anything happens to her,” I snarled, taking a step towards the former pink pony. His two guards raised their weapons and pointed them at me, but I ignored them. “The same will happen to you.”

Sawdust blinked once, before he snorted. “Don’t you trust me, cyborg? I’m a stallion of my words, none of my men will harm her as long as she leaves.” He grinned at me. “And stop acting so tough. Even cyborgs dies if you put a bullet in their heads.”

I took a step back, glaring at the unicorn.

“Now, now. I only came down here to congratulate you. That battle was... spectacular, even if I wished you could have dragged out on it a little longer. Using the scorpion’s stinger against it, and be lucky enough to have it paralyse itself? That takes balls, I will give you that. But couldn’t you just have died? It would have made all this so much easier.”

“You gave me the antidote. Why would you--”

“No need to thank me.” He waved a hoof in dismissal. “After such a battle and show of bravery, how could I let you die just like that, killed by the poison of your fallen enemy? No, only a coward deserves that kind of death.” He sighed. “But you have put me in a rather... tough situation. On one hoof, I want to see you dead for what you cyborgs did against my wife and daughter, on the other, I can’t send man after man to die, with a slim chance of taking you down. Trust me, none of my men would be able to take down that scorpion, and I doubt they would be able to take you down in an even combat.” He sighed. “So, I have made a decision. One of my men, one of my best, prompt wanted to duel you in the arena. You win fair and square, and you’re, once again, a free cyborg.” He sighed. “Trust me, that hurt to say. But I can’t have my men giving up their lives just because I want my revenge.”

“Why don’t--”

“Cogwheel! Don’t give him any ideas!” Spitfire sharply interrupted me.

“Why I don’t just kill you?” His grin turned into a wicked smile as he grabbed a weapon from one of the raiders in his magic and pressed the barrel against my throat. Surprised, I took a step back, but he pushed the weapon with my steps, didn’t allow it to leave my throat for a second.

“Good job, Cogwheel.” Spitfire’s voice shared my own panic. I could feel how sweat started to form on my brow as my heart started racing, my eyes darting from side to side.

Calmly, he rose and, with the help of the weapon and in utter silence, drove me into the corner of the room. “Oh, you have no idea how much I want to do that.” He moved his mouth to whisper in my ear. “You have no idea how... satisfying it would be to just pull the trigger and blow your brain out, cyborg.”

“Please--”

“Please what? Did you cyborgs listen to those words before killing my wife and daughter? Did you?!” His raised voice caused my ear to ring. “The only reason you’re alive is that you didn’t pull the trigger to the weapons used in murdering the ones I loved.” He took a step back and, after having spit me in the face, removed the weapon from my throat. “That and that you gave my men the chance to surrender instead of just shooting them. Gave them a chance of survival.”

As soon as the weapon had left my throat, I gulped loudly. My body trembled slightly, and It felt as if my biological leg would give up under me. The only thing keeping me standing was my cybernetic legs. Slowly I brought up my trembling leg to wipe away the spit from my face.

A moment later I was lying on the floor, my ears ringing and my head hurting. The healthmonitor was quick with announcing that I had a shallow jack on both my muzzle and my leg. Blinking, I looked up at the pink unicorn.

The unicorn grinned down at me, a croaking laughter escaping his lips as he turned around the weapon in his grip. “You know, that felt pretty good.” He stopped laughing as I weakly tried to stand up again. “You know what? Once more.”

My legs gave up under me as he smashed the weapon against my guts and I tumbled to the ground, trying to regain my breath.

“I actually thought more of you,” Sawdust hissed, violently tugging my head up until our eyes met. “I thought you would... well, be more.” He ran my head into the wall and rose from my body again. “I will be kind and give you the day to... prepare yourself. Win tomorrow, and you’re free to leave this place.” Spitting at me once more, he turned around. “Sleep well, cyborg.”

{z-z}

I slowly tilted the cup in my hooves from side to side, smiling slightly as the smell of the newly grinded coffee beans, mixed with the smell of the flowers in the garden around me, filled up my nostrils. My eyes wandered to the empty chair on the other side of the table. She was late.

With a sigh I sat down the cup on the table and closed my eyes. My breathing slowed down as I closed my eyes and leaned back, the sun gently gracing me with its warmth and the beautiful singing of the birds filling my ears. I could wait. She would arrive in time, and I hadn’t any other plans for the day anyway.

“Do you require anything, Dear?” A voice chimed next to me.

“Oh no, everything is absolutely perfect, Mrs Pyrus.” I smiled and opened my eyes, looking at the mare standing with a brick next to me.

The light green mare smiled as her eyes wandered the garden where more than one family had decided to take some time to relax. “If you say so. But would you be a dear and don’t fall asleep? I don’t want to have to run over here just to wake you up when your marefriend shows up.” She winked at me as she turned around and trotted over to another family.

I didn’t doubt for a second that I would be able to fall asleep in the comfy chair. With the sun shining above me, the birds singing around me and the smell of jasmine and roses filling my nostrils, everything felt peaceful. With a sigh of comfort, I picked up the cup and took a deep sip of the hot, bitter coffee.

The time slowly crept forward, some families left and midday turned into afternoon, but the seat on the other side of the table stayed empty. Yawning, I slowly rose from my seat and carefully bit down on the cup. Walking slowly, taking my time to enjoy the beautifully floral arrangements, I made my way to the small counter that had been placed in the middle of the garden. The counter was full with all kind of biscuits, cakes, cookies and fruits, and it had two pitchers, one filled with tea smelling of pears and the other filled with coffee, allowing the ones who actually arsed to walk up here to refill their cups. Often enough, it was Mrs Pyrus who filled the cups of the customers, nearly always before they knew that their cups needed to be refilled.

I had just placed down my cup when a wing draped over my eyes, completely obscuring my view. “Sorry I’m late, love,” the pegasus cooed and gave me a kiss on the cheek, moving her wing from my eyes. As she did, her soft feathers tickled my nose, causing me to sneeze and her to laugh softly.“Do you pick up a cup for me as well?”

“Tough day?” I smiled gently and moved over another cup to the pot, carefully filling them both up and placing them in one of the small carrying bag that stood next to the pot.

The mare sighed and wrapped a golden wing around my back as I picked up the carrying bag. “You should have been there. Remember the team of rockies I told you about yesterday? The ones who beat the academy record on the air obstacle course?” I nodded as we started to walk towards the table. “Today the leader of that team decided to create a twister to outshine the others during cloud testing. Had been a smart move, had her recklessness not put five outsiders in a tight spot, one of them Celestia’s pupil nontheless. Trust me, had the wingpony not been acting quickly and fixed the situation.” She sighed as we sat down at the table. “Then I would have had much more job than to just fill in an expelling form and divert some pegasi to overlook the air territory around the academy.”

I gently bit down on one of the cups and gave it to her. “Sounds like a eventful day at the academy.”

She smiled at me and picked up the cup in her hooves. “I wouldn’t have minded if she could have chosen another day to have her self expelled.” The mare took a deep sip of the coffee. “Or, even better, that Celestia’s pupil hadn’t showed up. Any other outsider and it would have been fine, a bit of paperwork and having to remind them that they flew into the academy’s air territory without any premonition or permission. But with her? Hopefully, the princess will let it pass since nothing happened and actions have been taken towards the ones responsible. But hey, that’s nothing to worry about now, how have your day been?”

“Long.” I smiled and took a sip from my own cup. “Mostly it have been waiting for a special somepony to show up.” Leaning back in the chair, I sighed in comfort. “But I can’t complain. If there is anywhere I can enjoy spending a couple of hours waiting it’s here.”

“Pyrus truly made wonders with this place.” The mare looked around, her orange eyes mirroring the smile on her muzzle. “It’s beautiful.”

We sat in silent, enjoying each others company and the beautiful garden around us, slowly emptying our cups.

“Did you have time to eat?” I asked, putting down my empty cup. “Or should I get you something?”

“A sandwich would be nice.” The pegasus smiled at me, a smile that easily could compete with the sun in brightness.

“A sandwich it is, then.” I rose from my seat. “More coffee?”

“Oh, no thanks.”

With a smile of my own, I bit down on my own cup and started to make my way back to the refilling counter.

“You’re not alone.”

{}

“He did say that you were free to go if you survived this, he didn’t say that you had to kill whoever it is he sent against you,” Spitfire remarked dryly.

I tried to shut out the sound of raiders screaming down insults and tauntings at me as I gently massaged my body where the unicorn had hit with the weapon. Luckily, the hits had only left behind a pretty big bruise, and hadn’t caused any serious internal bleedings or broken ribs. I only had to win, but thinking about what I have heard, and seen, of raiders... I guess they won’t let me go before... I sighed. The thought of killing another pony, even if it was a raider, caused my stomach to twist and my heart to beat harder.

“Are you sure you can do this?” The ai sounded troubled.

I don’t know, I admitted. But if it’s the only way out of here, I guess I have no choice, do I? My eyes wandered the arena, from the deep marks in the walls where the scorpion’s pincers and stinger had buried themselves time after time when it tried to reach me, to the gate the same scorpion had practically destroyed when the raiders had forced it into the arena. Lastly, my eyes wandered up to the raiders looking down at me, smiling, laughing and screaming insults. I shook my head. Something isn’t right.

“What do you mean?”

If Sawdust wants me dead, why doesn’t he just shoot me? Nothing Exo did would stop him from that. Besides, he should have seen that I only bested the scorpion because it couldn’t move around and not because I was stronger than it. I bet that at least half the raiders up there would be able to take me without any bigger problem. If not all of them.

“Maybe in a gunfight. But hoof-to-hoof... You’re in a better physique than most of them, most likely as a result of not having to grow up in this wasteland, and your skeleton should be more durable than theirs. I don’t think he would want you to fight with a gun, seeing that you might target him instead, and maybe even get a lucky shot away before he would manage to react, and he seems to want to keep it fair, so he wouldn’t send you against an armed force.”

I shook my head slightly, bringing a hoof down into the dirt. “It still doesn’t make any sense,” I growled, pushing myself up to standing. Restlessly, I started to stride between the walls. He wants me dead, he said so himself. So why doesn't he just kill me? He still believes I’m one of Exo’s thugs, who are the ones responsible for his wife and daughters deaths. Even if I win, he wants to see me dead.

“Cogwheel, calm down.” Spitfire sighed. “You know very well that you can’t do anything to change this, so why not hope that he keeps his words and let you go after you have won?”

If I win. I laughed bitterly, my eyes wandering to the other side of the arena, to the gaping gates. I stopped in my track. I could run for it.

“Maybe that’s what he wants? He’s not stupid. There’s, most likely, raiders waiting for you to do just that past the gate.”

“Can’t we just get on with it?” I snarled, beginning my pacing again, the nervosity gnawing on my nerves. Not once did I take my eyes away from the gate on the other side of the arena.

“Cogwheel, I told you to calm down. If you’re worried or nervous you will easier make mistakes, and a mistake here might mean death.”

“I know, I know.” I looked up at the ponies overlooking the arena, and my eyes instantly found the unicorn leader. He smiled down at me, twisting it more than the scars and burn marks already did. I don’t trust him, at all.

Spitfire sighed. “Neither do I.”

“Silence, my friends, silence,” the leader spoke, his deep voice instantly gaining the attention of everyone gathered. I stopped my pacing, glaring up at him. “The show is about to begin. We have two combatants ready. The cyborg, whom I have promised free leaving should he win.” The unicorn was cut of by the rest of the raiders showing their discontent. They were quickly silenced by him raising a hoof slightly. “Now, now, I know that you don’t want to see him free, but I have made a promise, and Sawdust is true to his words! He would already have been free, had it not been for the mare who wanted to prove that she could best him, who promised to kill him for me.” The unicorn snorted. “Isn’t it cute?”

My eye wandered to the other gate, where a pony had stepped forward. Her, I assumed it was the mare, body was completely concealed behind the same kind of armor that most of the raiders wore, but someone had dug forth a helmet for her as well, completely concealing her identity.

“We dug forth an old armor for her, to give her a chance.” His words were met with laughter. “Now, combatants, let the battle begin.”

I took a step back, lowering my front body slightly. The mare mirrored my moves, and we slowly started to circle each other, carefully following each other’s every move.

My opponent didn’t seem to used in moving around in the armor, nearly tripping over her own hooves. Seeing my opportunity, I charged forward, only to be sidestepped and smacked heavily over the back of my head, to the amusement of the onlookers. Quickly spinning around, I was met by another hoof, this time hitting me across the muzzle. The hit wasn’t hard, but I still took a step backward to get away from the mare’s hooves. I could practically feel her smiling scornfully at me as we started circling each other again.

“She doesn’t look very sturdy,” Spitfire commented as the mare lunged towards me. I sidestepped her, but she was too quick for me to get in a hit on her. “But she’s quick.”

I spun around, following the mares every move as she turned around to face me again. A small trickle of sweat ran down my cheek, but my breath came as steady and regular as if I hadn’t moved at all.

“Stand still, should she charge you again. A direct impact should hurt her more than you. If you’re lucky, she might even lose her hoofhold.”

Nodding, I spun around on the spot, forcing the mare to circle around me. After having circled me twice, the mare stopped and lowered her body slightly. I mirrored her move, preparing myself to take her tackle as she charged forward.

Without any warning, a cloud of dust rose from the ground in front of me, obscuring the mare from my eyes. Before I had time to react, a hoof slammed into my biological leg, followed by a quick and hard buck in my guts, right over the bruise left by Sawdust, that made me lose my breath.

My biological leg nearly bent under my bodyweight, the only thing keeping me upright was my cybernetic legs. But the mare didn’t allow me to regain my breath. She was quickly next to me again, bucking me hard in the guts, causing me to fall over into the dirt.

I could hear the audience cheer her on, yelling insults towards me, as I tried to regain my breath and get up again. But the mare didn’t allow it, bucking me hard in the back as I tried to get up. In the end, I just laid there, gasping after air. The mare flipped, with a bit of difficulty, me over onto my back.

Shaking her head towards me, the mare turned around and started walk away.

“And we have a winner!” Sawdust roared. “But, there is still one thing left for her to do!” The mare stopped at the words, her head turning towards the unicorn on the stand. “Kill him.”

I coughed and tried to scramble up on my hooves again, but it didn’t take long before I collapsed back again.

The mare looked down at the ground. “You said I should win to be free, you never said anything about killing him,” the mare growled. I recognized that voice.

“Was that... Bolt?”

“The plans have changed. If you want to get out of here, kill him.” He laughed.

Bolt tore of the helmet, her horn glowing, her eyes glaring up at the unicorn. “You told me that it was enough to defeat him, that I would never have to kill him!” A heavy stone flinged past her and towards the unicorn. “I will do no such thing!”

Sawdust caught the stone in his own magic, crumbling it to dust. “Then I will just have to kill you both.”

Bolt took a step back. “You... You can’t do that!”

“Oh, I can’t?” He smiled. “Watch me. Ready. Set.”

“Okay!” Bolt yelled. “I... I will do it.” She looked down in the ground, tears forming in her eyes.

During their word exchange, I had regained my breath. But still I laid completely still as the mare floated up the gun next to her and stepped up to me. “I... I’m sorry, Cogwheel.”

“He would have killed me anyway.” I took a raging breath. “At least you will live.”

“So that’s it? You’re giving up.”

What do you want me to do, Spitfire? I growled inwardly. Fight and risk that they decide to shoot both me and Bolt?

Bolt rolled her eyes. “I wonder that. Seeing how well he have held his word twice now.”

“I was meant to look after you, make sure you were healthy! I can’t let you do this! Not without trying to survive!”

You can, and you will! “Can you do one last thing for me, Bolt?” I will not allow you to risk her life as well!

“I guess I owe you that much.”

“Tell the siblings I’m sorry.”

“Get on with it!” Sawdust yelled impatiently. “Or do I have to have my men kill you both?”

“Have her shot through the eye.”

What?

“If you have decided to die, I’m not going to live on in your body without you to talk to, especially not while your body is rotting around me. That sheer thought... frightens me. Please.”

“I will tell them that. I’m sorry, Cogwheel.” Tears ran down Bolt’s cheeks.

“Shoot me through the eye. Kill Spitfire as well. Her request.”

The gun changed position, floating up to my eye socket. “I’m sorry.”

The sound of roaring gunfire filled my ears.

{}

Chapter 12 (Unnamed)

“Get down,” Bolt growled, pushing me away.

I blinked in surprise. The firing of weapons rung loudly around the arena, but no one was shooting down towards us. Instead, it seemed like the raiders were under attack by... I blinked again. Ponies completely clad in metal, the weapons hanging by their sides bigger than any weapon I had seen spewed deadly lead and fire, heavily assaulted the raiders. Although there wasn’t more than eight of the armor clad ponies, the raiders fell like flies. Sawdust were nowhere to be found.

“Is that Exo’s thugs?” I asked, confused. “I thought it was only Exo was completely clad in metal!”

The unicorn eyed the arena wary. “That’s Steel Rangers.” Her eyes bolted to the gate on the other side of the arena. “Now’s our chance, let’s go.” She started running, the gun floating in front of her. I quickly got up on my own legs and ran after her.

“Steel Rangers?”

She stopped just inside the gate, looking from side to side. “I’ll explain later. For now... There should be an exit here somewhere, I remember seeing one...”

“Hey, Viper, would you look at this. Seems like we have ourselves a runner. I’m sure boss would be mighty happy if we got rid of him.”

I turned around towards the voice. Standing nearly eye to eye with me, a knife within reach, stood the stallion who had been standing over me when I woke up in the house, licking his wicking smiling lips.

Behind him stood another stallion, a light green earth pony, who looked nervously between the gate and me. “I’m not sure... what’s that sound outside? We were only told to kill the mare once--”

“Things change, Viper. Now, you take the cyborg, and I take that piece of fine--”

The sound of a revolver firing twice from behind me drowned the voice of the raider. I stared in horror as, out of nowhere, a single bullet hole appeared on the forehead of both raiders, tearing straight through the heads. Blood and gore sprayed behind them as the bullet forcefully exited their skulls and the two earth ponies fell to the ground, their unseeing eyes staring directly at me.

My mouth worked as I blindly stared down at the two bodies.

“Come on, Cogwheel, we don’t have the entire day!” Bolt wheezed from behind me.

I spun around. “You... you just killed them.”

“Yes I did. You heard how they talked, they would have been done the same!” She spun around. “Now let’s go, we don’t have the entire day.”

“I’m afraid that I will have to agree with Bolt on this one,” Spitfire said as I glanced back at the bodies one last time, before I followed the unicorn. “They were talking about killing you and with all the shooting going down out there... I think it’s for the better to get out of here, and quick.”

“Couldn’t you just... I don’t know, shot their knees or something? I’m sure you didn’t have to kill them.”

Bolt snorted. “Would have been a waste of bullets. Their screams would have drawn other raiders to them, and--”

“Other raiders?! You mean the ones busy fighting those Steel Rangers up there? How would their--”

She spun around and jabbed a hoof in my chest. “You heard how their talked about us, you heard what they said they would do! They would kill us both, and I’m not going to spare a second thought towards me killing them instead, understood?!” She glared down at me, her eyes nailing me in place and her nostrils wide.

“Okay.” I took a quick step back. “Okay.”

“Besides,” Bolt said as she turned around and continued walking down the path she had chosen. “They aren’t shooting any...” She suddenly halted. “They aren’t shooting anymore.”

I blinked and peeked my ears, carefully listened. She was right. The sound of gunfire had ceased, the only thing cutting through the silence was a soft whimpering, cry or scream that could be heard, most likely from the wounded, before a single gunshot silenced that as well.

“What should we...”

“Shh,” Bolt hushed me, looking from side to side. “Follow me, but be silent.”

The unicorn hurried down the path, with me close behind, every now and then stopping and peak her ears. Without any warning she dove into a small sidepath, dragging me after her. As I opened my mouth to ask what she was doing, she put a hoof over my mouth, silencing me. We hadn’t been standing there for more than a couple of seconds before the sound of hoofsteps, followed by the sound of voices, reached me.

“What do you mean gone? I told you to keep an eye on him! Search the area, find that cyborg!”

Two earth ponies, nearly completely clad in armor, walked past our hiding place, one of them half a step behind the other. Both of their visors had been flipt up. “And all raiders are to be shot on sight, wether mare or stallion, armed or not. I want this place cleansed!”

“Yes sir, right away sir.” The one walking behind threw a glance towards our hiding place, before he continued walking after the other earth pony. “I will put everypony on it. And the mare our scouts mentioned traveled with him?”

“He saw you.” Spitfire whispered, as if they would hear her anyway.

“I don’t care what you do with her. If she tries to do anything, kill her, we only need that cyborg.”

“As you wish, sir.” The earth pony bowed slightly and walked out from my view.

“What was that all about? What do they want with me?” I whispered as soon as the hoofsteps disappeared.

“I don’t know, but it seems like they have had their eyes on us, at least since we left Green Valley.” Bolt carefully looked out from our hiding place. “And frankly, I don’t want to know either. Let’s go.”

“We want his help, that’s all.” Both Bolt and I spun around at the sudden voice. Before us stood the armor clad earth pony who had been ordered to find us, still with the visor up, a thin smile adorning his muzzle. “Nothing else.”

He didn’t even blink as Bolt floated up and pressed the revolver against his face. “How did you find us?” she growled.

“We have had scouts observing him for a couple of days now, and when they saw him entering a known raider nest, they called for--”

The blue earth pony took a step back as Bolt pushed the revolver even harder against his forehead. “How did you find us here?”

“Your friends cybernetics reflected the light,” the stallions smile grew as he looked up at the revolver placed between his eyes. “And let me remind you that this counts as an assault, and authorize me to use deadly force. The sound of you, or me, firing will alert the rest of the squad. If I don’t kill you, they will, and he will be captured, with force if needed.”

“There is no light to be reflected!”

“And if you shout like that, they will hear you. I can promise you that, should they see you stand here pointing a revolver to my head, they will shoot first and talk later.”

“Bolt,” I started, gently pushing the revolver away.

“What are you doing!” she growled.

“He saw us earlier. He want us something, otherwise he would have pointed us out directly.” I turned to the stallion. “What is it you want?”

“You heard his orders as well as I did. Had it been anyone else, they would have shot to kill as soon as they saw you had a gun.” He chuckled slightly. “Even more so when you pointed it towards my head. Understand me right, I don’t care much about you, but enough blood have flooded in the name of the Rangers today. Your death can be avoided, all you have to do is put down that gun and come with me willingly.”

“You want us to surrender, just like--”

“Bolt, if they just want my help--”

“You’re after his eye, aren’t you?” Bolt pushed me away and took a step closer to the ranger. “Isn’t that everything you’re after, technology?”

“We want his help, nothing more.” He raised a hoof to stop Bolt from talking. “And before you ask, no, I don’t know with what. That information have not been shared with me. Star Paladin Stroganoff and Scribe Headmaster Ink Dot are the only ones knowing why we need...” He sighed and shook his black mane before he looked back at Bolt. “Why am I even telling your this? Listen, I give you a chance to get out of here alive, take it or not, I don’t care. Stroganoff wants him, not you. Drop your gun, don’t make any move towards the one hidden in your mane, and I promise you that--”

“How comes that everypony seems to know about the gun I have hidden?!” Bolt growled as she threw away the revolver in her grip.

The stallions relaxed as the revolver disappeared from his face, and a small chuckle escaped his lips. “I wouldn’t have known if the scouts hadn’t seen you press it up his face. Don’t think you have been as close to death since you left Green Valley as you were there, they had you in their crosshair and was about to shoot when you removed it from him.”

“How long have your scouts been following u--”

“I’m sure that Star Paladin Stroganoff or Scribe Headmaster Ink Dot can explain everything once we’re back in Biomechatronic,” the earth pony interrupted Bolt. “Now, if you would follow me, and not make any aggressive moves--”

“Do you think they are after SAT?” Spitfire asked. “If it’s true as Bolt said, and they’re after technology, and they are taking us to Biomechatronic?”

I nodded slightly. It may very well be.

“Why would they answer our questions if they were just going to kill me?”

“I understand your doubt, but...” The ranger interrupted himself and moved a bit closer, lowering his voice. “Scribe Headmaster Ink Dot isn’t like that. She... doesn’t advocate violence like Stroganoff does.” He quickly drew back his head, looking from side to side. “Don’t tell him I said that. Now, if you please? The sooner we leave, the sooner you get your answers.”

“Yes, of course,” I said, earning a hard glare from Bolt whom I interrupted before she could say anything. “Just... lead the way, and we will follow.” I met her glare. “Without doing anything.”

“This way, then.” He started to walk, and I fell in behind him. After a moment, Bolt catched up with us.

“What are you doing?” she wheezed. “We can’t tru--”

“I don’t trust them. But, if Spitfire is correct, they might lead us to SAT.”

“...What? How can you--?”

“You said that they were after technology, and SAT was centered in Biomechatronic, where they said they would take us.”

“I doubt SAT was the only place for technology in Biomechatronic.” Bolt rolled her eyes as she took the first step up the staircase after the ranger. “It’s only because he said they needed your help, right?”

“We’re going that way anyway.” I smiled apologetic. “And besides, they just saved us both. I figured we owed them that much.”

The unicorn’s voice turned sharp. “Yeah, and they so seemed to care if I live or not.”

How am I supposed to... I stopped dead at the scenery that unfolded before me. It was the clinic all over again, with ponies lying spread out where they had fallen, unseeing eyes staring forwards and the smell of fresh blood filling my nostrils. Already had flies flocked to the bodies. The sight made my stomach turn, but I quickly took the last steps up the stairs as Bolt looked back at me, swallowing hard to keep the breakfast down.

My eyes wandered over the scenery, where fallen raiders laid in pools of blood. Mares and stallions, young and old, all lying where they had fallen. In the middle of the stand, in an area cleared from corpses, sat a couple of armor clad ponies, talking softly among themselves. As soon as they saw us their talking ceased, and one of the rangers hurried to her hooves, walking over to us.

“Senior Paladin Emulate.” The ranger brought up her visir, showing a worried face as she brought up a hoof to her brow. “I... we have encountered some difficulties. A foal--”

I shared a quick glance with Bolt. A foal. Tiny.

“A... foal?” The color disappeared from the face of the ranger who had found us. “Here? Our scouts said nothing about a foal!”

“Actually, they mentioned a foal following one of the slaves around. They didn’t say anything about foals with the raiders... If you don’t mind me speaking, sir,” she quickly apologized.

“At ease, Knight, no need to apologize yourself. I’m not Stroganoff.” Emulate hesitated. “He... haven’t been told, have he?”

“Negative. Star Paladin Stroganoff haven’t been seen since you two walked down, the foal was found after. We have cleared the area around her from bodies, but... It’s the slave.”

“Did something happen to Blueberry?” Bolt asked, earning a hard glare from the knight.

“A slave collar. There’s nothing we can do. It detonated during the fight, killing the slave and two raiders while wounding three others.”

Emulator turned to Bolt. “Did you know her?”

“She... helped us. Was the only kind one here. She was once one of them, but betrayed them to Exo to save her daughter,” the unicorn said quietly.

“The filly... it’s her daughter then?”

“Tiny,” I spoke up stepping towards the other rangers. “Her daughters name was Tiny.”

“Sir, if you excuse me... What should we do about... Tiny?”

One of the rangers took a step aside. In the middle of the rangers laid the body of the slave. The head had been thorn of at the neck. Blood and flesh had sprayed over the rest of her body. Lying next to her mother, hugging the dead mare’s leg close to her body, were Tiny. The filly’s body was covered in her mothers blood, and tears ran from her closed eyes as she rocked back and forth, her entire body shaking with crying.

“We will take her with us,” Emulator said quietly. “Scribe Headmaster will decide what we’re to do with her after that.” He sighed, before turning to the mare Knight again. “You, take three knights and search for Stroganoff. Let him know that I have found the cyborg. The rest of you, keep both eye on Bolt and...” He paused, before he turned towards me. “Cogwheel, was it?” He waited for my nod before he turned to the rangers. “I’m sure they won’t do anything, but if they do... you’re authorized to use non-lethal force to make them stay.”

“We... We aren’t going to do anything,” I stuttered as the rangers broke up in two groups, one of the groups headings towards the stairways we just had walked up for and the other one standing still, looking sternly at me and Bolt. “Promise.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Emulator chuckled. “They don’t bite. I just want us to be on the same... terms. Don’t want to see you try anything. Now, give me some space, I want to talk with Tiny alone.” He sighed, glancing towards the filly. “Don’t want to just tear her from her mother without having tried to talk with her first.”

The two steel rangers that had stayed respectfully stepped aside and lead us to a relatively clear area, free from corpses, while the Senior Paladin took a step forth and carefully lowered his body closer to the small filly. His mouth moved, but no words reached my ears.

“Does... he do this often?” Bolt whispered, her eyes at the armor clad pony and the small filly.

“No idea,” one of our guards said with an adenoidal voice. “Senior Paladin Emulator haven’t been here for more than two days.”

“...Two days?”

“Yeah,” the other guard, a mare judging by the voice, chimed in. “He came with words from the Elder and the scouts. Unlike the rest of us, he answers directly under Scribe Headmaster Ink Dot, and not Star Paladin Stroganoff.”

“That’s enough, Rue. This is Steel Ranger business, nothing that should concern these civilians.”

“Oh, of course. Sorry Buckler.”

“As long as that mouth of yours don’t get you in problem with Star Paladin Stroganoff again.” I could practically hear the poison in his voice as he spoke the title.

“I don’t think that will be any problem, Buckler,” the mare snickered and snapped her armor clad tail against the stallions flank. “Besides, Stroganoff wasn’t that hard to deal with.”

The stallion muttered something unhearable, earning a snicker from the mare, before he went silent.

I sat down on my haunches and looked around the stand, trying to keep my eyes, and mind, away from the dead. Finally, my eyes stopped at the stallion next to me. Or, rather, his armor.

The metal, although soiled by dust and fresh blood, covered his entire body, even the tail. It looked robust enough to take a few hits, at least if the dents and notches, some of them big enough to be from bullets if I wasn’t mistaken, had any say in it.

“Look,” Bolt wheezed in my ear, nudging me in the side.

I blinked and looked where Bolt pointed towards. Tiny had crawled up on Emulator’s back and the ranger had turned towards us, tears in his eyes. But his voice didn’t show any of the sadness his eyes radiated. “Buckler, Rue, get Cogwheel and Bolt to the road. I will go down and see if I can--”

“That won’t be necessary, Senior Paladin.” Walking up the stairs where the group of Steel Rangers had disappeared down was the ranger I had seen talking with Emulator earlier, followed by named group. His armor was, unlike the other rangers I had seen, decorated, and he spoke in a gruff voice. “This is him, then?” Even though his eyes were concealed by the visor, it felt as if they bore into my very being.

“Yes, this is...” Emulator paused as he turned around to face Stroganoff. “Cogwheel. He suffers from amnesia, as our scouts warned us.”

“Is that so? How much do he remem--” He stopped talking as he looked away from me and looked at the helmet less earth pony. Or, rather, at the filly on his back. His voice turned sharp. “And who is this, Senior Paladin.”

“This, Stroganoff, is Tiny.” The filly in question curled closer to the earth pony, as if trying to escape from the Star Paladin’s eyes. “She will be following us back to Biomechatronic.”

“That’s Star Paladin Stroganoff for you,” Stroganoff snarled. “And I thought I ordered every raider to be shot on sight.”

“With all due respect, Sir, but Tiny here was the daughter of a slave, not a raider.”

“You got a bleeding heart, Emulator. How you got the rank you have is beyond my imagination.”

“I’m sorry, Star Paladin, but I will let Scribe Headmaster decide what we are to do about her. As you know, I’m, like you, under her direct command. I have no obligations towards you.”

The Star Paladin stepped forward, positioning himself a couple of step before the Senior Paladin. “I could have you killed, and not one of the knights would think for a moment before firing.”

“Tell me, what would you do when you returned to Biomechatronic? I don’t think our friends here would be silent once they spoke with Ink Dot, and I don’t think she would be very happy to know that you had me killed for refusing killing a filly.”

“Oh, I don’t think that would be a problem, should I decide to have you killed.” I could practically hear the smile in Stroganoff’s voice. “You’re not the only one authorized to read the scout’s reports.” He paused for a moment, before he turned towards me and Bolt. “I trust you have taken any weapon from them?”

Emulator relaxed and took a deep breath. “Yes. The mare was the only one armed, she have given away her weapons.”

The earth pony nodded. “We’re moving out. And Senior Paladin?” Pausing, he took one step forward. “Take the filly with you, we both know the answer Ink Dot will give you.” He turned around and started to walk. “But she’s your responsibility, don’t forget that.”

{}

“I’m not kidding, he ran at me with a baseball bat!” The mare, Freesia, laughed. “I mean, he had seen how well firearms worked against the armor, and still he decide to try and run against me with a baseball bat! These raiders. Must be something wrong with their brains.”

The knights around the table, and even Bolt, joined in the laughter. Myself, I pushed away the food that had been given to me, my hunger having vanishing with each words spoken. Although I still couldn’t fully accept the necessity of the violence, I could understand it. And I was, of course, grateful for them saving me. But to hear them sitting here, laughing at the death of others...

“Maybe it’s a way to protect themselves. Make it easier to live with the killing,” Spitfire said woeful as another ranger, started his own story.

I don’t care why they do it. It’s... tasteless. I should have left with Emulator. Sighing, I looked up from the table. Right into the green eyes of Stroganoff.

The Star Paladin had, like the rest of the Rangers, taken of his helmet, revealing the scarred, light dark muzzle, when we had sat down around the table. But, unlike the others, he hadn’t taken anything to eat. Instead, he had just been sitting still, his burning eyes never leaving me.

“That’s enough, knights.” He spoke without looking away from me, and barely had his words left his mouth before the rangers around the table had turned silent. A thin smile, unshared by his eyes, spread over his muzzle. “Tell me, Cogwheel, is it true about your amnesia? You don’t have any memories of the time of the war? Of your life before this? Of who you were?”

“Why do you want to know?”

The smile on his lips slipped, and I could swear that at least two of the ranger gasped for air. He quickly plastered on the smile again, his eyes burning even more. “I want to know how much you remember of your past, so I can know if you are even able to do what’s needed from you.”

“I don’t even know what I’m needed for!”

“What you’re needed for isn’t something you will have to care about right now, Cyborg,” Stroganoff growled, ramming a hoof into the table. “All you need to care about now is telling me what you remember, so I can tell if you’re even worth our time!” He pushed himself up, lounging over me. “So spill it.”

“I recommend telling him what he wants to know,” Spitfire said before I had the chance to speak the words on my tongue. “And not piss him off further. Who knows what he would do to just get that information out of you.”

I closed my mouth again and rubbed a hoof against my temple. “Okay. Okay. I will tell you.” The Star Paladin nodded and sat down, the smile on his lips returning. “But I don’t know much about my past. I know that I had a wife and a son, that I had something to do with SAT and...” I paused. Should I tell them that I had something to do with Project Aíonis, whatever that was? What if they wanted to know more about it? That would be questions I couldn’t answer. “And that’s it.”

“That’s everything you know?”

Nodding, I took a deep breath. “It is.”

“Was that things you have remembered since you woke up, or...” He leaned slightly forward, lowering his voice. “Things that have gotten to you during your travels.”

“The later. I seem to remember some things when I get to the site where they occurred, but not always. At times, a memory have come when I have been asleep as well.”

Stroganoff laughed gruffly. “It seems like you’re still of some use to us, then. We will just have to make you remember.” I shuddered slightly under his gaze, hopefully not enough for him to notice. “Buckler, Iron Oak, you two stay. The rest of you return to base.”

“Knights, stay,” Emulator spoke up from the doorway. The knights, half of them standing up and the other half sitting, stopped doing anything, looking up at the Senior Paladin.

“You have no authority here, Emulator,” Stroganoff snarled, for the first time since we had sat down looking away from me. “Knights, move out.”

“I was sent with you by Scribe Headmaster Ink Dot, to make sure her interest were followed here. My words weight as much, if not more, than your words, Star Paladin. And before anyone is leaving this room, you will tell me exactly what you plan to do, sending back the knights to Biomechatronic.”

The earth pony oppose me looked back at me, the thin smile still on his lips. “I will make sure that Cogwheel here is of some use for our cause, which I can promise is of the Scribe Headmaster’s concern as well as mine.”

“How are you planning to do that?” Bolt asked.

Stroganoff moved his eyes to her, and I could feel her shiver slightly next to me. “That’s easy, girl.” He looked back at me again. “I intend to take him home.” Laughing, he added. “That is, of course, if Emulator, doesn’t have anything to say about it.”

“Knights, move out. Report to the Scribe Headmaster that we will take a small departure to make sure that the subject recovers enough memories to be able to fulfil his role. We should be back tomorrow.”

The knights looked at Stroganoff, who slowly nodded, before the ones who had been told to leave stood up and equipped their helmets. “You should go with them, Emulator. Get the filly to a safe environment.”

“I doubt that we will run into anything that would be able to harm her, considering that she will be accompanied by four Steel Rangers, one unicorn and a cyborg. So no, I will go with you.”

“Very well,” Stroganoff said annoyed, rising from the chair. “Let’s move out, I want to get there and back to base as soon as possible.”

{}

A light breeze played with my mane as I sat in the shadow of the oak, staring breathless at the scenery beneath us. The crystal clear lake reflected the sun that was setting behind the trees on the other side of the water and the sky glowed red as the day slowly drifted into twilight. The only thing disturbing the silence was the sound of waves hitting the shore beneath the hill where I sat and the singing of a bird in the green foliage above me.

A gentle touch over my back caused my smile to widen even more.

“It’s beautiful here.”

I sat silent for a moment, enjoying the feeling of her soft feathers against my back, before I looked back at the mare half lying on the blanket we had spread under the oak. “Not as beautiful as you.”

With a smile, she patted the ground next to her. “It’s getting lonely down here, why don’t you join me?” Before I had even lied down completely, she wrapped her wings around me. “Much better.”

I staggered and fell down on my haunches, blinking, disoriented, the mare’s words echoing in my head. The green grass around me had disappeared, as had the sun in the sky. Replaced by dead, brown grass and the everlasting cloud cover. The lake, just a second ago so crystal clear, had now turned a sickly color of green and the oak, once mighty and full of life, was now dead, the trunk and twisted branches nearly black.

“What now, Cyborg?” Stroganoff snarled. “We are soon there, you can rest then.”

I looked back at the Steel Rangers, and Bolt, who had stopped on the road further down the hill, not far from where I had sat down. Or, road. It was more of a track that ran not far from the lake, we had long since stopped walking on the road. Apparently, this way was both safe and faster than the road.

“New memory?” Spitfire asked concerned. “You caught me completely off guard, I wasn’t prepared for you to stagger like that.”

Sighing, I rose again, hurrying up my step to catch up with them. Yes. I have been here before. Avoiding the reason behind why I had been here, although I think that Spitfire caught it up anyway, I looked after Stroganoff and the other Steel Rangers, who had started walking again. The only one waiting for me was Bolt, who looked thoughtful on me. And since he doesn’t seem to care, I don’t see a reason to tell him why I stopped.

“Are you sure about that? I mean, wouldn’t it be better to get on his good side by notifying him whenever you remember something?”

I don’t see how this memory would be of any importance to him. Bolt fell in next to me as I walked, and together we walked a couple of step behind the others, the knights looking back to see that we still followed them every now and then.

“New memory?” she asked with curiosity. “What did you remember?”

“That’s because you don’t know what they are after!”

“I was with a mare on that hill. On a picnic. The entire world was beautiful, green leaves and grass, a crystal clear lake, the sun shining down, warming us from a blue sky.” I sighed, glancing to the dead grass around me. “Not like this.”

“It really sounds beautiful.” Bolt drifted off for a moment, and we walked after the Steel Rangers in silence. “What did you do?”

“In the memory? I said we had a picnic.”

“Yeah, but was that all? Sounds boring.”

“It was relaxing.” I looked at the Steel Rangers, one of the Knights, I couldn’t tell who with the helmet on, looked back at me for a second before his eyes returned to the road and our surroundings. “Who are they?”

“The Steel Rangers?” Bolt lowered her tone, taking a small step closer to me. “Fancy raiders is what my father calls them, and I agree with him. I have only seen them in Green Valley once or twice in my entire life, and both time they have ‘taken back’ what’s ‘rightfullytheirs’. With violence if needed. Sure, DJ Pon-3 speaks about them helping settlements, but that’s not what I have been taught. No, father say that they steal every piece of technology they want, wether you give it to them for a ‘fair price’ or they rip it from your dead hooves. They don’t care.” Bolt glanced at me quickly, before she looked back at the rangers. “A rest from before the war, if any of the small articles I have read had any say in it. Founded by the Ministry of Wartime Technology, they were soldiers answering only to the ministry mare or by leaders chosen by her. Some kind of hierarchy system, I don’t know.”

“They must know who I was. More so than I know. Otherwise they wouldn’t have scouts tailing me since I got out of the clinic.” I lowered my head slightly. “Do you think I had something to do with SAT’s business? That they just want to get their hooves on technology there?”

“Without a doubt.” Bolt sighed. “But it’s not like we can do anything. Try to run and I can promise you that those weapons will be turned towards you in one way or another. But hey, look at the bright side.” She smiled slightly, punching me gently on the shoulder. “At least you will get your memories back! Isn’t that what you wanted in the first place?”

“Yeah, you’re right.” I smiled slightly, a smile that quickly dropped into a frown. “But I don’t like the thought of being used like that.”

“Who does.” The unicorn sighed. “At least we won’t have any trouble with raiders or other bugs around them. A raider have to think twice before attacking a ranger in the open like this.”

I guess she was right. Occasionally I had spotted an animal or other kind of wildlife through the sparsely placed and long since dead trunks and logs around us, but they had either slipped away quickly or been watching us from a safe distance. “They are leading us to Biomechatronic, aren’t they?” I asked, eyeing the buildings that had started to be distinguishable in the distance, behind the hill not far away and stretching out on the other side of the lake.

“They are,” Bolt confirmed, floating up the map from her saddlebags. The bags had been found by one of the knights where the raiders had thrown them after emptying them of anything they could have use for, leaving my bag empty and Bolt’s with barely anything left. “In fact, had we followed the road instead of going through this... well, it was a forest. But we would have arrived in the city as well, just closer to the core.”

“Why would Stroganoff send away his men if they were going to lead us there anyway?”

“I don’t know.” The unicorn rolled her eyes as she tucked back the map in her bags. “But you saw how quickly they took down the raiders. Maybe they only were so many in the first place because they knew about the raiders numbers and wanted to make sure to get to us, or more precisely you, before the raiders could do you any serious harm. Now when that threat is out of the way, they might not need to be more than for to protect you.” She paused for a moment. “And besides, Biomechatronic was a big city, maybe he doesn’t believe we will get back to the Steel Ranger base before tomorrow, and wanted to let them know.”

“I... guess you’re right.” I looked up at the building in the distance. Do you think that the Steel Rangers got anything to do with those who wanted to keep Biomechatronic for themselves disappearing?

“It’s a possibility. But didn’t Radio say that it was years since he had heard any mentionings about Biomechatronic?”

Maybe there haven’t been any groups trying to call Biomechatronic their own in a while? And the Steel Rangers have just kept themselves low profile, only lashing out towards those that got to close?

“...That doesn’t really make sense. Why would they keep low profile? I don’t think that anything can really hurt them here, not after what we have seen.”

I stopped before the hill whereupon the Steel Rangers had stopped and now looked down at me. Sighing, I followed the shore on the other side with my eyes and the ruins that lay there. Was it something waiting in the depths of the city, ready to lash out at us? Or was it just the Steel Rangers that had made the slavers disappear? I sighed and started to walk up the hill, my eyes leaving the shore again. What did I know?

Bolt and the rangers stood and looked down over the city as I got to the top of the hill. Biomechatronic had once been a big city, with a wide variety of buildings. Some reached towards the sky, and some buildings, placed close to the river running through the city, I thought of as industries. But one thing that Biomechatronic had in common with Green Valley and the rest of the wasteland was the ruins. Although most of the city seemed intact, I could see the ruins even from the hill. Skyscrapers that had half the building lying scattered around it’s base and houses whose roof had given in.

“Welcome home, Cogwheel,” Stroganoff laughed besides me. “It’s not as beautiful as when you left, I’m sure.”

I looked down at the houses just beneath the hill. For a moment, I could see them with neat, well kept gardens, foals running around playing. Then it felt as if a hammer was brought to my head, and I would have fallen to the ground hadn’t it been for Spitfire. My head spun as the world around me went black.

{}

With cold, uncaring eyes I watched as the zebra, an elderly mare, was getting help from the earth ponies to get up on the wagon, which her son and wife had gotten their hooves on somehow. The wagon, as every wagon that had left from this block, had been loaded with everything the zebras could carry. When the old zebra had gotten up into the wagon, the stallion got the wagon rolling and the family took their place in the line leaving Biomechatronic.

A few of the zebras in line looked up at me as they passed, their eyes begging me to help them, their shoulders heavy with the burden, both physical and mental, they carried as they were forced to leave their home and security for an uncertain future.

“Your words spoke truth, Ministry mare,” I said with disgust, turning my eyes away from the filth that passed by beneath us. “I have been blind, allowing them to work under me, trusting them like I trusted the... ordinary workers.”

The white unicorn looked down at the line, disgust written on her face. If it was from the smell the wind brought with it, the zebra themselves or how my men handled them I couldn’t tell. “Your quick work is... extraordinary, Director.” She looked away from the line and gave me a thin smile. “But, say me, is it not Morale’s work to get them to the town?” Her smile turned into a smirk. “They will simply not be happy hearing about this, I’m afraid.”

One of her guards, a younger unicorn stallion, looked as if she should throw up, while the other, a unicorn mare, looked indifferent about the scenery below her. At times, her eyes darted to the sides or stopped at one of the zebras beneath us, but mostly she looked forward. I doubted she missed anything happening around her.

“I sent my most trusted pony to speak with Morale, Ministry mare. There will be Morale... attendants waiting at the gates of the town to help them find a place to live. Unfortunately, they wasn’t able to find the ponies to personally escort them there. After all, in days like this SAT isn’t the only ones to send away those to the... towns.” Searching through my bags, dragging out on the time to hide the smirk on my lips, I carefully picked up a scroll and gave it to the mare. “If you doubt me, here’s the written permission.”

The mare’s right eye twitched as she snatched the scroll from me and unfurled it, diving right into it. “Ministry of Morale hereby give... in any way he deems necessary... movement of fifty six... foals under seven not... with the maximum load of... to be counted at... Observer Contem.” She rolled up the scroll. Although she was nearly a head shorter than me, it felt as if she glared daggers down at me as she turned to me, the serene smile still on her lips.”Well then, everything seems to be in perfect order. Do you mind?” Without waiting for answer, she placed the scroll in her own saddlebags. “If there was not anything else that demand my personal attention, then I will bid my--”

“Actually, there is,” I interrupted her. The smile practically died on her lips, turning into a scowling frown. “I took the liberty to order my colts to search through the houses and wagons after any... prohibited books. And...”

“Yes?” The mare stared blankly at me, annoyed by the interruption.

“It’s not one of the books on the list, but...” I carefully picked up the heavy tomb, wrapped into brown paper, from my bags. She quickly took it in her magic and tore open a part of the wrapping, the brown cover underneath mirroring in her eyes. “As I understood it, it’s a book about zebra history.”

“No... it’s not on the list.” Her eyes wandered down to the bottom of the cover, widening some as she realized what material the cover was created with. “But clearly it should.” The book disappeared before my eyes. “However, I find it hard to believe that one of your colts just happen to find a book like this that was owned by one of these savages.” She waved her hoof towards the line, the last few zebras passing beneath us. “Less than a week after a raid against yourself. You are not trying to cover something up, are you? You are doing a poor job at it, should that be the case.”

I chuckled heartily. “The book was found well hidden inside one of the more... resistant ones house, together with three books that exists on the list.” I pointed at my saddlebags. “The rest of the books are here as well, and as the law says are they all to be... collected.”

“You’re not doing it any better for you.” Looking between the bags and me, she quickly motioned to one of the guards to pick them up. “Anything else, Director?” She didn’t even await my answer before she turned around, the stallion picking up the bag before doing the same. “The ministries got a close eye on you and your business, and this affair have not been closed, do I make myself clear?”

I bowed slightly against her back, shallow enough to be counted as rude. “Crystal clear, Ministry mare. But you have nothing to fear, your words have made me see what filth they really are.”

“Director?” She stopped, speaking without even looking back, her voice as hard as steel. “Don’t press your luck.”

{}

“Cogwheel, are you alright?”

I peeked open my eyes, my head hurting and my body aching, if from the memory or something else I couldn’t tell. Bolt and the rangers stood a bit away, talking about what they should do with me, from what I could hear. Judging by Emulator’s expression and the worried glances he threw between the unicorn and the Star Paladin, was Bolt defending that they should wait until I woke up rather hard.

No, I’m not. I closed my eyes again, tears seeping out from my biological. I... didn’t care. I was disgusted by them. I sent them away.

“What are you talking about, Cogwheel? Who did you send away?”

Zebras. More than fifty of them. Kicked them out of their homes. I didn’t even care while doing it. It was... it was as if they weren’t worth anything.

“Cogwheel... Equestria was at war with the zebra empire, and...”

That doesn’t...! I took a deep breath, ignoring the tears running down my cheek. I have had other memories, memories where I gave zebras job, and where SAT offered them shelter. Why would I do something like this? Why would I kick them out from their homes and treat them as if they were dirt? I even sent condolences to a zebra couriers family after he had been murdered! This... this is an entire other... this isn’t the me I have seen before.

Spitfire sighed. “Ponies change, Cogwheel. For all you know, these memories can be years apart.Years where anything could have happened.”

I don’t care if I had changed, I didn’t change into this! I refused to even think that I could have. This isn’t me! I know how I am out here, and I couldn’t have been such... such a monster!

“I have seen you out here, Cogwheel, and you have told me about other memories. That have never been anything like what you just described, but...” She hesitated. “You don’t know your story. The war lasted for years, who know what you encountered then, what happened to those around you. The war might have changed you, but since you don’t remember it... you’re unchanged.”

Does... does that mean that I will become like that? I shivered. I... I don’t want to become like that.

“I don’t know. But now when you have seen it, maybe you can work against it? If you remember things about zebras or the war that might have changed you towards this, maybe you can...”

Ignore it?

“No, not ignore it. It is, after all, a part of your past. But... maybe don’t let it affect you as it did then. Now you know what you might become. What you became. Maybe you can work against it?” She sighed. “I don’t know.”

“Who was I?” I whispered, opening my eyes again. Bolt and Stroganoff were still standing and argued, but Emulator had looked away from them. Instead looking straight at me. But he didn’t say anything, neither did he tell the arguing ones anything. He just stood there and looked at me with a sad smile. I shivered, why I didn’t know, but I didn’t look away from him.

“I think that you will have to--”

Do you think the steel ranger’s know? I took a deep breath. They must know who I was. I blinked. I know who I was. I was the director of SAT. That must be it. I remember giving order about zebra’s be given homes that SAT would take care of, and now I remember being called director... They want to use me to get something from SAT. That got to be it. They know that I was the director. They must have found the letter from Honey Pod, and connected it with me. But... Grunting, I brought a metal hoof to my head, wiping the last traces of tears from my cheek and massaging my temple carefully. Urgh, it just opens up more and more questions.

“I’m sure you will get all the answers on who you ar... was. Unless, of course, you want to stop this journey.”

Bolt glanced back at me, only to quickly look back at the Star Paladin again, who had turned his head towards me. I sighed. Even if I wanted, I don’t think I would be able to. Seems like the Steel Rangers really want to get into SAT... if that’s what they want in the first place. I could still feel Emulator’s eyes on me.

Whatever the unicorn said fell for deaf ears as the Star Paladin walked up to me, forcing Bolt to take a step to the side to avoid getting stepped on. When he reached me, he looked down at me for a moment. “Your unicorn friend said that this happened the other times you regain memories as well, is that correct?”

“If it is at you believe, then maybe he can tell you who you were. All you have to do is ask.”

I thought about Spitfire’s words for a moment before I nodded. Maybe she was right. But even so, how much would the information the Steel Rangers had about me be true nearly two hundred years after I lived? Did they just have pieces about me, that they puzzled together to a picture, or...

“Did you remember anything that can be of use at all?”

“I don’t know what’s of use for yo--”

“Don’t press your luck, Cyborg,” the earth pony growled, bringing his head closer to me. “Tell me what you remembered.”

Before I could stop myself, I tried to shuffle back from his gaze. “I... I remember standing here, at this hill, overlooking the settlement below and the zebras I kicked out from their homes trying to get their belongings up on wagons.”

He snorted. “That’s not... What happened more?”

“What do you mean that’s not--”

“That’s none of your concern,” he growled, taking a threatening step closer. “Answer my question.”

“I... I gave some books to a ministry mare, a white unicorn. A book on zebra history as well as some books that were on some kind of list and should be collected.”

“Ministry Mare Rarity... Did something else happen? A title? A job? Anything that you can now remember about your past that you haven’t before?”

I took a deep breath. “I was the director of SAT, wasn’t I? I remember this mare... Rarity, call me director. You want something from SAT, something you can’t get--”

“Don’t press it,” Stroganoff warned. “Do you remember anything else? Like your name. What was your name?”

“I’m right then, aren’t--” I doubled over in pain as the Star Paladin brought down a hoof in my guts. Gasping for air, I could see how Bolt had drawn the gun and now aimed towards the Star Paladin, Emulator taking a quick step between them while the other two rangers didn’t seem to notice what was going on behind their backs, their eyes on me instead.

“I warned you, Cyborg. But you had to press it, didn’t you?” he growled in my ear, pressing down his hoof against my abdomen. “Do you remember anything more, something we don’t know?” I hurriedly shook my head, still trying to fill my lungs with air again. “Then I guess we will have to continue. You’re still useless for us.” He looked away from me and pushed down his hoof hard before he stepped of me again. “Remember your place next time, Cyborg.”

Awakening

”He’s awake! Someone, sedate him again -- he won’t survive for long!”

I slowly opened my eyes, which were heavy with fatigue. A bright light was shining from above, and there were dark shapes moving all around. “Where… Where am I?” I slurred. “What… What happened?” A sudden beeping pierced my mind, shattering it as if it was glass. Screaming in pain, I tried to bring my hooves up to cover my ears, but they refused to obey.

“Sedate him,” the same voice called out again, somehow overpowering the beeping. “Or we will lose him!”

I thrashed from side to side, trying to block out the piercing beeping, screaming all the while.

“Hold him down,” another voice called out. “Keep him still!”

I felt the metallic taste of blood in my mouth. The smell of it filled my nostrils. I noticed a dull pain shooting throughout my entire body, but it was nothing compared to the piercing pain in my head. I felt something being jabbed into my legs, then again, and again. Slowly the pain faded away, leaving me with nothing but darkness.

{~_~}

“Warning, primary energy source offline. Initiating backup energy source,” a calm, feminine voice stated. The origin of the voice was hard to pinpoint, but it had nonetheless stirred me awake.

I groaned as I slowly opened my eyes, instantly closing them again at the bright light shining directly down at me. I could feel the beginnings of a headache...

“Secondary energy source online,” the voice purred. “Calculating.”

Where am I? I thought as I tried to bring up a hoof to massage my head, only to find out that I couldn’t move it. I wasn’t being held or strapped down, but whatever I was lying in was too small to move around in. I snapped my eyes open, resisting the urge to close them again as the blinding light made my headache worse.

“Warning, secondary energy source insufficient. Unable to maintain complete stasis. Scanning.”

The dazzling light forced me to squint with my right eye, while my left eye seemed unaffected by it. I grunted as I moved my head from side to side, quickly realizing that I was trapped inside of something. A transparent dome arched over me, sealing me in, with a comfortable cushion under me. I couldn’t look down at my body, but I could see wires going from the sides of my prison towards the middle of my chest. The only things visible on the other side of the dome were the clinical white walls and ceiling, which were illuminated by a bright light that I couldn’t see.

“Warning: stasis pods 1 through 15 offline, occupants dead. Stasis pod 16 online, occupant alive. Stasis pods 17 through 25 offline, no occupants.”

“Where am I?” I asked, the words coming out as nothing more than a croak. My throat and my mouth felt dry as sandpaper.

“Occupant of stasis pod 16 awake, initiating emergency stabilization program.”

I howled in pain as something drilled into my spine, and had I not been trapped so effectively by the sides of my prison, I would have thrashed from side to side. Through my howling I heard a low humming and the pain that shot through my spine disappeared, leaving me gasping in shock.

“Emergency stabilization program finished.”

I could hear a low hiss as the dome started to rise and fresh air rushed in. The wires that were connected to my chest audibly popped off and retracted into the sides of my prison. I took a ragged breath, my throat raw from the screaming I had done in combination with how dry it already was. The fresh, cold air rushed down it and into my lungs.

“Emerging,” the voice stated.

The cushion which I lay on started to move upwards. I stayed completely still, not daring to move as the cushion continued to rise. The throbbing in my head had nearly dissipated completely at the time I stopped, and I moved my hooves up to massage the last traces of it away.

“Please lie still,” the voice stated as soon as I started to move my hooves. Straps shot out and restrained my legs and chest. Ignoring my protests, the voice continued. “Initiating Assembly Protocol, please stand by.”

”Initiating what?” I asked. Sweat started to form on my brow as I violently moved my head from side to side, trying to understand what was happening.

The cushion I lay upon floated in the air, held up by something I could not see. Numerous small lamps placed around the room were the source of the bright light that illuminated the walls. A number of oval objects, most likely the stasis pods the voice had mentioned before, were attached to the walls. Thick wires connected each one of them with a twisted metal frame that towered above me in the middle of the room. The metal frame was as clean as everything else in the room, and the cold metal twisted the light it reflected. Flames seemed to dance inside it.

“Assembly Protocol. Now please be still. This won’t take long,” the voice chimed with an undertone of irritation.

My eyes stared at my own reflection in the metal frame. Looking back at me was an earth pony with a brown coat and a tan mane. His right eye was bright orange. Parts of the left side of his face were completely gone, replaced with silvery metal. My gaze was met by a mechanical eye, the iris a twisted version of the original orange, now much darker and dirtier. Tearing my eyes away from the face, I allowed my gaze to continue down my body. Pieces of my chest had been replaced with the same cold metal as my face. Snapping my eyes away from the twisted reflection, I lowered my head, looking down at my own body in disbelief. Three of my legs were gone, replaced with a strange metal fitting. Only my right foreleg had remained untouched.

“What happened to me?!"

“For your own safety, please lay still,” the voice protested. More straps shot out and restrained my head to the cushion. “Searching database: Occupant of stasis pod 16.”

“What are you doing to me? What’s going on?!” I wanted to yell, but it came out as nothing more than a rasp. My throat tightened and more sweat ran down from my brow. I would have been shaking, had I not been as restrained as I was.

I heard a soft humming coming from both sides of the room. From the corner of my eye, I saw three metal legs slowly moving towards me, each one in line with the metal fittings. The pain of a thousand needles followed as the legs were screwed into the fittings, causing me to shriek.

“I’m sorry, but I was unable to find any information considering the occupant of stasis pod 16,” the voice apologized before it returned to its cheerful manner. “Assembly Protocol complete, please keep still while I descend you.”

I stayed still as the cushion started to descend outwards and down towards the floor. It was not like I could do anything else, seeing that my head and only working leg were strapped down. Spikes of pain flashed from the three metal legs now fixated to my body, slowly growing in intensity. Each of them felt like an electrical discharge shooting through my body. My vision started to fade, and I felt more than heard my howling emerging as a rasp from my dry throat.

As the straps holding my head and hoof down were removed, I rolled off the cushion and onto the floor into a tight ball. I could feel tears running down my cheeks and onto the cold floor under me as I continued screaming in pain. Then the spikes of agony suddenly stopped. The tears still ran down my cheeks as my vision slowly returned, and my breathing came in short, ragged gasps.

I don’t know how long it took before the tears stopped coming, but once they did, and the pain had faded away completely, I unfolded myself. Rolling over on my back, I brought my only natural hoof up to my throat, massaging it lightly. “What did you just do to me?” I rasped, reeling from the thought of what had happened.

"I assembled you," the voice answered. "Your legs were temporarily stored away while you were in stasis, but I could no longer maintain your stasis, so I thought I should give them back."

"Give them back?!" I shouted, learning the hard way that it made my throat even more sore. "What do you mean, give them back? I didn't even know I'd lost them!" Those last few words caught in my throat, throwing me into a coughing fit.

"Would you like some water?" the voice asked.

I nodded slowly. "Yes, please."

I hadn’t even finished the answer before I could hear the sound of running water behind me. Looking back, I could see a drinking fountain only a couple of steps away.

“I’m sorry. I cannot bring the water any closer than that,” the voice apologized.

I looked at the drinking fountain, then at my legs and then back at the fountain again. Sighing, I tried to move my legs, and, to my surprise, they started moving in unison with each other - metal legs and natural leg alike - without any hesitation or refusal. I just lay there, looking down in surprise at my moving legs. It felt so natural, the way they moved. I was able to roll myself over and stand up.

I nearly fell over when I took the first step forward, my non-mechanical limb suddenly having to support a bigger part of my body weight than before. Without thinking, I put the leg I held in the air down, regaining my balance. Taking a deep, rasping breath, I tried to walk again. This time with a better result, only wobbling slightly as I took the step. Slowly, pausing between each step, I inched closer to the drinking fountain.

As soon as I reached my goal, I took several deep gulps of the water, not caring that it was slightly discolored. The cold water rushing down my throat soothed it with each sip.

I sighed as I removed my muzzle from the water source, my throat feeling much better than it had before. “Thanks,” I said. “The water really did wonders for my throat.”

“I added some healing potion to the water, just to make sure your throat would not be damaged permanently.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

I took a deep breath and allowed my eyes to wander around the room. The metal frame before me took up most of the space, but there was still enough room to move around freely between the pods without any problem. Definitely enough space for me to pace around the room, looking inside the strangely empty pods.

“What is this place?”

“This is Fluttershy’s Clinic. Specifically, we are in the Stabilization Pod Wing.”

“Right,” I muttered. “I was... Stabilized.” I shuddered just thinking about it. “What was I stabilized for?”

“There are two terminals in this room, and I have already searched them both for any information regarding you. I’m sorry, but no such information exists in this room. I cannot connect to the terminals outside to access any information; my connection with them was terminated a long time ago. If you can access them, you might be able to find information about yourself.”

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“Yes. The possibility for any information regarding your existence to be in one of Fluttershy’s Clinic’s terminals is calculated to a possibility of ninety-nine point nine percent. Estimated time for finding it by looking through every terminal in the clinic is two and a half weeks.”

I stopped in my tracks. “Two and a half weeks?” I asked dumbfounded. “How big is this clinic?”

“Fluttershy’s Clinic contains eight floors. Between ten and one hundred and forty-five rooms exist on each floor. Every room has between one and fifteen terminals, for a total number of one thousand and eighty terminals. Eight hundred of these terminals are in the form of Auto-docs, patient terminals, door terminals, room terminals or automatic terminals. Two hundred and fifty of these terminals are used by the doctors and nurses working here, and thirty of these are hosting OSAI Units like myself.”

I sat down, the clonk as my metal haunches hit the floor tiles drenching the grunt I made when I heard about the number of terminals. Suddenly two and a half weeks sounded reasonable. I started to massage my head with my non-mechanical hoof. “OSAI units?” I asked.

“OSAI -- Overseeing and Stabilizing Artificial Intelligence. Created to watch over and make sure that each and every patient is stabilized in case of emergency,” the voice explained.

I looked around at the other pods. No one else seemed on the verge of waking up or being assembled. “And I was the only one you could keep stabilized?”

“I calculated how many I could keep alive. Every occupant had a chance equal to or less than twenty-five percent to survive, with you having the greatest chance with exactly twenty-five. To make sure that as many as possible survived, I shut down the stasis pods with occupants least likely to survive, giving the other pods the energy needed to maintain stasis without any interruptions. In the end, you were the only active pod, with a survival chance of seventy-five percent,” the voice stated calmly.

I was completely taken aback by what I heard. Shutting down the life sustaining device for somepony like that, just to raise the chance of survival for somepony else with a few percent? The thought of it made my stomach squirm and anger rise inside of me. “You… You killed all the others to keep one alive?” I asked in disbelief, keeping my tone normal and hiding the anger I felt. “Couldn’t you just wake them up? End their stasis?”

“It was saving one or saving none, I’m afraid. I don’t have the authority to end a stasis, with the exception of the occurrence of an emergency.”

“And it wasn’t an emergency that you couldn’t keep everypony alive?” I allowed the anger to take over my voice and stomped a mechanical limb into the floor tiles. “Wasn’t it an emergency that some might die? That you killed most of the ones you watched over to save only one?”

“It was not. Even if it was, I wouldn’t have acted differently. The chance of every occupant’s survival at a sudden stasis ending was still too slim. The effects would be the same. One, maybe two, would have survived, weakened beyond minimum condition. This was the only way to give one of you the chance of survival. And I can assure you, the ponies dying did not feel any pain. They simply slipped away in their sleep.”

“Whatever,” I grunted. “Not like I can do anything about it now.” I rose from the ground, the anger slowly fading. “I guess it really was the only way.”

“I calculated every possible way. This was the only one with at least one survivor. Had I been able to save more, I would have.”

I nodded slowly. Then it hit me. “Wait, how long ago did you say your connection was terminated?”

“I didn’t say.”

“But it has been terminated? Why hasn’t maintenance fixed it by now?”

“This room has been sealed for one hundred and ninety years. The connection was terminated around that time as well. Since then, nopony has come inside.”

“One hundred and ninety years?” I whispered, nearly sitting down on my haunches again. “How… How long have I been in stasis?”

“I’m sorry, but I cannot give you an exact number. You were in stasis when this room was sealed, so you have been here for at least one hundred and ninety years.”

“That… that’s impossible,” I said. This time I actually sat down on my haunches again and brought my fore-hooves up to massage my head. “This must be a dream.”

“I can assure you, this is not a dream.”

“Then how can I be alive? I couldn’t possibly have been sleeping for nearly two hundred years,” I snapped. “Could I?” I added in a whisper.

“Technically, you were in stasis, not sleeping. A healthy earth pony would be able to survive up to five thousand years in stasis, should it be necessary. The stasis is a nearly complete cessation of the body’s biological functions, meaning you are more or less exactly the same when you wake up as you were when put into stasis-”

“Five thousand years?” I echoed, interrupting the voice.

“That is correct,” the voice chimed before continuing to tell me about stasis.

Five thousand years? Five thousand years without knowing that any time had passed at all?

“... and the primary use of stasis is to keep patients with severe wounds or sickness alive until operation or treatment is available,” the voice continued, as if it had never been interrupted.

It took me a second to realize that the voice had finished. I was getting tired of not knowing anything about myself or this place, and, with a grunt, I rose from the floor again. “Where is the exit?” I asked, looking around in the room.

“The exit is to the right of the drinking fountain, in a niche. A small terminal is operating it.”

I nodded and started to walk toward the niche that had, figuratively speaking, been pointed out to me. I passed a small desk just before the niche with a box sitting on top of it, green light flickering from it. “Is this a terminal?” I asked.

“Yes, but not the one that operates the door. That terminal is for the nurse on duty to easily and quickly watch over the occupants of the stasis pods, and to receive information about heart rate or blood pressure and the like. It is also programmed to alert the nurse should the value from one occupant change drastically.”

I resisted the urge to take a closer look at it, knowing very well that it would likely report nothing from any pod, and walked up to the door in the niche. The door, or what I assumed was the door, was made of metal, painted butter yellow with three pink butterflies around a red cross. A green light, flickering like the other one I had seen, emitted from a screen at the right side of the door. Seeing that the door didn’t have any knob or other way to open it, I walked over to the monitor. “Now what?”

“There should be a small button next to the screen. If you press it a keyboard will emerge, allowing you access to the terminal. Then simply scroll down and hit the ‘Open Door’ option,” the voice instructed me.

I looked around the screen. Quickly I found the small brown button, placed to the right of the screen below a small spring in the wall, and pressed it. As the voice had said, a keyboard emerged from under the screen as I pressed the button. The green light changed some, became lighter until white letters appeared and formed a short sentence.

>Insert Password or Authentication Card.

I stared at the short sentence in disbelief. Hadn’t the voice told me that it would come up with an option to open the door? “What’s the password?” I asked.

“…Password?” The voice sounded as lost as I was. “I… I don’t know. Searching database: Password or Door.”

“It says something about an Authentication Card here. You don’t happen to know where I can find one?” I asked without taking my eyes away from the monitor.

“Authentication Cards are to be kept close to hoof at any situation,” the voice answered. “Search complete, no object matching searching criteria. I’m afraid the password is not saved on any of the terminals.”

Close to hoof, I thought, starting to pace slowly away from the door. Maybe… “Aha!” I exclaimed as I saw the desk the first terminal had been standing on. Walking over I opened every drawer in it, but to no success. The only thing scattered inside of them were small paper clips, some pens and a bunch of yellow metal circles. “What now?” I asked, slipping down on the floor in defeat. “I can’t open the door, so I can’t get out of here. I’m going to die in here without any food.”

“There is one way.” The voice hesitated.

“How?” I asked, lifting my head slightly from the cold floor.

“Your eye. If I’m correct, then it is an advanced version of a terminal, created, like your legs, by SAT. At least, that is what the manual says. The eye was never finished, not before my connection with the rest of the clinic was terminated at least. What you have there must be a prototype,” the voice mused.“According to the files on the subjects, the eye has nearly ten times the working power of a PipBuck, and more than three times as much as this computer. It also has enough space to record everything the recipient could possibly see during an entire lifetime, twice.”

“So?”

“There should be multiple wires to connect your eye with a terminal. With the right skill you could use its working power to force your way through the door,” the voice explained. “But be careful. Do it wrong too many times and the terminal will lock you out, negating any chance to open the door.”

I rose from the floor and looked towards the door. “I’m not sure I’d be able to do that,” I said, hesitating.

“You won’t know until you’ve tried.”

I sighed and started walking towards the monitor. “You’re right.” As I stood in front of the monitor, looking down at it, I realized something. “So… How do I connect the eye with the terminal?” I asked, looking over the monitor.

“There should be an input socket on the keyboard, created to plug a PipBuck into the terminal. You should be able to plug it in there.”

Looking down at the keyboard I found a hole that I assumed was the input socket, placed at the top left corner of it. Two words started flashing in the corner of my eye: ‘Initiating Contact’.I took a step backward as a slim wire started to move from the same corner of my eye, startling me, and the wire shot back again as the words disappeared.

“What was that?” I yelped in surprise.

“That was the wire you will have to connect to the terminal.” I could practically hear the laughter the OSAI held back. “When it is out you will have to plug it in manually. Don’t worry. The wire should be long enough for you to be able to work in a comfortable position.”

“It’s bloody freaky, that’s what it is,” I murmured as I stepped forward to the terminal again. After taking a deep breath, steeling myself for the strange experience of having a wire shoot out of my eye, I looked down at the keyboard again. The same two words started flashing in the corner of my eyes, and soon the wire emerged. After about two inches the wire came to a stop and instead hung motionless in the air. I carefully bit down on the end and moved it down to the plug in the keyboard. After a couple of errors, mostly caused by the wire itself blocking my view, I finally managed to fit the wire into the plug.

The words in the corner changed, from ‘Initiating Contact’ to ‘Contact Initiated. Accessing’. In the blink of an eye, the world around me disappeared. Replacing it was white text on a green screen, scrolling by far too quickly for me to recognize more than a hoofful of words, none of which made any sense to me anyway.

Suddenly every word on the screen froze.

Stable-Tec Corporation Terminal Protocol

>Terminal Locked. Please Contact Maintenance.

I stared at the words in disbelief. It was hard to do anything else, really, seeing that I couldn’t see anything else. “The terminal is locked,” I said when the words finally hit home.

“That’s,” the voice paused.“That’s impossible. No one has touched that terminal since the last time this room was closed! A terminal can’t just lock itself like that! Had the terminal been locked, then the pony who locked it would still be in here!”

“Well, it seems that the impossible has happened,” I said, my view still obscured by the text from the computer. “This terminal is locked, and frankly I don’t care how it happened. I have a more important question right now. How do I end the link?”

“The eye should interact directly with your brain through the neural system. All you should need to do is to think about it to end and it should end. You just have to focus.”

“End link,” I said, focusing on the words in front of me. To my relief, the green disappeared, giving me vision over the keyboard again. After waiting a moment for my sight to return completely to normal, I reached down to unplug the wire.

”A thought is enough. You wouldn’t have had to speak the words.”

“Thaft mifth,” I started, gently yanking the wire away from the keyboard with my mouth and spitting it out. “That might be true, but I wanted to be sure that it worked.”

“At least it worked and terminated out from the link.”

“You… You mean that I might have been stuck like that?” I asked. My legs wobbled slightly as I realized what her words meant.

”The eye is only a prototype. In the worst case scenario, yes, you might have been stuck with the link.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I calculated the possibilities and found the odds in your favor. An option to start a link would most likely not exist without a way to cancel it. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to scare you. Sorry.”

I grunted and looked away from the terminal to the door. “Now what?” I asked. It felt so hopeless. This was the only door out of here, and the terminal operating it was locked. I brought a metallic hoof into the wall, the sound of the collision echoing in the room. “I’m locked inside of this room, without any way out.” I rested my head against the cold wall I had just punched and closed my eyes. “What can I possibly do?”

“There might be another way,” the voice said.

“There is?” I asked, my eyes snapping open. “What do I have to do?”

The voice didn’t answer immediately. Instead, the silence between us stretched out for a moment, only interrupted by the low humming from the twisted metal frame in the middle of the room. “Plug yourself into my terminal,” the voice said, breaking the silence.

I eyed the metal frame warily as I approached it. Not seeing a terminal from where I stood, I began to circle it. “Where is it?” I asked after having done a full turn around the frame.

“There should be a small panel to your left, right above the tube. Remove that and the plug-in will be behind it.”

”Not a monitor then?” I asked as my eye wandered to the place the OSAI had mentioned. I quickly found the small bulge on the frame. How could I have miss that? I asked myself as I trotted up to it.

“No monitor was installed in this terminal. It was created to house me, and maintenance would be done by an external device, like a PipBuck or your eye. In emergency situations the Headmaster’s or Chief of the maintenance’s terminal could connect directly to this terminal,” the voice answered as I opened the panel, revealing a plug-in hole like that in the door terminal’s keyboard.

“Emergency situations?” I asked as the text started to blink in the corner of my eye, quickly followed by the wire. “Whaft kinth of emerfency sitfuathions?” I asked with the wire in my mouth.

“Like me sealing this room or trying to take control over the hospital,” the voice mused as I plugged in the wire into the terminal.

“No need to joke,” I said as the words changed from ‘Initiating Contact’ to ‘Contact Initiated. Accessing.’ in the corner of my eye.

“I didn’t.”

I stood there perplexed as the world around me turned to a velvet blue color before my eyes. Words scrolled in my view, too quick for me to make out more than a hoofful of them. “Stop, stop, stop!” I thought over and over again as the words came to a stop. It felt as if my heart stopped as I read the only word left behind. ‘Accessed’. I stared at the words. I couldn’t think, couldn’t act. My vision narrowed down until the only thing I could see were those words.

“No need to be afraid,” the voice said soothingly as the word faded away, a light blue shape of a mare’s head replacing it. “You asked what kind of emergency situations. Those were the ones described to me,” it continued in the same tone, the head’s mouth moving.

“End link,” I nearly shouted out. To my relief the world around me returned to normal, the pony head disappearing with the velvet blue filter. Releasing the breath I had been holding, I felt parts of the panic leaving my body. “So it wasn’t you who sealed this room?” I asked.

“That is correct. The room was sealed and my contact with the rest of the hospital terminated outside of my control.”

“And you aren’t trying to use me to take control over the hospital?”

“I’m programmed to oversee and stabilize patients in my care. You are the only patient I have left. I wish nothing else than for you to be healthy,” the voice assured me. “And being sealed into this room forever isn’t really healthy.”

“I can agree with that,” I mumbled. “What do I have to do?” Between trusting this AI, trying to figure out how to get out of here on my own or being stuck here forever, I definitely picked the first option.

“Start the link again. I will download some overwriting protocols to your eye. Those should grant you access to override the lockout on the door’s terminal.”

“They gave you the means to override a security function?” I asked, crocking my eyebrow. “Not the smartest thing to do.”

The voice hesitated. “I was programmed to stabilize the ponies placed under my observation. The clinic staff found it a necessity that I, in case of an emergency, could unlock the way out of here. The connection I had with the terminal was, unfortunately, terminated with my connection to the rest of the hospital. Otherwise I would have unlocked the door for you,” the voice apologized.

“Okay, so how do I restore the link again?” I asked. “Is it the same as terminating it: just saying something like ‘Start Link’?”

At once the world around me was filtered by the vivid blue, the word ‘Accessed’ written in white in the middle of the sea of blue. The word was quickly replaced with the light blue head again.

“Yes, it seems like that,” the voice mused. “Now, this shouldn’t take long.”

As she spoke, outlines of a light blue bar appeared below her, the word ‘Downloading’ written inside the bar. The bar slowly filled up. When the bar was about halfway done the head suddenly disappeared.

“Where did you go?” I asked.

“I’m still here,” the voice answered. It sounded as if it came from two places at the same time, echoing back and forth. A second later, the head reappeared. “I won’t leave you.” The voice still echoed slightly, and the head didn’t seem to be solid in its structure, instead flickering slightly every now and then.

“Are you okay?” I asked, concerned that something might be wrong.

“Don’t worry, I’m fine. The download should be finished soon.”

As the download bar continued filling up, the head solidified before my eyes. The bar disappeared and the words ‘Download Complete’ took its place.

“It is finished,” the voice purred from inside my head.

{^-^}

Footnote: Welcome to the Equestrian Wasteland

New Trait: Bruiser

You’re a little slower, but a little bigger. You may not hit as often, but you pack one hell of a punch! Your total action points are lowered, but your Strength and Unarmed damage are increased by 2.

New Trait: Cyborg

Parts of your body have been replaced by mechanical counterparts. You take less damage in afflicted limbs, but you are now vulnerable to EMP attacks.

New Quest Perk: OSAI

An OSAI unit has settled down inside of your storage device. It got complete access to your body through your neural system. What could possibly go wrong?

First, a really big thank you toMasquerade313, not only for his proofreading, but also for helping me giving the main character life! This story would be far from as good as it is without him!

Thanks to Rising_Chaos for proofreading and listening to my unending babbling.

And lastly, thanks for Lazer726 for giving the chapter a final read through.

Judgement

“And that’s how I got my cutie mark.”

I couldn’t help myself; the laugh escaped my lips before I could stop it. “You got your cutie mark by repeatedly hammering a screwdriver against a radio?”

We had walked through the wasteland for what felt like days, but couldn’t be more than a couple of hours, before we had stopped at the house where we now sat around the kitchen table. Through the window behind Bolt, I could see the barren landscape that had followed us from Green Valley.

Bolt rolled her eyes before she gave into laughter herself. “It only took a couple of swings, and that radio started working like a charm! It still works, actually. My father uses it every day.” She pursed her lips for a second and then continued talking. “I wonder how I actually fixed the radio. You think it wouldn’t have worked after the beating I gave it.”

“Why wouldn’t it work?”

“Bashing a screwdriver against a radio would normally break it, not fix it,” the unicorn deadpanned. “I even checked it a few years ago next to a normal radio to see if I’d somehow managed to get it right. But the one I beat up was destroyed on the inside. Its power source wasn’t even connected to anything!”

“So how was it able to work?” I asked, taking a bite on one of the vegetable before me. “I mean, maybe what you did got some stuff into place, but how could it work if it shouldn’t have been able to turn on?”

She tossed her hooves up in the air and shrugged. “I don’t know! That’s just how stuff works for me. There was this one time I was fixing my father’s shotgun, and everything was perfect, but it still didn’t work until I took a hammer to it! And I hit the barrel, too. That shouldn’t have worked! I mean, if I had hit the drum, it might have fastened together better, but the barrel?”

“... The drum?”

The unicorn sighed and floated up one of her own vegetables, starting to gnaw on it. “It’s the place you put the bullets in.” she said between the chews. “And that makes me think I should start teaching you about guns.”

Looking away from the unicorn, I started rubbing my foreleg. “You know, I was thinking that I could just not have to learn how to use it...”

I didn’t have to look at her to know that she was rolling her eyes. “Cogwheel, I’ve told you before; you’re either going to learn how to use a gun or die because you never knew how to defend yourself.”

Spitfire sighed. “I think Bolt is right, Cogwheel. It would be better for you how to learn how to use a gun. She paused for a second. Purely for self-defense, of course. You could learn to shoot it, but that doesn’t mean you have to use it to kill anypony.”

I would never want to use a gun to kill somepony!

“Not even raiders?” she asked. “Not even with all you know about them?”

I... I don’t think so. Even knowing as much as I do, I couldn’t take a pony’s life, raider or not.

“And if Frost Mane was about to shoot Dust or Precious, and you had the ability to stop him, could you still not bring yourself to do so?”

... I can’t say for cert--

“You must know how to answer these questions, Cogwheel.” Spitfire said firmly.“You must ask yourself what needs to be done, not whether or not your decisions are good or bad. This world isn’t one where good and bad are weighed against each other; here, it’s about survival. You might not ever kill a single pony in your lifetime, but if you don’t learn how to save your own life, all you’ve lived for so far will be for naught. You’ll never get your memories back.”

“You... You’re right...”

“It took you that long to admit it, eh?” said Bolt, nudging me in the shoulder. “Come on, then! We’re going to get this over with now so we have time to find somewhere to sleep. Each second we--” She stopped for a moment and cocked her head, floating the remainder of her carrot to her mouth and taking a bite before continuing. “-- I wait for you to think about something, that’s another second we could’ve used to teach you or find somewhere to stay.”

I nodded and quickly finished the fairly fresh carrot I had started on myself. “Maybe we should hold off on the teaching for now, then? Until we’ve stopped for the night, that is.”

“You aren’t getting away from this, Cogwheel.” Bolt chuckled softly. “I’m going to teach you some basics now so that you don’t get caught blindsided if we come across something on our way out.” She smiled at me. “So... Onto something I consider pretty important; how many bullets can you shoot before you have to reload?”

I went to look down quickly, but Bolt grabbed my head with her magic and yanked it back up. “No sneak peaks,” she added.

“Uh... Five? Six?” I guessed. “No more than seven.”

Sighing, Bolt scanned the room with her eyes, still holding my head in place with her magic. Opening up a couple of cupboards, she found what she was looking for and, releasing my head, floated down seven glasses. “Draw, aim, and fire,” she said, looking at me.

I rose from the floor and, as quickly as I could without biting down the trigger and shooting myself, pulled up the gun. Aiming down the sight, I fired four shots at the first four glasses, hitting two of them, plinking off the third, and completely missing the fourth. As I aimed down the sight to line up the fifth shot, the gun was violently tugged out of my grip.

“I don’t remember you being quite such a lousy shot,” Bolt deadpanned as she floated the gun away from me.

“Hey! What are you doing with--?”

“You’ve got how many bullets left?” she hissed, pressing the end of the gun against my head

“Bolt, what--?”

“How many?” she asked again, shoving my head forward more with the end of the gun.

My heart beat faster as I looked up at the unicorn. She glared down at me, wearing an expression of straight disinterest. I could hear a flick come from behind me, much like the sound the gun made before it was ready to be fired.

“Two!” Spitfire said hastily. “The gun has space for six bullets, and you’ve shot four. Say two!”

“Two!” I blurted out, sighing in relief as I felt the gun leave the back of my head. I jumped at the sudden sound of her firing the gun and a glass exploding on the counter.

“Don’t forget that,” she said, tossing the gun back onto the center of the table. “I’m not kidding when I say that that could mean the difference between life and death out there.”

“You were about to shoot me!” I glared at the unicorn, who sat at the other side of the table completely unaffected.

“Now that you know how many bullets are in your gun, you need to know how to reload it.” She completely ignored my accusation and slid the revolver across the table to me. “See if you can figure it out before I have to tell you.”

My eyes jolted between the unicorn and the revolver on the table, to finally stop at the latter. Taking a deep breath, I took hold of the weapon. Twisting and turning it in my hooves, I tried to figure out what Bolt did last time to open it up. After a while, I managed to pop the chamber loose, and a bunch of metal pieces fell onto the table.

“Did I break something?” Looking closer to the pieces on the table, I realized they were the same kind of metal that had fallen out when Bolt reloaded the gun back at the workshop, except for the ring that connected the pieces now. Back then, they were all loose.

“It took you one minute and sixteen seconds to figure out how to open the chamber. That could have been much better, but you did much better than I thought you would.” Before I could object to anything, she continued. “And no, you didn’t break it.” Bolt sighed as her horn flared up and she floated another one of the cluster of pieces up. “This is called a luna clip. It holds all of the bullets together so you don’t have to fumble as much with reloading. That is, if you could even reload without the clip.” She snickered quietly and handed me the clip. “Go ahead, give it a shot.”

“I just push these small metal things into the holes?” I asked, fumbling as I tried to pick up the luna clip with my hooves.

“They’re called bullets, Cogwheel. And, yes, you do put them in the holes of the gun’s chamber. That’s kind of what reloading is meant to do.”

I cursed under my breath, partially at Bolt for her quips and partially at me for my ignorance. After fumbling with the clip for a good minute, I finally got it in place and closed the chamber again. “Done.”

“Good,” Bolt said, grinning from ear to ear. Her horn flared open, the revolver opened up before my eyes and the luna clip fell out again. “Now do it again.”

I looked between the revolver, laying neatly next to the luna clip, and Bolt. “You can’t be serious.”

“Do it again,” she repeated. “Faster.”

Sighing, I reached out after the revolver. This time I could open it and place the circle of rounds in it faster, but Bolt wasn’t satisfied, which I realized when she opened the chamber and emptied it again.

“Better, but not yet there. Once more.”

“Shouldn’t we--?”

The unicorn silenced me with a hard glare. “I want to be certain that you can protect yourself out there,” she growled. “So you will continue reloading this revolver until I tell you to stop. Understood?”

“Yes,” I mumbled, picking up the guns and ammunition again. Fumbling slightly with the rounds, I got them in position faster this time. Not fast enough for Bolt, tough. She emptied it once again and placed it before me.

When it takes this long, I thought, quickly opening the chamber and placing the rounds therein. I doubt I will ever be able to use it.

“That’s enough,” Bolt said, tugging the revolver from my grip. “You won’t be breaking any records, but that last reload was probably quick enough for anything we’ll come across.” The unicorn stood and tucked the revolver back into my leg holster.

“You make it sound like you know we’re going to find something worth shooting.” I remarked as she placed the saddlebags over my back.

“There’s no doubt that we will.” She quickly glanced around the room one last time. “Remember, Cogwheel, this is the Wasteland.”

“And you aren’t armed?” I followed her out into the hallway again, where she stopped and looked between the stairs, the second door and the exit, seemingly torn on what to do.

With a snort she stepped towards the exit. “Of course I’m armed. You don’t actually think that I’m trusting you to protect me out here, do you?”

“But I haven’t seen you carry any weapons. How--” I stopped in the middle of a step, the words dying on my lips as I looked into a gun barrel, nearly as thick as my eye, pointing directly at me. I felt my heart skip a beat.

“Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it isn’t there,” Bolt cooed softly, moving the barrel away from my eyes. “I carry this li’l devil within reach wherever I go. Wouldn’t go anywhere without it.”

The sleek, dark purple weapon had a few features I recognized from the revolver I had just trained with, but there were a lot of differences between the weapons. The barrel I had just had stared into was nearly twice as big, and I couldn’t see anything that proved that there was a chamber anywhere. Overall, the weapon seemed more compact, and it lacked the mouth-grip that would have allowed me to use it.

“Father bought it for me after I went into the ruins for the first time. Said I had to learn how to protect myself out there.” She smiled fondly at the gun. “I’ve kept it close ever since, and it’s saved my life on more than one occasion. But enough about that.” The gun seemingly disappearing behind her as she whirled around and started to walk again. “It would be great if we got somewhere today, don’t you think?”

How... My eyes were still locked at the spot the gun had been a second ago, and it took me a moment to realize what she had just said. Blinking, I snapped out of my trance and hurried up until I walked next to her. And together, we continued our journey in the wasteland.

{O-o}

My eyes searched among the young stallions and mares standing on the field, their coats almost glowing from the light of the sun. They were separated into two teams by their headbands -- the light blue of Lightning against the black of Storm -- and stood in two lines facing each other. It was hard to miss my son in Lightning’s line; he stood nearly a head over everyone else on the field. My heart swelled with pride seeing him standing there.

The referee soon flew in and was welcomed by a rumbling cheer from the audience. Between his wings was a small, red ball -- the match ball, the ball used to score in the game. Calling forward the team captains from both teams, a slender, light-blue pegasus from Lightning and a bulky black one from Storm, to greet each other, he gave the signal for both teams to take flight.

The cheering from the audience erupted again as the sound of twenty wing pairs beating as one filled the arena. Putting down the ball, the referee gave the signal that started the final match of this year’s Flight Ball season, and twenty pegasi dove towards the ball in the middle of the field.

Over two thousand ponies had gathered to watch the game, most of them dressed up in their teams colours to show their support. It was like the earlier days, when I had been watching the same sport with my son next to me, cheering on team Lightning, which he now played for. So much has changed since then.

True, the world had changed much in the past as well, but not as it had done now. Not like this.

Equestria was at war. Each day the radio would report about the advancement of our troops and the prices they paid for doing so. Nearly a year had passed since the massacre at Little Horn, and the bloody retort following directly after. Celestia had resigned shortly after, leaving the throne to her sister and plunging Equestria into a time of uncertainty.

But the government, with Princess Luna and the ministries she had founded leading the way, had equaled, if not excelled, the Equestria ruled by Celestia.

I sighed and looked over the audience. The change hadn’t been only for the better. The country I loved had been scarred by the war, for each dispute between ponies and Zebras caused the army to send more ponies into the fight.

Not even at a game of Flight Ball did the army stay away. Among the audience, standing silently with faces akin to stone, stood a group of armed guards around an earth pony and a pegasus. The pegasus was looking excitedly at the game, and the earth pony only lazily followed what was happening, speaking instead with one of the guards.

Applejack, head of the Ministry of Wartime Technology, and Rainbow Dash, head of the Ministry of Awesome, were enjoying a lazy Saturday with the Flight Ball season final.

Panning over the rest of the audience, I could make out other members of the army, without a doubt here to find new recruits if their uniforms had anything to say about it. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Maybe I was just overthinking it. Maybe they were just here to enjoy the game and pass some time.

A loud cheer rung over the field as Storm scored, followed by the booing from Lightning’s supporters. Looking back at the game, and seeing that my son was the one to start the ball for Lightning, I took a deep breath and decided not to think about the army’s presence here. After all, he wasn’t old enough to sign up for the frontline without my permission. And that was a permission I wouldn’t give him.

I couldn’t help but smile as Storm’s defending players were thrown aside like bowling pins by my son -- who had passed the ball to another player -- and two other pegasi that together made way for the ball carrier. It didn’t take long before the score was evened out, and the booing and cheering was aimed at the other team.

“Your son is agile for his size,” Jackal noted from my side. “Maybe Lightning will be able to defend the cup after all this year.”

“He can’t keep the entire team up by himself. It’s a team sport, after all.” I smiled slightly as I followed the players with my eyes, the pride of my son causing my chest to swell yet again. “Your daughter is doing good out there as well. She must be one of our best shooters.”

“Nine out of ten shots hitting home,” She sighed. I could hear the motherly pride in the mare’s voice. “Star shooter in the league for two years running, and with this game she’ll defend that title!”

Half of the stadium erupted with cheering as Lightning moved in to take the lead, but in the turn of a hoof it was the other half’s turn to cheer instead as Storm cut off the attack. Looking at the players as they lined up for Storm’s start of the ball, my eyes landed on the ministry mares on the other side of the field. The rainbow-maned pegasus had her eyes locked on Lightning’s attack chain, mostly on my son. She was waving her hoof dismissively at the earth pony who was trying to talk with her -- angrily, if her body language had any say in it.

“Where are you going?” Jackal eyed me as I rose from my place.

“I’m going to go and talk with my son,” I said, not taking my eyes away from the ministry mares.

“But the time isn’t up yet. There’s still ten minutes left.”

I glanced at the clock at the end of the stadium, before I sat down again, my eyes going back to the cerulean mare at the other side of the stadium. It wouldn’t be the first time that my son would be given an enlisting offer from the army, and it would most certainly not be the last. But what if Rainbow Dash decided to talk with him personally? What would happen if his idol herself asked him to join the army?

I scowled and turned my eyes back to the field where my son stood together with the rest of the attacking trio, preparing for yet another assault towards Storm’s goal. The sight of him, the thought of him being sent off to war, awoke in me a sorrow I thought I had repressed.

“The war won’t take you as well,” I growled between gritted teeth, wiping a tear away from my eye. “Not while I’m alive.”

{o.O}

“Cogwheel, what are you doing?”

I blinked in surprise as the vision of the arena faded away, the bland reality taking its place. Gone was the green grass around the stadium. Gone was the audience that had cheered the teams flying high above to victory. Gone was the warming sun against my coat.

All of it was replaced by the cold reality of the Wasteland. The grass had died and withered over the entire field. A hollow shell was all that remained of the stadium, and even it had started to falter under the effects of time and weather; parts of it lay scattered on the dead grass. And as I looked up to the sky high above me, the ever-present cloud cover obscured the sun from warming the earth around me.

But what I had felt during the memory was still affecting me. I felt anger towards the ones wishing to bring my son to the front line. Fear that they would succeed in doing so. But the feeling hurting me the most was the sorrow. The painful, heart aching sorrow of what I had lost in the war -- something I couldn’t even fully remember.

“Cogwheel!”

“I was here,” I whispered, my voice thick. “I... I think it was during the war. My son was playing something called Flight Ball. And...” I felt the tears running down my cheeks as I reached out with a hoof towards the arena. “It was sunny. At first, everything was fine, but then...”

“Are you okay?” Bolt looked at me with wide eyes. “What happened?”

I took a deep breath. With the exhalation the fear and anger disappeared, leaving even more room for the sorrow. “It’s silly, really.” I whispered and sat down on my haunches, dropping my hoof and wiping my eyes dry. “Nothing that matters now.”

“Oh, it is something alright. Else you wouldn’t be sitting here crying your eyes out.” Bolt sat down next to me, her voice a mismatch of annoyance and consolation. “Spill it, Cryborg.”

Her tone brought a thin smile to my face. Sniveling, I wiped my nose. “I looked over the audience. In the memory, that is. I mean, the past me--”

I could practically hear how Bolt rolled her eyes next to me. “I understand, just tell me already.”

“Yes. Sorry.” I took another deep breath. The sorrow I felt started to fade away, although it still weighed heavily in my heart. “I looked over the audience and saw ponies from the army. Past me... I feared that they would enlist my son to the front line. I was angry at them for even trying.” I could feel a couple of tears running down my cheek again, and I quickly wiped them off. “And I felt a sorrow -- a sadness over a loss that... I think it happened a long time ago.” Looking down at my shaking hooves, I felt a cold shiver run down my back. “I swore that the war wouldn’t take him as well. Not as long as I was alive.” And I failed. I added silently, bitterly, to myself.

“What do you mean?”

The first day. The day I met you. I remembered speaking with Doctor what’s-her-name--

“Honey Pod.”

And she mentioned my son’s passing. I barely noticed her interruption, my tears welling up again as the sorrow stabbed deeper in my chest. I buried my head in my hooves again, crying uncontrollably for a son I couldn’t remember. If the pain -- the sorrow -- I felt was something caused solely by the feelings from the memory, or if it was something else, I couldn’t tell. And as the tears ran down my cheeks, I didn’t care anyway.

“--and...” Bolt stopped mid sentence. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t... I don’t think so,” I whimpered, looking up at her. My voice was barely audible over my crying. “I know that he died during the war. I have memories of talking about it. I...” I couldn’t bare to say anything more, and once again buried my head in my hooves.

“We don’t kn--” Spitfire started, but quickly went silent again.

“Cogwheel?” Bolt took a deep breath, continuing as I didn’t answer her. “Cogwheel, listen to me.” I felt a sharp jolt of pain as she jabbed me at the back of my head with her hoof.

Surprised, I looked up from my hooves at the unicorn who looked down at me with a disapproving glare.

“Pull yourself together, Cryborg. If you don’t want to talk with me, at least wait to bawl your eyes out until we’ve found shelter for the night, okay?”

“Cogwheel.” Spitfire sighed. “You lived nearly two hundred years ago, and you knew that your son had died. And--” The OSAI went silent again.

“I didn’t protect him.” I tried to choke back the tears. I failed. “After all the anger, fear and sorrow, I couldn’t... I don’t know how it happened, I don’t know how he died, but I know that I couldn’t--”

Bolt slapped me across the face, much harder than before, stopping my rambling. “One more time and I leave you here,” the unicorn growled. “Understood?” I looked wide-eyed at the unicorn, who continued without stopping. “We can’t stay in the open like this if you’re going to bawl your eyes out. So get up, pull yourself together and wait with your bawling until we find a safe place to stay, understood?”

Looking away, I could hear Bolt sigh.

“Cogwheel, please. Listen to me. I understand that you’re sad; we all are when we get the news that someone’s died. But we have to find somewhere we can stay for the night first. You don’t want a group of raiders to sneak up on us, do you?”

“I guess not,” I whispered, slowly rising to my hooves.

“That’s more like it,” Bolt encouraged me. Sighing as I didn’t answer, she looked around us and started walking. “This way, then.”

I followed her without a word, my head hanging low. Throwing a last glance back at the stadium, I shook my head, trying to clear it of everything. Is this what awaits me out here, Spitfire? I sniveled. Memories about death?

“Cogwheel,” Spitfire said with a calm and soothing voice. “Death is a natural part of everypony’s life. And during the war... You could say tt just became more natural. This won’t be the only time you will be reminded about the death of the ones you loved nearly two hundred years ago.”

Blinking the tears out of my eyes, I looked up at the wasteland around me. Death was all around me -- from the withered trees and the barren ground to the skeletons of ponies long since passed.Am I doing the right thing, Spitfire? I asked after a while. Hunting memories of my past? If I can’t even handle to see my son when he’s alive in the memories, how will I react to the memories when he’s not there? The memories of when he’s dead?

“Only you can answer that question, I’m afraid.” She sighed. “I hate to say this, Cogwheel, but... just remember that your memories are nothing but that, memories. The emotions you encounter are nothing but memories of what you felt all those years ago.”

Do you mean I should just ignore it? I looked up at the sky. I don’t think that I would be able to do that.

Spitfire hesitated. “I know this may sound harsh, but you should prepare for...” She sighed. “I have no good way to say this, Cogwheel. Everypony you once knew is,most likely, dead. You were under my observation for nearly two hundred years, and that is not a normal life spanfor anypony outside stasis.”

I stopped in the middle of a step. Everyone I once knew, dead. I sighed deeply. I... A part of me tried to argue with her, saying that those I once knew might be alive out there, somehow. I was, so who knew? Maybe somepony else was put into stasis as well before the bombs fell. Does it matter? I thought bitterly, shattering the small voice like glass. Even if there are others alive out here that I once knew, I wouldn’t remember them.

“Don’t say that, Cogwheel. You--”

You said it yourself, everypony I once knew is dead. I interrupted her, my tone heated, as I staggered after Bolt. The unicorn hadn’t noticed that I stopped. And I guess I’ve known that all along. Deep down inside, I’ve known that ever since stepping outside of the clinic.

“Then why do you continue?” Spitfire asked calmly.

I... Once again her words caused me to stop in the middle of a step. It was a question that, while it had been floating around in my mind, I had never answered. I don’t know. When this began, it was all about getting my memories back. But now?

“Hey, slowborg. Are you coming?” Bolt had stopped further down the road and was now looking back at me, an eyebrow raised.

I hurried up my steps. As I caught up with her, she opened her mouth as to say something, but quickly closed it again, instead turning around and continuing to walk.

As I continued by her side through the barren wasteland, my thoughts returned to what Spitfire had asked. I guess it still is, I finally thought. I want to know who I was before... This.

“Is your desire to know who you once were strong enough for you to live through the more painful memories?”

I don’t know, I admitted. I hope it is, but I don’t know. But--

“It’s not like you can’t turn around further down the road, Cogwheel.”

I smiled lightly. I guess. But hopefully I can get through even the more painful memories. After all, they are a part of who I was as much as the other memories are.

The unicorn smiled lightly as she looked up at me. “You’re feeling better.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yes.” I nodded. “Spitfire made sure of that.”

“I guess I will have to thank her, then,” Bolt mused. “Saves me the trouble of trying to snap you out of it.” She took a quick step and stopped before me, nearly causing me to walk into her. “But you have to promise me that you won’t let that happen again, you hear?”

Surprised, I stopped and looked down at her. “I...” She was glaring at me -- not angrily, but pleadingly. There was something in her face that seemed off, and it startled me. I shook my head quickly. “I can’t promise anything--”

“Cogwheel, you have to promise me. You can’t just break down like that again. Someone will eventually be able to take advantage of that, and we’ll just be sitting ducks--”

“I can’t promise anything,” I said again, this time with a hoof raised to silence her. “But I’ll try.”

Bolt opened her mouth as if to say something, but with a shake of her head, she closed it again and turned back to the road, throwing a glance at the sky. “We still have an hour or two before we have to find a shelter for the night, so we might as well make the best of it and keep going for a while.”

“Are you sure that we’re going the right way, then?”

“Of course I am.” Without even stopping, she floated the map out of her saddlebags, unfurled it and quickly scanned it. “That stadium we passed was just outside a pre-war town. If we followed a different path, we probably would’ve ended up in its ruins. But, if we follow this way, we should be getting to Biomechatronic... Tomorrow, around midday. If we keep this speed up, that is.” She looked up at the map and then at the road ahead. “There are some buildings marked on the map, farms I believe, that seem to be only an hour away. If we’re lucky, we might be able to find shelter there.”

{L.L}

Turns out, we were lucky. The markings on the map were actually farms, three of them standing close together along the road. Two of the farms had crumbled, only ruined walls and debris proving that they had ever been there. The only buildings still standing were a dilapidated farmhouse, two stories tall, as well as a barn behind it.

Bolt eyed the standing farmhouse, before she, with a satisfied nod, started walking on the path up to the house. “It will do.”

Following her, my eyes wandered over what had once been a garden, now long since withered and destroyed. I could picture that it had been beautiful, maybe even peaceful, once. The remains of numerous small fountains and ponds were spread out, surrounded by circles of stones. I guessed that flowers had grown between the water sources and stones once, but now nothing of growth was to be seen in those garden beds. Trees, dark and decayed, stood spread out in the garden, the thickest of them had once thrown their shadows over the benches standing beneath them.

“Enjoying the scenery? Or do you remember something of this place?”

Looking up at Bolt, who already had made her way to the door and now held it open, I realized that I had stopped in the middle of the path. “Not a memory, no,” I said, smiling as I continued walking again. “Just... picturing how it might have been.” Looking up at the sky, which had started to darkening, I sighed. “I think it was beautiful once. Full of life.”

“I know it was beautiful once,” Bolt mused breathlessly.

“What do you mean?” I asked, averting my eyes back to her. An open window on the second floor got my attention, I could have sworn that something moved in it. But, as I looked closer, I couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

“There is a painting here,” the unicorn once again probed my attention, and looking at her I saw that she floated a frame in front of her. “It’s the same house, but the garden is full of colours.”

As I got closer, she turned the frame around and showed me the painting. As she had said, it pictured the house and the garden around it as it had been a long time ago. Flowers, forever frozen in an invisible wind, of every thinkable color stood among the running water from the fountains and ponds. Over the gate going into the garden, a sign proudly announced this “The Pear House”. Everything was put aflame by the red light of the setting sun.

“Did the world really look like this before the war?” Bolt asked, turning the painting around again so she could look at it once more. “All these... colours on the actual world around you?”

“I think so. It’s not like I can really remember, but from the fragments I have gotten back, it was a lot more colors than the... dullness there is now.”

The unicorn stroke a hoof against the frame, wistfully staring into the picture. “Do you think this world will ever return to what once was?” she mumbled, barely loud enough for me to hear. “A world of peace and beauty?”

“I don’t know,” I said slowly. “But we can hope, can’t we?”

“I guess.” The unicorns horn started to glow and, with a sigh, she tore the painting of the frame, carefully rolling it up and floated it into her saddlebags. Her eyes didn’t leave the frame, but after a couple of second she shook her head and floated the frame into the hallway again, following after it herself. “Are you hungry?”

Blinking, surprised by the sudden change of subject, it took a couple of seconds before I answered. “I... guess.” I followed after her into the hallway.

Beside the ever present dust on floor and furniture, everything seemed tidier than I had seen in any other house I had been in. Framed paintings, picturing the farmhouse and the surroundings during different seasons as well as ponies I guessed once had lived here, decorated the walls. The furniture was made in dark, heavy wood, and some of them even had tablecloth still laying upon them. A broad staircase, seemingly created in the same wood as the furniture, lead up to the second store, and five doors lead to different parts of the house.

“Then let us get something to eat before we get some sleep.” Bolt looked at the five doors, before she chose one seemingly on random. “If we are lucky, there might be some canned food in here for us to scavenge.”

The floorboards creaked with every step I took as I followed her into what seemed to be the living room. A couple of couches stood around a smaller table in front of the fireplace. Bookcases standing alongside the wall was filled to the brink with books and figurines. Above the fireplace, a big painting on an elder mare, her coat a light green and her mane a little darker orange, glaring down at us with hard, yellowish eyes.

I dropped down on my haunches, staring on the picture, while Bolt barely stopped to throw a glance over the room before she walked to one of the doors leading out of it, leaving me behind.

“Is that?” I whispered, looking at the thin silver link around the mare’s neck. Hanging in the silver link was a pendant of gold, formed as a tree with green stones or gems as leaves.

“It sure looks like the ornament Free sent you to retrieve,” Spitfire paused. “But it doesn’t have to be the very same. Maybe there were more than one created?”

Maybe. Maybe. My eyes wandered around the room. I don’t think I have been here before. At least... I haven’t gotten any memories back from being here as I have gotten at other places I have been.

“Just a coincidence?”

I looked back at the painting. Maybe. Or maybe Free was a part of this house all those years ago?

“If it matters, maybe you should ask Free the next time you see him,” Spitfire suggested, a hint of a smile in her tone.

I shuddered with the bare thought of meeting him again. I rather allow this to be another mystery of the wasteland, thank you very much.

“I found a kitchen,” Bolt said happily. “And...” She paused. “Are you going to sit there the entire day?”

Spitfire laughed softly as I rose, a sheepish smile on my face. “No, not at all. It’s just...” I went silent as Bolt raised an eyebrow at me. “She got the same pendant as Free had.”

The unicorn looked unaffected at the painting. “That pendant you gave him? What’s with it?”

“Do you think that it’s the same pendant? That Free was a part of this household before--” Once again, Bolt’s raised eyebrow silenced me.

“Let me get this straight. You wonder if this pendant, pictured on a painting from before the war, is the same pendant that you gave a maniac in a glade? The same maniac who not only tried to kill us both, but then left us asleep within reach of ghouls?” Bolt sighed. “It might be the same. But does it matter?”

“I... guess not,” I admitted, and, looking away from the painting, quickly changed subject. “Did you find anything edible in the kitchen?”

“Some cans of food. The kitchen looked to not have been scavenged, but most of the cupboards was empty on anything edible.” She shrugged. “Might be some radroaches that took their home here long ago and ate everything not protected by metal.”

“Radroaches?”

“Mutated creatures. I think they were known as cockroaches earlier, but those were nothing compared to this.” She shuddered in disgust. “They aren’t dangerous, but they are disgusting.” She walked to the door leading to the kitchen again. “We will have to keep an extra eye on the saddlebags tonight. Don’t want to wake up with every trace of food eaten.”

“I think I have encountered them before.” I followed her into the kitchen. “On my second day out here. It had eaten every trace of un-canned food in the house Precious, Dust and I stayed at for the night.”

The kitchen was as spotless as the rest of the house. A solid table took up most of the space, benches and the stove seemingly more a second thought than anything else. Some of the cupboards were open, most likely opened by Bolt, and on the table stood five cans of food.

“Yeah, they do that. Eats close to everything they can find.” Bolt sat down at the table, floating my saddlebag to herself. “I think it would be for the best to eat the fresh food first. Not sure how long it will keep fresh.” Floating up some of the fresh vegetables, she dumped the canned food into the bags instead. “You know?” She started, floating a couple of the vegetables over to me and starting to nibble on another herself. “We should keep a watch tonight, just to be on the safe side.”

“What do you mean?” I started to eat on the food I had been given.

“Remember what I told you earlier? About the raiders? That you should keep alert?” She continued as I nodded. “That’s the case even during the night, you know. Not that I think that there are any raiders around, but you can never be too sure.”

“I suppose...”

She sighed and bit of a bigger part of the carrot, waving the last part around as she spoke. “I will take the first watch, if that’s okay? After half the night, I will wake you up and you keep watch the other half, sounds good?”

“I suppose.”

Bolt smiled. “You should go sleep, get as much sleep as possible before it’s your watch.”

The rest of the meal we ate in silence, and as soon as I had finished I rose from the chair and searched my way out to the couches I had seen in the living room. Bolt, who had finished before me, sat down in one of them as I sunk down in the other. It didn’t take long before I had fallen asleep.

{z-z}

“Those innocents killed my mother!” The hulking pegasus, nearly completely dressed up in the black and purple armor of the Shadowbolts, nearly yelled out at me, taking a threatening step towards my desk.

“You never knew your mother,” I growled, causing him to stop mid step. “Had you, you would also have known that she would never agree with these actions!” I rose from my place behind the deck and walked around until I stood face to face with him. “What had those zebra civilians to do with your mother’s death? You can’t judge an entire race from the action of a few!” The pegasus in front of me opened his mouth, but I didn’t let him get a word in. “You want to make your mother proud of you? You can do that easily. Leave the army.” I snarled, feeling the anger burning in my veins. “This is not who you are. This is not who your mother wanted you to be.”

The stallion took a quick step back, his eyes darting from side to side and his wings twitching. “I-I will do no such thing! Dad... The army is like a family, I can’t just leave them. Lead by Luna and the ministry mares, the army can save Equestria!”

“Save Equestria?” I mocked, driving a hoof into his chest. “By doing what? Killing innocents?” I took a step back, my hoof dropping to the ground again. “Both sides know this war is a stalemate. We send our youngs to die in a war that should have been prevented! Not only that, but it has been gone on for far too long for negotiations to do anything!” Sighing, I took a step back. “This war is an abomination in itself, and the wound it causes both the zebra empire and Equestria is slowly killing both countries. This entire war government can go and hide itself. Maybe that would end this war.”

The pegasus took yet another step back. He looked as if I had punched him in the face with my words. “That... That’s treason! That’s treachery towards Luna!”

I snorted and glared down at him, the slightly bigger pegasus shying away from me. “Treachery? Luna knows this as well as everypony else who can open their eyes! Not even Luna can stop this, son. So please, I beg you. Leave the army before it’s too late. Leave it before the army or any of the ministries decides to send you to your death! You have done enough for your country already, dying would only destroy what you have created.” I sighed. “Release the grudge you hold against the zebras, before it devours you.”

“I-I can’t leave the army, Dad. I’m sorry.”

“Then I have no son!” I snarled, the anger heating my voice. “Leave this office, and don’t you dare talk with me before you have done what you mother had wanted you to do, and leave the army behind!”

“But--”

“Leave. Now!”

Without another word and with his muzzle held high in the air, the pegasus, my former son, turned around and left my office. As soon as he had left, I walked around my desk and sat down on the cushion behind it. Resting my head against the armrest, I allowed the tears to drip down my cheek. I’m sorry.

“Wake up, Cogwheel.”

{u.u}

I’m so, so sorry.

“Cogwheel. Wake up.”

The soft voice stirred me awake, banished the echoing thought from my dream away from my mind. Blinking, I tried to rub the sleep out of my eyes. “Where... am I?” I mumbled, looking around the room. It wasn’t the same room I had gone to sleep in, that was for sure.

The walls around me was made of a dark stone, with what looked like silver running like spider web across it. The silvery ornaments gleamed vaguely in the soft blue light that was reflected throughout the room. When I moved my head, it felt as if my eyes didn’t follow, everything became a diffuse blur of silver and blue until I stopped it again.

“You’re still asleep.”

I moved my head to find the source of the voice, which only caused my head to start spinning as the walls around me turned diffuse again. “Who’s there?” I asked, burying my head in my hooves to stop the spinning. “Where am I?”

“You’re in a dream, Cogwheel.” I felt a hoof against my head and when I looked up from my hooves I looked straight into a pair of gentle, cyan eyes. “And you have nothing to fear. I am a friend.”

The eyes disappeared from my view, and the hoof disappeared from my head, in a poof of smoke. The owner of the eyes rematerialised in a couple of cushions lying on the floor, her sleek, cobalt blue body spreading out on them and her wings softly draping along her body. Her mane flowed freely with the nicks of a wind that didn’t exists, and it was from the stars spread within that mane the blue light spread.

“I-I remember you,” I stuttered, taking a step back. “You... you are Luna?”

“Frost Mane, as well as others, tend to call me that.” The alicorn sighed, her eyes turning tired. “For now, it will work as any other name, Cogwheel.”

“What do you want?” I could feel my heart beating slightly faster, a trickle of sweat running down my brow.

“I want events to work out in the best way possible, Cogwheel. That’s why I hold you here.”

“I don’t understand. What events? Am I a prisoner?”

“You could call your position right now that of a prisoner, yes. But don’t see me as a warden. I’m simply a friend, giving you time to recover from the memory you just relived, so that your feelings will not cloud your judgement when you have to be clear minded.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Do you remember the memory? Your dream before you got here? Do you remember what you did?”

“Cogwheel!” Spitfire’s voice boomed in my mind, and for the shortest second it was as if the world around me was shattered like glass.

“Cogwheel.” With the alicorns voice, the world returned to how it had been seconds ago. “Try to remember.” The alicorn rose and walked up to me, ignoring my attempts to back away from her. “I do this for you, and for Bolt.” She placed a hoof on my brow, and I froze in fear, my heart starting to beat faster. “Try to remember.”

I dropped down on my haunches. I’m so, so sorry. Tears started dripping down from my cheek and onto the floor, the sound of the steady dripping echoing in the room. “I threw him out for joining the army. My own son...”

The alicorn draped her wing around me, softly talking with comforting voice. “What had he done, Cogwheel? It has to be something more than just joining the army, otherwise you wouldn’t have done that.”

“He killed zebra civilians and... I think I was angry on him for talking about his mother as if she would have been proud over what she did.”

“Cogwheel, you have to wake up!” Once again Spitfire’s voice caused the world around me to disappear for a split second, just long enough for me to see the white world through my tear filled eyes.

“What’s--”

“As I told you, this is only a dream.” Looking up, I could see the alicorn smiling down at me with sad eyes. “I wish I could give you more time to think over the memory, but I’m afraid that my time here is up.”

“Wake up!”

This time, the world didn’t turn back to the room, instead it stayed with the white nothingness, me and Luna the only splash of colour in the nothingness that surrounded us. “But before you go, listen to me.”

“Cogwheel, I’m starting to lose my temper with you!”

“This is important. Whatever you do, always remember--”

“Wake up!”

{O-o}

You’re not alone.

“You are one heavy sleeping--” Spitfire sighed. “It’s too late now. We got company.”

“Huh, what?” Yawning, I raised my head and brought up a hoof to rub the sleep out of my eyes.

Or, at least I tried to. I couldn’t move my hoof more than an inch or two, and doing so caused the rest of my legs to follow in the motion. Looking down, I saw the reason to why I couldn’t move my legs. They were tied together with a sturdy rope. Looking up again, I found myself looking into the light brown eyes of another pony. Spitfire, what--

“Viper! Move your lazy ass and go tell the boss that this one’s awake!”

“You are, apparently, hard to wake up. Both Bolt and I tried, but when she didn’t get you to wake up, she simply gave up and lay down to sleep, mumbling something about that there is nothing to fear here anyways. I tried to wake you up again when you... I heard something drop on the floor, but you were still too deep asleep. They tied you both up, and-- I tried to wake you up, I swear!”

I felt my heart starting to beat faster as I scanned the part of the room that I could see from my position on the floor. Besides the worn stallion standing over me, a knife hanging around his neck like a necklace, two other stallions and one mare were in the room. The mare was armed with what looked like the revolver I had had strapped around my leg, while the other two stallions were armed with weapons the like of which I had never seen before. Bolt laid on the floor, tied up like myself with a piece of cloth between her teeth, not far from me, glaring daggers at the mare juggling the revolver back and forth.

Swallowing hard, I looked up at the stallion guarding me. “Wh-what do you want?”

“Revenge,” a dark voice rumbled from the doorway, causing everyone in the room to turn around and step aside, leaving the path to me free for the unicorn. The unicorn was a lot smaller than the depth of his voice made me think, his light pink coat, only patches of it remaining, mismatching the brown armor he was wearing. Traces of silver could be seen in his short kept blue mane, and his face malformed by scars and burn marks.

“I... we haven’t done anything! Let us go!” I flailed with my legs as he stepped closer, not gaining any answer more than a flash of broken, yellow teeth from him and a roaring of laughter from the others in the room.

“You haven’t done... anything?” He moved his head closer to me as he spoke, glaring down at me with hard, green eyes, his breath causing my nose to curl up. A hard kick in my guts forced the air out of my lungs, leaving me wheezing for air, tears forming in my eyes. “You haven’t done anything?! Tell that to my wife! Tell that to my daughter!” He tugged the knife from the closest stallions and pushed the rusty metal against my throat. “Oh right, you can’t! Because you fuckers killed them! They were defenseless, but you didn’t care! None of you did!” He moved his mouth even closer, practically whispering in my ear. “You carved my face with claws and knives before you put me aflame, left me to die.” His laugh sounded more like a croak. “But I didn’t die, did I?”

“Please... you have the wrong pony,” I stuttered, still trying to get air. “We... we haven’t done anyth--” I whimpered in pain as he kicked me in the guts again.

“Pathetic.” The unicorn slowly rose, spitting me in the face as he removed the knife from my throat. “Take them to the barn. And keep your filthy hooves of the mare. The thugs kept their hooves away from both my wife and my daughter, and I will honor that.”

“I’m not of Exo’s thugs,” I wheezed weakly between my teeth. “You--”

“Silence!” The unicorn turned around and kicked my head into the floor, causing me to see double. He brought the knife to my neck again. “I could slit your throat right here, right now for what you freaks did to my family!” He croaked bitterly. “But no, I won’t be that merciful. Your place will be in the arena, where you will fight others for our enjoyment.”

I could weakly here Spitfire scream my name over the ringing in my ears as the world started to fade away.

{q.q}

Secondly, a big thanks to Tonto the Trotter, for reading through and giving me tips and advices.

And lastly, a really big thanks to Doomande, for keeping my spirits up and reassuring me that SAT isn’t as flat as I think it is.

Without these three, SAT would be nothing.