The subway entrance was placed outside of some old office buildings just south of the Saloon.

Down below the streets sat a small station, a wrecked train lay derailed in the tunnel to the right... The left tunnel had collapsed in with age, I opened the door on the old train and crawled through it, I emerged on the other side and immediately had a gun pointed to my head.

"Who ya with"

"blue mare with black hair told me to come here... Said you have work..."

"Alright you can come in... Welcome to the underground railroad I guess..."

"Sooo.. Who you guys frienly with?" I asked hesitantly as I walked farther into the tunnel flanked by a guard.

"gun runners, and their buds, we hate the enclave and Steel rangers... Thats all you need to know..."

"Ill keep that in mind..."

The guard led me down the reain tunnel for a ways, then we took a dug out tunnel to a sealed off part of the old sewers.

Within the empty room stood a few ponies and a large raised platform with a reddish brown mare and a greenish stallion sitting on it, The guard switched places with another and he brought me to the two on the platform.

"Soo... This is the one with the flying machine? I have to say... Impressive for somepony fresh from a Stable... Allow me to welcome ya to the Underground Railroad..."

"Whatcha guys do here?"

"Our job is doing what the Gun runners can't... Going where they can't, doing the jobs that they couldn't fulfill... Pays good... And you're gonna help us one helluva lot with yer fancy flying machine... Ifn ya yoin us that is?"

"Hey... So long as Im getting paid, and I'm above those raider bastards... I ain't complaining."

"Good...alright then... We'll getcha in with us... HAY! Ironmonger! Show our new recruit the place"

"Sure thing boss!"

A big burly Zebra with a large wrennch slung over his back, walked up and led me off into one of the tunnels

"Who is she?"

"we call her and her husband the conductors... Their names are Iron lilly and Steel sledge... They're the leaders of our little group ere'"

"so...where are we going?"

"clothing storeroom... Gotta getcha suited up and give ya a tour of the place... Least the not locked places..."

"alright then... So... Whats the pay like?"

"depends on the jobs ya do... Headhunting and courier work get the best caps, normal caravaning and security gets about mid pay, and stuff like accountin, supply gathering and whatever the fuck else gets the lowest... It ain't Huge caps but it aint too shabby... Prolly the best paying courier jobs tho... By the way... If you ditch us... Youre gonna be a nice piece of abstract art on the sidewalk after we get our way... So... Keep that in mind if you're thinkin of bailing."

"Id rather not end up dead... Sooo ill take your advice on that"

"Wise choice...now... Let's get you suited up... Cant have ya walkin around looking like that..."

He led me to a storage room in the back... My EFS Heads up... Thingy said that it would be very hard to pick. Inside were a few shelves of cobbled together armor, I was hoofed a helmet with an integrated gas mask, an armored coat with rectangular pads of bullet and energy weapon resistant padding... I wasn't t well professed in armor, but the padding was made of a material often used in stables for things like thermal shielding and cut proof rope...hence my knowledge of it.

I strapped on the coat, leg guards and I hung the helmet from one of my bags. The armor had eight ballistic pads on it... Two small ones on the underbelly, four large ones on the sides and two more smaller ones across the back. And the leg guards were also made of the ballistic padding. Even though it was cobbled together It was leqgues ahead of the albeit durable, standard issue Stable barding.

As soon as I left the room a shockwave rumbled through the floor... Then the sound of a machine gun rattling off echoed through the tunnels.

A blood soaked griffon stumbled round the corner and whacked a large red button on the wall, warning buzzers began blaring , he collapsed in a heap after... I ran over to check on him...

As soon as I reached him he shoved me his weird gun and choked out a few words.

"Steel Rangers... Run..." his body went limp... I took his advice and his gun... I saw a pony in power armor march around the corner and point his gun at me. I bolted down the hall... Ironmonger saw me from where he sat and ran up to join me... I thought I felt something hit me...

The next few minutes flashed hy in an adrenaline fueled haze... Running... Shooting... Running outside.... Getting shot, scrambling to vertibuck... Getting shot again, flight... I came out of the haze at the helm of my vertibuck... Guns ready.

Without a second thought I pulled the trigger... The 30mm gatling on the chin Roared for only a couple seconds before it's ammo ran dry... But in that short time it lay waste to a group of the Steel rangers... The bullets ripped through them like they were made of tin foil... Leaving only craters and twisted hunks of metal... I spun the vert back around and poured on the coals... The engines screamed at full throttle as I ditched the town, .. I wat at the helm relieved.

"Why the fuck did they attack!?" I asked as I flew onward.

"pre war tech... They wanted something we were experimenting with... Not sure what... But there are rumors..." some mare replied from the back. I remembered vaguely that I took on passengers before I took off

"So they're not here to raid the old weapons factories..."

"usually they don't bother with those... They just take the weapon they want and leave the rest alone....although usually they leave behind carnage and death as well"

"Damn..."

"Since you're pretty new to the wasteland... Dont fly above the clouds... Even when you're comfortable enough to fly higher... Just don't, the pegasus enclave will tear you to shreds"

"ooooohhhh-kaaayyy then... Little harsh..." I recoiled a bit from the gray clouds above..."So... Where should we go?"

"theres an outpost of ours near the everfree... Its in the end of ghastly gorge opposite Ponyville... Fly there and off load us... I'd recommend leaving and hiding for awhile until commotion dies down a bit... If the rangers see this thing they'll shoot you right out of the sky... So make sure you keep it hidden for awhile... Maybe repaint it... I don't know..."

"Thanks for tha advice... Any suggestions where I could camp out?"

"Old military outpost in the everfree... It has a hangar built into a cliff face... Just watch out for the animals there"

"Got it... By the way... What's your name?"

"I'm Thermite... You are?"

"Source Code.... Call me what you will..."

"You should probably make an alias... The rangers probably already know who you are... Crafty shits they are... Id also recommend keeping your rump covered... If they don't know the name, they might know your mark... So watch out"

"Thanks for the tip... I think we're coming up on the gorge, any particular way to bring it in?"

"Low through the canyon... But not sow low as to piss off the giant angry eel things"

"Here goes everything, hold on to something!" I dropped low and flew a slalom through the twisting rock walls of the canyon, it wasnt too terribly tight, but it still made my hair stand on end, last second I stopped hard and came down in front of the shanty camp thing set up around what looked to be an old mine dug into the cliff face. I kept the engones going angel just dropped the back ramp, the five or so UGR soldiers that I saved climbed out and entered the nearest shack with a large symbol like the ones on fist aid kits painted across some sheet metal.

I took off again and flew into the everfree as instructed... I left the landing gear open and touched down again a few minutes later once I found the still reasonably unobstructed landing pad.

I slowly flew into the hole in the foliage and carefully set down on the ancient concrete pad... I shut of the main engines and folded the wings and rotors... Under the canopy sat several small buildings, a broken radar dish, an old air traffic control tower and a small runway which now had overhanging trees obstructing it.

I used the taxiing motors in the wheels to trundle slowly to the hangar door, once there I climbed from the craft and shoved the rusty door open, I taxid in and parked up near an old plane which somehow managed to look like it was more vines than plane,

I shut down the reactor with the flip of a switch and got out into the utterly alien world of the everfree forest... I shit the hangar door and made my way to the closest building to me.

Once I lead picked the rusted old lock I walked into what looked like barracks... Skeletons lay in bed some in states of dismemberment, probably from the animals that survived the balefire eating the corpses. The patches on some of the coats were labeled "758th airborne reconnaissance devision" and had a picture of a pegasus lookomg down with some binoculars at a big crosshair on the ground... I grabbed one of the coats that wasn't totally turned to crumbly dust and beat it out a bit, sticks, dirt and Luna knows what came out of the coat. I rolded it and tossed ot in my bag and left.

The building the next was the tower, in the entrance building was almost empty save for a few discarded pieces of clothing for some weird reason

"Clothes but no bodies in them... Weird" I mused to myself

At the back of the room was an entrance to the tower, and below the stairs was a hatch leading down, I went up the tower first, after avoiding a few collapsed stairs I made it to the top...atop the tower sat an old observation room, the glass had long since shattered, leaving only empty frames where plants had begun to grow through the windows. Only a few Skeletons lay on the old computer terminals... One still looked to be working... Gotta love the pre war engineers for building their stuff to last.

I hacked in without too much issue and looked at the files presented to me... Most of them were logs of the in and outbound aircraft... But a few stood out, several files were labeled things like "Diary" and then a number, and one labeled "Last entry" I began to read the first of the four entries.

Diary entry 1
Year of harmony 1011,

Today was stressful... The war effort is struggling... At least thats what the ministries say... Supposedly theyre working on some new tech to help out on the front... Of course theyre not telling us what it is... But I can only hope it helps bring the zebras to their knees.

My family bought a space in a stable somewhere... Stable 6 I think... Maybe it was 8... At least they might be spared... Meanwhile Im stuck way out here in this death trap while the government hauls around their secrets...

Diary entry 2
YOH 1013

Bad news.... New project is being shipped in from out west... Some group of crazies says they have something... For some reason a steel crate with tendrils poking out of the air holes, woth a giant red warning label doesn't bode well.
Tempers Are high around here... Ministries are keeping us in the dark... Especially AJ In the MWT... So we have no idea what to put on the cargo manifests for the aircraft that fly through here... Hence why accounting and management are freaking out about how to log this crap.

Entry 3
YOH 1020

Been awhile since I wrote an entry... Its pretty bad outside... Balefire bombs just dropped out east... Everthing is pandemonium... I hope I dont get swept into it... Hopefully my folks are OK.

Diary entry 4 Last words
YOH... Who knows anymore.

Ive been stranded here for ages... My body finally decided that it's gonna kick the bucket... Might as well give my last words.

If anypony finds this... Fuck the zebras right in the plot with a rusty shovel... And I just want to say that I regret taking this job... Ive caused so much suffering by association with the unjust bigots in the ministy science departments... For that Im sorry... Staff seargent Silver feather Signing off.

I shut off the terminal... Another sad story from the past... And another innocent life burned by the radiation and enervation of the years must after the bombs fell.

I climbed back down, remaining silent out of respect for those who had to suffer through the flames of the last day.

I reached the hatch and looked down, the steel hatch was labeled 'breaker box' in faded red letters.

I expected it to be locked but instead I pulled the rusty old door open with a loud screech, and only a bit of effort. Inside sat a shaft leading down... The breaker box hung from its cables a little ways down... Obviously an old secret hatch leading down... But as time marched on the hinges broke and the breaker box fell into the shaft it was concealing.

I climbed down the old ladder, being careful not to put too much weight on any one rung... I reached the dark bottom without much issue and I flicked on the pip buck light... The soft amber light casting strange shadows as I skowly walked through the dusty old basement.

The air smelled damp and moldy... Somewhat like the lower levels of the vault where water treatment was conducted.

Across the room I saw another terminal, a wall mounted one... Its case was rusted but it somehow still functioned... As evidenced by the telltale glow of the screen. I trotted to the old terminal and unlocked it with a bit of hacking... Not that secure... But probably enough considering this place was probably pretty well hidden at one point, I looked at the options onscreen. Four options presented themselves.

[statement of safe delivery of Project H31a]
[unlock storeroom]
[unlock Armory]
[unlock generator room]

I selected the first item, a short text statement opened up onscreen.

Note: statement archive file is placed on this terminal temporarily

To the researchers at "Biotech Labs" The crates containing project portions H31a, H31a-1 and H31a-2 have been checked and have been scheduled for shipping to Hoofington to The Ministry of wartime technology. Unfortunately due to equipment and staff issues, portions H31a-3, 4, and 5 are being stowed at our facility temporarily while we solve the issues present on base, delivery should not be delayed more than two buisiness weeks

Description of items being delayed.

H31a-3: A particle beam weapon for use as a suppressive fire and support weapon or for mounting to battle saddle pintles or to H31a . to be used in conjunction with other portions of project, Crate is orange and has the project number labeled on the front.

H31a-4: long range gauss rifle like weapon, classified as a "Shoulder fired Rail cannon" fires assorted enchanted ammunition at immense velocity. Crate is similar to companion portions of project.

H31a-5'; pony mounted battle saddle system designed to accomodate up to 4 weapons, and assist with targeting, Designed to be fitted to H31a in conjunction with other portions of project.

Both other portions of project are described in archive file 2277 in the main computer.

I switched off the terminal and began exploring the dimly lit and frankly gross and damp basement.

Author's Note

barely edited, and probably needs a fair bit of reworking on the grammar bits.