Fallout: Equestria - Utopia

“Who you are comes from the choices you make when life gets tough.”

Exhaustion.

Each and every step seemed to drag me deeper and deeper into my growing state of exhaustion. With each step away from Fillydelphia I took, I could feel my mind taking several mental steps back.

My legs shook and ached, both from the combined weight of Xayah and Tinker’s limp forms atop my back and the shattered bones that comprised my fore hooves. The plethora of wounds I had received within the vile walls of Fillydelphia weren’t healing either, but rather getting worse, continually getting ripped back open as I trudged along.

I glanced behind me, making out the looming visage of Fillydlephia on the horizon. It felt like I was hardly making any progress, my efforts to get away from the damned city before the slavers could find me again seeming next to useless.

I took another step, forcing myself to keep going despite the pressing urge to collapse. I felt a cough building up in my chest and had to do my best to hold it back, knowing that even the smallest thing would set me off kilter and knock me to the ground. I didn’t know if I’d be able to get back up again.

And yet it didn’t seem to matter. Manehattan looked like little more than a pinprick of shapes against the skyline and the Fillydelphia outskirts seemed to stretch on for miles in every direction. There was nowhere to go but forwards and backwards, and I definitely wasn’t about to go back.

My stomach growled, alerting me to just how hungry I was. I glanced down at myself, feeling a stab of unease as I realized I could see my ribcage through my nutrients deprived body. I tried to remember the last time I had eaten. Two days ago? Three? Did synths even need to eat?

Another growl of hunger confirmed for me that I did, in fact, need to get some food.

My hoof snagged on the tip of a large rock. I stumbled, my body weight being thrown off as I tilted to one side. I probably would have collapsed from exhaustion anyway, but Xayah and Tinker atop my back only sealed the deal. My body crashed to the ground with a thud, a moan escaping my lips as my head collided with the ash coated ground. Xayah and Tinker tumbled off of me, their forms rolling across the terrain and coming to a stop, unmoving.

I lifted my head up and looked around with hazy vision, my whole body feeling heavy. I spotted where my two companions had landed. With a grunt, I went to pull myself back up and move to them, only for my body to once again give out from beneath me. I lay still on the ground, wondering if the pain would all go away if I were to simply lay back and die.

My spinning vision landed on the Fillydelphia wall in the distance. From here, I could see squadrons of griffins soaring over the wall and beginning to search the Fillydelphia outskirts for us. If I just lay here, they’d find us. They’d kill Xayah and Tinker... I couldn't let that happen...

I had to keep moving. I had to get us away from here...

I grunted again, once more raising my broken body from the ground with my broken hooves. Pain washed through me as I once more put my weight down on my legs. I stumbled a few steps forward, my body swaying and threatening to collapse.

I felt Xayah’s scarred hide bump up against my hoof and I reached down to once more pull her across my back. I struggled for a moment, trying to balance myself with Xayah atop me, before reaching down again and hoisting up Tinker.

I could do this… I had to do this…

I began moving forwards again, fatigue gripping my mind more with each step.

Again I stumbled and fell, and again I picked myself back up and threw Xayah and Tinker over my back. Tinker twitched slightly in his sleep as I jostled him, but remained otherwise unconscious.

Dark specks began swarming across my vision. I blinked, trying to clear them, only for my vision to go dark completely. I reeled backwards, panic flaring through my mind as the whole world went black. I tried to scream, but my cracked throat refused to make noise.

Then my vision cleared again, the world seeming foggier and more hazy through my tired, swimming eyes.

I spotted what looked like a broken down house only a mile or so away. There wasn’t much left of it now, only a single crumbling wall and the slightest bit of an overhang that had once been a roof. It wasn’t the best shelter in the world, but it would have to do. I wasn’t going to be able to drag us much farther than that.

I continued to move towards the structure, moving one hoof in front of the other. Xayah and Tinker seemed to grow heavier on my back as I walked and a loud ringing began to sound in one of my ears.

My hooves began to drag more and more as I began to stop bothering lifting my hoof off the ground and simply dragging it forwards before placing down a few inches ahead of where it had just been.

When I finally arrived at the broken down house, I simply slumped Xayah and Tinker down against the wall and collapsed to my side, the world around me instantly blinking out as my eyes drifted shut.

My hooves had been tightly wrapped in gauze. I raised my head and glanced around, trying to figure out where I was.

I was still outside, my side pressed up against the same broken down wall I had collapsed against. The stolen slaver clothes I had been wearing had been stripped off of me and cut up to make the makeshift bandages that now covered my body and my new combat armour now lay in a disheveled pile beside me. Night had fallen and the Fillydelphia outskirts had been cast into complete darkness.

Or at least, it would have been complete darkness, if it hadn’t been for the small campfire that had been set up a foot away from me.

I looked at the fire for a long moment, the flickering light dancing across my vision before I looked down at my body. Most of my wounds had been tended to, though not expertly. I couldn’t feel the telltale itch of a healing potion, so I doubted that they had been treated any better than being wrapped.

My eyes drifted up once again, making out the shape of Xayah who was sitting on the other side of the campfire from me. She was awake, her beautiful emerald eyes open and looking up at the twinkling night sky above us. The stars seemed to be oddly bright, or at least bright enough to be see though the thick cloud layer above.

I stared at Xayah for a long moment, my eyes looking over each and every part of her person. Her wounds had been wrapped up as well, most of her body now being covered in bloody rags and gauze. After a long moment, I took a deep breath and raised my body a little higher. Pain flared across my chest and I had to gently lower myself back down with a small squeak.

Xayah’s head snapped down to look at me in surprise, her eyes suddenly piercing into me. I winced as I met her gaze and quickly looking away, handing my face and finding myself unable to meet her stare.

“I see you’re up,” I said at last, not knowing what else to say to her, my voice croaking and my lips parched. Xayah simply nodded silently, still looking me over. I glanced back at my wrapped up hooves. “Did you wrap my wounds?”

Xayah was quiet for a second, her shoulders clenching as she tried to figure out what to say in response. “Yes,” she finally said bluntly, her chapped mouth opening just long enough to utter the intended words.

Well this conversation was off to a good start. “Thank you,” I said lamely, not knowing where to go from there. “I appreciate it…”

“I appreciate you getting me out of Fillydelphia,” Xayah monotone back, her face registering with temporary conflict.

There was another long pause where either of us dared to speak. I forced myself to take another deep, wheezing breath, causing more pain to emanate from within my ribs. “Sooo… Are you alright?”

“No,” I probably should have figured as much. “You?”

I grimaced. “I feel like I got kicked by a fucking horse.”

There was a small chuckle that hardly sounded real. “You were covered in hoof sized bruises. You probably were,” Xayah replied, her expression softening slightly. Her gaze shifted to face the direction of the massive Fillydelphia wall in the distance. “What exactly happened in there?”

“It’s… a long story,” I replied truthfully, not really knowing where exactly to start. “A lot, I guess. I managed to get everypony out and-” I paused, my eyes drifting over to where Tinker’s limp body was laying. Like myself, Xayah had clearly tended to his wounds as well. “-Well, I got most of us out…”

“His mother,” Xayah said sadly, her own gaze shifting to Tinker. “He woke up shortly after I did, crying about his mother. He fell back asleep about an hour ago,” Her gaze resettled on me, her eyes looking distant. “Who was she?”

My eyes locked on a glowing speck of dust that Tinker had miraculously managed to hold onto. “Chestnut. From the Hollow Shades…”

Xayah’s face fell even more. “I remember her… She seemed like a good pony…”

“She was,” I replied, my heart aching. “One of the best. All she wanted was for her and her family to be free of Fillydelphia…” I paused, letting that sink in.

“What killed her?” Xayah asked, her tone telling me that a small part of her didn’t really want to know.

“A Courser,” I growled, my mind flashing back to the dark stallion that had murdered her. I could feel my hooves trembling at the thought, both from fear and anger. “We were so close and he just fucking murdered her. Murdered her for no reason other than to get me.”

Xayah’s eyes widened slightly. “A Courser?” she worked her jaw and bit down gently on her lower lip. “Amber, why was there a Courser after you? I thought the Institute wasn’t trying to kill us?” I felt another tremor pass through me. I opened my mouth to speak, only for my throat to seem to run dry. A sudden wave of panic washed over me as memories from my time within the Institute and Red Eyes Cathedral started coming to the forefront of my mind. Xayah very clearly saw my distress and pushed herself up to her hooves, ignoring the pain that flashed through her body, her face filling with worry. “Amber. What happened to you?”

The emotional barrier that had formed between us suddenly broke as she trotted over and knelt down next to me. I could feel my body shaking as I began working up the nerve to do what I knew I had to do next.

My throat locked up again, this time causing a gag like choking sound to escape my lips. I forced myself to shift my head and look at Xayah, my teary eyes locking with her sparkling green ones. “Something bad happened to me Xayah…” I said slowly, a small tremor accompanying my words. “Something really really bad…”

Xayah shifted closer again, her muzzle nearly touching mine. “Tell me what happened Amber.”

I took another breath, this one coming out as an unsteady and broken torrent. I turned my head away, looking back down at my hooves. Slowly, I began to tell her everything, starting from when they had taken me away from her in Fillydelphia and to Red Eyes Cathedral. I told her about Inferno taking over my mind, how he tortured me and forced me to watch as he tortured metal images of my friends. I told her about Pureblood and Silver Ace and how Pureblood had surgically cut me open while I was still awake, implanting a fetus within me. I spoke about my escape from the Institute, the Utopia program, finding my body in a status pod and realizing that I had become a synth myself.

I felt more tears streaming down my face as I recounted burying Heartbeats body, of breaking into Fillydelphia and joining up with Chestnut. Xayah simply sat there silently as I cried, her head nodding slowly as she digested everything I had told her.

By the time I reached Chestnut's death my mouth had run so dry that I had to stop myself before I completely ruined my throat. I took a second to steady myself, feeling my heart pounding heavily in my chest before daring to look back up at Xayah. She was staring back at me, her eyes a mix of sorrow and regret.

“So, yeah… That’s what happened to me…” I said, trying to force a laugh that wouldn’t come and wiping a tear from my face. “Right now we need to get back to Manehattan and stop all this before Pureblood activates the Utopia program, which-” I glanced up at the night sky. “... Is probably only in about three days from now-”

Xayah silenced me by placing a striped hoof over my mouth. I froze for a second at the touch before closing my mouth and letting her withdraw her hoof. “Dealing with the Utopia Program can wait,” Xayah said softly, her eyes slowly looking me up and down. “Right now we need to worry about you, er- us. Neither of us are going to be much good going up against Pureblood and the Institute like this.”

I nodded, looking away again. I wracked my mind, trying to figure out how properly to respond. Finally, I let my pride go and looked back at Xayah, almost pleadingly. “Xayah… can I have a hug? I really need a hug right now.”

Xayah looked at me for a long moment before letting herself smile. “Of course, you foolish pony,” She scooted forwards, wrapping both of her hooves around me and holding me close. I pressed my head up against the bottom of her chin, letting the warmth of her body wash over me. For the first time in what felt like forever, I felt safe.

“I’m sorry,” Xayah finally whispered, her voice so quiet that I had almost missed it. Her hoof trailed down my front slightly, the tip just brushing up against the large bullet wound in the centre of my chest. “If I hadn’t shot you, none of this would have happened…”

I opened my mouth to object, but closed it when I realized she was right. I shook my head regardless, my breath slowing slightly as I took in her warm embrace. “I broke a promise to you. I’m sorry I couldn’t have been better,” I took a shaky breath, my heart feeling like it was slowly sinking deeper into my chest, never to be seen again. “What are we Xayah?” I asked quietly, my hooves wrapping tighter around the zebra as if she might get taken away from me again if I were to let go. “I want us to be what we used to be, but I don’t know if we can ever go back…”

“I don’t know,” Xayah replied mournfully, her muzzle brushing up against the tips of my mane. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to trust you fully again… and I know you will never be able to forgive me. Not after the pain my actions put you through...”

A small shiver passed through me, despite Xayah’s radiating warmth. There was only a moment of hesitation before I spoke again. “I forgive you,” I said softly. The words came out easier than I had expected.

Xayah paused, her hug loosening a little as she looked up and away from me. After what felt like an eternity, she sighed. “You are a fool for doing so. I am not worthy of your forgiveness. Not after what I did.”

I gave her the warmest smile I could. “Well, I’m giving you my forgiveness anyway. You’re just going to have to deal with it.”

Xayah was silent for a long while longer. “The night my family and I arrived in New Appleoosa changed my life.”

I went still, not even daring to breathe as Xayah started talking. Xayah never talked about the emotions going on inside her head, so I knew this meant something, whatever it was she was building up to. And I knew what happened to her in Appleoosa, anything about that place couldn’t be good.

Xayah took another second to console herself before staring down at her hooves. “The pony that raped me changed me forever. I forgot how to feel, and the feelings I did have, I forced down. But he changed more than that. He took away my choice to have foals or not. He forced it upon me…”

“Zira. Your daughter,” I said cautiously, trying to remember what little Xayah had told me about her. I remembered she had a fascination with cutie marks, but that was about it. Xayah rarely talked about her past family, as much as I could tell she wanted to sometimes.

The most revealing thing about Zira I could remember of course was the memory I had witnessed back in the Hollow Shades. How she had been half pony, half zebra. A zony? Was that the proper term? I couldn’t be sure.

Xayah gave me a slow nod. “I loved Zira, but she was always a reminder of what that buck had done to me… It was a hurt that never went away, even after Zira was…” She choked up as what I could only imagine was a memory of her daughter's death flashed through her head. “...I also understand how hard it can be to talk about these sorts of things. Hurts like this never go away, they leave scars, they damage you. I refused to talk to bucks for three years after that happened to me…”

“I- Really?” I asked, not sure if that was exactly something that I should have been pushing. Xayah simply nodded in response.

“What I’m saying is that I understand how hard it is to tell others what you are feeling when something like that happens to you,” Xayah continued after another long pause. “I… I don’t know if I can ever fully trust you after what you did Amber, but I know that deep down you’re a good pony. And the fact you felt I deserved to know what happened to you even when you didn’t want to tell me means a lot to me… You are a good pony Amber Aura. A foolish pony, but a good one.”

I stifled a fake laugh. “I’m not a good pony,” I said, the words feeling stiff in my mouth. “I try to be, but I’m not. I keep messing up. I keep hurting ponies. Sometimes I wonder who has more blood on their hooves. Me or the ponies I kill.”

Xayah didn’t respond for a long while, simply resting her head atop mine. Finally, she sighed. “What makes you a good pony is not what you do. It’s why you do it. I learned that about you a long time ago. You act and judge not based on the blood that coats ones hooves, but on the reason the blood was there to begin with.”

“Morality…” I grimaced. “That’s what you told Brisk you though my virtue was a long time ago. No doubt it’s closer to corrupted morality…”

“Corrupted morality is better to have as a virtue than no morality at all,” Xayah breathed thoughtfully. “I doubt any other pony would have given Pyre a chance like you did. Not me. Certainly not Brisk. Look how that turned out. Even when the wasteland forces you to do bad things, you always do what you believe is best for the ponies around you over yourself.”

“How can you of all ponies say that?” I pushed, pulling away a little and looking up at her. “I’ve probably hurt you more than any other pony,” I glanced down at her two mechanical fore hooves that were still loosely wrapped around me. “I murdered those raider foals while you watched, shortly after you had watched your own daughter die no less. I’m responsible for putting those metal hooves on your body! I betrayed you after I promised to find a better way!” I shut myself up as I realized I had started yelling. Tinker’s unconscious body twitched in his sleep, but he didn’t wake.

Xayah looked down at me with her large eyes. I couldn’t quite tell what emotions were held in them. “You’ve also saved me more than any pony else…” She replied softly, pulling me back into the embrace. “The wasteland tests everypony. It forces them to watch and do terrible things. You’ve perhaps gotten it worse than any of us.”

“But… your legs-” I began, but Xayah quickly cut me off.

“I would have died had you not given me these,” She stated factually. “Do not think for a second that I would rather perish at Viscera’s hooves than remain purely zebra. Does a day go by where I don’t long for my old legs to return? No. I even miss the constant tremor in my left hoof, reminding me of that terrible day in Appleoosa. But I do not fault you for saving my life.”

I hadn’t realized the constant tremor in her left fore hoof was gone, though as I sat there, I realized she was right. Her new metal hooves were still and unmoving, void of any signs of any real life.

I gulped. “So then what are we?” I re-asked.

“Whatever we want to be,” Xayah said, tilting my head up and nuzzling my cheek. “I doubt that we will ever have what we once did, but I’m willing to try. So long as you will take me back…”

I felt a loud sob-like laugh escape my throat. “Yeah… of course I will. And I’m willing to try too. If you will take me back as well of course.”

“I think that goes without saying at this point,” Xayah said with a small chuckle. The muscles in her body relaxed a little and a soft sigh escaped her lips. “I love you, you foolish pony.”

“I love you too, Xayah,” My eyes landed on the dark red and black anti-machine rifle I had stolen, lying a few feet away. My whole body perked up slightly at the thought of it and I temporarily pulled myself away from Xayah to retrieve it before crawling back into her embrace. Her eyes followed me questioningly as I moved to fetch the large rifle. “I got you something by the way,” I said simply, giving the rifle over to her.

Xayah took the rifle and looked it over, marvelling at the weapon's impressive scope. “Th-thank you… Where did you even get this?”

I smirked smugly. “It was a gift from Red Eye to Stern. I figured that since you probably had your sniper taken away when they captured you, you probably deserved it more.”

Xayah gave a smirk and glanced down the rifle’s scope, panning the surrounding area with it. She smiled and placed it down, once again wrapping me in a warm embrace. “Thank you Amber. I love it.”

We sat like that for a long while, simply enjoying each other's company in the middle of the wastes, our embracing forms lit only by the flickering lights of the lone, dying campfire. There was a lot of work to be done before either of us would ever be able to truly rest, but for the time being, nothing else in the wasteland mattered to us except each other.

After a long while, Xayah suddenly shifted, one of her ears perking up and twitching. I looked up at her, confused. “What is it?”

“I heard something,” She whispered back, unlocking her hooves from around me and pulling herself up to her hooves. She reached for her new rifle, using the scope to scan the area.

I scampered up to her side, my magic sweeping up Braeburn’s Liberator and looking around as well. I gulped as I realized I didn’t have any ammo left for my gun. In the darkness I could see little more than the rocks and ash that surrounded us. “Do you see anything?” I asked quietly. I was beginning to hear something as well. A slow dragging sound, like hooves scuffling through dirt. It sounded like it was slowly getting closer.

Not for the first time, I cursed Silver Ace for taking my Pipbuck. I really really missed EFS.

“Not yet. I think it’s coming from…” Xayah turned, one eye closed as she looked down the large scope. She paused, her gaze fixated on a spot in the distance. “I see it. It’s an Alicorn. Should I take the shot?”

Her words made me pause. An Alicorn? It couldn’t be? “Not yet..." I said, holding my hoof out to stop her from firing. “What colour is it?”

Xayah paused herself, clearly having not expected that answer from me. “She’s… purple. Hard to tell in the dark,” She hesitated, her one open eye looking over the Alicorn in the distance. “I think she’s hurt.”

“Don’t shoot. I think I know this one,” I said, taking a step towards where I assumed the Alicorn was. As I watched, a shape began to slowly limp into the dancing firelight.

It was indeed a purple Alicorn. She was badly wounded, her wings bent outwards at awkward angles and all of her hooves seemed to have been snapped at the joints. The tip of her horn had been snapped off and a web of cracks raced down its front. One eye was missing and their body was coated in a thick layer of ash; a clear sign of her exposure to the vile Fillydelphia air.

The Alicorn looked up at us from across the fire for a second. She opened her mouth to say something, only for her wobbling, broken hooves to collapse from under her. She hit the ground with a thud, a loud crack sounding out as she fell and broke yet another bone in her body.

Xayah glanced over at me worriedly, but I had already limped my way over to the fallen alicorn. I propped her head up, looking down at her in concern. “Are you alright?” I asked, wincing as the alicorn's shattered horn brushed against my stomach.

The alicorn groaned, her eyes rolling up to glance at me. “We- I shall be fine,” The alicorn declared, her voice sounding oddly regal despite the amount of pain she was clearly feeling.

I looked up at Xayah. “Do we have any healing supplies? Anything?” I asked, knowing full well that we didn’t. Even if we had, we would have most likely used them to heal our own wounds that still covered our bodies from our time in Fillydelphia.

Xayah gave me a small shake of her head. “We do not.”

“I said I shall be fine,” The alicorn repeated, trying to get back to her hooves. She succeeded, but not without a lot of pain. “There is plenty of radiation around here. Though we thank you for not shooting us on sight. It is not normal for ponies to ask if we- if I are- if I am alright,” She spoke, stumbling to find the right words to speak. She was clearly having a lot of difficulty speaking in the first person.

“You were the one that got us out of Fillydelphia?” I asked, once more moving back to Xayah’s side as the alicorn limped around our campsite.

“We- I am indeed,” The alicorn soothed, flinching as they applied pressure to their foreleg.

Xayah was clearly surprised by that news. She cast me a confused look. “We were saved by an alicorn?” I gave her a quick nod of confirmation, realizing that that was one piece of information I had skipped over in my recap. She turned her head back to the alicorn, still clearly confused. “Why? Excuse my scepticism, but my history with alicorns has not led me to find them very generous or caring creatures.”

The alicorn winced at that. “I do not blame you for your judgement. Our kind has perhaps not always been the most friendly. We- I seek to change that now that we are no longer we.”

I had to wrap my head around that last sentence before it finally clicked in my mind. “Now that the Goddess is dead, you mean,” I finally said, thinking back to my few encounters with alicorns prior. “It severed the hive mind thing you ponies had?” Unity, was it called? I think I remembered a couple of different occasions where alicorns had mentioned it.

The purple alicorn nodded, one of her broken forelegs twitching and causing her to stumble.

“So why rescue us?” Xayah asked, her tone still sceptical and pushing, but I noticed she had lowered her rifle so that its muzzle rested against the ground. “What do you have to gain from daring Fillydelphia to rescue us?”

The alicorn planted their hooves down firmly and looked us over, taking on a more headstrong and regal stance, though the pain was still clearly evident on their face and I strongly suspected that they were trying their best not to collapse again. “We were already in Fillydelphia. We were one of the chosen that the Goddess sent to oversee Red Eyes contributions to Unity. Many of my sisters chose to remain joined with Red Eye once the Goddess fell. It was the easiest solution.”

“But why rescue us then?” I pushed. “And why didn’t you join up with Red Eye yourself? It certainly would have saved you a lot of trouble.”

The alicorn glanced around, her eyes finally landing on a patch of radiation not all that far away. I hadn’t seen it before, not in the darkness of the night nor in my hazy vision when I had first arrived, but now that the alicorn's attention had been drawn to it, I could make out the faint green glow that wafted from the small, pony sized crater.

“I shall explain after I am less damaged,” The alicorn declared, taking a small step towards the crater, her hooves trembling slightly.

I nodded as I watched the Alicorn take another step. “I’ll come with you. We can talk while you heal,” I glanced over to Xayah beside me. “Can you watch over Tinker for a minute?”

Xayah gave a small nod. “I can,” She cast a small glance towards the alicorn. “Watch that thing carefully. I do not trust her yet.”

“She did get us out of Filly,” I reiterated, beginning to move after the alicorn. “If she wanted us dead, she could have sat back and let the Courser kill us. He certainly would have had no issue.”

Xayah thought over that for a second before finally putting her gun away completely. “Alright. Just be careful.”

“I never am.”

“So what exactly is your name?” I asked the alicorn, watching as she began soaking in the radiation around her.

We had moved to the small crater. I held back a few feet while the alicorn moved to the area where the radiation seemed to be strongest. I wasn’t able to tell if I was far away enough to not take any rads or not, not without my pipbucks useful geiger counter, but hopefully I was taking as little as possible.

“I do not have a name,” The alicorn stated, a small sore closing up on the side of her leg. The healing process seemed to be taking a long time. Clearly the crater wasn’t as radioactive as she had hopped. “In Unity, I was called Sister. We were all called Sister.”

“I had a friend like that,” I said, thinking back to when I had first met Mirra. “Granted, she wasn’t an alicorn, but she didn’t have a name when we first met.”

The alicorn gave me an interested look. “This friend of yours, what do you call her?”

“We named her Mirra,” I said, smiling a little. “Or rather, she named herself that. Is there something you want to be called?”

The alicorn thought for a moment. “I do not know. Perhaps my name before I was in Unity, though I do not remember what that was.”

“Do you remember anything from your life before Unity?” I asked, sitting down on my rump and leaning back a little. My weary legs were getting exhausted from standing so long.

The alicorn gave me a sad look. “We remember very little. We believe that we were teachers once,” She looked down at herself as the ambient radiation closed up yet another wound on her body. Her legs seemed to be getting stronger, though the bones themselves had not yet healed. Her missing eye was slowly reforming as well, slowly changing from a goop filled socket to a menacing looking slitted pupil. “I do not think Teacher is a good name however. It is not very becoming.”

I gave a small chuckle at that. “Well, I’ll call you whatever you want to be called so when you think of something, just let me know.”

The alicorn bit her lower lip in intense concentration. “Yes, we shall ponder this quandary to the best of our ability.”

I had to stifle another laugh. “So why did you decide to rescue us?” I finally re-asked. “And why not join up with Red Eye like the rest of the alicorns?”

The purple alicorn looked me over questioningly for a long moment. “Do not think of us all as monsters, Amber Aura. Many of us were normal ponies before we joined up with Unity. Many of us have been a part of Unity for so long that we do not fully understand how to live without a leader to give us orders. Red Eye is strong and asks for our devotion. He himself plans to ascend to godhood one day. That is something a lot of alicorns are going to be latching onto in the days to come.”

“But not you?” I questioned, raising an eyebrow. “You wanted to get away from leaders? Live your own life?”

The alicorn cocked her head and for a brief second, a look of confusion crossed her face. After a second, a look of understanding replaced it. “You misunderstand me, Amber Aura,” The alicorn soothed, one of the joins in her legs popping back into place. “I did not save and join you to escape servitude. I came to give my servitude to you.”

I froze, my eyes widening at the remark.

She was what?! I blinked a few times, expecting the words that had just come out of the alicorns mouth to suddenly make sense. They didn’t. There was no way that I had heard that right. Perhaps this alicorn was simply delusional.

“You… servitude… me?” I stammered, still completely dumbfounded by the alicorn’s intentions. The alicorn nodded back to me. “But… what? Why?”

“I saw you through the eyes of one of my sisters, and the goddess has been keeping tabs on you for a while, ever since you managed to kill Kamari. Something she had tried and failed to do on numerous occasions,” The alicorn answered simply, as if that statement alone somehow proved her point.

My mouth continued to hang open as I continued to fail to understand why this Alicorn had suddenly decided to serve me. “So… what? I’m still confused,” I finally confessed, feeling that the word confused was probably the biggest understatement of the year.

“You have proven many times that you are a worthy pony to serve,” The alicorn continued again, her voice coming out as if she were talking to a foal that was failing to understand a simple math equation. “I have seen you demonstrate leadership and perseverance. You have shown that you are a deadly combatant and have noble intentions. Furthermore, you have managed to create a family out of strangers you picked up in the wasteland. Many of the alicorns that have flocked to Red Eye seek the connectedness of Unity, but they will not find it there. But I will find it with you…”

I stumbled to my hooves and took a step back. “You… want to be family with me?” My mind was racing as I scrambled to figure out what she was saying.

“Yes. You and the green pony became family, despite not being related. You even consider the band of misfits that travel with you to be family. Only you can create a new Unity for me,” She took a step forward, her body glowing slightly from the radiation. “You understand us. I know you do. You are like us. I know what happened to you at the hooves of one of our sisters in the metro below Manehattan.”

I felt a gasp escape my lips as memories of the insane blue alicorn in the metro flashed through my mind. Visions on blood and taint filled my head and I could almost feel the painful slices of the scalpel as it dug into my body, making room for rotting wings that would soon be fused to my flesh and muscle tissue.

Snip, snip, snip...

“I am not an alicorn,” I scowled, trying to push the haunting thoughts from my mind. I felt a tremor pass through me as I remembered being tied down to the gore stained medical bed as the alicorn cut me open. A low growl escaped my lips. “I am nothing like you.”

The alicorn flinched in response, glancing away and losing much of her posture. “My apologies. I had assumed you understood,” She looked back up, her steady gaze returning. “Even still, our original statements still stand.”

I sighed and looked down at my hooves, not able to take the alicorn's piercing gaze for any longer. “I don’t know what to tell you. If you want to help me out or be my friend, that’s one thing. But I won’t accept your servitude. I’m not that kind of pony,” I glanced up at her again, taking in her confused look. “I had the servitude of something else once. It didn’t go over well.”

“A hellhound,” The alicorn monotone, her face thoughtful. “Yes. I recall. The Goddess was very disturbed to learn you had one working for you.”

I cocked my head at that. “Why would the goddess care if I had a hellhound?”

“Hellhounds are deadly combatants, even by alicorn standards,” The alicorn said, shifting uneasily. “A single hellhound is capable of killing a whole wing of alicorns if we are caught unprepared.”

I nodded. “Regardless, you can travel with me if that is what you want, but I won’t accept servitude.”

The alicorn thought that over for a long moment before nodding. “Very well. We accept your order and will simply follow you.”

I folded my ears back against my head. “No no, that wasn’t an order. You don’t need to-” I paused as the large alicorn winked at me. I felt myself blush a little. “That was a joke, wasn’t it…”

“It was indeed. We find humour to be a very new and amusing concept,” The alicorn replied with the faintest of smirks. “But witticism’s aside, we shall indeed follow you. At the very least until you have reunited with your friends.”

I frowned. “You seem to know a lot about what we’re doing,” I said, slightly unsettled. “I don’t remember telling you we were separated from my friends.”

“As I said, the goddess is- was watching you for a long while. She grew fairly interested in stable dwellers after the one they call Littlepip arrived in the wasteland,” The Alicorn reminded me. “As for your recent movements, I watched you from a distance during your time in Fillydelphia. I apologize for not stepping in to assist you sooner, but I was unsure how you or your party would react to me.”

I watched as another one of her bones seemed to pop into place from the glowing radiation around her. I quickly glanced up at her horn, watching as one of the large cracks began to slowly heal. “Once your horn is back, do you think you’d be able to teleport us to Manehattan?” I asked, feeling slightly hopeful. “Like you did to get us out of Filly?”

The alicorn let her eyes wander up to stare at the broken horn protruding from the top of her head. “It is unlikely that my horn will heal properly. Perhaps if I were to stand for a few hours in the Fillydelphia crater it would heal, but right now I do not have enough to restore it to full. I will likely be unable to teleport us more than a few inches.”

I groaned. Of course, why did I suspect my luck would allow otherwise.

A question suddenly formed in my mind, one that I wasn’t sure if I wanted the answer to. “What happened to the Courser,” I said, my body shaking slightly as I remembered Chestnut's body glowing and turning to dust in her son's hooves. “You’re here, so you must have killed it, right?”

The alicorn shuddered. I don’t think I had ever seen an alicorn look scared like that. “If you are referring to the black coated pony, then no. It is alive. I had to flee. Never before have I seen a pony as deadly…”

“Not a pony, a Courser,” I corrected, realizing the alicorn had no idea what it was she had fought. “They’re death machines hiding in pony flesh. Designed to hunt and kill, nothing else.”

“They scare me,” The alicorn whispered, her voice trembling. “I do not wish to face that thing again.”

I could feel my own body grow cold as I remembered they could literally shut me down just by speaking a few words. “Yeah, they scare me too.”

Eventually, the alicorn pulled themselves out of the small crater, almost all of the wounds on their body had healed, though I noted that her horn was still cracked like she had said it would be. The two of us began trotting back to the small campfire Xayah had set up in silence, neither of us really knowing what to say.

“Nova,” The alicorn suddenly said, her tone of voice sounding oddly pleased.

I looked up at her as we walked along, one eyebrow raised. “What was that?”

“Nova. That is the name I wish to go by,” The alicorn elaborated, a silly looking grin across her face. “I find it to be very fitting.”

I thought back to an old book I had read back in Stable 25 about old Ponish. I was hardly fluent in the language, but a few words had stuck with me over the years. One of them being novus, the old Ponish word for new.

I gave a small smirk. “I think it’s rather fitting as well.”

Tinker had awoken by the time we got back to the small camp we had set up. He was curled up against Xayah, trying to fend off the cold breeze and had his face buried in her striped coat in an attempt to hide his tears. He looked up at us as we approached, his eyes landing on Nova with curiosity.

“You fought the bad pony in Fillydelphia?” He asked simply, a hoof wiping away the last of his tears.

Nova nodded. “I did.”

“The bad pony killed my mom,” Tinker said simply, his voice shuddering slightly, though remaining otherwise emotionless.

Nova gave another nod, this one looking much more downtrodden. “I am sorry I could not have saved her as well…”

Tinker gave her a small smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Did you kill the bad pony?” When Nova shook her head, his face fell. “Good… I want to kill them myself.”

I winced at that. I knew exactly what Tinker was going through. I had felt very much the same thing when my Stable had been flooded with pink clouds. He was treading down a dangerous path, one I had to be sure he never managed to go down fully.

Xayah pulled herself up and limped over to me, pain reflecting in her eyes as she applied pressure to her damaged hooves. “We just saw a slaver scouting party not far away. We need to get moving or risk them finding us.”

I nodded, my whole body telling me that I wasn’t physically fit to walk more distances. “Yeah… Yeah, lets get going. We need to get back to Manehattan as soon as possible.”

The Fillydelphia outskirts just seemed to keep going. I had moved between Filly and Manehattan a few times now, but never with so many broken bones. Each step felt like I was sinking deeper and deeper into the ash and debris.

Nova had picked up Tinker after the first hour of walking, the small foal's body nearly giving out with exhaustion as he stumbled along beside us. I had half a mind to ask Nova to carry me as well, but from the expression of pain across the large alicorn's face, I could tell that she wasn’t strong enough.

A terrible thought in the back of my mind told me that she would force herself to carry me regardless. She was my servant after all.

I quickly pushed those thoughts from my mind and mentally stomped on them until they were little more than mental dust. She wasn’t my servant, as much as she claimed she wanted to be, and I wasn’t going to change that any time soon. I was no slave master. I was no Red Eye.

The sky was still dark when we came across what looked like the ramshackle remains of an old pre war bar. Bits of the walls and roof had crumbled away and most of the buildings around it had been devastated so badly they were practically dust.

But the building was not abandoned like most of the other buildings we had passed. Many of the crumbling, battered walls had been patched back together with rusting slabs of metal or large plywood boards and a flickering light illuminated the cracked windows, drawing our eyes to it in the darkness of night.

The closer we got to it, the more we could hear the clinking of glasses and the laughing and general hubbub of ponies within.

Interested, I limped up to the door and pushed it open with my head, allowing me to get a good look inside.

I was surprised to find the interior of the bar to be fairly nicely furnished, as far as nicely furnished goes in the wasteland anyway. Tables and stools had been scattered around the large room, seating different ponies from seemingly all across the wasteland, and even a few griffins too. A large bar counter was set against the far side where a scarred griffin served up drinks to the ponies within.

“-Do not be alarmed. The Grand Pegasus Enclave is here to help,” A nasally voice spoke from a radio of to one side. “By now you have probably seen our airships. Do not interfere, and you will be protected-”

“Turn that fuckin’ shit off!” A stallion wearing combat barding scowled from across the bar, waving his hoof drunkenly at the radio. “I’ve heard enough of that Enclave bullshit!”

A mare quickly trotted over and shut it off, clearly just as eager to be rid of the broadcast as he had been.

The griffin behind the counter glanced up at the door as the music went dead, her eyes catching with mine as I peeked through the doorway. She was a dark black griffin, with an ash grey plume of feathers covering her head. Thin criss-crossing scars were prevalent on her body where her feathers or hide had failed to fully grow over. One particular nasty scar raced down her face and past her beak, twisting menacingly every time she moved her mouth.

A smirk broke out across her beaked face, causing the long scar to warp in strange ways, and she gestured me in with a welcoming wave from one of her tattered wings.

“Come on in! Welcome to Skyfire’s,” The female griffin smirked, looking down to continue cleaning a particularly dirty shot glass. She glanced back up quickly, their eyes catching on Nova as both Xayah and the large purple alicorn moved into the bar after me. Her face registered with surprise for a moment, and I saw her reach for a shotgun on the wall beside her before clearly thinking better of it.

I pulled myself up to the bar table, my aching legs seemingly giving a loud sigh of relief as I finally let them rest.

The griffin’s hawk like eyes looked over our group, seemingly analyzing every small detail of us. Her eyes lingered on the lash marks covering Xayahs back for a long second before she gave a shrug. “Not everyday that an alicorn comes out to this establishment.”

“Is that going to be a problem?” I asked, an edge to my voice.

The large griffin held my gaze, clearly not threatened by my tone. Finally, she shrugged again. “Not unless you ponies make it a problem. We got one rule here at Skyfire’s. Keep things civil. We don’t care who you are or who you work for, everypony is welcome here. But if somepony tries to start somethin’, they’ll find themselves dead long before they can pull a trigger,” As if to prove her point, her tail snatched a knife up off the table behind her and flicked over her head with lightning speed. The knife sailed through the air and embedded itself in the dead centre of a dartboard on the far wall. The griffin didn’t even move her gaze away from me to look at the dart board.

I nodded, gulping. “Got it… Crystal clear.”

“Good,” The griffin soothed, straightening their back and putting down the shot glass before turning to face us properly. “My name’s Skyfire. What can I do ya for?”

I cast a glance at my friends before returning my attention to the griffin. “What do you have?”

The griffin smirked. “Food. Just about any form of whiskey you can think of. A few other booze if you’re interested. Got clean water as well for the kid, ‘less you’re fine with him havin’ alcohol,” Her gaze swept over our battered bodies. “From the look of y’all, I’m guessing you just broke out of Filly. That or the Steel Rangers ‘round here are getting more savage than usual. I have a few healing potions in the back, if you got the caps.”

I could feel relief wash over me at the mention of her having healing potions. I quickly pulled out my cap stash and placed twenty or so caps on the counter. “A meal and a drink for everyone as well as as many healing potions as this can buy, I guess,” I said, before deciding I hadn’t paid enough and dropping five more caps on the table.

Smiling, the griffin scooped up the caps with her tail and pocketed them before turning and beginning to pull out a few glasses. She looked into a back room I couldn’t see for a moment, calling out. “Cocktail, can you grab four meals and six healing potions for our friends out here?” I didn’t hear a replay, but Skyfire turned back anyway, carrying the glasses. “You folk want somethin’ specific to drink?”

I looked back as Nova and Xayah, both of which gave me shrugs. “Whiskey sounds most wondrous,” Nova nodded, her expression unmoving. “We have not had such a beverage before!”

Xayah sighed. “I never did get to have one of those wild Pegasus’ Brisk was saving.”

Turning back to Skyfire, I gestured to the glasses. “Two Wild Pegasus’ for my friends. Just water for me and the kid.”

Skyfire nodded and began filling up the glasses, though she did give me a skeptical look. “You still to young t’ drink? Rare to find ponies that actually follow drinking laws 'round the wasteland.”

I shook my head. “Can’t stand the liquor,” I felt a pit form in my gut. “That and it reminds me of an old friend I lost.”

Skyfire softened at that. “We’re all grievin’ over somepony out here. That’s the simple truth of the wasteland,” Her eyes landed on my shotgun. “That’s a fine weapon you got there. Say, if ya throw in a few caps, I got a few rounds of buckshot in the back as well.”

I felt the light weight of my ammo-less gun and gave a simple nod, tossing ten more caps onto the counter. “Thanks. I was running short.”

“I figured, seeing how I’m guessing y’all just fought your way out of Filly. That doesn't generally leave ponies with many supplies. Rarely leaves them with their life,” Skyfire snatched up the caps and placed the drinks down before us. She walked away from a second, before returning with a pile of twenty shotgun shells.

I thankfully took the shots and loaded four into Braeburn’s Liberator.

“I must ask Skyfire,” Xayah started, finally sitting down and taking a small swig of her drink. “What is this place doing out in the Fillydelphia outskirts? Doesn’t seem like a smart place to set up with all the slavers about.”

Skyfire gave her a smug look. “I told y’all when you came in. We don’t care who you are or who you work for, everypony is welcome here. Slavers bring in good caps. Steel Rangers and runaway slaves do too. Few of that latter one as there are of course.”

A small yellow mare with a light purple mane tied up in a bun shuffled out of the back room, a collection of food covered plates balancing on her back and a couple healing potions resting in her saddlebag. She dropped the food and potions on the counter in front of us.

My stomach gave a loud growl as my eyes fell on the food. Both Xayah and Tinker had similar reactions, their eyes going wide as they looked at the plates.

Lifting up the healing potions with my magic, I floated two to Tinker and Xayah. They thankfully took them, gulping them down and letting the healing magic patch up the scars that littered their hides. I took one potion up myself and downed the contents. The itching feeling was near unbearable as almost every inch of my body began twisting and warping as the healing potion began to stitch together the lacerations across my body.

It didn’t deal with the broken bones, in fact, if what Star had told me was true, it probably made my bones worse, but anything was better than being in the state that we had been in.

Not saying another word, I dove into my plate of food, shoving as much of it down my throat as I could. I didn’t bother savouring the taste, though it was shockingly well cooked for wasteland food.

“So, what’s your story?” I asked Skyfire, as I continued to shovel more and more food into my mouth. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Xayah and Tinker doing much the same, while Nova took small and cautions bites.

Skyfire watched us eat in amusement before responding. “Used to work for the Talons. Long time back. Back before they were as fractured as they are now,” She started, her gaze shifting to her gun and eyeing it longingly. “Back then, the Talons were all about doing jobs for caps. I guess they still are, but back then I felt like I was actually makin’ a difference in the wasteland instead of just bein’ another merc group.”

“I do not remember hearing about a schism within the Talons?” Xayah asked, her own mouth stuffed with food. “When did this happen?”

“Few years back now, most ponies never really realized it even happened,” Skyfire replied, her eyes hardening somewhat. “Stern took on a permanent contract of employment for Red Eye, took almost half the Talons with her. I considered joinin’ up with one of the other bands, but it never felt right either to me.”

“You knew Stern?” I questioned.

“Practically raised her,” Skyfire said dourly. “Taught her how to shoot, how to fight. Probably one of the biggest mistakes I ever made,” She sighed and looked around her bar. “I ended up opening up this place. Good way to make caps, but better yet, I felt like I was helpin’ ponies. Lot of ponies need refuge out in the Fillydelphia outskirts. Some need food, some need supplies. Others just need a good drink…” She trailed off, once more returning her gaze to us. “Now what about you four? I’d imagine you’ve seen some shit…”

“We’re heading to Manehattan,” Tinker chirped, though he sounded a lot sadder than his smile implied.

Skyfire gave us all a stern look. “I reckon you’ve been in Filly for a while. Guessin’ you don’t know what’s been going on as of late. Word of advice to ya, don’t go anywhere near the damn city of Manehattan.”

My eyebrows furrowed. “What, why not?”

Skyfire leaned back, holding up another dirty glass before her face and starting to clean it. “That whole place is winding itself up for a war. The shit with the Steel Rangers was already bad, but now there's the Outcast and those fanatical True Steel fuckers. I give them a week before they cause a civil war to break out across half the wasteland. Manehattan’s going to get it the worst. But unfortunately, that ain’t even the half of it…”

“What else?” Xayah asked, finally putting down some of her food to listen more carefully.

“Well, there’s the Enclave for one. They’re gathering around Manehattan right now; most ponies are saying they’re readying for some big attack there soon. Then there's Red Eye, obviously. Tones of his slavers are patrolling the city. One of their trading outposts got hit by the Enclave and now they’re trying to fight back,” Skyfire continued, her eyes not bothering to look up from the glass. “Then there’s the issue with ponies suddenly going crazy and going on a killing spree. Started a few days ago. Ponies all over started losing their shit and turning on their friends and family. A few sharp shooters managed to take one of those maniacs down, only to find their insides filled with wires, gears and sprockets. Synths they’re callin’ them I think…”

A pang of fear went through me. That would have all started around the same time Pureblood took over the Institute. That didn’t sound good.

“...Then of course walking mannequins started attacking caravans and cutting off trading supplies to all the major cities. Friendship City and Tenpony haven't gotten any food or medical supplies in almost three days. Ponies are starting to panic.”

Xayah looked over at me worriedly. “What is Pureblood doing?” She asked, a small tremor going through her.

I growled. “He’s keeping everypony down. He knows that nothing matters once he gets the Utopia Program running. If that happens, he wins. He’s making sure no pony has a chance to stop him,” I could feel a little bit of anger flare up in me at that.

“Of course, this is only talking about the big shit that’s going down,” Skyfire added, one eyebrow raising at our hushed remarks. “There's also rumours of another faction of ponies calling themselves the Friendship Express. Not sure much about them, but they’ve been seen hanging around the MWT building. Bloodshed is coming to Manehattan, and a lot of it. As soon as the fightin' starts, a lot of ponies are going to die.”

I shivered. Straight up war in Manehattan. I didn’t even want to think about what that would be like. The Hollow Shades Massacre had been bad, but I doubted that would even come close to comparing to the amount of death and violence this would bring. Hopefully I could stop Pureblood before any of the violence broke out in earnest.

Finishing cleaning the glass, Skyfire put it aside and looked us over again. She opened her mouth to say something, when the door burst open and a dirt brown stallion scrambled in, pulling himself up beside us. “Skyfire, we got a problem!” He said, his voice slightly frantic.

Skyfire cocked her shotgun. “What is it Lookout?”

Before the stallion could answer, the door to the bar banged open again and three power armoured Pegasi trotted into the room, each one wielding a deadly looking plasma rifle at their side. The ponies in the bar spun around and pulled themselves from their seats, each one reaching for their own firearms as the three Enclave troopers moved into the building.

“Everypony stand down and no pony gets hurt!” the leading Enclave trooper ordered, their plasma rifle glowing and making a threatening sounding hum. “We are not here to hurt you, unless you do not cooperate!”

Skyfire’s shotgun was up in a flash, aiming at the leading troopers head. “Welcome to Skyfire’s,” The scarred griffin growled. “Everypony is welcome, so long as you put your weapons down and remain civil.”

All the Enclave troopers took a large step towards her, each of their weapons glowing. “Do not interfere with Enclave business,” The leader spat, the insectoid like eyes on their helmet seemingly glowing. “We are searching for a pony named Amber Aura. Failure to hoof her over will result in execution.”

I winced. Damn it, why the fuck was the Enclave after me?

Skyfire scowled. “Any pony under this roof is under my protection. That includes you unless you do something stupid. You will take your business outside or there will be consequences.”

The leading Enclave troopers eyes landed on me, their gaze clearly shifting over to me due to the large shape of Nova beside me. Their weapons shifted to refocus on me. “Amber Aura. You are to come with us or be shot.”

Damn it! “What do you want with me?” I demanded, taking a small step towards them.

“On order of Colonel Autumn Leaf, you are to be taken into custody for possible knowledge of Enclave assets, association with the scientist Star Breeze and possible threat to Enclave ideals,” The leading trooper retorted.

Possible threat? They wanted to take me in on the suspicion that I might be a threat to them. Star Breeze had told me that the Enclave was beyond paranoid, I just hadn’t realized to what extent.

“Amber, what’s the plan?” Xayah asked, pulling herself in front of Tinker. I saw Nova reach out with a hoof to do the same.

I took a deep breath. We outnumbered the Enclave troopers, and by the looks of the raised weapons in the room, it looked like the rest of the ponies and griffins in the bar would side with us as well. I could deal with this. I just had to…

“Perhaps we should take this outside,” A cold voice monotone from behind the Enclave soldiers. “I would hate to make things difficult…”

I felt a chill pass through me as I heard the voice. My eyes shifted, turning to look at the horrifying figure standing in the doorway.

It was the Courser. The same one that had attacked us Inside of Filly. The same one that had murdered Chestnut for no reason other than to get to me. He looked just as I had last seen him, dark black coat that seemed to blend into his leather trench coat, ash mane and piercing blue eyes.

The Courser shifted its head and gave me an icy grin. “Hello again, Amber Aura.”

The Enclave troopers spun, plasma weapons aiming at the Courser. “Do not interfere. We are the Grand Pegasus Enclave!”

The Courser didn’t bother raising his weapon. He rolled his chilling eyes and took a step backwards, gesturing for us to follow.

I felt more than saw Tinker push past Xayah and Nova. He screamed, rushing towards the door and waving a knife he had picked up from the table. “You killed my mom!” He shouted, another scream, this one not sounding like something that came out of a pony, escaping his lips as he charged forwards.

I reached forwards, trying to stop him. “Wait! Tinker, no!”

The Courser twisted, his hind hoof striking out and slamming into Tinker's neck. The colt was sent flying backwards, gagging, crashing into the leading Enclave trooper and sending him staggering back.

Rage flared in the Enclave troopers eyes and their guns flared bright green. A second later, their plasma weapons fired, streaks of deadly energy lashing towards the Courser. The Courser side stepped, easily moving out of range by moving beside the door frame.

A shotgun rang out, Skyfire’s first shot pulping the head off the leading trooper. The remaining Enclave spun around, only for the rest of the ponies in the bar to open fire. Bullets riddled the remaining troopers and they both crashed to the floor of the bar with a sickening thud.

One of them managed to pull themselves back up, blood spilling from the bullet holes all over their body. They staggered, more blood oozing from their wounds as they glared at us all in anger. “You’re all going to pay for this!” they scowled, their voice gurgling as blood filled their throat. “The Enclave is going to kill you all! You’re all going to die!”

There was a bang and the Pegasi hit the floor with a thud, their head blasted to bits by Skyfire’s shotgun.

Not even a minute had passed, and the fighting was over.

I crouched down, my gun aimed at the door. I saw the Courser, step back into view, his black hooves brushing dust from his thick coat. He glanced up at me and grinned, showing teeth.

Skyfire re-aimed her shotgun at the Courser’s head. “I don’t know who you are partner, but if you make any sudden moves I will blow your fuckin’ brains out.”

The Courser’s icy gaze shifted over to the scarred griffin. He looked her over for a second before checking out the rest of the guns that had aimed towards him. Finally, he shrugged and looked back at me and my friends. “I will meet you outside. Do not try to run. You will not get far.”

With that, he turned and trotted back out the door.

I released a breath I didn’t realize I was holding released as soon as the Courser left my line of sight. I quickly moved over to where Nova was helping Tinker back up to my hooves. “Kid, are you alright?”

Tinker scowled, rubbing at a large bruise on his neck. “I’m fine.”

“You’re not!” I shot back, making the colt wince. “You’re hurt and you’re moms dead. You are anything but fine.”

I flinched slightly at my own words. No later had they left my mouth than I realize I should have tried to be a little less forceful. Tinker looked up at me, his eyes wide and suddenly brimmed with tears.

“I want to kill him Amber…” He whimpered, a tear streaking down his face and dripping from his chin. “I want to kill him so badly.”

I trembled and dropped down to his level, looking him in the eye. “I know… I know exactly what it’s like to want to get back at the ponies that took away the ones you love. But revenge isn’t going to give you what you want.”

Tinker scowled at me, whipping away his tears. “I don’t fucking care,” I winced as the colts words cut at me like a knife. “I’m going to kill him!”

Tinker kicked up, spinning around and darting towards the door as fast as he could. He got less than a foot before Nova’s lavender magic wrapped around him and pulled him into the air. The tall alicorn looked down at me as if expecting orders. “Do you want me to hold him?”

I nodded. “Yes. Thank you Nova.”

Skyfire flapped her wings and lifted herself up and over the counter to land next to me. “You ponies have just brought a big heap of trouble down ‘pon us here. I reckon we’ve just made ourselves official enemies of the Enclave, now that we’ve killed three of their own. I hope that was worth it…”

“Sorry we dragged you into…” I glanced down at the dead Enclaves. “Whatever that was… truthfully I don’t know what just happened myself.”

“I believe you. I try to accept everypony ‘round here. Enclave included, but I don’t trust them flying rats for a second.”

Xayah tilted her head to look out the doorway. “The Courser is still outside. How do you want to handle this Amber?”

“I can lend you a talon if you need it. I don’t appreciate ponies ‘causing violence in my bar,” Skyfire growled, cocking her shotgun. "And from the sounds of it, that bastard killed a foals mother right in front of him. I, for the record, don't tolerate none of that either."

I shook my head. “No. I think we’ve caused you enough trouble today. Thank you for helping us out. We’ll deal with the Courser,” I glanced up at Tinker who was still suspended in the air, struggling to reach the door. “That said, can you keep Tinker safe for us. I don’t want him anywhere near that thing.”

Skyfire nodded, flapping over and snatching Tinker up out of the air. The colt struggled, but Skyfire’s grip was far too strong.

I looked over at Xayah who was still looking out the doorway nervously. I opened my mouth to say something, when I spotted a large shadow passing over the desolate terrain outside. Xayah saw it too, her eyes widening as she took a step forward and turned her gaze skyward.

“What the fuck is that thing!?” The pony I had seen complaining about the radio when I first came in gasped, rushing to the window and looking out.

Skyfire rushed to the window herself, Tinker still in her grasp as she glanced outside. I saw her whole body go still. “No…”

Daring myself to look, I pulled myself up beside Skyfire and looked out the window. My jaw dropped when I saw what was outside.

The Courser stood a few feet away from the bar, standing still as a statue and staring forwards at us with his emotionless face, his dark coat nearly making him invisible against the darkness of the night. He glanced up lazily, his eyes looking up with amusement at the monstrosity that had appeared above him.

Looming in the air above the Courser was a large black airship consisting of a massive deployable hangar. Platforms jutted out from each side, each one supporting oversized magical energy cannons that crackled and glowed. Thunderclouds surged around it and the whole machine was pulled through the air on a dozen spinning, blade-like propellers.

“What is that?” I heard Nova breath from behind me as her gaze was drawn up to the large airship.

“I heard stories of those from some of the Griffins in the Talon that had been above the clouds…” Skyfire stated, her eyes wide as she stared upwards. “It’s an Enclave Raptor. Fuckin’ cloud ships built for small scale assaults. Fast, maneuverable, and strong enough to kill a full grown dragon.”

I gulped. “Fuck…”

“This is the Grand Pegasus Enclave!” A tinny voice boomed from a speaker somewhere aboard the Enclave Raptor. “We know you are housing the fugitive Amber Aura! You are to hoof over her and her friends or you will be treated as threats and enemies to the Enclave and be neutralized accordingly!”

I took a step back from the window. Shit, this was bad. Really really bad.

A stallion on the far side of the bar growled. “I say we give her over to them! Her and her freak friends! I’m not dying to some Enclave bastards for her!” There was a roar of agreement from a bunch of the other ponies around us.

I growled, stepping in front of Xayah and Nova as the ponies turned and started closing in around us, their gazes filled with anger.

There was a loud click as Skyfire levelled her shotgun at the pony that had spoken up. Every pony paused as she aimed her weapon. “Now listen here, all of you! You all know the rules. You attack one of my customers and you find yourself pickin’ buckshot out of the back of your skull!”

“You want us all to get fuckin’ blow up for some random mare and her alicorn and zebra friends?” A mare spat, stepping forward and inciting Skyfire to switch her aim over to her. “I’m not dying for them.”

“Look, maybe I can just give myself over to them peacefully. Maybe we can avoid any more bloodshed,” I stated, taking a step towards the group. “I didn’t want to bring any of you into my troubles.”

The crowd of ponies glanced around at each other, clearly surprised I was willing to simply give myself up. Skyfire turned back to face me, her expression sharing the gathered ponies confusion. “You sure about that partner? I’d fight for you if they try anything here.”

I nodded. “Just keep Tinker safe,” I said, looking at the small colt struggling in one of Skyfire’s talons. I turned to Xayah and Nova. “You two ready.”

They both gave me grim nods.

I turned back and looked down at Tinker. “I’ll be back for you, promise,” I told him. “I’m not going to leave you here.”

Tinker nodded, though he still squirmed to try and escape Skyfire’s grasp. “You better,” His face tightened. “And killed that Courser…”

Outside the window, I saw a group of five armoured Pegasi drop down from the Raptor, their metal clad hooves slamming against the ground and making a clapping sound akin to a thunderbolt. Their weapons glowed as they moved towards the bar.

I saw the Courser watching them from a distance with his unblinking eyes, though he made no move to stop or interact with them. The Pegasi ignored him entirely.

“Amber Aura! You are to exit at once!” One of the Enclave troopers demanded in a booming, magically amplified voice. “This is your last and final warning!”

Cautiously, I stepped out through the door and confronted them, Xayah and Nova flanking me on either side. “I’m right here,” I declared, taking another bold step forward.

The Enclave troopers plasma rifles swivelled to aim at me, each one of them keeping me in their sights. “Lower your weapons and step towards us slowly!”

Xayah and Nova looked to me for confirmation. Gulping, I nodded and slowly lowered Braeburn’s Liberator. Xayah and Nova quickly followed suit. We took a few more steps closer, inching our way toward the Pegasi.

My eyes flickered over to the Courser. He was still just standing there, watching the scene unfold calmly. I shivered just by looking at him.

The Enclave troopers quickly moved to surround us. One of the troopers put a hoof to an intercom in their helmet. “Amber and her associates have been secured. What do you want done with the ponies inside...” He paused, listening to a voice on the other side. Finally, he nodded. “Understood…”

There was a loud crack as one of the huge magical energy cannons on the Raptor opened fire. A beam of energy flashed forwards striking through the window of the bar. Flames burst through the shattered glass as the energy blast exploded in a burst of light.

There were screams as the ponies inside dove for cover from the unexpected blast, fire and plasma flaring over their heads. I saw one pony simply vaporized as the deadly blast hit him point blank.

“NO!” I screamed, panic flaring up inside me as I imagined Tinker getting blasted apart by the deadly beam.

I reared up, my fore hooves bucking at the face of the Enclave trooper that was holding me at gunpoint. The Pegasi cried out in alarm, stumbling back, their plasma rifle firing wildly off into the night sky.

Nova and Xayah whirled around, Nova’s horn flaring as she wrapped another trooper in her magic and sent him flying backwards, his head slamming against a rock, his body going still. Xayah’s anti-machine rifle boomed, a shot slashing through another trooper's chest and sending him crashing to the ground.

I ducked, a beam of energy lashing over my head. I could feel my mane singe as the blast sizzled past me. I managed to righten myself just in time to catch a blow to the head as one of the Enclave’s armoured hooves slammed into me.

I stumbled back, my head throbbing and spinning. I could feel a bump forming on my head and I rubbed it painfully with an aching hoof. I growled at the trooper, my gun raising to fire in retaliation.

I paused as four more troopers dropped out of the sky, their weapons glowing and preparing to fire.

“Nova! Shield! Now!” I demanded, backing up and bumping up against Xayah and Nova as the Enclave quickly surrounded us.

Nova’s horn flared, a violet bubble shield forming around us. Almost a second later, our vision filled with green as the surrounding Enclave troopers fired, their weapons deadly blasts bashing against the alicorn’s powerful shield. Energy rippled across the shields surface, cracking it and forcing Nova to drop to her knees, pain flashing across her face as her magic surged through her cracked horn.

I flared my own horn, adding my magic to Nova's rapidly breaking shield. Amber light glowed from the cracks the Enclave's weaponry had wrought, patching the small holes back together.

“Amber, we need a plan!” Xayah said, her rifle swinging to track one of the Pegasi as they flew in circles around the shield.

I looked around, trying to spot anything that could help us. Nothing caught my eye.

Another round of fire slammed into the shield, once again causing glowing cracks to spider web across the shields surface. Nova cried out, the magic around her horn almost dissipating under the power of the Enclave’s attacks. I tried to patch the shield again, but the Enclave's attacks were to much for my limited magic.

One of the magical energy cannons on the Raptor swivelled, turning downward to face us. My eyes widened as I realized they were preparing to blast us apart. No shield was going to be strong enough to protect us from that.

The shape of a dark griffin flashed across the sky, an apple grenade tumbling from their grasp and clattering down the barrel of the huge cannon. Then there was an ear wrenching boom and the front of the cannon exploded in a shower of green flames.

There was a volley of angry yells as the ponies from the bar began pulling themselves up from behind the shattered bar window, their guns blazing as they fired blast after blast at the Enclave troopers that had surrounded us. The Pegasi darted back, swerving in the air to avoid being filled full of holes.

“Go! Now!” I shouted, rushing towards the remains of the bar as the Enclave's attention was temporarily pulled away from us. Nova dropped her shield with a gasp of relief, flapping her wings and darting along beside me.

Xayah fired off a shot, dropping another Enclave trooper out of the sky, before turning and rushing after us.

Beams of plasma flashed past me as the Enclave tried to take aim, but their constant need to swerve out of the way of the ponies fire threw off their aim. Another trooper was blasted out of the sky, dropping to the ground as their wing was rendered useless by a well aimed shot of a hunting rifle.

I threw my body over the window sill, wincing as the shattered glass sliced at my underside. Nova and Xayah dove in after me, Xayah firing off another shot to cover us as we made our way back behind cover.

The ponies inside looked at us fearfully as we pulled ourselves up behind cover. A few of them looked relatively alright, with only a few scratches or burns across their body. Others were in worse condition, with missing limbs or severe burns that had turned their hide into a giant scab. I noticed a few corpses lying in the middle of the room, their bodies steaming and their faces wrapped beyond recognition. Thankfully, Tinker was not among them.

“Why are they attacking us? You gave yourself over?” One of them whimpered, their eyes brimmed with tears as they tended to their missing fore leg. Blood spilled down their body, pooling around their remixing hooves.

“Because they’re fucking Enclave pieces of shit. We shouldn’t have trusted them in the first place,” A mare shot back, loading her revolver and firing out the window. She cursed under her breath as she missed her mark and had to reload.

Tinker rushed up to me, his eyes wide and blood dripping from a gash on his side. He wrapped his hooves around my middle, his whole body trembling. “I told you I’d be back for you,” I said, patting him on the head. “Granted, I hadn’t expected to be back this soon…”

Beams of energy flashed through the window and over our heads, all of us ducking down low to avoid being turned to smouldering green goo. The far wall of the bar was seared by the blasts, the once off white walls turning a charred black.

A mare with a large gash across her forehead had pulled herself up against a small radio inset into the wall, her hooves desperately clutching the speaker. Tears had streaked down her face, leaving trails of wetness in the ash that coated her hide. “Help! We’re under attack from the Enclave! If anypony can hear us, please! Send help!” she cried into the speaker, her hooves trembling. There was no response from the other side of the radio.

A pegasus soared into the building, their weapon firing and striking the trembling mare down as she screamed for help over the radio. She cried out as the plasma beam slashed into her, then her body went limp and she dissolved into a puddle on the floor.

The Enclave trooper only had enough time to return their gaze to the rest of us when I blew their head off with a shot from my shotgun.

Skyfire swooped in and landed in front of us, panting as she wrapped a wound on her legs up in gauze. “Damn. Those fuckers are persistent,” She snarled, snapping her beak in agitation. “I managed to get all their big guns down, but they got fucking Pegasi working on getting them up and running again already. At the speed those fucks are fixing them, I give us five minutes max before they blast this place apart.”

“You took all the cannons out by yourself?” I gawked, ducking lower as another blast of plasma was flung past me.

Skyfire smirked and smoothed back her crest feathers smugly. “I wasn’t lying when I said you’d find yourself dead before you could pull a trigger,” She dipped to the side as one of the Pegasi dared to fire at her, wincing as she applied pressure to her injured leg. “That said, even I can’t take all these shits down.”

I glanced out the broken window, keeping low to avoid making myself an easy target. As I watched, five more Pegasi descended from the cloud ship, their unified flapping wings filling the air with an ominous thumping sound.

“We got more incoming!” I heard Xayah shout, ducking back from a window across from us as a steam of energy blasts spewed past her. There was a clattering noise as a pulsing green sphere was tossed through the window.

“Plasma grenade!” I heard a pony shout as they pushed back with their legs and rushed for the far side of the bar.

“Everypony back!” Skyfire screamed, her own wings flapping and hauling herself away from the explosive, her two talons snatching up two more ponies and throwing them out of harm's way.

I wrapped my own hooves around Tinker, pulling him aside and shielding him with my body as I sprinted away from the pulsing orb.

Boom!

The plasma grenade detonated, my vision flaring with baleful light as the explosive burst the bars side wall apart. Streaks of green energy raced across the walls, many of the tables being flung through the air and smashing into splintered against the wall. Two ponies were blown apart, their limbs bursting from their bodies and sailing across the room as they were ripped into by the deadly blast.

I felt my back sizzling as the green energy raced over me. Tinker shivered in my grasp as he felt the searing heat wash over us. I screamed, my voice drowned out by the ringing in our ears as our washed out vision slowly faded back into reality.

More plasma flared over my head, this time in the form of energy blasts as the Enclave troopers piled through the blasted open hole in the wall. The ponies around me scampered to their hooves, their weapons raising and firing as they fought back against the onslaught. Another pony fell as they tried to stand back up, their chest ripped open by a violent slash of one of the Enclave's scorpion like tails.

I pulled myself back to my hooves, my vision spinning and Braeburn’s Liberator firing as I dipped and weaved to avoid being turned into a glowing pile of goop. My fourth shot finally made its mark, the buckshot ripping through the chest plate of an Enclave pegasus, fire flaring across the wound and cooking them alive within their armour.

I ducked behind a broken down table. Quickly ejecting the spent slugs and rapidly reloading four more shots into my gun. An Enclave trooper flashed towards me as I reloaded, their weapons glowing as they readied to turn me to ash.

A shot from Nova’s horn slashed through the pegasus’ neck, dropping them to the ground dead, blood burbling from their lips. I gave her a thankful nod, propping myself up on the broken table and aiming at another of the incoming Pegasi. I pulled hard on the trigger, another shot of buckshot flashing out and shredding a troopers wing.

More Enclave troopers began flashing in through the front windows, their armoured hooves smashing against the floor and cracking it. Their weapons raised, beams of green light flashing from their muzzles and forcing us to move back to get behind cover.

“Into the kitchen, now! Go, go!” Skyfire shouted, another blast from her shotgun making it mark and blasting a pegasus apart. She began moving backwards, cocking her combat shotgun violently between each shot. Nova’s shield once more flared to life, creating a thin veil of magic between us and the enclosing Pegasi.

I scrambled to my hooves, tossing Tinker atop my back as I moved to cover Skyfire and the rest of the ponies as they began moving their way back towards the kitchen. Skyfire kicked the door to the kitchen open for us, her shotgun roaring as she gave us all cover fire.

Xayah pulled up next to her, her rifle’s muzzle flaring with light every few seconds as she expertly shot Pegasi down with precise shots to their visor.

I pushed my way into the kitchen behind the rest of the ponies, moving behind the wall to keep myself out of range of the Enclave's lethal attacks. A few seconds later, Xayah and Skyfire scampered in after me, slamming the door shut and blocking us off from the violent assault.

A pony moved forwards, blocking off the door with a chair in an attempt to barracked it shut.

“That’s not going to hold them for long,” Xayah said, stepping back as the loud banging on the door began.

“Correct,” The monotone voice of the Courser cooed in my ear, making me spin around to see him flashing into existence beside me in a beam of blue light. “Which is why it is about time we leave...”

I raised my hoof to strike at him, but before I could I was sent flying back by a strong kick to the gut. I slammed against the wall, my vision spinning.

The ponies around us raised their weapons, aiming at the Courser. Before they could fire, the Courser spun, his Institute magical energy rifle blasting out beams of blue energy in every direction. Two ponies were hit by the blast square in the chest, their bodies slumping as they dissolved into glowing ash.

Skyfire fired, the buckshot spewing from her shogun only missing by inches as the Courser twisted out of the way. His hoof shot up, slamming against the scarred griffins neck and pinning her to the wall.

Both Xayah and Nova lunged forwards, sticking at the Courser, only for their hooves to clatter against the wall as the Courser released his grip on Skyfire and duck out of the way.

The door rattled harder, blasts of plasma flashing though the crumbling surface as the Enclave tried to power their way inside. A chunk of the door was blasted away, skidding across the kitchen floor.

I staggered back up, my horn glowing as I tried to level my shotgun with the Courser. The Courser knocked it aside with ease, his body flipping out of the way as the ponies around him tried to fire.

Tinker swung his small hooves at the deadly synth hunter, only for the Courser’s rifle to bash him across the head, knocking the colt down to the ground.

“The cannon’s repaired!” I heard one of the Enclave troopers beyond the door shout over the sound blaring sound of the gunfire. “Move, now!”

I felt my eyes widen, terror flashing through me. “Everypony down! Get down now!”

I hit the floor just as the massive cannon on the Raptor fired. Fire flared through the bar, the already breaking door to the kitchen flying from its hinges as it was ripped apart by the powerful blast. What few windows that still remained shattered, jagged shards of glass slashing through the bar.

The Course dove to the side, crackling plasma flashing through the doorway and blasting apart where he had just been standing.

The whole structure creaked, the walls threatening to give out from under the devastation of the Enclave Raptors attack.

I tried to drag myself back up, only for my head to be slammed against the ground again as the Courser’s dark hoof crashed down atop my head. I rolled over, getting a good look at the Courser’s leering face as he pinned me down to the debris covered floor. I grasped at my neck as the looming Courser began to choke me.

“X23762Z,” The Courser smirked, their hoof pressing down hard on my neck.

I choked out as the pressure was applied to my throat, by the sensation was fleeting. My choking was abruptly cut off as my whole body went limp, every muscle in me suddenly releasing as the words the Courser spoke washed through my ears. I could feel something inside of me quite literally shut off as my synth deactivation code was spoken aloud, this time in full.

It was a strange feeling, suddenly being unable to move. I could still see everything clearly, but my thoughts were foggy. I tried to stay focused, but I began to slowly forget what exactly was happening around me. I saw shapes moving about, but what those shapes were suddenly felt alien. I tried to raise my hoof, only to find that I was completely immobilized. I tried to turn my head. Again, nothing happened.

Funny… I thought, my head dizzy somewhat. Shouldn’t I be able to move?

A purple alicorn was standing over me, their wings flared and their horn glowing as they sent beams of light streaking towards a dark black stallion. The stallion was dodging easily, one of his hooves lashing out and crashing against the alicorn's face, sending her stumbling away. She screamed I think, but I couldn't hear it for some reason.

The dark pony moved towards me again, their hoof raising to what appeared to be an intercom on their ear. Suddenly a zebra slammed into them, sending them skidding away, their face growling with rage.

I tried to look at the zebra, but even my eyes seemed unable to move. Unable to blink, my pupils fixated on a specific spot on the roof directly above me. The zebra seemed so strangely familiar to me, but I simply couldn’t seem to recognize her. maybe I had seen her in a picture somewhere once...

More ponies were pulling themselves back up around me, ash and debris falling from their bodies as they clawed their way out of the rubble. Many of them were bleeding from wounds that had been ripped open across their flesh, a few of them fell back down, Never to get up again. I wanted to furrow my eyebrows. Who were these ponies? What were we all doing here?

The dark ponies hoof wrapped around the zebra’s neck, pulling them down and sending them tumbling to the floor. The dark pony pinned them down, their rifle firing as they blasted round after round at the rising ponies.

In my peripheral vision, I saw dark, armoured shapes charging through the doorway, green plasma weapons at their sides firing.

A scarred griffin screamed, their shotgun firing off a blast of buckshot as the armoured Pegasi continued to pour through the door.

Odd. My ears must have stopped working. All of the gunshots were silent.

Then there was a sound that I could hear, or rather, that I could feel. The whole building shuddered, a massive boom quaking the earth and causing everypony to look up in surprise. Even the black coated pony turned his gaze upward, looking out the door and up into the night sky beyond.

Just out of the corner of my vision, I saw green flames flaring through the night. Pegasi rained down from the sky, their bodies ripped apart by shrapnel, bullets and growing flames. What appeared to be a massive cloud ship fell from the sky, its haul torn asunder by an explosion bright enough to completely illuminate the night.

The armoured Pegasi began fluttering around in panic, their eyes wide as the ponies around me ripped into them with their guns. They tried to retaliate, but large ponies in suits of metal power armour charged through the doorway, their own guns firing and blasting the armoured winged ponies apart.

The dark stallion screamed something I couldn’t hear, lunging forwards and wrapping a hoof around my body. I couldn’t feel his hoof. Funny. My nervous system must have stopped working.

The dark stallion’s hoof raised, once again clicking an intercom around her ear. His mouth opened as he tried to say something, only for the familiar zebra to once more slam into his side, pushing him away from me.

He scowled, his dark face contorting with what seemed to be a strange form of faux rage. He lunged forwards again, only for the large, armoured ponies to move between him and me.

The dark pony scowled as he was confronted by the excessive firepower. He turned his head, glaring at my limp body. “Other ponies can’t save you forever,” The stallion snarled, his words strangely cutting through the silence that my world had fallen into. Then he disappeared in a flash of blue light, his icy gaze the last thing to vanish before he was gone from sight.

The familiar zebra crouched over me, looking me over with wide, worry filled eyes. She had a pretty face. Dirty and covered in scratches, but pretty. Her mouth moved, some strange word coming from her mouth, over and over again. I tried to make it out, but none of the sounds made any sense. Amber, was she saying? why would she be saying that?

The zebra looked around frantically, water seeming to be dripping from her eyes. She was saying something to the ponies around her who were all looking down at me now in confusion. I spotted one of the armoured ponies looking me over, their expression hidden behind their enclosed helmet.

I saw the purple alicorn again, this time she was saying something to the zebra.The zebra nodded desperately, her face still filled with worry. The alicorn leaned down close, her lips brushing against my ear softly. “X23762Z.”

The words flashed through my mind like a lightning bolt. I shot straight up, my mind filling with hundreds of thoughts as I was suddenly granted the ability to move again. I gasped audibly, air suddenly filling my lungs. My eyes darted about, making out the carnage that filled the room.

A dozen Enclave troopers now lay dead on the ground around us, their bodies ripped apart by explosive fire. Blood seemed to soak every Inch of the room and the bar was in ruins, but the building had somehow managed to miraculously stay standing despite the devastation the Enclave Raptor had wrought.

The surviving ponies all stood around me in a small semicircle, each one of them looking down at me with a mix of shock and confusion. Skyfire leaned against the far wall behind them, one eyebrow cocked at me while she slowly wrapped up her broken wing.

Standing amongst the ponies were a large group of Steel Rangers, each one clad in a full suit of power armour. Two of them had massive Balefire Egg Launchers slung over their shoulder, no doubt the very weapons they had used to tear the Raptor down out of the sky. One of the rangers held a wounded Enclave trooper at gunpoint, the pegasus’ wings and hooves bound together tightly.

“Let go of me, you fucking savages!” The pegasus scowled, struggling against their bonds. Everypony ignored them as they continuously protested.

I heard both Xayah and Nova let out a long breath as I suddenly came back to my senses. "I am glad that worked," Nova stated bluntly to the zebra, her eyes looking me over with concern. "I was not sure if it would or if I had heard the Courser correctly. It would be best to remember that code incase such an event is to occur again.

I looked up at Xayah as she wrapped me in a tight hug. “Do not do that again, you foolish pony,” Xayah ordered, pulling back slightly and glaring me in the eyes.

I grimaced. That whole experience had been awful. Even just knowing that it had happened stripped me of what little feeling I had maintained that I was still a pony. “Trust me, that’s the last thing I want to have happen again,” I replied, kissing her quickly on the muzzle before turning my gaze to the Steel Rangers that had taken out the Enclave. “What are you guys doing here?”

“We received a distress transmission from here a few minutes ago claiming you were under attack from the Enclave,” The Ranger that seemed to be in charge declared, taking a step forward. “We came to lend our assistance.”

I shakily pulled myself up and gave them a skeptical glare, reaching out with a hoof and pulling Tinker close to me protectively. “Since when did the Steel Rangers decide to start helping out wastelanders?” I asked, brushing off some of the dust on my coat. “Isn’t that more the Outcast’s thing?”

The Ranger huffed, glaring at me. “It became our business when the Enclave started launching attacks on our rangers. Do not mistake us for those True Steel fanatics, civilian. Be thankful that we chose to come to your aid. Without us, you would most likely be dead.”

I glanced down at the tied up Pegasus they still held at gun point and gestured to them. "What are you planning to do with them?"

The Ranger looked over at the Enclave trooper for a second before snorting. "The Steel Rangers, like the rest of the wasteland, was not prepared for Enclave invasion. We need as much intelligence out of them as we can get."

The Pegasus spat at them, their whole body quivering in fear. "I'm not telling you anything you fucking tin can!"

Ignoring the Enclave's insult, the Ranger turned and looked over at Skyfire who had picked up a bottle of Wild Pegasus Whiskey and was taking small sips from it. “Skyfire. It is good to see you survived the attack.”

Skyfire gave them a grim nod. “Barely, but I’m still kickin’. It’s good to see you Paladin Sardine.”

The large paladin gave a grunt of acknowledgement before turning his headstrong gaze to the rest of the gathered ponies. “As you were civilians. I’m sure you have a lot of work to do,” He gestured to the destroyed bar and the wounded ponies around them. Skyfire joined us with a flap of her wings as Paladin Sardine turned to once more face me and my friends.

“You two know each other?” I asked, looking between the Steel Ranger Paladin and the scarred griffin.

Skyfire nodded. “Most ponies around the Fillydelphia area stop by here at least once. I’ve served pretty much anyone you would imagine. Slavers, raiders, Steel Rangers. Red Eye himself has stopped by twice now," I blinked in surprise at that comment.

Paladin Sardine looked me over slowly, his eyes studying me through his visor. “Am I correct in believing that you are Amber Aura?” The ranger rumbled.

I glanced at Xayah and Nova who gave me small shrugs in return. “Maybe?” I responded cautiously, turning my head back to him. “Why?”

Paladin Sardine glanced over at one of his fellow rangers. “Perhaps we will get something out of this rescue mission after all…” He turned back to face me. “We have a proposition for you.”

Xayah raised her eyebrows. “Forgive us, but our experience with Steel Rangers in the past has not always been friendly,” She took a step forward, eyeing the large Paladin. “Is this proposition optional, or are we expected to simply comply?”

The Steel Ranger to Sardine’s right growled. “We could kill you if we wanted stripe. Watch your tongue,” I took a protective step in front of Xayah at the rangers outburst, snarling.

Paladin Sardine raised a hoof to quite the ranger. “We demand nothing of you, though if you accept our proposition, we will help you help you get safe passage out of the Fillydelphia outskirts. You four won’t make it out on your own, even with an Alicorn.”

Nova cocked her head at that. “And why is that?”

“Because,” Paladin Sardine growled. “You still have miles to go before you reach Fetlock, let alone Manehattan. Rumour has gotten out that every slaver and raider on this side of the wasteland is searching for you on order from Stern herself. The Enclave is clearly out for you as well, and…” he paused and looked at the spot where the Courser had vanished. “...I have only ever seen one Courser before. It took out an entire Squadron of Steel Rangers before they even had time to react. If you truly think you will be able to reach Manehattan by yourselves with that monster after you, then you’re dead wrong.”

Alright, all of that did make sense. “Okay… when what do you want from us in return?”

“Over the last two months we’ve been having issues at our Fillydelphia headquarters. Highly classified information on our movements and procured Stable-Tec files have continuously been finding themselves in Red Eyes hooves. The issue only amplified after the Schism,” the Paladin stated, his eyes finally leaving me and looking towards the red glow of Fillydelphia on the horizon. “We have a mole in our midst. We need assistance finding it.”

“So why ask us for help?” I pushed, letting go of Tinker and taking a step forward. “Why can’t you do it yourselves?”

“If we could have done so ourselves, we would have,” Paladin Sardine grunted. “Whomever this mole is, they're well informed on what goes on in our base. Any attempts to find them have been met with failure. We need somepony that works outside of our protocols.”

“And so you think we’re the ponies you need?” I monotoned, giving him a disbelieving stare.

“Your accomplishments have not gone unnoticed,” The large ranger remarked back. “And we are under the impression that you don’t want valuable information falling into the hooves of Red Eye just as much as we do. If not more so.”

He had me there. A small spark of what I could only describe as excitement leapt into my chest. A memory nagged at the back of my mind, reminding me that the Steel Ranger headquarters in Fillydelphia was the old Stable-Tec headquarters. The same headquarters that Pureblood used to teleport Crank and his cyber ponies into Stable 25 all those days ago.

That spark of excitement was quickly extinguished by anger. That mole was very likely the pony responsible giving Pureblood access to Stable 25 and starting all of this in the first place.

“Alright, you’ve got yourself a deal,” I finally grunted, extending my hoof out to the Paladin.

Paladin Sardine looked at the hoof for a second before reaching out and bumping it with his own. “Good. Get ready. We leave now.”

I nodded, taking a step away as Paladin Sardine and his rangers trotted out of the kitchen to wait for us in the broken remains of the bar. The rangers dragged their still captive Enclave trooper out with them, the wounded pegasus complaining the whole way out.

I turned, looked at Skyfire as the griffin panned her eyes across the ruins of what had once been her bar. “Sorry about your place,” I said slowly, taking a step towards her.

Skyfire just shrugged off the apology. “Don’t sweat it kid. You did your best to protect this place. Even gave yourself up to the Enclave for us,” Her beak twisted into a scowl. “Too bad the damn Enclave didn’t know when to stop when they were ahead.”

She flapped her wings and fluttered off, moving to help out the surrounding ponies tend to their wounds.

I turned to my friends, looking them all over carefully. Save for a few scratches and a large gash on Tinker’s side, we had all come out of the fight relatively unharmed.

“Are you sure we can trust them?” Tinker asked, looking out the door at the waiting Steel Rangers. “Mom never trusted rangers.”

I shook my head. “No idea, I’m not much for trusting Steel Rangers either. But they aren’t as bad as the True Steels are… I hope. And they’re right. We won’t be able to make it back to Manehattan alone. Not with the Enclave, slavers and that Courser on our tail”

I didn’t bother mentioning my eagerness to find the pony responsible for giving Pureblood access to Stable 25.

“Let us not keep them waiting then,” Xayah said, turning and moving out the door after the rangers. I nodded to her in response, slowly following after her. Nova trotted behind me, picking Tinker up and carrying him on her back.

The Steel Rangers gave us grunts of acknowledgement as we trotted over to them before turning and exiting out into the dark wasteland. I glanced up at the night sky as I followed after them, wondering just how long I still had before Pureblood activated Utopia. Three days? Not long enough? Not nearly long enough to find a way to stop him.

I cast a quick glance back at Skyfire’s ruined bar and the wreckage of the Enclave Raptor. In the darkness of the night, I could have sworn I spotted the shrouded, black figure of a Courser watching me, their icy eyes scanning my every step as my friends and I trotted alongside the Steel Rangers, once more heading back towards the hellish red glow of the vile city of Fillydelphia.

Footnote: Maximum level reached