“You’re wearing a suit of steel and energy. You’re standing with… your brothers… Dangerous objects taken from those who don’t understand. Those who can’t be trusted.”

Rangers.

It had been a long while since I had been in the company of the Steel Rangers proper. I had battled against the True Steels a few times now, and fought alongside the Outcasts repeatedly, but as for the Rangers themselves, they had all seemingly disappeared from Manehattan ever since the schism.

Not that it was hard to understand why. They had been decimated. The Manehattan and Fillydelphia branch had fractured, first into the Outcasts, then later into the True Steels. Dozens had died at the hooves of the Stable Dweller, both in whatever event had caused the schism to begin with, and again when Little Pip had wiped out Bucklin Cross. They were fighting a war on all fronts. From the ever growing forces of Red Eye, from the Enclave and from mutiny within their own faction. And they were losing.

But I had been wrong to think that they were no longer a force to be reckoned with. There was a good reason why their Fillydelphia headquarters had stayed standing amongst the endless onslaught that assailed them.

While Xayah, Nova, Tinker and I limped along beside them, I was reminded why they were still a faction to be feared. One ranger was enough to take on a whole gang of raiders, the dozen that traveled with me now could likely take on a small army if prepared.

The usually silent, ash coated expanse between Fillydelphia and Manehattan was filled with the sound of heavy clunking of metal on metal as the large rangers marched forwards in their massive suits of power armour.

I glanced over at the Ranger leading the group. Paladin Sardine’s armour seemed to gleam in the diffuse moonlight as he powered forwards. Wanting to quench my curiosity, I limped forwards a little faster so that I could trot beside the paladin. Paladin Sardine cast me a small glance as I approached, but otherwise remained silent.

“So where is the Rangers outpost in Filly?” I asked, my eyes scanning the irradiated wasteland around me. “I know it’s in the old Stable-Tec headquarters, but where is that exactly?”

“Not far from the Fillydelphia wall, just outside the inner city. The ruins that were once the Fillydelphia suburbs were a prime location for Stable-Tec back during the war due to the large civilian population,” Paladin Sardine rumbled, his eyes continuing to face forwards. “We should be arriving in a few minutes.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Why so close to the wall? Wouldn’t it be safer to set up a base farther away from Red Eye?”

Paladin Sardine cast his piercing gaze back down to me. “Your question only emphasizes your lack of strategic knowhow. If we set up farther away from the wall, we would be forfeiting our stronghold to Red Eye, giving him more territory and losing the valuable tech inside.”

Right… I felt stupid now. Dumb question.

“Now allow me to ask you a question of my own,” Paladin Sardine grunted, his deep voice demanding answers. “What happened to you back in Skyfire’s?”

I winced, the memory of the Courser deactivating me and going completely immobile flashing through my mind. I opened my mouth to answer, only to quickly shut it again. Knowing the Steel rangers, something told me telling them I was a synth was not the smartest idea. These were the ponies that liked to hoard advanced technology for themselves after all.

I gave him an uncomfortable, forced laugh. “I, um… I got knocked out?”

“Is that a question?” Sardine retorted.

“I got knocked out,” I reiterated in a more confident voice, knowing full well that he could see through my blatant lie. I needed to change the topic. “Sooooo… what do you know about this mole that you want me to deal with?”

“Shockingly little,” Sardine stated, slowing slightly. “We know they have access to some of our most secure files and have the ability to send them to Red Eye. Outside of that, nothing. They have been doing an exceptional job of evading our attempts to find them so far. We can discuss what little we have in further detail upon arrival.”

I nodded, though that didn’t give me much to go off of. “So what do you want me to do?”

“At the moment, nothing,” The large paladin declared, turning to look me over. “Firstly, you and your companions need medical attention. It’s clear you have been taking healing potions, but even still you and your companions can hardly stand. I don’t doubt that you all underwent hell inside of Filly. Especially the stripe. We will deal with our agreement afterwards.”

I felt my legs almost go limp with relief. “R-really? Thank you!” I had been thankful for the healing potions Skyfire had given us, but our time in Filly had left us far more broken than what a few potions had the ability to fix.

“I’ll reiterate what I told you back at Skyfire’s. We are not monsters like those True Steels you encountered back in Manehattan,” Sardine grunted. “You’re next to useless in your current state. How you managed to survive that Enclave attack for so long before we intervened is beyond me.”

Feeling that are exchange had come to a natural close and breaking away from him, I moved back to where Nova was carrying Tinker atop her back. A few of the rangers were casting dirty glances in the alicorns direction, but they were choosing not to comment at the moment.

“How are you two holding up?” I asked, looking them over.

Tinker looked tired, but he seemed to be forcing himself to stay awake. He forced himself to give me a nod, though his eyes seemed to drift close a little at the motion. “I’m doing okay.”

“I am well enough,” Nova monotone as well, bending her neck down to look down at me. I shivered slightly as I met her slitted, piercing gaze. Despite knowing she meant me no harm, every time I looked at her she reminded me off… I shook my head before my thoughts could wander too far. Nova reverted her gaze from me to the rangers around us. “Though, these Rangers do not seem very hospitable to my presence.”

“Steel Rangers tend to not like alicorns much,” Xayah nodded in agreement from behind us. She was staring through the long scope of her anti-material rifle at the barren wastes, seemingly searching for something. On a bitter note, she added, “They tend not to like zebra’s much either for that matter.”

I raised an eyebrow at her. “What are you looking for?” I asked her, taking a step in her direction and scanning the area myself with my naked eye.

“The Courser,” She stated bluntly, her rifle sweeping the area and a small scowl forming on her face as she forced herself to spit out the word. Despite her determination, she still looked weak from her time in Filly. A lot of colour had returned to her face after the doses of Radaway I had given her, and the warm meal from Skyfire’s seemed to help, but I could tell she was still in a lot of pain. “I spotted it following us when we first left the bar. It seems to be gone now though.”

“I doubt it’s gone,” I grumbled, my own eyes looking around for any signs of the deadly synth hunter. I saw nothing but desolation and ash. “That thing isn’t going to give up until it has us or it’s dead. Hopefully we won’t see him again. At least not until we join back up with the rest of our friends at Friendship City.”

“That bastard is not the only thing you’re going to have to worry about!” A snarling voice scowled at us. We all turned to look at the Rangers Enclave captive growling at us as one of the rangers dragged him along. “When the Enclave finds you, you’re dead! You hear me! Dead! You have no idea how fucked you all are! And you have no idea what is coming...”

The Ranger that was dragging him along smacked him across the head, shutting him up. “Quite!” The Ranger retorted, their laser rifle pressing against the pegasus’ head. The trooper instantly went silent, casting all of us one last hate filled glare.

I exchanged a worried look with my friends, before turning and continuing after the Rangers.

The Stable-Tec HQ was massive. The second my eyes landed on it, I instantly understood why the Rangers felt it was so important to keep out of Red Eye’s hooves.

The towering stone building had been converted into a sort of citadel, with a looming metal wall surrounding the outer area of the structure. The front gate was made from what I could only guess was the haul of a battleship and two monstrous sentry bots stood guard in front of it. Teams of Rangers patrolled the roof of the HQ, their weapons scanning the area below for any signs of unwelcome guests.

The base was nothing compared to Fort Strong, the True Steels base back in Manehattan. Not with the massive, small skyscraper sized cannon on Fort Strong's roof, but the Fillydelphia base at the very least gave it a run for its money.

As we got closer, I was able to spot what appeared to be a large fountain that had long since begun to crumble away, a statue atop it depicting what appeared to be one of the three mares that had run Stable-Tec. Sweetie Belle, I think her name was. Raider graffiti had marred the once beautiful statues surface and turned it into a monument of the wastelands evil.

We came to a stop in front of the large gate. A Ranger with a comically large gun that was standing guard by the entrance took a step forward, saluting Paladin Sardine before moving aside for us to enter. A massive crane slowly began to raise the impossibly heavy gate, giving me a clear view of the courtyard beyond.

The courtyard had been turned into a large training and drilling ground for ranger initiates. Multiple tents had been set up where groups of initiates were undergoing extensive workouts. More fully armoured Rangers patrolled the courtyard's premises, armed to the teeth with deadly firepower.

“I thought the rangers out here were barely holding out…” I muttered, looking around the impressive compound.

“You thought correct, despite what this place looks like now,” Paladin Sardine confirmed. “After the death of elder Blueberry Sabre and Star Paladin Nova Rage, most of the Steel Ranger contingency out here fell apart. I’ve been doing my best these past few weeks to hold everything together the best I can, but I'm not elder. Hell, I'm not even a full Star Paladin. It hasn’t been easy, but a lot of Rangers from across the wasteland have been regrouping here under the threat of the Outcasts and True Steels. We’ve managed to secure this area for the time being. If Red Eye was determined to take us out, he would, but right now he has bigger issues to deal with.”

“The Enclave?” Xayah asked, her own eyes looking over the impressive base.

“Indeed,” Paladin Sardine confirmed. “A problem that we too are needing to face,” He turned from us to address one of the Rangers standing beside him. “Knight Shortcake, will you please bring our guests to the medical wing and get them healed up. When they’re done, bring them to me.”

The Knight gave a quick salute before gesturing for us to follow after him. “This way. We’ll get you patched up.”

Sardine slowed to a stop and looked us over one more time before letting us part ways. “Before you go in there. A word of advice,” The large Paladin warned ominously. “I would suggest keeping a low profile if possible. The Steel Rangers here are not fans of alicorns or zebras. To suddenly come waltzing in with both at your side… some might see that as an insult. Others as a threat or challenge… You’ve been warned.”

I nodded as Knight Shortcake began leading us into the headquarters proper. “Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.”

I watched as a small group of Knights dragged their Enclave prisoner away to who knows where, the pegasus kicking and screaming all the way. The Enclave troopers' screams caused Tinker to stir atop Nova’s back and look up, taking in his surroundings. Until then, I hadn’t even noticed he’d fallen asleep on the last bit of the walk here. It was good to know the kid was still able to sleep after all that he had been through.

“Shortcake… Your name sounds familiar,” I said, trotting alongside the Steel Ranger Knight. “Have we met?”

The Knight nodded enthusiastically. “I’m surprised you remember my name. Yeah, I met you back in Fetlock. Back when I served under Senior Paladin Iron Hock. Senior Paladin before he went rogue anyway.”

Xayah’s face darkened. “You were one of the Rangers that took us prisoner…”

Knight Shortcake gave a very uncomfortable sounding laugh. “I uh… Yeah… I guess I was… oh look, we’re here!” He proceeded to lead us the rest of the way to the hospital in nearly complete, awkward silence.

A few doctors looked us over as we stumbled in, their faces clearly surprised by the multitude of wounds we had across our bodies. I could only imagine how dirty we looked after our time behind the looming walls of Fillydelphia. Or our time in the wasteland in general for that matter.

I’m pretty sure the last time I had the opportunity to wash myself was back in Tenpony Tower.

“Ow ow ow ow!” I winced, a strange, dull, prickling pain crawling up my leg as the doctor standing over me sewed one of my wounds shut. I flinched as they tugged on the needle, causing my flesh to fasten together. “Why couldn’t you just use a healing potion!?”

“Because you were in desperate need of extensive surgery,” The doctor grumbled back, snipping the sutures with a small pair of medical scissors. “It’s clear that you have been using healing potions to mend broken bones, which, if you were unaware, is not an effective method of healing your body. If anything, it will only make your situation work, permanently wrecking your bone structure. You’re lucky you're not a paraplegic.”

“So I’ve heard,” I mumbled in response, biting back another moan of pain.

Nova stood beside me, looking over the doctor’s shoulder curiously as they worked. The doctors weren’t able to do much for her damaged horn and they didn’t know much about alicorn biology, but they did give her a healing potion that seemed to do very little. Her slitted pupils traveled down to my face as I squirmed. “I am surprised that you are in such distress,” The alicorn stated flatly. “After what you had been through, I had assumed you would have a higher pain threshold. Especially since you are currently on a fair amount of pain medication.”

“I think it has less to do with the pain, and more to do with the surgery,” I mumbled back, wincing as the doctor once more began cutting away at my skin to get to the damaged bone beneath. Nova wasn’t wrong, most of my body just felt numb at the moment and the only real pain I felt was a small, tingling sensation where the needle probed into my hide. “I’ve had some pretty bad experiences with surgery.”

Nova nodded, her eyes watching as the doctor worked. “Yes. I’m sure what my sister did to you in the Manehattan metro must have been quite traumatizing.”

And of course having Pureblood cut me open and put a foal inside of me, I wanted to say, though I kept the thought to myself. I didn’t really want to get into that conversation again. Instead, I simply forced my gaze up to the ceiling, ignoring her statement all together.

“You are still uncertain of my presence?” Nova asked bluntly a few moments later after I failed to properly answer her.

I grimaced. “That obvious?” When Nova nodded, I sighed. “Sorry. Yeah. That alicorn in the metro kinda made me a little afraid of alicorns.”

“You fear me?” Nova questioned. Her voice sounded more interesting than hurt.

I gulped and gave her a nod. I didn’t think I was afraid of her specifically, but having her looming over me all the time definitely gave me a strong sense of unease. “Wouldn’t you be in my situation? I mean, it’s scary enough that you alicorns are strong, fast, can fly and have powerful magic that can literally rip out my heart. Getting strapped down in some bloody medical ward while an alicorn rambles manically and cuts me open kinda makes it hard to not be just a little freaked out.”

“And yet you still allow me to follow you?” Nova continued, her voice suddenly thoughtful and strangely reminiscent. “Why?”

Wasn’t that the question of the year. I gave her a small shrug. “I don’t know. If you wanted to kill me, you could have let the Courser do it. But you saved my life instead. I figure I owe you or something… I guess I figure you at the very least deserve a chance.”

Nova’s slitted eyes softened. “I appreciate your acceptance. If I can do anything to ease your discomfort of my presence, just let me know.”

“Just don’t strap me down to a medical bed and cut me open,” I grinned back at her, only half joking.

Nova cast a wary eye at my strapped down form and the doctor that was currently doing surgery on my leg. “I feel this was the wrong time to ask this off me. Do you wish for me to stop the surgeon?”

“You will do nothing of the sort,” The doctor snapped, not bothering to look up from my leg as they worked with my ruined leg bone. “Amber Aura has made a big enough mess of her legs as it is. I do not need you making this procedure harder.”

I chuckled and shook my head. “Don’t worry about it Nova. I’m fine.”

The tingling sensation in my leg stopped for a second and I heard the doctor exhale a small breath. “What the hell do we have here?”

Grimacing, I glanced down, looking at the small metallic object the doctor had found below my flesh in the joint between my hind leg and thigh. I blinked at the metal object a few times, trying to figure out what it was. After a few seconds, I realized I was looking at the beginning of a very small wiring system that seemed to travel up deeper into my body.

The doctor looked up at me with surprise. “This is cybernetic augmentation like I have never seen before… well above any technology that existed before or after the war… where did you get this?”

Not cybernetics, but synthetics from the Institute, I realized. The inner workings of my synthetic body. Again, I reminded myself that telling the Steel Rangers I was a synth was probably not the best game plan. “MWT hub in Manehattan,” My mouth lied. “They have a lot of cybernetic augmentations there…” Only kind of a lie. Technically the MWT building did have a lot of cybernetics and it did hold the secret entrance to the Institute as well.

The doctor gave me a quizzical look. “None of our sources said anything about tech this advanced at that facility. Though I doubt we’ll be able to get a squadron out there, not with all that’s been going on there.”

“What’s been going on out there?” I asked, raising an eyebrow and looking away again as the doctor continued to work.

“In Manehattan? A lot. Most of us fear a full on war out there is inevitable. Be it against the Enclave or other factions. At the MWT hub specifically? From what I’ve heard, the True Steels are finally making a move on it. No doubt they want the tech inside. But they’re facing some pretty heavy resistance.”

“From who?” Nova questioned, her eyes seemingly fascinated by the scalpel cutting away at the excess skin in my hind leg.

“When the True Steels arrived, the MWT building was already in a conflict between a small faction calling itself the Friendship Express and.. Um…” The doctor cleared their throat, as if they didn’t believe what they were about to say. “...And walking mannequins apparently,” The doctor grunted, his voice sounding almost unbelieving. “Apparently a lot of the mannequins that littered the Manehattan ruins started coming to life two days ago. A lot of settlements and caravans are getting attacked by them.”

I gave a grim nod. “Yeah. I heard that too.”

The doctor gave a serious looking shake of his head. “Those True Steels are taking territory fast. If they managed to take the MWT hub, I’m not sure what we would be able to do to stop them. They already have Fort Strong. Anymore and we might as well hang ourselves,” There was a strange pulling sensation followed by a loud snipping of scissors, and the doctor pulled away. “There you go. All done. Try not to be as reckless next time.”

I gave them a grateful nod and tried to crawl off the bed, only to fall on my face due to the strange sensation of not being able to feel my hooves thanks to the pain medication. I felt Nova’s mouth clamp down around the scruff of my neck as she picked up my rather small body and placed me over her withers.

“Your zebra companion is in the other room. Her wounds were quite impressive,” The doctor stated, leading us over to a door on the far side of the medical office. Nova followed after them, carrying me with her. “That and she was suffering from fairly severe radiation sickness. We did find Radaway in her system, as I’m sure you’re well aware, but the effects of her time in Fillydelphia are probably going to leave some lasting side effects.”

I felt a sense of alarm shoot through me at that. “Lasting effect? What do you mean by that?”

“The radiation poison caused a minor mutation in her lung,” The doctor explained, ushering us into the next room where Xayah lay on a medical bed being tended to by two doctors. “Hopefully the effect won't be too bad, but expect shortness of breath and for her to tire easily.”

Nova carried me towards Xayah’s bed. Tinker was standing next to it, squeamishly looking away as one of the doctors detached one of Xayah’s cybernetic legs to get to the irradiated flesh beneath. Tinker’s wounds had been minimal, I doubted that the doctors even needed to do much more than a simply healing potion for him.

“These legs of yours are extraordinary,” The doctor that had removed Xayah’s leg stated, holding the mechanical hoof in his grasp and looking it over carefully. “If you were not here on request of Paladin Sardine, I would insist we confiscate your legs for closer examination!”

“Yeah, that won’t be happening,” I snarled at him, trying my best to pull myself off of Nova’s back and stand next to Xayah. “How are you doing?”

Xayah gave me a sheepish smile. “Alive,” Alive was good. Alive was great. “But the doctor said I should probably stay here for another hour or two.”

That was less good.

“Why? Is something wrong?” I asked, worry filling my voice.

“We need a little longer to fully flush all the radiation from her system,” The doctor that hadn’t spoken yet told me, looking up from Xayah only briefly to address me properly. “The fact she isn’t dead is honestly a miracle.”

Xayah gave me a gentle smile. “Clearly you got me out of Filly at the right time. Any later and I’d be dead.”

“Clearly I didn’t get you out soon enough,” I grumbled back, not feeling particularly good about myself at that moment.

Xayah gave me a stern look. “Do not be a foolish pony, Amber. You did what you could.”

I gave a grim nod, but I felt bad regardless. “Knight Shortcake is waiting for you outside,” A doctor told me, leading me away. “It would be best if you did not leave him and Sardine waiting.”

I leaned down and gave Xayah a quick kiss on the forehead. Her forehead was uncomfortably hot to the touch, a clear sign of her high fever. “You get better, alright. I’ll be back soon,” Turning, I began hobbling on my numb legs towards the door, Nova close behind me. I turned to glance back at Tinker. “Do you want to come with us?”

But Tinker’s gaze had shifted elsewhere. He was staring at one of Xayah’s detached mechanical legs, his eyes puzzling over them slightly.

“Uh, Tinker?”

Tinker glanced up at me, as if he hadn’t heard me. “Hmm… oh, uh… can I take a look at those legs? They’re cool, but I think I can improve them...”

I cast Xayah a quick glance. I didn’t know how I felt about Tinker messing around with my marefriend's legs. The last thing I wanted was for him to damage them as we didn’t exactly have spares. On the other hoof, Tinker desperately needed something to get his mind off of the loss of his mother, and Chestnut had said he was rather talented with machines.

Xayah met my gaze and seemed to come to the same decision. She turned her head and gave Tinker a warm smile. “Of course. I would love to see what you could make.”

Tinker quickly jumped to his hooves excitedly, giving off the first genuine smile I had seen on him since Chestnut had died. “Oh, thank you thank you thank you! I’ll make your legs the coolest thing you have ever seen, I promise!” The colt assured Xayah, picking up her detached legs and quickly scampering off into the corner to fiddle with them. Xayah winced as the colt pulled out a screwdriver and began detaching components on her left foreleg.

It was almost silly to watch, seeing the small foal rushing off with Xayah’s legs while she watched. Maybe if we weren’t all hurting so much from our losses it might even have been funny.

I gave Xayah a thankful look and exited the hospital with Nova, finding Knight Shortcake waiting for us outside. “Alright, let's get this over with,” I told the Knight as he started leading us down one of the hallways.

The hallway we walked down led out into a grand looking atrium area, uncomfortably similar in architecture to the atrium back in Stable 25. A holographic image of the same mare I had seen a statue of outside seemed to have been set up in the centre of the room, spouting information about Stable-Tec to pre war visitors that had long since stopped coming on the account of balefire detonation. Up above, I saw a large balcony that overlooked the atrium, no doubt some sort of Overmare office for the heads of Stable-Tec.

I wondered just how many twisted experiments the ponies that worked here had created before everything went to hell. Had they developed the hereditary cutie mark experiment for Stable 25 here as well, or had Pureblood manufactured that himself in secret within the Institute?

“Hey, so I just wanted to say sorry about what happened with Iron Hock. Back in Fetlock and all,” Shortcake said out of nowhere, his words breaking me away from my thoughts. “For what it’s worth, I thought taking you ponies prisoner was wrong, and I transferred here to Filly after. I never was a big fan of how Iron Hock handled things.”

“Don’t sweat it,” I said, waving off his apology with a hoof. “I remember you being one of the nicer Rangers anyway.”

Knight Shortcake seemed to beam with pride at that. “Heh, well I try my best. Protect the ponies of the wasteland, that’s what I’m here for.”

I bit my lip slightly at that. “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but if that’s what you’re here for, why don’t you join the Outcasts? Why stick with the Steel Rangers? It seems like they are doing a lot more good.”

Shortcake gave me a grim look. “Because the Outcasts are doomed to fail. Don’t get me wrong, I get what they’re trying to do. Admire it even. Sure some of the Rangers here think they’re all just backstabbing traitors that broke their oaths to the Rangers, but I don’t see it that way.”

Nova raised an eyebrow at that. “Then how do you see it?”

Shortcake shrugged. “It’s like this. The Outcasts are using up resources fast and sticking their necks out for every wasteland civilian that needs help. That might be good right now, but in ten or twenty years that’s going to bite them in the ass. I think we should help the ponies of the wasteland, but if we just keep taking the bullet every time somepony needs help and we end up dying out, then everything we did would just amount to nothing,” He looked back at us, trying to gage our understanding of what he was saying. “I mean, that’s what this is all about right? What the Rangers are doing. What you’re doing. Hell, even what Red Eye is doing. We’re trying to fix the wasteland. Anything short of restoring Equestria to what it once was isn’t enough. It’s got to be everything.”

I felt my heart sink. The idea of restoring Equestria to its former glory seemed impossible. No pony, not even Red Eye and his city of industry could do that. The only thing that could possibly do something like that was…

...Was the Utopia program… And I sure as fuck wasn’t going to let that happen.

“Though, I hope I’m wrong,” Shortcake finally concluded, turning another corner and leading us to a set of stairs that lead up to the next floor. “If the Outcast’s do manage to change things for the better, I’ll eat my words and join them.”

I nodded, accepting that answer. It was good to know not all Steel Rangers were selfish raiders in fancy suits of armour. “Do you know anything about this supposed mole I’m supposed to be dealing with?” I asked, switching subjects. My itching curiosity on who this traitor was was gnawing away inside of me. It felt almost surreal to know that I might come face to face with the pony that had leaked the files on Stable 25 and started this whole mess.

Shortcake gave another shrug. “Not really. But then again, no pony does. They’d have to have access to our files and the files left behind by Stable-Tec from before the bombs, but that doesn't limit it down by much. Pretty much any Scribe with the ability to hack a terminal can access that, and I’m pretty sure most of our Scribes can hack terminals.”

“Do you know any of the Scribes?” I pushed, hoping to get something I could use out of the Knight.

“I mean, I know scribe Hail. She transferred to Filly with me from Manehattan when Iron Hock and his goons broke off from the Rangers. She’s a good mare though. I doubt she’d be a spy for Red Eye,” Shortcake replied truthfully.

“Wouldn’t have been here long enough to leak some that information anyway, even if she was a spy,” I grumbled in agreement. At least that checked one possible option off the list. Only around a hundred to go.

“Perhaps we will learn more from Sardine,” Nova soothed from beside me as we began to approach a large door that I assumed was the entrance to the large office I had seen overlooking the atrium. As we approached, the door slid open with a near silent click, allowing us to hear the voices that were speaking beyond.

“Iron Hock’s soldiers have already attacked some of our brothers,” I heard a pony that I didn’t recognize snarl. “We need to stop holding back and letting him walk all over us. The longer we sit and do nothing, the more territory he gets.”

“We can’t openly declare war on the True Steels. Not while we’re being flanked by both Red Eye and the Outcasts. We’re barely strong enough to fight one war. Three at once is suicide,” The very distinct voice of Paladin Sardine rumbled back. "And with the new Enclave threat, we need to make our next moves very, very carefully."

Nova and I trotted into the office, making out the forms of four ponies crowding around a large, circular table. It reminded me of Toffee and Purity back in the Hollow Shades, plotting over how to best take back their town from Red Eye’s slavers.

“We’re already at war with the True Steels,” The Ranger I hadn’t met before snapped back. “If they weren’t already our enemies when they chose to turn their backs on the Rangers and their oaths, then they became our enemies when they stormed Fort Strong and decimated the remaining Rangers there!”

“I’m not saying they aren’t our enemies. I’m saying that we need to deal with them carefully. Diplomacy is our friend right now. Violence will only get us killed” Sardine boomed. “War is coming to Manehattan, of this I am certain. But if we start it preemptively, we’ll be dead before it’s even begun.”

Shortcake cleared his throat from beside me, making all four ponies gathered around the table lift up their heads and glare at us. Two of them wore red robes, Scribes, if my memory serves correctly. The other two were Sardine and the unknown Ranger, both clad in their heavy suits of power armour.

“What is that civilian and that freak doing here?” one of the Scribes scowled, narrowing her eyes and Nova and I.

“I asked them to be here,” Sardine rumbled back, raising a hoof to silence the Scribe that had spoken. “I expect them to be treated with courtesy, Scribe Inkwell.”

Scribe Inkwell just scowled back. “Elder Blueberry Sabre would never have allowed civilians and mutant freaks to walk all over us. We can deal with our matters on our own. We didn’t need them then, and we don’t need them now.”

“Elder Blueberry Sabre is dead. Perhaps if she had been a little more lenient towards outsiders she would still be alive,” Sardine retorted with a loud huff. Inkwell scowled back and gave me a death glare, but didn’t comment further.

I took a cautious step forward, addressing Sardine. “You were going to tell me more about what you need from me? About the mole?”

That set Inkwell off, making her scowl again. “This is who you got to deal with the mole? We don’t need her!”

“Inkwell, I said that’s enough!” Paladin Sardine bellowed, stomping his hoof angrily on the ground. “If we didn’t need assistance dealing with the mole, then we would have captured them months ago. If you are not capable of playing nice, then leave until we are done here.”

Inkwell stared at him slack jawed for a second before grunting and storming out of the room, pushing her way past me.

“Ignore Inkwell. She means well, but she takes the Steel Ranger oath very seriously. And she hasn’t had the best experience with alicorns,” The scribe that hadn’t spoken yet said in a much kinder tone. Her face softened a little and she waved at Nova and I almost timidly. “I’m Scribe Hail by the way. It’s a pleasure to meet you both,” She blushed, her yellow coat going a deep red. "I'm, uh... I'm a big fan of yours by the way."

A big fan? Of me? That was probably the craziest thing I had ever heard any pony say. I figured I must have made some sort of reputation for my self with the amount of things I had done in the wasteland over the last few weeks, but the idea that somepony, a Steel Ranger no less, was a fan of mine was surreal.

I opened my mouth to comment on that when Paladin Sardine interrupted me. “Regardless of Scribe Inkwell's behaviour, we should return to the topic at hoof,” the large Paladin interjected, taking a step forward. “I can supply you with access to the files that the mole leaked. I am aware of your technical knowhow, perhaps you can use the files to uncover the spy.”

I grimace, completely forgetting about the whole 'fan' comment. That wasn’t overly much to go on. But that said, this was Stable-Tec technology, and that was my specialty. “ Is there anything else you can give me?”

Sardine shook his head. “Unfortunately, not much. As previously stated, this spy has done a terrifyingly good job of staying under the radar. Whenever we seem to be closing in on them, all trials seem to come to an abrupt stop. Almost as if they simply stop existing for a short time. At least long enough for us to lose their trail. We have however managed to intercept and decode a single message sent from Fillydelphia to the spy, though we were unable to make much leeway on its meaning. We suspect the message was one of many, though we have been unable to attain any others,” He gestured over to a large terminal inset into the wall behind him. “This terminal has access to most of the files, including the intercepted message. I advise that you start here.” He gestured to both Knight Shortcake and Scribe Hail as I began approaching the terminal. “Shortcake and Hail will accompany you to ensure that you do not… Meddle... with things you are not intended to.”

I nodded, rolling my eyes. I clicked on the terminal and watched as the lines of code began scrolling across the screen. The terminal had already been unlocked for me, and a good thing too. The password looked like it was around sixteen letters long.

Not that I doubted my ability to hack it even if it had been locked.

“Alright, what do we have here,” I muttered to myself, looking the files over. There were hundreds of different files, only some of them having anything to do with Stable-Tec. It would appear that the Steel Rangers had been using the Stable-Tec database to store much of their own data as well.

“That there is the intercepted message,” Scribe Hail said, pointing to one file on the terminal. “We’ve already read it through quite a few times, but hopefully you might be able to make something out of it.”

I thanked her, pulling the contents of the file up.

>Classified

>Encrypted message…

>Message decrypted…

>Your mission is to acquire and send access to any and all Stable-Tec files associated with something codenamed Project Redirect. It is of utmost importance that this remains on the down-low. This is your most important objective, even above locating the A.A.S.S. Do not allow anypony to realize what you are doing, and destroy all access to all information that you send to me. We cannot allow anypony, even the Steel Rangers to figure out what is going on.

>Sincerely, Leaden Excellent.

“Leaden Excellent,” I mouthed, reading over the name. “What kind of fucking name is that?”

“We’ve searched through every file and text that we can on the name, and have been unable to find any matches,” Hail stated, looking at the odd name herself. “Nor were we able to find anything out about this Project Redirect that they mention.”

“I’m not surprised. It sounds like they put great efforts into covering it up,” I grumbled back. This was just what I needed. Another secret project that was going to give me a hard time. Dealing with the Utopia Program was already hard enough.

Not sure what else I could gather from what was most likely an intentionally vague message, I started scrolling through the other files. There was one bit of information I knew this Red Eye spy had leaked. Scrolling through the files, I quickly spotted the file labeled ‘Stable 25’ and opened it.

>Stable 25

>This file has been updated on request of Co-founder of Stable-Tec, Scootaloo.

>Stable 25 is a little bit of an oddity among Stables out in the Manehattan area, or all of Equestria for that matter. Most Stables have a designated experiment to go with it, but Stable 25 is a testing ground for a larger collection of much smaller experiments. The primary experiment of course, is to see if it is possible for leadership to endure in the event that Celestia and Luna are taken out of the picture. A project that Pureblood has been very interested in, no surprise there.

>Other tests include Stable 25 being one of the only Stables where Pipbucks are designed to be easily removable from the inhabitants foreleg. A key is of course still required, but the locks are significantly weaker and all Stable dwellers will be designated a key for their specific pipbuck. An extension of the first experiment. A test to see if leadership can still be maintained, regardless of the extensive monitoring that the pipbucks of other Stables such as Stable 2 provide.

>Perhaps the other most notable experiment is the instalment of a new device called the Atmospheric Administering Sustenance System, or A.A.S.S for short. Scootaloo had it implemented into the Stable just a few days ago. She said it was of the utmost importance that it was kept on the down low from everypony, including the designated Overstallion, whomever that will be, until they are put in control of the Stable proper.

>Hopefully, that never needs to happen.

>There is one other experiment… or at least what I assume is an experiment. I’m not really all that sure. Stable 25’s maneframe is-

[The remainder of this file has been deleted as of 31 days ago]

I blinked, suddenly thrown off by the abrupt stop to the file.

Part of the file had been deleted? Assumably that meant that whatever the rest of this file held pertained to this Project Redirect, if the spy had succeeded in deleting what they were supposed to anyway. And only thirty one days ago? That would have been only shortly before I left the Stable for the first time. I turned away from the screen and pointed it out to Scribe Hail who was chatting quietly with Shortcake behind me while I read. “What do you make of this?”

Scribe Hail looked over my shoulder at the deleted section of the file. She gave a small grunt of confusion. “I’m not sure. None of the other files that were leaked by the spy were deleted. Maybe it was an error on the computer?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think so. Too much of a coincidence for that.”

“You think it is connected to this Redirect thing?” Shortcake asked, asking the obvious.

I nodded. “What else could it be?”

“Then what do you suggest?” Nova asked, reading over the file herself. “Is there any way to retrieve the lost data?”

I bit my lip, thinking. “Not that I know of. Not unless there is a backup computer somewhere that stores everything.”

“This building's basement houses an unfinished Stable that was intended to be used as tours to show off Stable-Tec technology to tourists,” Knight Shortcake interjected helpfully. “There’s a maneframe down there that houses the locations of all the Stables. I think it backs up a lot of the other Stable-Tec information as well.”

I felt myself grin at that. It was like the answers were practically being given to me. “That’s perfect! Do you think you can lead me to it?”

Knight Shortcake gave a sheepish nod. “I mean, I’ll need to get permission from Paladin Sardine, but yeah, I don’t see why n-”

“What do you mean he’s refusing to talk!” Paladin Sardine scowled at the other ranger in the room, cutting off Shortcake. I turned to see the two fully armoured Rangers still standing around the round table, talking back and forth.

“He said he refused to speak to anyone associated with, and I’m quoting him here, ‘primitive tin can suits’,” The Ranger replied grimly. He raised a hoof and pointed at me. “He says he wants to speak with her, and her only.”

I stiffened. “Wait, what’s happening.”

Paladin Sardine sighed and shook his head. “It would seem that I am going to need to ask another favour of you before you even complete the first task. That Enclave prisoner we captured... they’re asking for you.”

Nova raised an eyebrow. “Why. We have no business with him.”

Sardine shrugged. “Clearly he doesn’t see it that way,” He turned so that he could face us more directly. “I understand that you are eager to get this whole interaction with us over with so you can return to Manehattan, but I would like to request you to accompany me to interrogate the prisoner. Perhaps we can both learn something valuable out of the exchange.”

“What information are you hoping to get out of him?” Nova questioned, stepping up beside me.

“Anything on the movements of the Enclave,” The Ranger that I didn’t know the name of answered. “When the Enclave came down from the sky, they decided to start making a lot of enemies fast, the Steel Rangers included. And with their advanced weaponry and aerial advantage, we need all the help we can get combating them.”

“I nodded. “Alright. I’ll help out,” I wasn't feeling particularly fond of the Enclave myself. Not after they had attacked me, the ponies at Skyfire’s Bar, and the ponies out in Oasis.

Taking my confirmation as a cue to go, Sardine turned and began quickly leading us out of the room and down a few more hallways until we reached a section of the building that the Steel Rangers had converted into a prison area.

It looked to have once been the main office location, with multiple small rooms filled with even smaller cubicles. Now the doorways had been reinforced with iron bars and turrets had been expertly installed into the ceiling. Most of the makeshift cells were empty. All except one.

Two Steel Ranger guards stood sentinel outside of the iron barred doors. Beyond them, I could make out the form of a pegasus relaxing in a rather uncomfortable looking chair. He had been stripped of his black, insectoid looking armour and currently had his hind hooves propped up on the slanted, rust coated table in front of him.

His composure was a lot calmer than it had been when I had watched the Ranger first drag him in, but I could tell he was still relatively nervous from his darting eyes as they moved from one of us to the next.

One of the two guards quickly pulled the barred door aside for us as Nova, Sardine and I approached. As we entered, Sardine quickly ordered Knight Shortcake and Hail to wait for us outside.

“Alright, I brought the Stable Dweller and her friend as requested,” Sardine rumbled, marching over to where the Enclave pegasus was resting. “Now you’re going to cooperate.”

The pegasus glared up at him for a second, his eyes narrowing. Then he leaned back further in his chair and gave a smug looking smirk. “Nope.”

“What do you mean, no,” Sardine scowled, his resonant tone vibrating the walls slightly.

“I mean, no. I said I refuse to talk while you Ranger bastards are present. So fuck off,” The pegasus shot back, giving Paladin Sardine a twisted grin.

Sardine stamped his metal clad hoof in frustration and gave a loud grunt. “Fine. You have five minutes,” He turned to me and gave me an even stare through his tinted visor. “You two have five minutes to deal with him. Get anything you can out of the prick.”

I nodded back and slowly approached the table with Nova as Sardine trotted out of the room.

“So. You’re the unicorn that’s got the whole Enclave up in arms and got my whole squad massacred for,” The pegasus soothed as I sat down across from him. “You don’t look like such a big deal to me. Your name’s Amber, right?”

“What do you want to talk to me about?” I retorted back, not feeling in the mood to deal with this ponies taunts.

The pegasus smirked. “I want to make a deal with you,” He leaned in close, his voice lowering so that only Nova and I could hear. “I want you to help me get out of this place.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “And why the hell would I do something like that?”

The pegasus scoffed, his eyes narrowing. “Because you ain’t one of these Ranger fucks, why should you stick your neck out for them? I know you’re trying to get back to Manehattan. I assure you, the Enclave can protect you better than these steel clad dicks can. Besides, if you stick around here, you’re going to have much bigger problems.”

I leaned back, glaring at him. “I’m not a big fan of the Steel Rangers, true, but as far as I’m concerned, the Enclave is a hell of a lot worse than they are. That’s hardly a reason to help you escape after you attacked me and my friends.”

“Alright, fine. Here’s a bigger piece of incentive for you then,” the pegasus scowled, gritting their teeth. “The Steel Rangers searched me down, took all my shit, but not quick enough. I sent out a signal to the Enclave high command. There’s a fleet coming out this way to rescue me as we speak. You maybe have about an hour before this place goes up in flame.”

“I find it unlikely the Enclave would take such drastic action so soon to help just a single soldier,” Nova coed, glaring at the pegasus. “Do you have any proof of this?”

The Enclave trooper leaned back in his seat again, looking us over. “Clearly you don’t know the Enclave like I do. They wouldn’t dare let any of the information I’m holding slip into enemy hooves. They’ve already wiped out one settlement for less. They’ll be here. And when they do, this whole place is coming down,” I grimaced, realizing he was right about that. He leaned forwards again, this time his smirk was wide enough that it almost reached his ears. “And if that isn’t enough incentive, I’ve got something else that might be a little more personal for you…”

I felt a shiver pass through me at his words. I didn’t like his tone one bit. “Oh yeah? What?”

“I heard what you said to that striped cunt friend of yours. That you have friends waiting for you in Friendship City,” The pegasus started. “Well it just so happens that the Enclave is on their way there now as we speak. Getting ready to burn the whole fucking place to the ground.”

I bolted to my hooves in alarm. “You’re lying!”

“I’m not,” The pegasus smirked back. “We had a spy inside of the city. Raspberry Tart I think her name was. She’s letting the Enclave waltz right into the city without resistance. Once inside they’re going to kill everypony. You can kiss your sorry friends goodbye.”

I spun around, darting for the door to the cell. Nova quickly pulled herself up and moved beside me. I had to get out of here. I had seen just how deadly the Enclave could be with just one Raptor and a couple troops. If they were planning to kill everypony in Friendship City, then… Then my friends were about to be in for a whole heap of trouble.

The Enclave pegasus’ eyes widened as I made for the exit. “W-wait! What do you think you’re doing! You’ve got to help me out of here!” I could hear fear creeping back into his voice. He jumped up, his wings flaring. “Don’t just leave! No wait!”

I ignored him. He had given me much bigger issues to deal with.

I slammed on the bars to the door with a hoof, making the two Ranger guards outside pull it open for me. The second it was open, I burst out and began to move towards the hospital. I had to get Xayah and Tinker and get out of this place. Fast!

“Where do you think you’re going?” Paladin Sardine demanded, stepping in front of me before I could charge off. Three fully armoured Steel Rangers flanked him, backing him up as he confronted us.

“I’m leaving. Right now!” I declared, gesturing for the large Paladin to step aside. “I need to get to Friendship City and-”

“You aren’t going anywhere until we’ve dealt with the mole,” Sardine monotone back, his massive guns aiming at me.

I snarled. “The deals off. I have more important things to deal with right now!” I turned to address Nova. “Go get Xayah and Tinker. We’re getting out of here.”

“That won’t be possible,” Sardine scowled, advancing towards us before Nova could move. “I wanted to keep this civil between us, but if I need to hold your friends captive I will.”

I glared back at him, my magic wrapping around the handle of Braeburn's Liberator. “What did you do to them?”

“Nothing yet,” Sardine informed me, his voice shifting to a softer tone to try and defuse the situation somewhat. It didn’t work. “We aren’t monsters. The colt will be safe. The stripe on the other hoof is in a very different situation.”

“You lay a hoof on her and you’re dead,” I growled back. I was done negotiating. I had just fought through the entirety of Fillydelphia to get Xayah back. If Sardine thought he could keep her from me with only a couple of Steel Rangers in the way, then he was dead wrong.

“Then I suggest you cooperate. Make this whole ordeal easier on yourself,” Sardine retorted. “What did you learn from the pegasus.”

“He led the Enclave right to you. You have roughly an hour before his buddies show up to rip this place a new one,” I spat back, trying to move past him. He easily blocked me with one of his large hooves.

Paladin Sardine grunted. “Damn. We aren’t prepared for a direct attack from the Enclave. Not right now…” He turned from me, addressing one of the Rangers behind him. “Lock the base down and ready everypony for an assault. We might be in for one hell of a fight. No pony gets in or out of the base,” the Ranger he addressed gave a quick salute and charged off.

I scowled. “You can’t lock this place down. Not yet. We need to get out of here first.”

“No, you aren’t,” Sardine reiterated. “If anything, this should give you one hell of a reason to stay. The Enclave attack is going to put this place into more chaos than it has seen in a long time. If the mole is going to act, they are going to act now while the rest of the base is busy. They won’t have a chance like this again, and neither will you. You need that spy gone just as much as we do. If not for the Rangers, then for Stable 25. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you have a personal score to settle with this spy, no?”

I growled, more to myself than to him. Damn it, he was right. the last thing I needed was Red Eye getting more control and influence.

“Knight Shortcake!” Sardine roared, ordering the young Ranger Knight to move over to him. “Accompany Amber and the alicorn. Make sure they stay on task. Help them if you can.”

Shortcake gave a quick nod and a salute of his own. He turned to face Nova and I. “I can take you down to the maneframe, if that’s still what you want to do?”

I took a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I just need to do something first.”

“Don’t worry Amber, I’ll make sure Tinker stays safe,” Xayah said, flexing one of her mechanical legs and wrapping her metal hoof around her anti-Material rifle. Tinker had, much to my surprise, done a wonderful job of enhancing Xayah’s forelimbs. They seemed to be much lighter, both in colour and in build. I could tell that despite Xayah’s disdain for them, they were much more comfortable than they had previously been. “He’ll be fine.”

“I’m worried about you as well,” I stated flatly, giving her a level stare. “I don’t want to come back and find that the Enclave vaporized you.”

Nova and I had quickly returned to the hospital to check in with Xayah and Tinker before we began heading down to the basement with Shortcake. I was thankful to see that as a result of the impending Enclave attack, two rangers had been posted on guard duty outside the hospital. I had been worried that the Rangers wouldn't give Xayah much protection on the account of her being a zebra.

Xayah seemed to be doing better as well, and a lot of colour had returned to her face, but the doctors were still insistent that she remained in bed for a little longer. For the first time, I wondered if they were keeping her in the hospital for her health, or if this was part of Sardine’s hostage situation. Regardless, I wasn’t going to pull Xayah away from medical assistance if she did indeed need it.

“Do not be a foolish pony,” Xayah quipped back, giving me a smug look. “I think I have proven to be very capable in combat.”

I grimaced. “I’m not questioning that. Celestia knows you could probably kick my ass if you tried.”

"That is debatable," Both Nova and Xayah responded, giving me a flat look. I Rolled my eyes, but didn't think it necessary to dive into the argument of who was stronger than who.

“Besides, she can be super sneaky now with her new legs!” Tinker piped up, given me a wide grin. He tapped one of her now white, cybernetic legs.

I gave him a small pat on the wither. “You did a good job with those.”

“Tinker added Stealth talismans into the legs,” Xayah said almost proudly, giving the colt a warm smile. “They are greatly appreciated.”

Nova gave us all a skeptical look. “Where did you get Stealth technology like that?” She asked bluntly, looking the legs over curiously.

Tinker flushed, pointing over to a shelf on the other side of the room that seemed to hold a lot of very expensive equipment. “I, um… stole them from off the shelf over there…”

The doctor’s head beside us bolted upright at the colt's testament and stared at him. “You did what!” Tinker stuck his tongue out at the doctor triumphantly. The doctor huffed, their eyes narrowing. “This is why I am never having foals. Goddesses, I miss Elder Blueberry Sabre. She would never have tolerated this.”

Moving back out into the hall, I expected to find Knight Shortcake once again waiting for me. I was instead surprised to come face to face with a snarling Scribe Inkwell.

“You, Stable Dweller. Come with me. Now. Leave the Alicorn freak behind,” The scowling Scribe growled, gesturing me towards a small hallway off to the side.

I paused, hesitant to follow. “What exactly do you want?”

“Get over here and I’ll tell you,” Inkwell demanded, stomping her hoof slightly. “I know you don’t have all day, and neither do I, so make it snappy.”

Giving her a suspicious look, I signalled for Nova to stay while I followed the Scribe around the corner. She walked silently ahead of me for a bit before turning and entering a small room that branched off from the main hallway.

Cautiously, I followed after her, the large metal door to the room sliding shut behind me. The second the door closed, a force slammed into me and pushed me violently up against a wall. My head bounced slightly as it was knocked against the metal surface, making my vision spinning slightly.

“What’s your game,” the Scribe hissed, the gun she had pulled still pressed against my neck. “And don’t fuck with me. I won’t hesitate to blow your fucking head off.”

“Look, I don’t know what your problem with me and my friends is. We don’t have any game. We just want to get back to Manehattan,” I scowled back, trying to twist out of the Scribes grip. She was a lot stronger than she looked, and certainly a lot stronger than me.

...Or maybe I was just weak. I was probably just weak.

Inkwell gave me another menacing glare. “I’ve done my research. I know all about you and your friends, and the facts don’t add up,” she hesitated a second before slowly pulling away from me, though she kept her gun aimed at my head. “No pony just walks out of a Stable one day and becomes a fucking wasteland hero the next. It simply doesn’t work like that…”

I gave an almost arrogant smile. “Actually, from what I’ve seen, that’s exactly how it works. And I’m not the only one.”

Inkwell huffed, lowering the barrel of her gun ever so slightly. “No… No, I suppose you’re not. But you are the only one still alive. All my sources have told me that all the other Stable dwellers turned heroes have met a rather untimely fate in the last three days. Lightbringer, got blown up in Maripony. Security, killed in action in an explosion atop Shadowbolt tower out in the Hoof. I wonder how much longer you have till something finally kills you.”

I took a deep breath at that. I didn’t like the idea that my life was quickly racing towards some sort of grand finale where I meet and unfortunate, grisly end. “Is there something you wanted to tell me, or did you just drag me aside to question my intentions and tell me I’m probably going to die soon?”

Inkwell glared at me for a second before looking around, her eyes scanning the room for danger. “No. I came to warn you,” I raised an eyebrow, inciting her to continue. “A few minutes ago. I intercepted a second message from this mysterious Leaden Excellent to the spy. It was sloppy. Sloppier than their usual MO anyway. I think your presence here has them in a bit of a panic…”

I felt my heartbeat quicken a little. “Well? What did it say?”

Inkwell gave me a stern look. “Not much. It said only this…” She paused, finally lowering her gun completely. “Execute Amber Aura.”

I returned to the Hospital to find Nova and Shortcake waiting for me outside. Shortcake looked up at my approach, signalling me over. “Are you ready to head to the maneframe?”

I nodded, looking around. “Where did Scribe Hail go?”

“Sardine called her away to deal with the Enclave threat. They’re currently trying to see if they can find any Enclave radio signals and get some sort of tactical advantage on them,” Shortcake replied as he began leading us down a long, sloping hallway that branched off from the Atrium. From the hallways size, I figured it was intended to carry large groups of tourists down to the unfinished Stable below.

The hallway was lined with long since looted display cases that at one point had shown off different pieces of Stable-Tec technology and there were large portraits on the walls depicting what I could only imagine were much happier ideas of what the post apocalypse would look like.

“Have they had any luck?” I asked hopefully, ignoring the voice of Sweetie belle as a pre recorded message of her voice spouted off some long since useless Stable-Tec facts. I looked up at one of the paintings on the wall as we passed it, seeing the image of a pony in Stable Barding and curly yellow hair smiling out at me while a balefire bomb exploded behind him.

“Not that I’m aware of,” Shortcake replied, turning his head slightly to look back at me. “With any luck, that Enclave bastard was just bluffing and there won't be an attack.”

“There will be,” I assured him. “The Enclave wont stand to have possibly valuable information in the hooves of anypony that isn’t them. They attacked me and everypony at Skyfire’s for less.”

We continued to walk in silence for a bit as we moved farther and farther down the hall. The only noise around us was the clanking of Shortcake’s heavy armour and the stomping of his hoof steps.

Up ahead, the tunnel seemed to turn to rock and stone. Real at first glance, but the closer we got, I began to see places where chunks of plaster from the “Cave wall” had begun to fall away, showing off the wire mesh that held it up beneath. Two hundred years ago, before age and decay had rotted its facade, it would have made a very realistic looking cave.

Inset into the fake rocks sat a massive Stable door. It was identical to the door of Stable 25, or any other Stable for that matter, though this one had a large yellow zero printed across the front.

Shortcake trotted over and pulled a rusting switch against the adjacent wall. Not a second later, two spinning, yellow lights that hung from above the pretend Stable door sprang to life, something I noticed hadn’t been at any of the other Stables I had seen.

“Are we to expect any dangers down there?” Nova asked, her own gaze landing on the mock Stable door.

Shortcake shook his head. “There shouldn’t be any. This is far from the first time we’ve been down here. A hellhound once tunnelled its way in, but that was a long time ago and Elder Blueberry Sabre made sure we made quick work of it. Most you’ll find down there now are radroaches.”

“Stable-Tec welcomes you to our new line of subterranean stables, featuring our patented S.A.S. arcano-technology. S.A.S. technology is the product of years of dedicated, uncompromising effort by our Stable-Tec scientists to bring you the most advanced and enduring designs based on the three pillars of post-apocalyptic survival: Safety, Amenities and Sustainability.”

The crackling voice of Sweetie Belle spoke to us as the door began to swing open. I raised an eyebrow in surprise to find that this Stable door opened on hinges and didn’t slide away on a massive pendulum like all the others.

“Ignore the recorded voices,” Shortcake told us again, leading us deeper into the fake Stable. “We all just get used to them after a while. The maneframe is just down here, next to the actual Stable zero.”

“This isn’t the real Stable zero?” I asked in surprise, following the Knight into the eerie Stable hallway and following his advice in ignoring the Sweetie Belle recordings.

Shortcake shook his head. “Nah. This Stable here is just made for tours. The real one is down by the maneframe. Unfinished. I think it leads into some sort of cave system where the Stable rooms are uncompleted. We admittedly haven’t explored as much of that area as we would have liked. Not very many ponies can fit through the Stable door and there's little else to see outside a small hoofful of metal walls.”

Before I could ask exactly what 'not many ponies can fit through the door' meant, Shortcake directed us to a large elevator that went down into the Stable-Tec HQ basement. The door opened up with a loud bing, and we all quickly stepped inside.

I chuckled nervously as the elevator doors slammed shut behind us. “You know, I’ve had some pretty bad experiences with elevators. Seems like every elevator I’ve ever been in collapses while I’m inside it.”

Shortcake gulped. “I wish you had told me that before I decided to get into the elevator with you,” I gave him a sheepish grin, only making him shudder more.

The elevator ride down was significantly shorter than I expected. I suppose if it led to a Stable, then ponies would have needed to get to it fast. Come to think of it, who the fuck puts the entrance to a Stable at the bottom of an Elevator? That has got to be the single stupidest idea I’ve ever heard.

I braced myself for impact out of instinct as the elevator came to an abrupt stop, expecting it to suddenly start free falling. To my surprise, nothing happened save the sturdy elevator door sliding open once more. We seemed to have arrived safely at our destination.

“And here we are,” Knight Shortcake declared, stepping out first and waving towards the room beyond with a sweeping hoof. “The Stable-Tec maneframe and Stable zero.”

The room was dark and cold with little light to see by, save for the blinking lights of the large maneframe in the centre of the room. Two turrets sat by the entrance, their metal chassis’ coated in a thick layer of dust. I could tell that this room hadn’t seen very much use from the Steel Rangers, though a few sets of hoof prints implied that some ponies had been here not all that long ago.

I once again wished I still had my pipbuck so that I could use my pipbuck light. Instead, I had to rely on the round beam of yellow light that was being emitted from Shortcake’s helmet.

The round light reflected off the circular gear door of the real Stable zero inset into the far wall. Through the dim light, I was able to make out what Shortcake had meant by not many ponies being able to fit through the Stable door. It had been jammed open, but only open enough for a small framed pony to squeeze through.

I moved up to the large maneframe first, reaching out with a hoof and clicking it on. To my surprise, it was already unlocked and had a file pulled open. A file pertaining to one Stable 101.

Not finding anything I didn't already know on the file, I closed it and began searching through the rest. Most of the files were simply records of the locations of all the Stables across Equestria, but there was a lot of backed up data as well, though most of it had been encoded and compressed to reduce the extensive files sizes.

“Any luck?” Nova asked, hovering behind me and looking over my shoulder.

I nodded, pulling up an encoded file labeled, ‘Stable 25’. “Yeah, I think this here is the file that we were reading upstairs,” I paused for a second, looking over the file over. “It looks like somepony tried to delete it off of here as well, but they weren’t successful.”

“Why?” Shortcake asked, stopping a few paces behind me and looking around the dark room.

“It’s likely the maneframe has some sort of backup. Stable-Tec probably didn’t want their data getting destroyed and put fail-safes in place in case the files got damaged. Give me a sec, I think I can decode it.”

I pulled up the in-terminal data and began scrolling through the lines of coding. I didn’t even need to try and hack it, I knew the password as soon as I saw it.

>Passord: cmcforevor

>Password accepted

>Welcome Applebloom

I smirked as the file opened up, giving me complete access. I was getting terrifyingly good at this. Shortcake whistled in surprise at the speed in which I hacked the terminal. “Are you sure you aren’t interested in joining the Rangers? You’d make one hell of a Scribe.”

I gave him a smug look, but chose not to answer. I had no desire to become a Ranger. Pulling up the file, I quickly scrolled down the section I had already read until I found the part that had previously been deleted.

>Hopefully, that never needs to happen.

>There is one other experiment… or at least what I assume is an experiment. I’m not really all that sure. Stable 25’s maneframe is connected directly to the Crusader Maneframe mark II. In specific events, and assuming one has the proper password, Project Redirect can be activated directly from the Stable 25 Overstallion’s terminal.

>I hope we never need to use Project Redirect. If we need to use it, it means that things are bad. Really bad. The bombs would have fallen, the Institute will have been compromised and [Redacted] is our only salvation. Please don’t let that happen. Celestia damn it, don’t let that happen…

>Co founder of Stable-Tec and Overmare of Stable 2, Sweetie Belle.

I sat there, reading over the file again and again. The Overstallion terminal in Stable 25 was connected to the massive maneframe in the Institute? Why? For what purpose? And I still had no clue what Project Redirect was.

I was about to turn away from the terminal when another file caught my eye. This one was encoded multiple times. Somepony was clearly trying to keep others from reading its contents.

Curiosity killed the cat as they say.

I pulled open the coding and began hacking away at it. Like before, despite the extensive security, I managed to pull it open in record time. The password had been ‘Redirect’.

The file wasn’t what I had expected. Instead of being a terminal entry, it consisted of a collection of messages that seemed to have been sent back and forth from the maneframe to another terminal located somewhere in Fillydelphia.

>Scribe Valour is taken care off. [Message sent]

>Data secured. [Message sent - File ‘Stable 1’ attached]

>The Rangers are on to me. They suspect. [Message sent]

>Abort. We’ll send a new one. -Leaden Excellent- [Message received]

>Knight Orange Peel is taken care off. Body stashed with the first one. [Message sent]

>Data secured. [Message sent - File ‘Stable 25’ attached]

>The Rangers are on to me. They suspect. [Message sent]

>Abort. We’ll send a new one. -Leaden Excellent. [Message received]

The messages kept going, following a similar pattern to the first few. I looked away from the messages, drawing Shortcakes attention to them. “Do these names mean anything to you?”

Shortcake trotted over, looking over the messages himself. “Leaden Excellent is still a mystery to me, but Scribe Valour and Knight Orange Peel? Yeah, they were members of the Steel Rangers positioned here before I transferred from Manehattan. They were both killed in raider attacks before I moved here.”

“Perhaps they suspected the spy,” Nova suggested. “The spy might have had to kill them to keep their cover. Faked a raider attack perhaps?”

I hummed thoughtfully. “Maybe… I don’t know. This doesn’t feel right,” a specific line tugged at my mind. Body stashed with the first one. I turned to face Knight Shortcake. “What happened to Scribe Valour and knight Orange Peel after they died?”

Shortcake shrugged. “Not sure. Their bodies were disposed of before I moved here from Manehattan. They were most likely buried like the rest of our fallen brothers and sisters outside.”

Alarms were starting to sound in my mind. Something was off. Really, really off. A terrible suspicion suddenly washed over me and I turned to face the slightly ajar door to Stable zero. “You said no pony could fit in there, right?”

“Some ponies can,” Shortcake corrected. “If they’re small enough… I suppose they could teleport in if they’re a unicorn too. Not many unicorns in the Steel Rangers though. Most of us are Earth ponies,” he tapped the side of his helmet with a hoof to emphasize his point.

Teleport in. That made the sinking feeling in my mind suddenly cement. I gave Shortcake a grim look. “Are you okay if I go check out the Stable for a second?”

Shortcake gave me a confused look. “I mean, sure. Not much in there save for unfinished Stable walls and caves.”

I nodded and trotted over to the door. I flared my horn up to teleport in, but found that there was just enough room for me to squeeze myself through. Barely.

After a second of struggling, I pulled myself through the gap and landed on the cold floor of the Stable entrance room. I pulled myself back up, looking back through the cracked open door and at Nova and Shortcake on the other side.

“Nova, do you think you can teleport in?”

Nova grimaced and glanced up at her badly cracked horn. She stole herself for a second before letting it flare with light. There was a pop, and the large alicorn materialized beside me in a large flash of light. She rubbed her horn gingerly with a hoof, her head clearly in a lot of pain from teleporting.

“You two see anything in there?” Shortcake called, peeking at us through the hole.

I glanced around, spotting little more than a curled up skeleton with a large bow on their head on the floor by my hooves. Curiously, they had an early-model pipbuck on their fore hoof. To my right sat a lone tunnel that descended deeper into the unfinished Stable. I shook my head. “Not yet. Nova and I are going to go a little deeper. Wait for us here.”

I audibly heard Shortcake nod as his metal helmet clanked against the metal armour. There was a stomp as he shifted into a headstrong, guard-like posture.

“What do you expect to find down there?” Nova asked me as I started walking into the dark cavern. The cave around us seemed to get darker and darker as we descended, moving farther and farther away from any light sources. The only light we had to see from was the dull, amber glow of my horn.

“I’m not sure. Hopefully answers,” I answered back, my hoof skidding slightly below me as the dark tunnel began to slope downwards. “We need to get this whole ordeal with the Rangers over fast. I don’t know how much time we have left until the Enclave arrives at Friendship City. Hopefully what we’re looking for is down here.”

There was a few seconds of silence between us as we delved down deeper, neither of us really knowing what to say to the other. With each step, the caves seemed to fill with a vile stench that wafted up from the depths below, slowly overpowering my other senses. The stench was familiar, though I was having difficulty placing it.

Finally, Nova broke the silence. “What do you plan to do about Tinker?”

I looked back at her, confused. “Wha… What do you mean?”

“Tinker. The colt that is accompanying you. What do you plan to do about him,” Nova elaborated. “I doubt your journey will be over once you reach Friendship City. Will you continue to drag him across the wasteland with you? I find that choice to be unlikely, though I do not know where else Tinker will go. He has lost both of his parents already.”

My head drooped. “Oh… I… I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about it yet,” I said honestly. “I was just so focused on getting him away from Fillydelphia, I never stopped to think about what would happen with him after…” I paused, trying to think of what to do about that. “I could drop him off in the Hollow Shades, maybe… he knows people there. Toffee could look after him…”

“When?” Nova pushed, taking a step towards me. The alicorn looked oddly menacing in the gloom, her slitted eyes seemingly glowing in the darkness. “You are running out of time to stop this Utopia program. You do not have the time to take a trip out to the Hollow Shades.”

“Are you suggesting something then?” I asked back, getting the distinct impression that Nova was trying to build up to something.

Nova held my gaze for a moment, then hesitated, looking away shyly. “I am not sure. No. Maybe.”

“If you have an idea, I’d love to hear it,” I pushed.

Nova glanced back up at me, her own expression confused. “You are not like I thought you would be Amber Aura. Not at all.”

I cocked my head at her, waiting for her to elaborate. “What did you expect me to be like?”

“I am not sure. More like the goddess I suppose. That is why I came to you in the first place. Seeking family,” Nova said honestly. “Though I do not think I fully understood what that meant.”

“You came to me looking for servitude,” I corrected, realizing that to Nova those were probably the same thing.

“Correct,” Nova deadpanned, holding my gaze. “Perhaps what I am saying is that you were not the pony I should have been looking for…”

I raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Are you offering to look after Tinker once we get to Friendship City?”

Again, Nova hesitated. “Maybe. Though I will leave it up to Tinker as to what he desires to do. But if he wishes, we- I will look after him until a proper home can be found…” I saw a strange emotion cross her face, her eyes seemingly lost in some sort of nostalgia. “I think… I think I was a teacher once… before the goddess… Perhaps I could be good… with kids or… I do not know…”

I remembered her mentioning that briefly when she had first introduced herself. I gave her a small nod, not really knowing what else to say. “We’ll leave that up to Tinker once we reach Friendship City, but you’re right. I can’t keep dragging him around the wasteland with me. That would just get him killed.”

Nova opened her mouth to respond, but before she could, something caught her eye and she lifted her gaze to stare at something behind me. “Amber, I think we have a problem…” her hoof raised and tapped at a large crack in the rock face. The cavern shuddered, and the wall crumbled away, revealing a hidden room beyond.

I turned, raising my horn to illuminate the area before me. I felt myself take a small step back and a loud gasp escaped my lips.

I finally realized what the terrible stench was… it was rot...

The concealed room was filled with corpses. Some of them looked rather old, as if they had been rotting down here for months, but others were more fresh, as if they had only been dumped down here a few weeks or even days ago. Large, bloody drag marks indicated that the ponies had not died here, but been moved here from a different location. But all the bodies had at least one thing in common. They were all members of the Steel Rangers.

I raised a hoof to my muzzle in an attempt to lessen the overwhelming smell of rotting flesh and decay. I swallowed, trying to clear the vile taste that the rank air had started to accumulate in my mouth.

I took a step forward, reaching for the dog tag that hung around the neck of the closest Ranger corpse. The name read ‘Orange Peel’.

I staggered back, moving to the next corpse. I wasn’t surprised to find their tag reading the name ‘Valour’.

“What the hell,” I grunted, coughing in a futile attempt not to gag.

“If They died in a raider attack… what are their bodies doing down here,” Nova mused, reading over Orange Peel’s dog tag herself. “They do not look like they were killed by raiders…”

“I think I know…” I breathed, my eyes catching on two of the corpses that had been carelessly tossed into the corner of the room. From the still fresh blood that spilled down their bodies, I could tell they were the most recent.

Daring myself to get closer, I limped over to the two bodies and looked down at them. The terrified faces of Knight Shortcake and Scribe Hail stared back at me with wide, unblinking eyes, their stiff hooves still wrapped around each others cold corpses in a terrified embrace. A large bullet hole dripped blood from the centre of both of their foreheads.

“We’ve been looking for the wrong type of spy…”

Nova stared in horror at the corpses. “But… If they’re down there… how did we just see them still alive… how did Shortcake bring us down here…”

“Sardine told us that every time they thought they were getting close to catching the mole, all traces of them would disappear, as if they simply ceased to exist,” I reminded her, leaning down to examine the two corpses. Pieces slowly began falling into place in my head. “I thought that maybe it was because the mole was covering their tracks. I was wrong. I think we were wrong about a lot of things. For instance… There's more than one spy… This is a whole conspiracy...”

Nova gave me a confused look. "A conspiracy? What do you mean?"

‘Abort. We’ll send a new one.’ The terminal had read. I gulped, a shiver passing through me as I finally realized what that meant. There were a whole lot of bodies down here...

“The mole isn’t working for Red Eye. Not directly anyway,” I snarled, everything finally clicking into place inside my head, the final piece of the puzzle falling perfectly into its spot. “They’re working for the Institute… for Pureblood... The spy we’re looking for is a synth…”

BOOM!

The whole cavern rocked as a large explosion detonated somewhere far above our heads. Nova and I flinched back as a few rocks collapsed downwards towards us, one nearly taking off my horn as it slammed into the ground inches in front of my face.

“I suppose that means the Enclave is here,” Nova muttered, her slitted eyes transfixed on the cave roof above us.

I nodded. “Yeah. And it also means there’s a good chance that Scribe Hail is going to use this opportunity to leak a whole hell of a lot of information to Pureblood,” I spun around, racing back up the cavern tunnel and towards the gear door of Stable zero. “We need to get up there! Now!”

The Stable door was still slightly ajar, giving me just enough to squeeze back through into the mainframe room. I stumbled to the floor, quickly trying to pull myself back up.

I felt the rocket flashing towards me a few seconds before it exploded. I jumped backwards defensively, only to be sent flying backwards as the explosive projector detonated inches away from my hooves, my head cracking against the steel wall of the room. Pain flared across my whole body as the explosion seared off a layer of my flesh.

Nova flashed into the room and protectively stood over me, her cracked horn glowing dangerously as she faced off against the silhouetted Ranger that quickly approached us from across the room.

I pulled myself back up, my head spinning and Braeburn's Liberator rising in my magical grasp. I grasped onto the side of the wall for support as I tried my best to haul myself up onto my hooves proper and face the Ranger.

“You are very clever, Amber Aura,” The voice of Shortcake spoke at me as the synth approached. His tone had lost most of its inflection and now just sounded hollow. “But you are getting too close to uncovering things the director doesn't want you to know. I’m afraid that I have been ordered to carry out your execution.”

I forced myself to grit my teeth to avoid screaming. I had liked Shortcake damn it! Him and Scribe Hail were probably the only two Rangers I could tolerate, and now I was finding out they were both fucking dead and replaced with synths. Fucking Celestia damn me!

Nova wrapped her magic around me and tossed me out of the way just as another missile streaked forwards from Shortcake’s battle saddle. I hit the ground hard, my sides screaming with protest as they scrapped against sharp scraps of metal on the ground.

Nova’s horn flared, a shield of magic forming between her and the missile seconds before it hit. The shield exploded, sending Nova flying backwards and slamming into the large Stable door across from me, her whole body steaming and a trail of smoke following her through the air.

I picked myself up, rushing forwards at the synth. I fired a round from my gun, the explosive buckshot flashing across his side and forcing him to stumble away from me, his armour dented. The synth roared in pain as the dented armour stabbed into him, the mini gun on their battle saddle whirring to life on one side while a missile clicked into place on the other.

Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam!

The large mini gun fired a stream of bullets towards me, forcing me to weave out of the way. One of the shots lanced through my leg, dropping me to the ground in a cry of pain. I rolled over, trying to squirm out of the way as the synth powered towards me, their power armoured hooves pounding against the ground as they closed in.

The booming sound of an Enclave raptor’s energy cannon firing echoed down at us from far above, followed quickly by another powerful explosion that shook the entire building, forcing the synth masquerading as Shortcake to come to an abrupt halt to avoid toppling over. A piece of the ceiling collapsed down from above, forcing the synth to dive out of the way.

I rolled to the side, a chunk of metal from the roof crashing down where I had lain only moments before. Scrambling back to my hooves, I raised my shotgun and fired off another shot, this one bursting against Shortcake’s Foreleg as the synth tried to get back into a battle stance.

There was a whoosh as the missile launcher at Shortcake’s side fired, the projectile lashing towards me at impossible speeds. I ducked and rolled under it, the shockwave of it’s massive explosion knocking me prone on my face as I tried to get back up.

Nova lunged forward, her horn glowing and creating a shield around the two of us as the synth’s mini gun once more opened fire. I flinched, the bullets pinging off the translucent shield only an inch away from my face.

The synth scowled, rounding on Nova and bucking at her with their powerful hooves. Their hooves collided with the purple alicorn’s jaw, sending her staggering back with a cry of pain. I heard a painful sounding snap as the synthetic Rangers hooves shattered her lower jaw.

I leapt forwards, wrapping my fore hooves around the Rangers metal covered neck and swinging up onto their back. The synth bucked backwards, trying to shake me off, but I clung on tightly for dear life, my lower half flailing around wildly as the fake Shortcake tried to send me flying.

Gritting my teeth, I raised Braeburn’s Liberator and pressed its four barrels against the side of the synths head. I shut my eyes, trying to keep focus as I was whipped about and tried to pull down hard on the trigger.

Before I could fire, Shortcake slammed himself into the wall, crushing me between the heavy metal surface as the Rangers large bulk. I screamed out, my whole body burning with pain as I felt one of my ribs pop out of place. Braeburn’s Liberator was sent skidding from my grip and across the floor, coming to a rest against the large maneframe.

Shortcake pulled away from me, giving me just enough time to drop to the floor out of breath before his armoured hoof swung down, knocking me violently back into the wall. I coughed, blood spilling past my lips as I struggled to catch my breath.

The synth reared back up, hooves poised to crush me flat. Biting back pain, I let my horn flare with light and surrounded myself in a field of magic. A second later I felt my whole body turn invisible and I rolled out of the way, just barely avoiding the synths deadly attack.

I felt my magic quickly draining as I forced myself to keep my horn going and keep me invisible. Like the last time I had used the spell, the invisibility was far from perfect, but in the darkness of the room, it might as well have been flawless.

The synth scowled as they whipped around, trying to spot me. “What hope do you think you have Amber Aura,” The synth monotone, their voice creepily cold. “You will never stop Utopia in time.”

“But I’ll sure give it my all,” I snarked back, the magic around my horn fading to reveal me right in front of him, my shotgun already reacquired. There was a click as I pressed Braeburn’s Liberator up against the synths chin with my magic. “Gotcha.”

Steel Ranger power armour was strong, but not strong enough to stop a direct blast to the head with a powerful unique quad barrel shotgun though. The synths head exploded in shrapnel and fire as my shotgun ripped into them, emptying its final shot into the fake rangers skull. The synth wobbled for a second, then collapsed to the ground with a loud thunk.

I looked down at the fallen synth, my heart heavy. I had liked Shortcake. He hadn't been perfect, but he had been a good pony. I wonder if he had even known that he was an Institute spy, or if he had been blissfully unaware of exactly what he was until it was far too late.

Grimacing, I hauled myself over to Nova and helped her back up to her hooves. “Are you alright?” I asked, looking over her wounds. Aside from a broken jaw and a few cuts from exploding shrapnel, she seemed to be doing okay.

“Yes. I shall be fine,” The alicorn insisted, raising back up to her full height. “I shall find myself a patch of radiation to bask in once we are out of here,” healing via radiation seemed like the single most useful thing in the wasteland. I admittedly found myself a little jealous of the ability.

Another boom, this time followed by the sounds of screams as a few Rangers on the floors above us were vaporized by the Enclave’s magical energy weaponry. I glanced up as I began to make out the sound of smaller energy weapons firing in retaliation to the Enclave Raptors much larger attacks.

“We need to get up there. We still have the Enclave and one more spy to deal with…”

We limped out way back to the elevator and pulled ourselves inside. I had expected that with all the fighting and chaos, this would be the moment the elevator decided to break down on me. But to my surprise, it remained functional long enough to get us both back into the mock Stable safely. Apparently being in an elevator while it collapsed simply wasn't on the menu for today, surprisingly...

As we began racing down the fake Stable halls, the speaks above us crackled to life. Instead of hearing the pre recorded voice of Sweetie Belle as I had expected, the commanding voice of Paladin Sardine boomed over the speakers. “The Enclave has entered the building! I want them eliminated, now!”

We burst out of the Stable and began charging down one of the hallways in the Stable-Tec HQ proper. As we rushed past, I spotted two Steel Ranger Knights lying on the floor, dead.

Damn, the Enclave had already been here.

I slowed down as I heard voices from up ahead from a doorway that lead into the Steel Rangers prison area. The voices didn’t sound happy.

“What information did you tell them!” One of the voices snarled. Nova and I peeked around the corner to see two Enclave troopers that were looming over the still bound Enclave captive. Both of the Ranger guards had been turned into steaming piles of green goop by the Enclaves impressive weaponry and the turrets had been melted to slag.

“Look, we don’t have time for this,” The bound pegasus spat, squirming in an attempt to break free of his bonds. “I’ll explain everything once we're somewhere safe, but right now you just gotta get me out of here. These surface ponies are crazy! They have fucking alicorn freaks down here!”

Neither pegasus moved to untie him. “I demand that you reveal what you told them at once,” The Enclave trooper reiterated, glaring daggers at the captive. “You will answer or you will be branded as a dashite!”

The tied up pegasus’ eyes widened in fear at that. “Alright, alright! I told them you were coming and that the Enclave plans to strike Friendship City! That’s it, I swear. Now get me the fuck out of here!”

Both Enclave troopers glared at him, seething. “You told them what!” The pegasus that seemed to be in charge roared, his voice flaring with rage. The plasma weapons attached to his battle saddle flashed with green, a bolt of glowing energy instantly lashing through the pegasus captive's throat. The pegasus screamed, but the sound was quickly drowned out by gurgling as he dissolved into a glowing pile of goop on the floor.

Snarling in disgust, the Enclave trooper put a hoof to his helmet and activated a small intercom. “This is Skysprint to Raptor Lenticular. The captive told them about our plan to attack the settlement known as Friendship City. Inform Commander Thunderseer of the raptor Pyroculus that we need to begin our siege of the city early.”

My eyes widened. No!

I bolted out from behind cover, Braeburn’s Liberator firing off a shot point blank into the Enclave troopers head. Their head exploded, viscera slashing across the shocked face of the other pegasus which quickly took to the air in surprise.

I jumped to the side, the Enclave’s magical energy rifle blasting past me. The throbbing pain in my foreleg from one of Shortcake’s shots slowed me down, allowing one of the Enclave’s blasts to slash away at my side, searing the flesh and drawing blood.

Nova rushed forward, her horn erecting a magical shield around the both of us as the Enclave trooper continued to fire. I used the temporary cover to pull myself back to my hooves, bracing myself for when the shield fell.

Bang!

The Pegasus dropped to the ground, a bullet lashing through their neck and sending blood splattering against the wall behind them. I looked up, making out the shapes of Xayah and Scribe Inkwell as they slowly limped their way into the room. Xayah was walking on her new upgraded fore legs, their white paint job blending into her white and black striped hide far better than the dark metal ones had.

“Xayah, what are you doing out of the hospital? Where’s Tinker?” I asked, wide eyed as I approached her.

“I am dealing with the Enclave threat,” Xayah said bluntly, holstering her anti-material rifle and giving me a smug look. “Do not think I would just lie around while the building was being stormed you foolish pony. As for Tinker, he is back at the hospital, being guarded by two Rangers.”

I nodded, taking a deep breath. At least Tinker was safe then.

“What has been going on?” Scribe Inkwell demanded, stomping over to me. Shortly after the Enclave arrived, Knight Shortcake’s tag disappeared off of my EFS. What happened to him.”

I gave her a grim look. “I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is that I know who the spy is.”

Inkwell growled. “And the bad news.”

“Well… when I say bad news, I mean that in the plural sense,” I corrected. “There’s more than one spy. And they aren’t ponies. The Institute has been sending synths in as moles for quite a while now. The reason no pony has been able to catch them is because every time you start to pick up on their trail, they stage their own death and send in a new synth to replace another member of the Rangers.”

Inkwell gave me a wide eyed expression of shock and fear at that. “And right now the synths are…”

“Shortcake and Hail. The Institute likely killed and replaced them shortly after they transferred here… we found their bodies down below in Stable zero. Along with many other Steel Ranger bodies that had been hidden down there...” I said, feeling my gut sink at my own words.

Inkwell's face filled with grief. “Damn… so… You took care of Shortcake then? That’s why his tag is gone?”

I gave her a sad nod. “We did, but Scribe Hail is still at large. And chances are that she’s going to use the fight with the Enclave as a distraction to leak a fuck ton of information to the Institute before disappearing again.”

“Then we need to stop her. And fast,” Inkwell affirmed. “If we lose this synths trial, it’s likely we won’t be able to find them again. They wont let themselves get caught twice.”

Xayah’s ears perked up. “I saw Hail heading up to the Overstallions office on our way here,” She declared, looking towards Inkwell, her eyes wide. “That was almost three minutes ago.”

At that, we jumped into action at once, sprinting down the hallway towards the stairs leading up to the large office room. In the atrium below us I could see squadrons of Steel Rangers holding off teams of Pegasi as the Enclave began pouring in through the now blasted open door to the Stable-Tec Building.

Inkwell moved up to the door, tapping away furiously at the terminal that locked the door closed. “Fuck. She's overridden the lock. I don’t think we’ll be able to hack this…”

I was about to tell her to give me a shot at hacking it, when Nova stepped forwards, her horn blazing with violet light. “Step aside,” The alicorn ordered, her magic wrapping the steel door with its glow. Inkwell quickly moved back, scuttling up beside me as the alicorn closed in on the door.

There was a loud crack and Nova tore the door right from its hinges. The steel frame bent and snapped, the door slamming forwards and getting magically flung across the room beyond.

Scribe Hail stood at the large terminal against the far wall, typing furiously on the keypad as long lines of flickering green text flashed across the massive monitor above her.

“Scribe Hail! Step away from the terminal!” Inkwell ordered, raising her magical energy rifle to aim at the synth. “I don’t want to hurt you. Please. Let's end this peacef-”

Before Inkwell could finish, Hail spun around, her own rifle firing off a blast towards us. The shot struck Inkwell in the leg, the scribe screaming in pain as she dropped to the ground, the hide around her foreleg charred.

There was a hollow look in Scribe Hail’s eyes. Whatever bit of Hail’s mind had been programmed into her synthetic brain was gone. Now she was no more machine than any other robot.

I dove forwards, avoiding another blast as Hail once more opened fire at us. Still blindly firing behind her, the Scribe spun around and clicked a few buttons on the terminal. Instantly, five turrets popped down from the roof above us, their tri-barrels whirring to life as their targeting talismans locked onto us.

Nova’s horn surged with light, surrounding us in a thin field of magic as the turrets began bearing down on us. Xayah managed to take down one of the turrets with her rifle before the shield went up, the turret exploding in a burst of flame as the large, .50 caliber round blasted through it.

“Hail! Please. You need to stop!” Scribe Inkwell pleaded, forcing herself back up into a standing position. Blood drizzled down her leg where the magical energy rifle had slashed into her.

“That isn’t Hail,” I told her, watching sadly as tears began to form in the Scribes eyes. “It's a synth. And not one that has any free will over its actions.”

That could have been me, I noted to myself glumly. Wasn’t that a scary thought.

“I do not think I can hold this shield for much longer,” Nova stated, wincing as magic poured through the large crack in her horn. “I will need to drop it soon.”

“Xayah, Inkwell! Take out the turrets as soon as the shield goes down,” I ordered over the blaring gunfire, my legs bending into a battle stance. “Nova, try and keep as much fire off of us as possible. Everypony ready? Go!”

The glow around Nova’s horn extinguished and the shield fell. We all scattered at once, the large turrets blasting into the spot we had once stood.

I darted forwards, my shotgun aimed at where Scribe Hail was standing. The synth dipped out of the way, their hind hooves bucking at my chest as I went to attack them. I staggered, trying to stay upright as the synth beat into me. Thankfully, it didn’t seem like Hail’s strength was all that much greater than mine.

I ducked low as the Scribe swung a hoof over my head, her strike only just missing my face and the underside of her hoof brushing up against the tips of my mane. I returned the attack with a buck of my own, my meagre strengths still enough to knock the synth back and stumbling into the terminal.

Nova gave a shout of pain as one of the turrets penetrated her hide. The alicorn staggered back, her horn glowing as she quickly tried to regenerate the wound. The tri-barrel turret began to spin up again to fire at her, only for its aim to be blocked as Nova’s magic shoved the large toppled table between her and it.

Xayah’s rifle let out a loud crack, another round of her massive weapon striking the turret firing at her and causing it to burst apart. Her victory was short-lived as one of the last two remaining turrets spun around and blasted five rounds directly into her side. She screamed, collapsing to the floor, blood spilling out from her body.

I raised Braeburn’s Liberator to fire at Hail, but it was quickly knocked aside with a swipe of the Scribe hooves. I took a step back, trying to reassert myself, but Hail advanced on me, her magical energy rifle swinging up to blast my head from my shoulders.

I threw myself to the side, the burning red beams of energy lancing through the air where I had once stood. I hit the ground hard, my whole body shuddering as I dove for cover.

Inkwell pranced over me, her rifle firing off beams of energy up at one of the turrets shooting at her. One of her magical energy beams hit, melting the turrets spinning barrels to slag. A second later, the final turret was smashed apart as Nova ripped it from the ceiling with her magic and bashed it violently against the floor, her expression wincing slightly as the turret was rendered to scrap.

Scribe Hail backed up, suddenly facing the end of four barrels as we all turned our full attentions towards her. Realizing she was outnumbered, she spun around, darting for the door. She didn’t make it.

Biting back the pain in her side, Xayah pulled herself back up, her anti-material rifle blasting out one of the Scribes fore hooves. Hail collapsed to the ground, blood rushing from her body and pooling around her crumpled form.

Scribe Hail rolled around onto her back, blood dripping down her face and her rifle swivelling up to fire at us. I ducked to the side, avoiding the blast and taking cover beside the large flickering terminal. The blast of energy slashed at the wall, leaving a large black burn mark where it seared the metal.

Blam!

A beam of red energy slashed through Scribe Hail’s chest. Hail screamed, blood oozing from her lips as her insides boiled. Then she slumped to the ground, half her face and side sizzling away and melting into glowing ash.

Inkwell took a deep breath, her body shuddering as she lowered her steaming rifle. “Fuck…” She breathed, her voice trembling. She turned and looked at me, her eyes a mix of sadness and rage. “If you ever find the pony responsible for all this. I want you to fucking kill them.”

I gave her a grim nod before quickly moving over to Xayah. “You alright?” I asked her, looking over the collection of oozing bullet holes in her side.

Xayah gave me a nod, pulling out a healing potion and chugging its contents. “Yes. I will survive,” she looked up from her healing wounds, her eyes fixing on the flickering terminal behind me. Surprise and terror danced across her features. “Uh… Amber?”

A vile sounding chuckle slowly began to fill the room, nasally and filled with a crackling static. I felt a shiver pass through me at the noise, horrifying memories of my time in Red Eyes Cathedral flashing through my mind. Slowly, I turned towards the sound of the laughter, all the muscles in my body clenching up. Even before I saw the sneering face, I knew who I was going to see staring back at me though the monitor.

Through the green glare of the large terminal monitor, Pureblood’s leering face grinned at me, his flickering screen eyes filled with curious amusement and the projection of his cracked lips twisted into a terrifying smile.

“Ah, Amber Aura,” Pureblood coed, his voice sounding just as snooty and vile as ever. “Imagine my surprise when I learned that you actually managed to sneak out of the Institute alive, only for you to foolishly reveal your location to me here accidentally,” the screen displaying the cracked visage of his mouth warped into an unsettling grin. “Though I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. You do have a nasty habit of getting in the way of things, don’t you?”

“Amber, who the fuck is this?” Inkwell gasped, taking a shocked step away from the large terminal. “You know them?”

“You could say that,” I growled, still facing the image of Pureblood. I could feel a sense of anger growing in me just by looking at him.

“Amber and I are very well acquainted,” Pureblood purred, his voice sounding like he had a throat full of gravel. “She is my great descendant after all… And the bearer of my future vessel.”

Xayah snarled in response to that, protectively stepping between me and the monitor. Nova gave a confused raise of her eyebrow, but otherwise just continued to stare at Pureblood menacingly.

“I met the Courser you sent after me,” I spat, puffing my chest out slightly.

Pureblood practically beamed. “Like him? Now that I am in full control of the Institute, I’ve decided to do a few much needed upgrades. That Courser you met was the first of my new Courser design, modelled after the late Changeling General Azar. I believe the two of you had met before actually.”

I felt my jaw drop open. No wonder that Courser had been so deadly, even more so than the ones I had seen before. “You… you modelled your Coursers off of Azar!?” The idea was both insane and terrifying. “That’s- Are you insane!”

“I like to think of it as poetry,” Pureblood sighed in sarcastic exasperation. “Like Changelings, synths were designed to be perfect spies. Blend in with pony kind. I found it only fitting that my Coursers, synths designed specifically to hunt and destroy, would be modelled after a changeling of much the same nature. Just think, given a few hours, I’ll have a full army of them. All waiting to defend my interests to the last.”

Inkwell pushed past me, glaring daggers up at Pureblood. “I don’t know who you are, but I demand that you explain how you managed to get onto the Steel Rangers systems!”

Pureblood's screen eyes rolled. “You’re a Scribe of the Steel Rangers. I thought you would be smarter. Surely you can figure it out,” Pureblood drawled, his eyes looking down impatiently at the Scribe. “Hellooo. My little spies here have been reporting to me for months, leaking your precious information. I was intending to talk to my informant… though it would appear that you dealt with them already…” he glanced down lazily at the slumped, half disintegrated form of Scribe Hail.

I took a step forward, a scowl still formed on my lips. “I want answers, Pureblood. And you’re going to give them to me!”

Pureblood gave off a loud, grating laugh. I winced as the noise made me want to rip off my ears. “And why the fuck should I answer anything for you. Last time I checked, you don’t exactly have my best interests at heart,” the large brainbot slowly pulled back, drifting away from the screen. “No. I don’t think I’ll tell you anything… My Courser will be in touch with you soon Amber Aura. Do try to make your death easier for all of us.”

“What’s Project Redirect?!” I shouted, interrupting him before he could cut the connection between us and him.

Pureblood paused at that, looking back at me curiously. “Where did you hear about that?” His voice snapped, his tone sharper and clearly slightly taken aback.

I flinched at his aggressive tone. “From messages sent between somepony in Fillydelphia and the spy here. Somepony named Leaden Excellent. I assume they work for you?”

Pureblood gave off a loud, angry hiss. “Fucker… I sent no order to prepare Project Redirect…”

I felt my eyebrows knit together. “Wait, you weren’t behind that-” My eyes flicked to the steel frame of the monitor. A metallic lead colour. Something clicked in the back of my mind. “Oh, shit…”

“Amber, what is it?” Xayah asked, her eyes still pinned angrily at Pureblood.

“Leaden Excellent,” I reiterated, the name finally making sense to me. “It’s not a name. It’s a synonym for a name. Leaden is a dull, silvery-grey colour. And Excellent- another word for…”

“...Ace...” Xayah finished, catching on with my train of thought.

“Precisely,” Pureblood cooed, his unblinking eyes now taking on a much darker expression. “It would appear my loyal subject has not been fully transparent with me. A grave mistake, among many others he has made recently…”

I cocked my head at that. “Others? What others?”

“Well you, for one,” Pureblood nickered, his robotic face suddenly seemingly to loom over me. “When we put you into stasis to keep my vessel safe, I had half a mind to leave you like that. Frozen in time, a vegetable. It certainly would have saved me a lot of trouble. But Silver Ace had other plans for you. He was insistent that we give you a synthetic body while your mind remained dormant within your flesh. An experiment of his. He always was very fond of his experiments. Clearly we should have never given you such an opportunity to escape. Something my Courser intends to rectify.”

Inkwell gave me a shocked look. “You’re a synth!?”

“Yeah… trying to figure out how to fix that,” I grumbled back, my gaze never leaving the monitor.

Pureblood snickered. “I’m afraid your normal body is not something you will ever be getting back. You will never succeed in making it back to the Institute. I’ll make sure of that. And once you have birthed my future vessel, I intend to incinerate your dissected remains.”

Xayah pulled me behind her protectively, stepping up to the monitor as if to face Pureblood down, muzzle to muzzle. Or at least, muzzle to whatever the fuck Pureblood had left being a brain in a jar. “You will not touch Amber Aura again you beast!”

“Ah yes… the zebra,” Pureblood groaned, his disdain audible through his tone. He rolled the word ‘zebra’ around in his mouth, as if he could taste it. “I have seen you through my surveillance cameras across Manehattan. Why a descendant of mine, however degenerate they are, would ever have feelings for a striped savage such as yourself I will never understand…”

That was enough. It was one thing to mock me, but no pony insulted Xayah like that! I growled, bearing my teeth at the monitor. “Listen here Pureblood. I don’t care how many fucking synths you are hiding behind in the Institute. I’m coming for you. And I’m going to stop you!”

Pureblood stared back at me with mild amusement. “Don’t care how many synths I have? You should. I have whole armies at my disposal. Synths, Coursers, slavers, Canterlot Ghouls. What do you have? No army. No real plan. Your so-called friends are a bunch of lowlife wasteland rejects that have been wounded and scattered across the stretch between Fillydelphia and Manehattan. You don’t even have your precious little pipbuck anymore. All you have is a handicapped zebra, an alicorn with a broken horn and a foal still in his teething stage,” His face suddenly took on an excited look. “Need I remind you that Utopia launches in three days? Tick tock Amber... Now, if you’ll excuse me. I think Silver Ace and I have to have a little… Talk… about where exactly his loyalties lie.”

There was a loud beep, and the large monitor screen shut off. We all stared up at it for a long while, our guts clenching as all of Pureblood's words slowly sank through us. Finally, Inkwell gave a long, rasping breath. “What the fuck…”

The Enclave didn’t stick around. Shortly after Pureblood had disabled the connection, the Enclave raptor had ceased firing and began pulling away into the distance, taking all of its troops with it. They had gotten what they had come to take… the life of their Enclave subordinate.

Xayah and I found ourselves on the roof of the Stable-Tec building, watching as the Enclave raptor slowly faded away into the distance. It had become little more than a small speck of black on the horizon now.

Xayah sighed, resting her head on my shoulder as we stared out at the desolate expanse of the Fillydelphia outskirts and the looming wall of Red Eyes city of slaves. I wrapped one of my fore hooves around hers, but she didn’t seem to notice the touch. Her metal forelimbs were without feeling.

After a long second of silence, I cleared my throat, drawing Xayah’s emerald gaze up to mine. “Xayah, are you sure things are okay between us?” I asked, my whole body feeling heavy for some reason.

Xayah gave me a confused look, though there was a clear sense of understanding in her eyes. “We talked about this already Amber. I will give you another chance if you give me one,” She looked down, finally noticing my hoof wrapped around hers. She smiled and shifted a little closer so that she could feel my embrace. “Why. What is troubling you?”

I grimaced. “A lot, honestly. We only have three days until Utopia launches. Something tells me those three days are going to put all of us through a lot if we're going to have any hope of actually winning… Maybe longer if things don’t turn out…”

Xayah nuzzled my face slightly. I could feel her warm breath against my cheek. “Things will turn out. We’ll get through this.”

“Even still, whether we win or not, things aren’t going to be easy. These coming days are probably going to be hard on all of us. I just want to make sure that before we charge into whatever is ahead of us, that the two of us are going to be okay,” I continued, melting into her embrace. “We don’t have time to be fighting amongst ourselves… Not again... Not while we're this close to the finish line.”

Xayah nodded, pulling back a little so she could look me in the eyes. “The wasteland can try to rip us apart. We’ll make sure it never does. We betrayed and hurt each other once. Now is not the time to hurt each other again. Now is the time to do our best to heal the wounds of our past. Make ourselves stronger because of it.”

I gave her a thankful smile and pulled in close to her again, pressing my head up gently against her chest. I could feel her slow breathing as I cuddled against her. Up as close as I was, I could hear the terrible wheezing coming from her lungs. The doctors had been right, the radiation poisoning had damaged her lungs beyond repair.

We sat there for a long while until I heard the sound of hoofsteps cautiously approaching us. From the sound of the long strides, I figured it was Nova. Her voice confirmed it for me a second later. “Can we join you, or are we interrupting something?”

I looked over my shoulder, seeing the tall, purple alicorn carrying Tinker atop her back. I gave her a nod, gesturing to the spot beside us. “Of course not.”

Nova gave a thankful nod and trotted over, resting her tired legs beside us. “Thank you,” She said simply, her slitted eyes looking out at the wasteland beyond us.

I looked up at Tinker as Nova lowered herself down. “Good work on Xayah’s legs. You did a great job,” I told him, trying to think up a good conversation starter with the kid and hoping I wasn’t speaking too much on Xayah’s behalf. And it was true. Her legs looked much sleeker than their original model, and the lighter colour helped to blend them in more seamlessly with her hide. They were still clearly cybernetic, but one might overlook that if they weren’t paying too much attention.

Xayah gave a happy nod of agreement. “Yes. They are much lighter than before and feel much more natural. I thank you greatly.”

Tinker smirked, a clear sense of pride glinting in his eyes at our remarks. “Thank you. I think it’s one of my best works,” his face took on a more curious expression. “So is it true?” he asked, changing the topic and looking down at me from atop Nova’s back. “We’re going to Friendship City now?”

I gave the colt a small nod. “Yeah. Have you ever been?”

Tinker nodded, though noticeably wearily. “Yup. Long time ago with my… my mom and dad… before we moved to the Hollow Shades. I don’t remember it much.”

Knowing it was a conversation that needed to be had, I forced myself to ask. “Tinker, what do you want to do… when we get to Friendship City?” At his confused expression, I elaborated. “I can’t keep bringing you with me across the wasteland. It’s not safe. Where do you want to go… now that… uh… now that Chestnut is…” I gulped, not sure how to finish that train of thought.

Tinker’s face fell at the mention of his late mother. “I… I don’t k-know. I never thought about it… Can’t I just stay with you?”

I shook my head. “Too dangerous,” I glanced over at Nova, our previous conversation still playing in my mind. “Nova says she can look after you… at least until you know what you want to do. I figure we could take you back to the Hollow Shades when this is all over or something. Toffee could always take care of you. I'm sure she'd be willing.”

Tinker looked down at the alicorn he was sitting on, as if getting taken care of by them was an option that he had never considered before. “I, um… Sure. yes. That is fine,” The colt said simply, though there wasn't much zest in his voice. Nova clearly winced at the lack of enthusiasm, but we both knew full well that no pony would be able to properly replace Chestnut.

There was a loud stomp from behind us. We all turned our heads at the noise, making out the shape of Paladin Sardine just as he emerged out onto the roof and stood across from us, his face obscured by his heavy helmet.

“Scribe Inkwell gave me a rundown of what happened,” Sardine rumbled, looking us over. “I understand that you dealt with our mole issue. The bodies you mentioned to Inkwell down in Stable zero have also been recovered. Already we have begun to weed out many of the spies in our ranks.”

I nodded, pulling myself up to face him. Xayah quickly followed suit. “Yeah. So you’ll help us get back to Manehattan now?”

The paladin paused for a second, clearly trying to figure out how to word something. “Inkwell also mentioned in her report to me that you were an Institute synth,” Sardine finally stated bluntly, his eyes boring into me. I flinched at that comment, suddenly feeling very insecure. “And this fact was later confirmed for me by a very curious report from one of our doctors about enhanced cybernetics found in you during your surgery.”

“Is that going to be an issue?” Xayah snarled, glaring down the armoured Steel Ranger. “We have done our part of the bargain. I hope you intend to do yours.”

The Ranger looked us all over for a second longer, trying to best gauge how to handle the situation. “It is unprecedented for the Steel Rangers to help a group such as yourself. We have never taken kindly to alicorns or zebras. Inviting you all in in the first place was a big risk for me and threatened my position here as head Paladin. But to help a synth as well… The Steel Rangers have very strict rules around synths. Our very existence and purpose is to reclaim technology and keep it out of the hooves of ponies that would otherwise use it for destructive matters. Synths and the Institute are a prime example of this, and something that has been of top priority since the attacks in Manehattan began.”

I crouched down into a battle stance, suddenly expecting for the Paladin to lunge at me. He never did.

“If Elder Blueberry Sabre were still in charge, you likely would be executed on the spot,” Sardine continued, his voice hard. “But luckily for you, I am not her. The wasteland is much more nuanced in this day and age than in the days of old. I understand that things are not as black and white as some of our ways may suggest. Perhaps not as much as the Outcasts would like to think, but different all the same.”

“So you will help us then?” Nova pushed, standing up herself and pulling Tinker up with her. “Get us across the Fillydelphia outskirts safely?”

Paladin Sardine nodded. “I made you all a deal. I intend to make good on it,” His voice darkened and he took on a slightly more imposing stance. “But I would recommend that we leave quickly and that you do not return here if you can help it. Already many of the Rangers here are calling for your death, whether you helped us out or not.”

It hardly felt fair. That I would risk my life for them and they would want to kill me just because I was a synth. But I suppose things could have been a lot worse. I might not be a big fan of Paladin Sardine, especially after he had threatened Xayah’s life, but at least he was honest and not as cold and bigoted as some of the other Rangers out there. Had he been more like Iron Hock or Elder Cottage Cheese, this conversation probably would have turned out very differently.

“Thanks then… I guess. For not deciding to kill us that is,” I said, albeit rather glumly.

Paladin Sardine grunted in response. “I would suggest not dawdling. We leave for Manehattan now,” He turned, slowly retreating back into the Stable-Tec headquarters. He stalled, turning his head back a little to face me. “And if memory serves, you’ve got a date with the Enclave in Friendship City. I deem it best not to keep them waiting.”

Then he moved down and out of sight, leaving the four of us alone on the roof. I turned, looking out across the ash coated expanse of the Fillydelphia outskirts. Far in the distance, past the radioactive hell hole and the scouring teams of slavers, I could see the silhouette of Manhattan's jagged skyline, marked distinctively by its crumbling monorail.

I let out a deep breath, my stomach clenching as I tried to focus on the struggle ahead. This had been one of the longest nights of my life, but at long last, it was almost over. But I knew full well that with the morning would be a whole heap of new problems. Problems that wouldn’t stop unless I could cut the head off the Snake. Pureblood had told me that I had no hope of beating him, and maybe he had been right. But there was one thing he had gotten very, very wrong.

He had said that my friends were wounded, lost and scattered across the vast expanse between Fillydelphia and Manehattan. But I knew where they were heading, and I was going to make damn sure that when we finally arrived in Manehattan, that we would reunite. And when we did, when we finally managed to pull ourselves from the fire that had been the last few days, Pureblood was going to have hell raining down on him.

“Alright then…” I breathed, feeling my heartbeat quicken in anticipation. “Time to go back to Manehattan. Time to go home…”

Footnote: Maximum level reached

Author's Note

Fallout: Equestria Belongs to Kkat

Have a great day!