“Waging war against good ponies is bad for the soul. This may not seem important to you now, but it’s the most important thing I’ve said.”

Politics.

I had never been super big into politics. I had never needed to be. Sure my father had been the Overstallion of Stable 25, but he had never involved me in any of the more political issues he undoubtably had to deal with. I doubt he would have wanted to. I probably would have botched them all up anyway.

Out in the wasteland, things were a little different. I faced off against factions vying for control of the city, dealt with establishing trade from settlement to settlement, even fought in battle being waged to achieve one political goal or the other. Now it wasn't that I was ignoring all of that per se, Celestia knows that I had dedicated the last few months of my life trying to keep ponies alive, but the exact ins and outs of how all these political situations actually worked was all but lost on me. I just pointed my gun at things and hoped for the best, then usually got beat up really bad along the way.

So you can understand my concern about being thrust into the middle of a war council where they intended to decide upon the very fate of Manhattan itself. Something told me I was in for a crash course on just how all this politics and intrigue actually worked.

With any luck, they would figure everything out themselves and I could just sink into the background. I was an extremely overqualified mechanic. I didn't know what was best for the wasteland!

Right... Like that was going to happen.

Grimacing a little at my wobbly legs, I strode down the long hallway of the Institute, Pyre marching at my side and my friends all quietly bickering back and forth amongst themselves as they strode behind us. Scarlet had managed to join up with us as well, her wounds looking almost non-existent now that Glasswing had patched her back up. As much as I hated to admit it, Glasswing was right about the benefits he could give the wasteland if was reinstated in the Institute. I just hoped those were promises he intended to keep.

“Just remember, don’t bring up the whole Iron Hock killing his own troop and framing me for it thing,” Pyre scowled under her breath. “I know it might seem like a good idea, but we have no way of pinning it on him directly. He won’t bring it up himself. It would be too suspicious. Somepony else is going to need to bring it up for him, and though it may not seem like it, he will likely be able to twist it in a hundred different ways for his own favour.”

“Is there anypony that would want to bring it up?” I asked nervously. Right now, I was simply praying every pony forgot about the whole ordeal and we wouldn’t need to deal with any of the political backlash at all.

Pyre thought about that for a second. “Hard to say. If Dixie or Magazine want to force my hoof with something, they might try to accuse me of trying to take out the other factions. Otherwise, I can’t see the Friendship Express, Applejack Rangers or Steel Rangers having any reason to bring it up. Just be on guard if it does.”

I gave a slow nod, though I wanted to scream. Having witnessed Iron Hock commit murder in an attempt to frame one of my best friends and not being able to do anything about it was killing me. “Alright... And if it does get brought up? What do we do then?”

Pyre shook her head. “Not sure. We’ll see how he manages to utilize it and cross that bridge when we get there,” She scowled again. “It’s a simple trick he’s pulling, but effective. We’re already on thin ice, and he just put a huge fucking crack in it.”

“Is there anything else I should know?” I asked, feeling a little nervous as we slowly neared the end of the hall “I’ve never done anything like this before.”

Pyre shrugged. “Hard to say. Try not to piss anyone off... And be weary of Dixie. She seems like a sweetheart, but let her fool you and she’ll rip you apart.”

At last, we trotted into the large counsel room. The room was huge, wide enough to fit dozens of ponies and a ceiling high enough that Jinx could almost rise to her full height. A massive table had been set up in the centre of the room, nine large chairs having been set up around it. Most of the chairs had been filled already, though I noticed one chair was left open for me.

A large map of Manehattan had been splayed out across the centre of the table. I saw large areas of the map sectioned off with multicoloured lines, clearly the borders of everyponies territory. I noted the area of Fetlock was controlled mostly by the True Steels and the applejack Rangers, with the True Steels area merging into many of the roads into Manehattan and around the harbour area. A few silvery grey areas marked the location of Steel Ranger bases across the city and large black spots indicated areas clearly under Enclave control, including a large section in the dead centre of the city that had been marked with a big X. That looked like something important, probably. Definitely something to ask about later. I noticed that the Institute and the MWT Hub had been marked down as Las Pegasus Raider territory. Whomever had divided up this map clearly thought the Las Pegasus Raiders were in charge here.

There was a clear lack of territory belonging to the Friendship Express, but then again, I supposed they liked to keep their bases secret and didn’t have all that much interest in claiming new territory for their own.

Jinx sat at the head of the table, her huge form far too big to fit in a chair of her own. On either side of the large sphinx sat Magazine and a mare I had only met on one other occasion, Dixie. Pyre Blaze quickly took a seat in a chairs beside Magazine, and beside her, the familiar face of Crusader Blueberry of the Applejack Rangers, currently out of his heavy suit of power armour. Across from them sat the two other Ranger leaders, Iron Hock and a Steel Ranger stallion that I had not yet met, both were unhelmeted, though unlike Blueberry, they remained in their armour. The final two at the table were Freedom of the Friendship Express, and Glasswing, both staring at each other with a clear disdain.

They were not the only ponies in the room as well, however. Dozens of ponies, Hellhounds and Changelings had gathered around the outside of the room, standing behind their appointed leader. I noticed a few ponies I recognized such as Scribe Inkwell from the Steel Rangers Fillydelphia division, and Sprocket from the Friendship Express. My mother had taken her place behind Glasswing with the rest of the scientists as expected. I noticed a large handful of the Pegasi guards from Dashite City present as well, though they didn’t have a representative at the table. My own friends filed into the room after me and took their place standing behind me as I sat down in my assigned chair.

“Well look who finally decided to show up,” Magazine grunted, her cybernetic fore hooves crossing in front of her. “Took you long enough.”

“Amber is the only reason we’re all still here,” Pyre scowled, narrowing her eyes as Magazine. “A little gratitude would be appreciated.”

“We’re just glad you’re alright,” Crusader Blueberry said, giving me a kind smile. “I was beside myself when I heard what had happened.”

“Thanks,” I said quickly, flashing him a smile of my own. “It’s good to know some of the ponies here are glad to see me.”

“Perhaps we should begin?” Dixie soothed in her sweetly southern accent. She gave me a warm look and a quick flutter of her eyes that made my heart pound a little faster for some reason. Despite everything everypony had told me about her, I found myself liking the adorable-looking new leader of the Disciples.

“Yes. Thank you Dixie,” Jinx nodded, her golden eye rolling over all of us. She paused for a moment, seemingly soaking in the emotion of the room. “We all know why we’re here. Manehattan currently ballences on the tip of a knife. Each and every one of us has seen a glimpse of victory, and we each want it. Before we begin, is there anypony that wishes to make any objections.”

As if he had been waiting for this exact moment, Iron Hock pulled himself to his hooves, glowering at all of us. “I would like to challenge your leadership over this meeting, Jinx,” He boomed. Everypony froze at his bold proclamation. I wanted to face hoof. We hadn't even started and things were going to shit. Perfect. “You and your raiders have no right to lead this meeting.”

Jinx sneered at him, showing off her sharpened fangs. “Oh? And why is that, Great High Elder Iron Hock?” Her eyes seemed to glow dangerously as she glowered at him, beckoning him on.

“The Las Pegasus Raiders are not of Manehattan,” Iron Hock retorted boldly. “Why should you, a group of ponies from across the Wasteland have control over the fate of Manehattan?” I noticed most of the True Steels, and surprisingly almost all of the Steel Rangers and Applejack Rangers that had assembled, give nods of agreement.

The Steel Ranger paladin I did not yet know the name of, stood up as well. “Furthermore, how are we to have a fair counsel if this meeting is run by the leader of a specific faction? Especially one run by raiders,” He seemed to be glaring directly at Pyre for that last line, as if he had a personal distain for her presence, though she didn’t seem to notice. There were a few more nods of agreement, this time they were joined in by Institute Remnants and Friendship Express Operatives.

Jinx hissed, her glowing eyes still focused on Iron Hock. “And who, pray tell, would you suggest ran this meeting in my stead? Yourself?”

Iron Hock grinned. “Of course. It would only make sense,” He placed a hoof to his chest, daring anypony to contradict him. “The True Steels control the most territory within the city. It is only logical that we organize this counsel.”

There was a loud uproar from the other factions at that. A few ponies at the table pushed themselves to their hooves in objection. “Despite what you seem to believe, you do not own Manehattan,” Blueberry shot back, pushing himself up to his hooves. "And you know full well that the Enclave has managed to take more territory in a shorter period of time!"

"The Enclave didn't send a representative, nor do they intend on negotiating with us," Iron Hock snarled. “And the meeting cannot be run by the Steel Rangers or the bloody Outcasts either! Neither of you even bothered to send your elders to this meeting,” Iron Hock’s snarl turned more vicious. “What? Are the great Rangers and Outcasts too good for us? Felt they could make a move on Manehattan behind our backs?!”

“Crossroads is currently busy preparing for the Enclave threat coming to Fillydelphia,” Blueberry shot back. “A threat that the True Steels seem to have all but ignored.”

“Indeed,” The Steel Ranger paladin grunted. “Star Paladin Sardeen is also preoccupied with the Enclave. Stern and her forces in Fillydelphia have been making large pushes against our cathedral at the Stable-Tec HQ and he could not leave it undefended, especially since the Enclave appear to have deployed a Thunderhead that is currently bound for that direction. We are expecting the Enclave to reach Filly in three days' time.”

“Whether they could make it or not is irrelevant,” Pyre interjected, growling a little at all of them. “What matters is that everypony is represented. Now, unless there is somepony better you would like to have lead this, speak up.”

"Why? I suppose you'd like to be the one running all this. Wouldn't you," The Steel Rangers Paladin growled at her.

Pyre shot him an angry look. "What? The fuck are you-"

“What about Amber?” Glasswing interrupted with a smiled, casting me a quick glance before shifting his gaze to look back at Jinx. “She is not affiliated with any specific faction and has proven to us her intentions are entirely set on preventing bloodshed.”

I felt a bolt of fear pass through me. Me? Run a war meeting? I didn’t think I was ready for that kind of pressure! I had been hoping they'd sort all this out themselves and I could just sit here quietly for an hour or so! I couldn’t lead a Stable, let alone stop a war from happening. Everypony sitting at this table was the leader of a big faction! I was just a pony that crawled out of a Stable one day and got involved in stuff way over my head. Wasn’t I, like, the least qualified pony here?

“For the first time, I think we might agree,” Freedom nodded, much to my horror. “In my time working with Amber Aura, I have seen a pony that is quite capable and notorious for making the right decision.”

Blueberry gave me a small nod and smile. “I’ll second that.”

I cast a worried look at Pyre. They seriously couldn’t be considering this, right? Unsurprisingly, Pyre was just looking back at me with an even gaze, as if trying to gauge my opinion in all this. At the clear look of terror on my face, she rolled her eyes. “I’d stand by whatever decisions Amber makes. I’d vote for her to lead us as well.”

I narrowed my eyes at her, but she just stuck her tongue out at me. Darn it Pyre, whose side were you on!

“Very well,” Jinx rumbled, her gaze still locked on Iron Hock. Clearly she wasn’t too happy about having all the power in the room yanked out from under her. She turned her head, letting her slitted gaze land on me. “Well, Amber Aura? Will you take control of this counsel?”

I gulped. “I, um… I mean, I guess so. If that’s what everypony wants.”

“Good, then it’s settled then,” Glasswing chirped, clapping his black, gnarled fore hooves together. “Shall we begin?”

I nodded. “Uh, sure. I guess we’ll start with control over the Institute, since we're all here and it seems to be the more pressing issue at this moment.”

Freedom pushed herself to her hooves. “The Friendship Express demands control over all Gen 3 synths. We want to free them. Put them into new homes across Equestria. The Institute would have them used as slaves!” She pointed an accusing hoof at Glasswing. “We demand this wrong be corrected immediately, or there isn’t much else for us to discuss here.

Glasswing leaned back in his seat, folding his hooves on the table before him. “And give you that large of a tactical advantage? What is to keep you from simply mobilizing our synths into an army?” He cast me a quick smile, clearly intended to be a reminder of our earlier conversation. The message was received. “Besides. Somepony is already in control of the synths. We couldn’t give them over to you if we tried.”

That last part was a good point. How does one hand over control of the synths without having control of them to begin with.

Freedom turned to face me. “Well Amber?” At my lack of immediate response, her face paled slightly. “Please tell me my trust in you was well placed?”

I glanced over at Glasswing for a second. He had a smug look across his face. Clearly, he was fairly confident he had persuaded me to give the Institute over to him.

I took a deep breath. “I fully intended to personally find the pony responsible and deal with him as swiftly as possible. I have a personal score to settle with him. Once that has been done, I will personally free all of the synths from the synth control myself, just as I did for Pyre and I,” I could feel Glasswing staring at me with wide eyed shock, but I refused to look at him, focusing my steady gaze on Freedom. “I will not, however, give control of the synths over to you. I won’t risk anypony having that kind of power again. You and your operatives will have a lot of work cut out for you, finding and setting confused synths across the wasteland up with a new life.”

I turned, now addressing the Las pegasus Raiders. “As promised, the Las Pegasus Raiders are free to take anything they can find and carry back with them to Las Pegasus. Upon leaving the Institute though, they will not be allowed to enter again, not without Glasswings permission,” finally I addressed Glasswing. “I will be returning the facility itself back over to Glasswing and his scientists. Though they will not get a say in what the Las Pegasus Raiders take.”

Glasswing glowered at me. “Amber, what kind of deal is that for us? There are hundreds of Las Pegasus Raiders here! They’ll strip everything! You’re handing over some of the most advanced tech in the world to ruthless murderers and giving us a hollow shell!”

“A deal is a deal, Glasswing,” I countered bluntly. “The Las Pegasus Raiders are here on the promise they will be getting a large share of the Institute's tech. If you intended to rob that from them and start a war, be my guest.”

Glasswing froze at that, not fully sure how to respond. He glanced over at Jinx, Pyre, Dixie and Magazine, all of which gave him small, smug smiles. He gave a low growl, his smile cracking. “You had better know what you’re-”

“You, as well as your scientists will be getting the Institute itself though,” I reminded him, cutting him off. “Yes, you will be taking a pretty serious hit in the production of all your projects, but I feel fairly certain that you will, in time, be able to rebuild the Institute to its former glory.”

As Glasswing struggled to answer, Freedom gave a slow nod. “The Friendship Express accepts your decision. It will be a lot of work, seeking out and helping the confused synths all across the wasteland, but I understand the necessity to keep their control out of any single ponies hooves.”

Jinx looked over the three Las Pegasus gang leaders around her. “Are the Las Pegasus gangs satisfied with this conclusion?” She asked, her teeth glinting in the clinical lights of the Institute.

Both Pyre and Magazine nodded. “We are,” Pyre grunted diplomatically. “We see this as a tactical win for Las Pegasus as well as a solid midpoint where the most ponies walk away with what they want.”

Jinx was silent for a moment before turning to look at Dixie who was being strangely quiet. “Dixie, what do you say?”

Dixie gave me a winning smile for a moment before closing her eyes and leaning back in her seat. “The Disciples are not satisfied,” There was a small uproar of anger from the other two gangs, but Dixie quickly silenced them with a hoof before continuing on in her sickeningly cute accent. “Institute tech is more a reward for Magazine and her Operators, and Pyre Blaze has little interest in the interest of the Las Pegasus gangs. She is only here to help Amber's interests. What do the Disciples and the Pack get out’a this?” She cast Pyre a smug, but strangely sympathetic look. “Do look out for your own Pack, darling. Don’t let me do your job for you.”

I noticed the Hellhounds looming behind Pyre had gone oddly silent at that, their eyes boring into my power armoured friend disdainfully.

“The Disciples joined this crusade because they were promised blood,” Pyre stated factually to Dixie. “Razor Blade got his bloodshed. He got to go down in a blaze of glory like he wanted in the fight for the synth creation centre with Iron Hock. If you were wise, you would honour his final promises.”

“But Razor Blade ain't here, is he?” Dixie soothed. “He’s dead. Dead because Amber sent a bunch’a ponies on a suicide mission for her own selfish purposes.”

I took back my thoughts about Dixie. I didn’t like her one bit.

“Razor Blade died exactly how he wanted to die, and you know it,” Magazine finally interjected, casting Dixie a scowl. “He got to die in the single biggest bloodbath since the great war. Your Disciples got to see their bloodshed.”

“Fair enough,” Dixie smirked, slowly shifting her head to look back at me. “But then what of the Pack? Surely they want something out of this? And I know my Disciples will feel quite… Under appreciated if they leave this counsel having gained nothing.”

I bit down on my lip, trying to think of an answer for her. “Is there… something you and your Disciples want?” I finally asked, suddenly feeling very cautious. “I’m sure we can work something out.”

Dixie grinned. “Indeed. It has come to my attention that in recent days, the Queens have taken control of the Balloon Station in Freeside from the Shackle gang,” Her lips twisted into a smug smirk. “I want the Flesh Rippers put in charge.”

Magazine growled. “Out of the question. The Queens are the best option Freeside has and you know it!”

Jinx had fixated her gaze on me, one of her eyebrows raised. “Well Amber? What are your thoughts on the Balloon Station?” There was a smugness in her voice. No doubt she had figured out I had played a role in the Queens taking over to begin with. How, I could only guess.

On one hoof, I hated the idea of giving control over to the Flesh Rippers. I liked the Queens, at least as much as I could like a gang of raiders, and the Flesh Rippers were vile cannibals from what I could remember. Giving the Flesh Rippers, and in turn, the Disciples, that kind of control over who got in and out of the Las Pegasus Strip did not appeal to me.

“Need I remind everypony that the Operators and their Queens already control all of the city's Securitrons and exterior defenses?” Dixie added. “That’s a lot of control. More control than the rest of us. And with the new influx of Institute tech I expect to start pouring into the city, I only see their influence growing. Control over the balloon Station is simply too much and seems like a fair trade to me.”

I raised an eyebrow at her. “But you are Jinx’s second in command, are you not? That sounds like a pretty large amount of control to me. Wouldn’t it make more sense to give it to the Pack and try and even it out?”

Dixie narrowed her eyes at me, her sweet sounding voice dropping to something a little more sinister for just a moment. “You wouldn’t be giving it to the Pack and your buddy Pyre. You’d be giving it to the Shackle gang, and the Shackle gang currently isn’t allowed access to the Balloon Station on account of letting ponies into the city without Jinx’s permission.”

I winced. I had been the one that framed them of that. Not that I really wanted the Shackle gang in charge anyway. I could still remember the vile monster Darbies. I didn’t imagine whatever pony had taken his place after I killed him and framed his death on the Flesh Rippers to be all that much better.

I felt a small smirk cross my face as an idea hit me. “Last time I checked, the Flesh Rippers killed Darbies to gain control of the Balloon Station. That sounds to me like an attempt to overrule Jinx’s direct orders.”

Dixie's eyes narrowed even more. “It does, doesn’t it? Funny how you know so much…” She allowed herself to trail off, letting a smile settle back over her face, her sweet tone returning. “Well, the way I see it, we can’t leave the Queens in charge, but you cannot give control over to the other two gangs either.”

I hesitated for a moment. I glanced around the room, trying to find some sort of answer. Finally, my eyes landed on one of the many Dashite City guards that were watching the meeting with wrapped interest. No doubt the fate of the Hot Balloon station involved them all greatly.

“What about the pegasi of Dashite City and the ponies of Freeside,” I finally suggested, a smile forming on my face. I spotted many of the Dashite City Pegasi straighten up with interest at that. “They have just as much claim to the station and city as you all do! Shouldn’t they get a little control?”

Every raider in the room burst with rage, clearly not pleased with that decision. “We can’t just give the station over to them!” Magazine declared, stomping to her metallic hooves. “I will not stand by while a coalition is formed between the Dashite city pegasi and the ponies of Freeside!”

“She’s trying to take our power away!” I heard a Disciple pony yell as they pulled a dagger from their side and pointed it at me menacingly.

“She shouldn’t be in charge of this meeting!” A Hellhound scowled, taking a step towards me, their huge claws scraping at the ground. “She has no intentions to help us!”

Jinx let loose a booming roar. The sound travelled around the room, vibrating the walls and making us all clamp our hooves around our ears to try and keep our eardrums from exploding. I noticed many of the Hellhounds cower to the ground, their claws frantically grasping their ears as blood trickled down the side of their heads.

“I am satisfied with this decision,” Jinx purred, giving us all a grin as we slowly recovered from the sudden ringing in our ears. “As there is no clear raider gang that can take its place, control of the balloon Station will fall to the Dashites and Freeside Ponies, so long as they first get approval for ponies entering the strip through me as the raider gangs before had to,” She glared at Dixie and Magazine. “I have decided. The gangs will fall in line,” She turned, raising an eyebrow at Dixie. “Are the disciples Satisfied?”

Dixie gave a sweet looking smile. “Of course, Jinx. The Disciples will accept the bloodshed given in the battle of the Institute as payment, and the new control over the Balloon Station is, though not favourable, understandable,” She gave Pyre a smug look. “Though, perhaps it is the Pack that you should be asking. I don’t hear them getting anything out of this deal.”

I bit down hard on my lip. Damn it, Dixie hadn't wanted anything out of this. She was just trying to make Pyre look bad in front of her gang. And damn it it was working.

“The Pack accepts these terms in order to maintain peace between the gangs,” Pyre shot back flatly. One of the hellhounds behind her growled at her response. I could see a few Pack members fidgeting anxiously. Clearly, they did not like how Pyre was handling things.

Ignoring the Hellhounds, Jinx turned her head to face Glasswing. “With that settled, we have confirmed what will happen to the Institute. Do you agree to Amber's terms?”

After a long moment of contemplation, Glasswing sighed. “Very well. I agree to the terms, but the Institute Remnants have requests of their own.”

I gave a small nod. “Which are, what?”

“The Institute wants temporary control over the Celestial States building in central Manehattan,” Glasswind declared, pointing to the central point of the map on the table. “There is a piece of tech there called the Beryllium Agitator that the Institute desires.”

I had not expected that request. In truth, I had no idea where this Celestial States building even was or what this Beryllium Agitator did. “And what exactly does this Beryllium Agitator do?”

Glasswing gave me a cold smile. It was developed by the MTW before the war. It has the ability to generate a considerable amount of energy. We few remnants of the Institute hope to create energy independence. The wasteland had proven itself to refuse to leave the Institute alone, and we wish to be left alone. I think you can see the conflict.”

It bothered me that Glasswing intended to block the Institute off from the rest of Equestria indefinitely. It only proved he had no interest in helping the world, only keeping his experiments. That said, it seemed like a fairly reasonable request, all things considered, especially when taking into account just how much we had actually taken from him to give to the other vying factions.

“I suppose that seems fair, unless anypony is opposed to the Institute taking this Celestial States building?” I said, trying to open negotiations up to the rest of the room. Almost immediately, everypony sitting at the table raised their hoof in objection. Even Pyre, which proved to me right away doing this might be a bad idea.

“That request is absolutely outrageous!” The Steel Ranger representative declared, once more pushing himself up to his hooves. “Firstly, the Steel Rangers will not sit idly by while the ponies are given access to such advanced Pre-War Tech. Especially the Institute who will most undoubtedly use it to recreate pony kinds undoing!” He stomped a hoof down on the sturdy table top, making the whole thing vibrate. “Furthermore, the Celestial States Building is far too great of a tactical advantage to simply hoof over to somepony so simply!”

Alright then… I hadn’t been expecting that outburst. I raised a hoof, silencing the large paladin. “Ooookay… Two questions. First, what’s your name again?” I felt really bad for not asking earlier.

The Ranger Paladin stared at me with an unamused look. “Are you- We’re ten minutes into the meeting that will decide the fate of Manehattan, and you’re only just asking for my name now?”

I gave him a shy looking shrug. “I just woke up from a coma, and I never really got a good opportunity to ask.”

The large Paladin sighed. “My name is Paladin Sirloin, second in command under Star Paladin Sardine of the Fillydelphia contingent of the Steel Rangers in the current absence of an Elder. As Sardine himself is unable to attend, I have been sent in his absence.”

I nodded. “Thanks. Second question. What’s the big deal with the Celestial States Building?”

Everypony at the table gave me a disbelieving, slack jawed stare before simultaneously slapping their hooves across their face. I heard a few snickers from the Las Pegasus Operators as well at the question.

“Amber, darling… How long have you been outside of your Stable again?” Dixie asked softly, raising her eyebrows at me in surprise and giving me a surprisingly sympathetic look.

I flushed a little at that. “Uh… Hard to say exactly… A little over two months… I think…”

“And you don’t know about the Celestial States Building? Surely you’ve seen it?” Crusader Blueberry asked, giving me a sympathetic look of his own. “The tall tower with the horse head on top of it?”

I gave him a small shrug. I probably had, maybe. Actually, now that he described it, I remembered passing that exact tower while on the way to the Institute, but it wasn’t something I had ever paid attention to. I’d walked all over the city by this point, but buildings were buildings. If I wasn’t planning on going into them, they didn’t really have all that much significance to me.

“It was a building commissioned by Celestia herself, long before the war began,” Pyre informed me quickly, piping up before any pony else could embarrass me any further. “It’s the tallest tower in the city, second tallest tower in Equestria after Shadowbolt Tower out in the Hoof. Once the war started, it became a military hub and a meeting place for the ministry mares prior to the construction of Ministry Walk in Canterlot. The damn place was built like a fortress, and was only defended further once the military came in and started filling it with top of the line security and military defence systems.”

Magazine raised an eyebrow at Pyre. “How the fuck do you know all that?”

Pyre shrugged. “Viscera and I tried to take control of it back when we were running the Manehattan Scourge. Didn’t end well. Half our gang got wiped out by Sentry Bots in the first few minutes of storming the place,” She turned back to me, continuing her explanation. “Point is, due to its fortifications, advanced tech within, and central location in the city and connection to every major trade route, the building would provide the single biggest tactical advantage in taking control of the Manehattan.”

Right. I suddenly had a pretty decent understanding of why no pony wanted me to just hoof control of it over to Glasswing. “So… if the Celestial States Building is so valuable, why has no pony tried to take control of it yet?”

Pyre chuckled. “I just said that I did back in the day, didn’t I?” She glanced around at everypony at the table who was suddenly looking a little sheepish. “And trust me when I say, pretty much every faction in the wastes has had their eyes set on taking it for years. The Las Pegasus Raiders were simply located too far away for it to ever be much of an advantage for us, but for everypony else? Everypony has been converging their territory towards it for generations. Any attempt to take control of the tower would not only involve crossing enemy lines, but fighting through half the city of Manehattan, and that's before needing to deal with the sentry bots inside.”

“Not to mention, the Enclave,” Blueberry added, drawing my attention over to him. “They just recently set up a base at the top of the tower with their Raptors. Some of my scouts noticed them securing large broadcast towers on top of it, though we haven’t been able to make heads or tails of the signal they’re using.”

“Hellhound control,” Star hissed. We all turned, looking at her. Star gave a small eep as all of our eyes turned to look at her, realizing that she had probably spoken out of turn. “Oop, uh, sorry.”

I raised an eyebrow at her. “No, it’s alright Star. You know what the Enclave is doing at the Celestial States Building?”

Star nodded, taking a nervous step forward. “I’d hope so. I practically designed the Hellhound mind control devices,” a few of the Hellhound behind Pyre snarled and moved to advance on Star, only for Pyre to order them back with a wave of her hoof. “Those broadcast towers, they’re casting a frequency that most ponies can’t hear with the naked ear. The sound pacifies Hellhound though. Makes them easier to control. Pair that with the mind devices themselves, and we take complete control over them.”

“Fascinating,” Glasswing breathed, his eyes shifting back and forth slightly. “Sounds like a similar model to how the Institute created teleportation via locking onto radio waves.”

I frowned, recalling how Farmer made a comment about how the Enclaves hellhound mind control devices could be used to tap into the Utopia Program. “Yeah… Very similar.”

“The point of the matter is, I refuse to stand by while the Institute tries to lay claim to such a valuable location!” Paladin Sirloin affirmed. "Enclave or not. The Institute will not gain access to the tower while the Steel Rangers have a say in this.”

“Sounds like it’s not an option anyway,” I pointed out, casting a flat glare at Glasswing. "Not without some pretty serious work and firepower.”

“With our combined forces, I have no doubt that we can deal with the Enclave located at the tower,” Glasswing snorted with a wave of his hoof. “What we want is a temporary ceasefire while we retrieve what we want. Once the Beryllium Agitator is in our possession, the tower is yours to give to as you see fit.”

“Not going to happen,” Iron Hock growled. “Tech like that belongs to the True Steels!”

“So you can, what? Power up your big gun atop Fort Strong? I don’t think so!” Sirloin shot back. For some reason, Iron Hock seemed to find that incredibly amusing. “The True Steels have enough power as it is thanks to the munitions factory you managed to get working below that facility. If there is anypony that deserves such power, it’s the Steel Rangers!”

Iron Hock narrowed his eyes at the large Paladin. “The Steel Rangers had their chance to use the technology at their disposal. Look where that got them! Broken into splitter groups and lacking any real leadership!” Iron Hock pulled himself up, practically looming above all of us. “I managed to build the True Steels up from nothing and into a force far stronger than the Steel Rangers ever were in the span of a few days! The Steel Rangers are a thing of the past! You would take all that power and have it simply waste away in some storage vault!”

“Sit down Iron Hock,” Sirloin drawled, glaring at him. “Your so-called True Steels, zealots of the Rangers true oath, think you’re so pure, but you’re nothing but a bunch of fanatical raiders!”

Iron Hock slammed his chair back, sending it clattering to the floor behind him. The massive minigun at his side spun up, the large magical energy weapon on his back popping open and aiming at Sirloin's head. “Do you want to start a war, Paladin?! I’d be happy to oblige you!”

“You started a war with the rangers the moment you broke your oath and attacked Fort Strong! Slaughtered the ponies who once called you brother!” Sirloin retorted venomously, spitting at Iron Hock as he too turned and let his minigun spin up. “Don’t act like we are the ones that started this war!”

“Ponies, please! Let’s sit down and talk this through!” Crusader Blueberry interjected, raising his voice to be heard over the two shouting Rangers. “Let’s all talk this out! That's why we're here. There is no need for violence!”

Iron Hock snarled, his eyes darting hatefully back and forth between Sirloin and Blueberry. After a second, he gave both of them a snide look and let his magical energy weapon retreat back into his armour. “Very well… We’ll talk. The True Steels want control of the territory around the Celestial States Building as well as the Fluttershy Medical Centre out in Fetlock. I want to make it very clear that I have no interest in negotiating these terms.”

Blueberry winced. “What! You can’t be serious! The Fluttershy Medical Centre is our only line of defence between Fort Strong and Stable 29! Giving that over to you would be opening us up for attack on both every front!”

Iron Hock sneered. “The Applejack Rangers can’t hold onto the Fluttershy Medical Centre anyway, not while most of your forces are out in Fillydelphia and Neighvarro dealing with the Enclave threat. You’re spread too thin. Best you hoof it over to me now and save your soldiers stationed there from the death I will grant them if they stay.”

“Woah, woah, slow down!” I burst, finally managing to get a word in with the warring rangers. I glanced over at Iron Hock.“I won’t give you the Medical Centre, but perhaps we can come to another compromise?”

Iron Hock glowered at me. “Picking favourites now, are you Amber? I should have known you would never give me a fair council!”

I raised my hooves up in front of me defensively. “In my defence, I didn’t vote for myself to run this, all of you ponies did,” I stood up, looking over the map on the table carefully. I followed along the Applejack Ranger and True Steel borders, looking for something I could use. “Perhaps a change in less important territory? I notice the Applejack Rangers currently have a base of yours near Tenpony Tower surrounded. Perhaps they can withdraw in exchange for some of your territory?”

Iron Hock paused, tapping a metal clad hoof to his chin. “Hmmm. Perhaps. We have been needing to send more forces out there than we can spare to maintain control over that area,” His eyes seemed to widen as he spotted something on the map, making him straighten up a bit. Whatever it is he saw though, he kept his mouth shut. “Very well. I will consider that an amicable trade, depending on what the Applejack Rangers want in return, of course?”

I let myself relax a little. That had gotten a little too close to all out war for my liking.

Blueberry gave a small nod at the suggestion. “Giving you more ground there would also allow you to more easily flank Stable 29 as well, no doubt. Though it is better than letting you take the medical centre, and we’ve lost too many troops trying to guard that area as it is…” He paused, looking over the map himself. “Alright. We’ll withdraw from that area, so long as you give us highway 22,” He pointed to a large road connecting Fetlock to Friendship City.”

Iron Hock practically baulked at the request. “So you can cut off trade to Fort Strong and flank us from both sides?! Do you think I’m an idiot!”

Blueberry’s eyes widened at the suggestion. “What! Of course not! We need access to Friendship City! There are still ponies trapped there after the Enclave attack and the True Steels have shown no interest in helping them!” Blueberry sat back, glaring at Iron Hock coldly. “Besides, if we withdraw, that gives you the ability to flank Stable 29 as well. It seems like a fair trade to me.”

Iron Hock took a long moment to think all of that through before nodding. “So be it. For the sake of the ponies of Friendship City, I’ll allow it.”

“Of course, this still leaves the matter of the Celestial States Building,” Magazine groused.

“My demand still stands,” Iron Hock affirmed. “The True Steels want access to the territory around the tower.”

“As does mine,” Glasswing cooed, shooting Iron Hock a small scowl while his back was turned. “I want the Beryllium Agitator.”

Jinx raised one of her huge paws, immediately drawing all of our attention over to the massive sphinx. “The Las Pegasus raiders want the Celestial States Building tower and surrounding area. The Institute may take the Beryllium Agitator if they must, but the tower itself will be ours.”

There was a moment of shocked silence as everyone digested Jinx’s request, then everypony in the room burst into shouting. I had to clamp my hooves over my ears to keep from going deaf as hundreds of voices all started shouting at and over each other. I cast a worried glance with Pyre. What had happened to trying to solve all of this peacefully? Surely Jinx knew asking for control of the tower was just going to cause more problems?

“The Raiders have no right to take the tower! Manehattan belongs to the True Steels!” Iron Hock was roaring, his weaponry once more popping open, this time aiming at the huge sphinx.

“If the Raiders take the tower, the Operators demand control over the Beryllium Agitator!” Magazine shouted, her gatling laser pointed at Glasswing who was currently expressing his own outrage over the sudden turn in the conversation.

“Manehattan doesn’t need the Las Pegasus Raiders getting a hoofhold out here!” Freedom spat, reefing out her revolver. “I’ve seen what the Las Pegasus Raiders have done to villages out in Neighvada! We don’t need that here in the city!”

“That tower rightly belongs to the True Steels!”

“The Applejack Rangers deserve the tower more!”

“We don’t want your raider filth in our city!”

“You want to start a war, ranger scum!?”

“We’ve got enough problems without you bringing your kind to Manehattan!”

“Fuck you raiders!”

“SILENCE!”

Everypony froze, glancing over at Pyre Blaze who had pulled herself on top of the table and was glaring down at all of us with disdain. “What are you all? Foal? Now sit down before one of you actually does something stupid!”

Slowly, everypony took a step back, those who had been seated taking a long moment to glare at each other before returning to their seats.

“Good, now…” Pyre started, hopping off the table and returning to her own seat. ”Right now, the Celestial States building is under Enclave control. None of us have the right to give it over, despite what you all seem to think,” She cast an angry scowl at Jinx. “Besides, there is a much more pressing issue to deal with right now. One that all of us seem to be dancing around.”

Freedom nodded. “Indeed. It seems foolish of us to sit around this table discussing territory when the threat of the Institute synths are still at large,” she stood up, pointing at multiple locations all across the city. “I’ve been getting reports from my operatives about synth activity all across Manehattan. They’ve been cutting off caravans, gathering around larger settlements. A large gathering of them has formed in the ruins of the Ponypalooza Hotel, meaning they’re invading both True Steel and Applejack Ranger territory. I’ve even gotten reports of them being as far west as Neighvada. If they're out there, how long until they go after Las Pegasus itself?”

“Not to mention we still don’t know who’s controlling them,” Glasswing growled, giving Freedom a biting look.

"I'm pretty sure I know," I confessed, looking around the room. "Leaden Excellent, the name you found the synth control had been directed to, it was an alias used by Silver Ace, the same pony that create the Utopia Program, started this whole mess. He's the pony behind all of this."

Pyre nodded. “But knowing who is responsible still leaves us with a huge problem. This synth army is massive, bigger than any other force we’ve ever seen. Likely big enough to pose a serious threat to all our forces combined. And if what all the reports we have been getting are true, then the trajectory of these synth attacks shows that they’re making a move towards the centre of Manehattan themselves.”

My ears shot up at that. That I hadn’t heard about the synths Silver Ace was controlling yet. “Wait? They’re making a push for the centre of the city? Why? Unless…” I trailed off, trying to connect as many dots together as I could. It didn’t take long to come to the same realization as everypony else. “They’re after the Celestial States Building as well!”

“Most likely,” Magazine agreed. “As we said before, taking the tower would give them a huge tactical advantage over the city. I doubt any of us would stand much of a chance if they took control of it.”

I shook my head. That didn’t make sense. Silver Ace was inside of the Utopia Program, he would have no interest in taking territory in Manehattan. What would have been the point if he had control over the entirety of Equestria? He wanted the Celestial States Building for another reason, which meant…

“He wants the Beryllium Agitator,” I surmised quitely, glaring at the large X in the centre of the map which I had come to realize represented the Celestial States Building. “I don’t know why, but he wants it. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

“More reason for the institute to take it,” Glasswing smiled, as if this revelation was some big win for him. “Though this facility was of course designed to allow synths the ability to teleport in, we are not without safeguards. Once the Beryllium Agitator is within the Institute, we can put up a transmission block around the whole facility, preventing synths from teleporting in.”

I nodded grimly. I didn’t like the idea of giving Glasswing and his scientists access to a supposedly unlimited power source, but if Silver Ace wanted it, I sure as fuck wasn’t going to let him have it. “Alright. If we can reclaim it, the Beryllium Agitator is yours.”

“And the tower itself?” Magazine asked curiously, spending a moment to glare at Glasswing distastefully. Clearly she wasn’t happy about not getting the Beryllium Agitator for herself. “Who gets the tower?”

“Right now it’s more important to make sure other ponies don’t have the tower. If anything, I feel it is best to have the Las Pegasus Raiders take control of the tower first, as an outside, neutral faction, and try and create some sort of order to the surrounding area before we make any further moves,” Pyre answered for me. “The Enclave and the synths pose a huge threat to all of us. Allowing either to maintain or gain control of the tower would be tactical suicide.”

“Create order for who? All of us, or just you and your Pack raiders?” Paladin Sirloin scowled at her.

Pyre froze, shifting her head to glare at the large paladin and narrowing her eyes behind her tinted visor. “Excuse me?”

“Of course you would want control of the tower,” Paladin Sirloin growled at her. “Don’t think the Steel Rangers haven’t noticed. You’ve been acting as a mediator, but we all know the truth. You’re planning something, and you’ve got your puppet Amber here speaking out her ass to cover for you ‘cause you know you’re on thin ice.”

“Sir!” Scribe Inkwell exclaimed from behind him, taking a step forwards, but Paladin Sirloin cut her off by raising his hoof, his eyes glaring into Pyre’s.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Pyre scowled back. “I have so far done nothing to provoke the Steel Rangers, yet you treated me with distaste since the start of this meeting. My only goal here is to make sure we all walk out of this in one piece.”

Sirloin scoffed. “Right. One piece like that True Steel you had murdered?”

I felt my heart skip a beat in my chest. Damn it! We had been doing so well. I had begun to think we would actually manage to get through this whole ordeal without that getting brought up. Apparently not.

Pyre glowered at him. “There was no proof to prove that True Steel was killed by a member of my Pack, and you know it.”

My eyes darted over to Iron Hock who was sitting back in his chair and watching this unfold with a smug grin. He glanced over at me, catching my stare. Our eyes locked, my Amber eyes glaring into his eyes. Then he winked at me and turned his head away.

“I will confess that I had my rangers interrogate him a few short hours before his death,” paladin Sirloin admitted. “We had reason to believe he had valuable information regarding much of the True Steel movement up in Fetlock. We had hoped it could be of use to us in regaining a hoofhold in Manehattan. The True Steel was less than cooperative, though I have no doubt you managed to get more information out of him with your more violent methods!”

I had had enough of this. I pushed myself up to my hooves, glaring at Paladin Sirloin. “Pyre Blaze was not responsible. None of the Pack were!”

“I have concrete proof that says otherwise!” Sirloin barked at me, standing up himself. I flinched slightly when I realized he stood a good foot taller than me, and that was before counting in the impressive bulk of his power armour. Fuck, why did I have to be so small?

“Concrete proof? Like what?! The fact that they were killed with a Hellhound claw? There were dozens of dead hellhounds all over the Institute after the battle. Anypony could have picked a claw up off the ground!” I retorted. “That doesn’t prove anything.”

Sirloin nodded. “Had that been the only thing, I would have agreed. But unfortunately for your friend, it is not,” He tapped a hoof to the side of his helmet, clicking on his built-in radio. “A few hours ago we picked up an encrypted message sent by Pyre Blaze to a Hellhound of her Pack that has since gone missing. I think you’ll be fairly interested in what it says.”

“Get the information we need out of that True Steel. I don’t care what you have to do to do it,” Pyre’s voice echoed out of the recording. The voice was distorted slightly from the radio’s static, but it was very definitely Pyre’s voice. Both Pyre and I froze, glancing at each other in concern. We had not anticipated this. “We need to know what the True Steels are planning if we hope to create a hoofhold in Manehattan and take control of Celestial States Building. Don’t get caught. We can’t let Jinx know what we’re doing. Ha! I can’t wait to see the look on that stupid sphinx’s face when she gets what’s finally coming to her…”

There was silence as the audio recording cut out. I glanced worriedly at Pyre, not sure how to take that. From the look of shock and fear that crossed her face, I could tell she wasn’t quite sure what to do about it either.

“You had one of my ponies killed,” Iron Hock growled, pushing himself to his hooves and pointing an accusing hoof at Pyre. “I should gun you down where you stand!”

“I… I didn’t,” Pyre stammered, her gaze still locked on Paladin Sirloin. “That voice wasn’t… I mean… I wouldn’t have-”

“I should have known. This was all a big stunt, wasn’t it?” Magazine hissed, whirling on Pyre. “You thought you could march back to Las Pegasus and one up the Las Pegasus gangs! Though you could take us out and seize control for yourself!”

“No, I- I couldn’t have-” Pyre stammered, getting up from her seat and backing up as both the Disciples and the Operators began advancing in towards her. The Hellhounds behind her closed in, blocking her off. She glanced up at Jinx’s desperately. “Jinx, I wouldn’t- There’s something bigger going on here! I-”

Jinx just met her gaze coolly, not bothering to comment further.

“She betrayed the Las Pegasus raiders once before! Who’s to say she wouldn’t do it again!” An Operator raider shouted, whipping up the angry raiders into a bigger frenzy.

“Please! Sit back down! We can talk all this out!” I shouted, trying my best to be heard over the hubbub. Everypony ignored me, their blazing eyes burning into Pyre.

“We should skin her alive!” A Hellhound howled, raising their massive claws and advancing on Pyre.

Pyre spun and glowered at the Hellhounds. “I killed Viscera! I am the leader of the Pack! You will fall in line!” She ordered, her hooves stomping the ground in front of her.

“And yet Viscera still lives!” Another Hellhound hissed. “Lives because you didn’t have the balls to kill her!”

Another Hellhound pounced forwards, their huge claws bashing Pyre across the front of the chest and knocking her back against the table. “You don’t care about the Pack!” They growled, showing off their impressively long fangs. “You just care about yourself! I think it’s time for a new change in management!”

Mirras wings burst open at her side as she flashed forwards and flew straight into the assailing hellhound's face. “Get away from my mom!” The hellhound gave a small shout of surprise, stumbling back before jumping forwards and pinning Mirra to the ground with a single paw. He loomed over her, thick drool dripping from his scowling maw.

My own new shotgun swung up instantly at the sight of my friends being attacked, both Brisk and Xayah pulling out their own weapons a second later and moving to stand beside me. The True Steels saw the motion and quickly whipped around to face us, their own impressive weaponry coming to bear and aiming towards us.

“Get off of her!” Pyre snarled, the ends of her flamers flickering with crimson light as she glared down the Hellhound that was pinning Mirra to the ground. “If you want to take control of the Pack, then come and take it from me! But leave my daughter out of it!”

More and more ponies were pulling out their weapons. I saw the Friendship Express pull their guns on the frantically mobilizing Institute scientists while further down the room, the Steel Rangers and Applejack Rangers glared at each other down their iron sights. The Disciples and Operators came to a stop around Pyre, their own weapons out and aiming towards her threateningly.

“Perhaps it's time a new pony takes up the mantle of leader of the Pack,” Dixie suggested, giving Pyre a small grin. She turned, giving the Hellhounds a thin smile. “What say all of you? The Operators are eggheads, and the Pack has fallen from grace. But there has always been one gang that has offers bloodshed when the other gangs falter, has there not? Perhaps it is time to make a change!”

Magazine growled, spinning on Dixie. “You would dare try and take control of two gangs! I’ll have you and your Disciples gun down before I allow you to take that kind of power you bitch!” At her words, her Operators turned, swinging their weapons away from Pyre and towards Dixie and her raiders.

“Join the Disciples? Stupid pony. The Pack stronger than the Disciples!” A hellhound scowled, their large claws twitching at their side as if wanting to flash out and start digging into pony flesh and their maw snapping violently at Dixie. “We will always be loyal to the Pack!”

Other hellhounds looked less certain. The hellhound pinning down Mirra was giving Dixie a thoughtful look, a smug, tooth filled grin stretching its way across their maw.

“Back off Dixie,” Pyre seethed, her eyes never leaving the Hellhound pinning Mirra. “The Pack is mine, and if you want to stay in the good graces of the Las Pegasus Raiders, you will accept Jinx’s decision!”

Magazine pushed herself between the two of them, her large gatling laser spinning up slightly. “Both of you, back off!” She glowered at Dixie. “Pyre will get what she deserves, but you will fall in line!”

“Silence!” Jinx roared, finally pulling herself to her hooves. Everypony froze, glaring up at the huge beast. All three gang leaders turned their heads to look up at her, waiting to see what she was going to say. After what felt like an eternity, Jinx bowed her head. “Stand down Magazine. This is between Pyre and Dixie.”

I felt my gut drop. Jinx couldn't just let this happen! This couldn’t be happening! It just couldn’t.

“Please! Stop this! Please!” I shouted, trying to draw everyponies attention back to me. Once again, I was all but ignored. “This is just what Silver Ace wants! He’s hoping we’ll tear each other apart before we have a chance to stop him! If he wins we’re all fucked! Don’t any of you care!”

“And why would we be fucked, exactly?” Paladin Sirloin scowled, turning his head to look at me. “I don’t think you’ve ever exactly explained that. Do you even know what this... this Silver Ace pony is planning to do?”

My voice caught in my throat. “I… Well… He’d…” My mouth snapped shut, knowing full well that I didn’t have a single clue of what Silver Ace was planning. “He- He took Luna Prime from my Pipbuck! I don’t know why he wants it, but if he wants that then-”

Iron Hock scoffed. “Luna Prime? You speak of things we don’t even know of. What is to say that this Silver Ace even exists at all? Perhaps you are the one that took control of the synths and you’re using this Silver Ace as a cover for yourself!” He snorted, a small burst of steam escaping his nostrils. “Awfully convenient, that everything this Utopia Program controls was taken over by somepony else shortly after you entered the program yourself.”

My mouth fell open. He couldn’t seriously believe that! After everything that had happened!

Thin, razor sharp blades slid out from the ends of Dixie’s hooves as she slowly trotted towards Pyre, a sweet looking smile across her face. “Please, stay still sweetheart. I’d hate to get blood everywhere,” A Hellhound lunged at Pyre from behind, their large claws wrapping around her and holding her in place as Dixie advanced.

Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam!

I winced as a stream of bullets blasted over my head and pounded against the ceiling, spent bullets bouncing off the metal roof and clattering to the table. Everypony froze, turning to face Brisk as he strode forwards, the end of his minigun red hot from firing.

“Are you all really so stupid?” Brisk spat at them all, venom in his tone. He hopped up onto the table, standing in front of everypony. “If any of you truly think Pyre Blaze sent that message then you either don’t know her or have your head so high up your own ass that you can’t see what’s right in front of you!”

“But what abou-” Iron Hock started, but Brisk cut him off.

“We'll deal with you in a second, now shut up!” Brisk growled at him, before once more turning to face everypony. I took a moment to enjoy the look of shock that crossed Iron Hocks usually smug face as Brisk's outburst. “I’ve had the pleasure of travelling with Pyre for almost two months now. And when I say pleasure, I truly mean that. Pyre is a lot of things, complicated certainly, hell, when I first met her, I thought she was just a raider, wanted nothing to do with her. Fuck, I mean I lost count of the amount of times I wanted to put a bullet between her eyes. Maybe the biggest mistake I ever made was waiting too long to treat her like a friend. Pyre Blaze is a lot of things. Brave, brash, a little annoying at time. But she's also noble and selfless when it matters most and she's put more work into becoming a better pony than any pony else I've ever known. But there is one thing that Pyre Blaze has never been, and that’s hungry for power. Do you really think she gives a single damn about taking the tower for herself? That she would want to usurp Jinx? What would that actually get her aside from all of you trying to kill her and her own gang turning on her? Nothing!”

Iron Hock opened his mouth again, but once more, Brisk cut him off. “I know. There’s a message with her voice on it that has her saying a bunch of crazy shit, but that doesn’t mean jack shit!" Brisk scowled. "There is currently a whole army of synths flooding through the streets of Manehattan. An army that can literally take the shape and voice of anypony they damn well like. Do you really think they can’t easily fake a message like that?”

My ears shot up straight. That would explain the voice in the recording, but that revelation suddenly put something else into question as well. That True Steel had been murdered by Iron Hock, not by one of Silver Ace's synths; I had seen that with my own two eyes. But Iron Hock had no connection to the synths, right? He couldn’t have created that message.

Unless…

I slowly shifted my gaze, glaring at Iron Hock. A small memory from just a few hours ago nagged at the back of my mind. I opened my mouth, almost hesitant to speak. “Iron Hock, you were in the Synth control centre during the battle for the Institute… Why were you accompanying Razor Blade and his Disciples instead of leading your own troops into battle?”

Iron Hock froze. His head turned, his eyes looking into mine for a second. “I don’t know what you are suggesting.”

“But you were there,” I shot back bluntly. I looked around, seeking answers in those around me. “He was, wasn’t he?”

Scarlet nodded. “Yeah. He came in shortly after the Disciples joined up with us.”

Star gave a low scowl. “And he stayed behind to help Razor Blade hold the Coursers off,” She turned to stare at Iron Hock. “Funny how you made it out of there when Razor Blade did not.”

All the Disciple Raiders shifted their gaze to glare at Iron Hock at that comment. I saw Dixie finally take a step away from Pyre, her eyes burning into the True Steel’s Elder.

Iron Hock’s gaze was still locked on me, not bothering to look over at Scarlet or Star Breeze. “Are you trying to imply something about me, Amber Aura?” There was a thick hint of malice to his tone, as if daring me to imply what was going through my head. "I would suggest that if so, you tread very carefully."

“It just seems strange to me that Silver Ace managed to get control of the synths while he was currently all the way out in Stable 25,” I sat back down in my seat, folding my hooves in front of me. “So then, what exactly did he promise you if you helped him? Weapons? Caps? Control of the wasteland?”

I saw Iron Hock flinch at the last comment. “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Iron Hock seethed, the muscles in his face tensing in rage. “Now be silent you ignorant bitch!”

I nodded smugly. “Control of the wasteland then. I suppose he could actually give it with his army of synths and the Utopia Program.”

“Steel Rangers would never work alongside synths,” Paladin Sirloin growled at me. “Those freaks are an abomination! The walking embodiment of everything we hate. Technology that’s gone too far!”

“But Iron Hock isn’t a Steel Ranger anymore. Isn’t that right, Iron Hock,” Blueberry scowled. “You like to act like you’re true to the Steel Rangers’ oath and code, hell you called your little splinter group the True Steels for fuck sakes, but you’re more like the Applejack Rangers than the Steel Rangers. You’re all about using tech, not hoarding it. You’d have no problem working with synths, would you?”

“I said shut up! All of you!” Iron Hock boomed, slamming his fore hooves down violently on the table. “This is all madness and heresy! Do you all want to start a war with the True Steels?! Because we can go to war!”

“You’d want that, wouldn’t you,” I snapped back, my eyes narrowing. “That’s what all of this is about, right? Silver Ace asked you to turn all of us against each other so that we wouldn’t be able to stop him. He knows that all of us together actually pose a serious threat, and you know it too. He offered you the whole fucking wasteland and all you’d have to do to get it was to tear appart the ponies standing in your way. You’d have no reason to say no. That’s why you killed your own soldier, why you framed Pyre, tried to drive a wedge between the raiders and gave control of the synths over to Silver Ace. I wouldn’t be surprised if you killed Razor Blade as well."

As if my words were the sound of a gun signalling the beginning of a race, the Disciples rushed forwards, lunging towards Iron Hock. Dixie vaulted over the table, knocking Brisk back to the floor as she rushed to get at Iron Hock. The blades on her hooves flashed out, pushing up against the larger ponies throat.

“Give me a good reason why I shouldn't skin you alive!” Dixie hissed at him. For once, the sickeningly sweet tone was gone from her voice, giving me a quick glimpse of the monster that lay below her pretty facade.

Iron Hock pushed away from her, a loud clunking sound signalling a rocket sliding into place at his side. “True Steels! Show these wasteland savages their place!”

I stumbled back as all of my senses were torn asunder by the sudden booming of gunfire and screams as the whole room broke into chaos. Bullets and rockets streaked across the room, knives and claws slashed through flesh, explosions flared across my vision. A massive shockwave from a rocket that blasted from Iron Hock’s side slammed into me, knocking me to the ground.

A True Steel rushed at me, the large minigun at their side whirring up, only for Xayah to step between us and send a bullet lancing through their visor. The True Steel collapsed to the ground an inch away from me, blood dripping from the shattered glass over their eyes.

I pulled myself up, narrowly avoiding a volley of bullets that blasted at the spot I had just been laying. I glanced around, trying to make sense of the sudden chaos, but it was hard to make out anything with the overwhelming amount of gunfire and smoke. The True Steels seemed to have organised themselves into a defensive position by the doorway, the Steel Rangers and the Applejack Rangers flanking them from either side. The Las Pegasus Raiders had formed a large semicircle around them and were closing in, Dixie and Magazine leading the charge.

Jinx strode forwards, her head bowed slightly to keep from scraping across the ceiling. The raiders parted for the large sphinx as she walked, making her approach feel more intimidating than it already was, and it was already plenty intimidating. Pyre trotted along beside her, her flamers blasting off bits of flame at any True Steel that dared to fire upon them. I noticed Mirra sitting nervously atop her back. I was glad to see she was unharmed.

“Iron Hock!” Jinx boomed, her voice sending chills down my spine, even through the overwhelming sound of blaring gunfire. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

“The wasteland belongs to the True Steels, beast!” Iron Hock spat back, before placing his heavy power armour helmet back over his head, obscuring his face. “What hope do you really think you have against us? Against Silver Ace and his synths!”

“Wong answer,” Jinx mused, her claws flashing forwards at the heavily armoured elder. Iron Hock jumped to the side, Jinx’s massive claws ripping up the ground where he had stood. The magical energy gun on his back swivelled to fire at her, sending a rapid fire volley of burning blasts of light into Jinx’s side. Her hide was ripped open, blood oozing down her side and matting into her purple fur.

Jinx didn’t seem to care much however, her body whipping back around and her thick tail slamming into Iron Hock’s chest hard, sending him staggering backwards, ramming into the doorway. He quickly stomped back to his hooves, though his conviction seemed less strong than it had seconds before.

“You and your True Steels’ will stand down,” Jinx snarled, looming closer to him. Two True Steels rushed at her, but she quickly knocked them aside with a swipe of her paw, her sharp claws cleaving one of them in two. “You cannot win here. Stand down or face execution.”

Iron Hock glowered at her for a moment. I could see his expression shifting back and forth between anger and understanding. Finally, he huffed, standing up a little straighter. “We will stand down if you let us leave the Institute peacefully.”

Jinx hesitated for a second, her eyes glowing for a moment as she created a small magical shield to deflect a rocket that streaked towards her. “Very well. You stand down, you live.”

Iron Hock took another moment to think that over before nodding. “Cease fire ponies!” At his words, all the True Steels ceased firing, all of them taking a step back into a tighter defensive formation around Iron Hock. Iron Hock fixed Jinx with a stern glare. “You will allow us safe passage out of the Institute.”

“Jinx, this is madness!’ Magazine protested, her gatling laser aimed at Iron Hock’s head. “We can’t seriously let him go! Not after what he’s done! We can easily take them!”

Dixie gave a grim nod, her own eyes digging daggers into Iron Hock. “He killed Razor Blade. The Disciples demand retribution.”

“He walks,” Jinx replied simply, raising a paw to silence them. She took a step forwards, her massive shadow passing over the gathered True Steels. “And they will never return to the Institute.”

Iron Hock sneered. “Understood, beast,” Without another word, he spun around, stalking his way out of the room, his True Steels marching close behind him.

Jinx turned, looking back at Pyre. “Have some of your Hellhounds escort them out. I don’t want there to be any accidents on the way. Have them seal the door behind them.”

Pyre nodded, turning to her Hellhounds and relaying the command. A few Hellhounds looked hesitant to follow her orders, but Pyre quickly reminded them this was a command directly from Jinx. It didn’t take long for ten of the Hellhounds to follow the True Steels out.

“Why…?” paladin Sirloin asked, his gaze following Jinx as she stalked back to her seat at the head of the table. “Why let him live after all of that? We could have taken them. They were vastly outnumbered.”

“Outnumbered, yes. But with the True Steels, they are rarely out gunned,” Jinx replied. “We could have killed them, sure, but how many ponies would we have had to lose to do so? A fight in close quarters against explosive weaponry is a costly battle. Each rocket they fired could take out a whole squadron of men,” She leaned back, lapping up a bit of the blood that soaked her paws. “Furthermore, killing Iron Hock would have accomplished nothing. The True Steels are well established enough that they will continue to operate, even without a leader. Look no farther than the Steel Rangers to see this. Or even my own gangs in Las Pegasus. Iron Hock will get what’s coming to him, of this I assure you. I will not allow some pony to kill my second in command and get away with it. But now is not the time for brash action. Now is the time for strategy.”

“He will come back and attack the Institute,” Blueberry harrumphed. “I worked alongside Iron Hock for years back when we were Steel Rangers. He would never allow such advanced tech like what’s in the Institute to fall into the hooves of anypony but himself.”

“Certainly, but not now,” Jinx soothed. “The Institute is far too defensible. He knows that any attack he launches on this place will fail. I doubt he would have accepted my invitation to retreat otherwise. Iron Hock will not return to the Institute until he is certain that his victory over it is a guarantee. He is arrogant, but his is not a fool.”

“But he will head for the Celestial States building,” Freedom growled. “With us all here, he’ll probably take his chance to take as much territory around that area as he can now before heading for the tower itself.”

Jinx nodded. “No doubt. And now that we know he likely has the help of the Institute synths on his side, I have no doubt he will manage to succeed in taking the tower.”

“Fuck, the True Steels were already bad enough,” Paladin Sirloin groused. “With the munitions factory below Fort Strong in operation, they possess far more fire power than we are capable of dealing with. If they’re working with this Silver Ace and his synths as well…”

“Then we’re going to be in a lot of shit,” I surmised, trotting over and getting back into my seat. As I sat back down, a realization hit me. “Silver Ace and Iron Hock put a fair amount of work into ripping us all apart, and they didn’t do that just for fun. They might outnumber and outgun us right now, but together, together we are a force that has a genuine shot of stopping them. But we have to work together. No more fighting amongst each other,” I shot a glance at everypony at the table. They all seemed to shrink back a little at my gaze. They had seen first hoof how easily we could get ripped apart, and just how bad it could get if we did.

“Fine, so we will work together,” Freedom grunted, casting Glasswing an unapproving look. “For the sake of the synths and ponies of Equestria, the Friendship Express is here to help.”

“As is the Institute. Or what’s left of it,” Glasswing agreed. “It’s about time we try to reel in what we started.”

“The Applejack Rangers as well,” Blueberry nodded, giving a quick salute. “We took an oath to protect the ponies of the wasteland, and we have no intention of abandoning that oath now.”

Sirloin gave a grunt of approval. “Indeed. The Steel Rangers will not stand by while synths run rampant across the wasteland, nor will we excuse the irredeemable actions of Iron Hock and his zealots.”

I turned my gaze to look at Jinx and the three Raider gang leaders. Dixie gave me a grim nod. “The Disciples will fall in line. Iron Hock must pay for what he did to Razor Blade.”

Magazine smirked. “So far, you’ve been the greatest thing to happen to the Operators, Amber Aura. Everywhere you go, you have brought us fortune. The Las Pegasus Operators stand with you.”

I cast Pyre a quick glance. My friend just gave me a smug shrug. “Do I even need to say anything? I stand beside you. You know that I always will.”

“It would seem the Las Pegasus gang's vote is unanimous,” Jinx smirked. “The Las Pegasus raiders are at your disposal.”

“But what exactly are we supposed to do? Even all together, we’re spread too thin to take on this kind of threat,” Paladin Sirloin noted. “The Steel Rangers hardly have a hoofhold in Manehattan since the attack on Fort Strong and the lost of Elder Cottage Cheese, and the Applejack Rangers can hardly hold onto Fetlock as it is.”

“Not to mention the Enclave threat,” Blueberry added. “Most of our forces are currently preparing for the battle in Fillydelphia. We don’t have nearly enough pony power to make any sort of push for the centre of Manehattan, let alone the Celestial States Building.”

“And synth attacks are still going strong across the city, and there are still large gatherings of them around Tenpony Tower,” Freedom pitched in. “They aren’t attacking yet, but if they’re going to make a move to take the city, they’re going to launch full scale attacks on those soon. We can’t leave those ponies defenceless.”

Everypony turned to me, as if expecting me to have the answers to their questions. I looked back and forth, trying to think up a plan. There was so much to do, and even with all these ponies at my disposal, I didn’t know if there would be enough to do it.

After a long second, I sighed. “You’re all right. With the True Steels and synths dividing the Steel Rangers and Applejack Ranger forces out in Fetlock, we won’t be able to stand much of a chance, and if Silver Ace does launch an attack on Tenpony Tower to keep us distracted... and he will... we can’t just leave everypony to die. They have defences there, sure, but not for the kind of firepower Silver Ace’s synths can throw their way…”

I took a deep breath, closing my eyes and stealing the moment. I could feel my hoof tremble as the gravity of everything seemed to weigh down on me. I had the fate of the whole of Manehattan resting in my hooves right now. My choices were going to be critical.

“We’re going to need to divide and conquer, clear up as many issues as we can before amassing together and taking the fight to them,” I ordered, puffing my chest out a little. “We need to make sure that Tenpony Tower is safe first. If we don’t Silver Ace will launch an attack on it the second we make a move. Tenpony is on the way to Fetlock, so the Applejack Ranger can supply protection to Tenpony while on their way there. My friends and I, along with the Friendship Express and the Institute remnants will supply them with back up,” I turned, looking Freedom and Glasswing over. “I figure you both would be the best to bring along to deal with synths.”

Freedom nodded. “We have Operatives in Tenpony that can help us out as well.”

“And what of the rest of us?” Paladin Sirloin mused, cocking his eyebrow and giving me an intrigued glare.

“The rest of you will need to make a push for the Celestial States building,” I replied grimly. “I doubt we’d be able to take the tower, not with the True Steels and synths at full might and the Enclave setting up base there, but we can at the very least slow them down until our issues out in Fetlock have been dealt with.”

Sirloin nodded, leaning back in his seat. “Understood.”

“Once Tenpony tower is safe, we’ll move onto Fetlock,” I continued, looking back at Blueberry, Freedom and Glasswing. “If we can free up the Applejack and Steel Rangers there, we might be able to amass enough ponies to make a genuine assault on the Celestial States building.”

Jinx gave a long, slow nod. “The Las Pegasus Raiders will do what they can to secure the territory around the tower and keep our enemies' control of it minimal until you are able to take out the True Steel threat and bring back reinforcements,” she stood, her eyes sweeping over all of us. “So..." She paused again, her eyes sweeping back and forth between all of us. When at last she spoke, her voice was low and even. "Is everypony in agreement?”

For a long moment, everypony was silent. No pony wanted to speak, feeling the end of the war council finally drawing to an end and understanding just what the implications of ending this meeting were. Manehattan was heading into war, there was no doubt about that now. I doubted any pony at this table had ever seen the amount of violence and bloodshed that we were certainly to see unfold in the coming hours.

Finally, everypony nodded, at last sealing the fate of Manehattan.

To war it was…

“AAAHHHHHHH!!” I screamed in exasperation, stomping back and forth as I tried to get as much nervous energy out of me as I could. I paused for a second, glaring at the pristine Institute wall in front of me before leaning my head back and letting out a long, exasperated scream of anxious anguish again. “AHAHAHAHAHAHAH!”

“Amber, you did great in there. You handled the situation better than any pony could have asked of you to do,” Xayah tried to assure me as she watched me from where she stood beside Brisk. “No pony could have expected Iron Hock to pull what he did.”

“Yeah,” Brisk agreed optimistically, giving me a smile that showed off his missing tooth. Wait, missing teeth. I had knocked a second out a few weeks ago. “If it wasn’t for you, every faction would have gone to war with each other or whatever. You managed to unite most of the ponies together to help us fight Silver Ace. That seems like a pretty big win to me.”

I stopped my pacing and turned to them, my eyes wide. “What part of going to war sounds like a big win! It’s a Pyrrhic victory at best. We’ve officially declared war on the True Steels, who are working with Silver Ace I should mention! We are hopelessly outnumbered, the Enclave is launching the single largest attack Equestria has seen since the great war tomorrow, and to top it all off, Pyre almost got killed!” I paused, letting the memories of the meetings flood into my mind. My mind got flooded with a second wave of things that had gone wrong and I threw my hooves up into the air in exasperation. “And we still don’t fucking know what Silver Ace is planning, why he wants this Beryllium Agitator or what he needs Luna Prime for!”

“Well, it sounds bad when you put it like that, but on the bright side, Pyre only almost got killed and didn’t actually get killed,” Brisk pointed out, smiling a little. His faux cheer dropped when he saw my ears droop, replacing his goofy grin with a more stern, understanding look. “Look, I get this isn’t all ideal, but everypony knew going into that meeting that shit was going to hit the fan sooner or later. No pony was going to get exactly what they wanted, and it was made pretty clear from the beginning that at least one faction was going to go get the short end of the stick and declare war. The fact that it was only one faction and not all of them is a serious achievement.”

“Indeed,” Xayah agreed. “All things considered, and noting that you had not expected to lead that meeting going in, you did a remarkable job.”

“But a war?” I moaned, sitting down on my haunches and staring at my hooves. “I can’t deal with a war! This is way bigger than anything we’ve dealt with before!”

“We made it through the Hollow Shades Massacre and siege on Dashite City,” Brisk pointed out. “If we could do that, then we can do it again, right?”

“Those were hardly wars,” I pointed out. “They were large battles, sure, but this is way bigger. It’s not just one settlement that suffers if we lose this, it’s all of Manehattan, probably the whole wasteland. If we lose-”

“When have we ever been known to lose?” Xayah countered smugly. “You have always lead us to victory, and you always will you foolish pony.”

I gave her a flat glare. “Um, we failed to save Stable 25. We failed to kill Viscera when she attacked up in the MWT hub. We weren’t even there to stop the Enclave from completely wiping out Oasis. We failed to stop Fluer from taking the A.A.S.S. from us. Hell, we still don’t have the A.A.S.S. anymore. Keeping that out of our enemies hooves is a ship that sailed long ago, and that was like, literally our main goal for the longest time. We fail all the time! Hell, we fail more than we win it seems.”

“And yet we are still alive and fighting,” Xayah pointed out. “And we will until we don’t fail.”

I sighed, leaning back and resting on the cold ground. “I’m just scared. Ponies have kept talking about how war is coming to Manehattan and lots of ponies are going to die for weeks and now it’s actually happening. What if Luna Prime gets activated again! or one of you dies! Or all of you die! Or-”

“What makes you so certain Silver Ace will even be able to activate this Luna Prime?” Xayah asked, arching an eyebrow.

Brisk nodded. “Yeah, didn't that megaspell and the big bone dragon thing connected to it get like… blown up by a gazillion balefire bombs?”

“First of all, a gazillion isn’t a number, and second of all, I doubt Silver Ace would have transferred it from my pipbuck for no reason. Do you really want to count on him not being able to activate it?”

Xayah and Brisk just cast each other a nervous glance, clearly coming to the silent agreement that counting on anything was probably a pretty bad idea at this point.

“Hey, how is everypony doing in here?” I heard Scarlet chirp up. I looked up to see Scarlet and Star Breeze poking their heads into the doorway. Scarlet’s gaze dropped down and landed on me lying on the ground. “Yeesh, that bad, huh?”

“Amber does not think she did well in the meeting,” Xayah informed them in her methodical tone. “We are trying to tell her that she is foolish for having these thoughts and that everything will be okay.”

Scarlet gave a grim nod, trotting over and sitting down next to me. “Yeah, you did great, Amber. Really, you did. I know things look bad right now, but trust me, it could have been so much worse.”

“I mean, things are pretty fucking bad though,” Star muttered under her breath. Scarlet shot her a stern glance. Star just rolled her eyes. “What? It is! I’m not saying she did bad! Just that things are shit! Things are always shit down here! Do you want me to lie to her!?”

“At least try to make it not sound like everything is shit.”

“But everything is shit!” Star protested. At everypony's grumpy glares, she relented. “Alright, fine. The wasteland has a bright future full of sunshine and rainbows. There! Are you all happy now?”

The door slid open again, this time making way for Pyre as she trotted into the room, carrying Mirra atop her back. “How’s my favourite war starter doing?”

“I will always be amazed at how you manage to make my life harder,” Brisk snorted at her, more laughing to himself than actually being annoyed.

"Hey, you're the one that said I was brave and selfless in the meeting," Pyre smirked at him. Her smile faded slightly. “Now I hate to interrupt whatever is going on in here, but I need to borrow Amber for a moment,” She said, bending her legs a little so Mirra could more easily climb off and join up with the rest of my friends. “Jinx wants to see her. It seemed important.”

Nodding, I hauled myself up to my hooves and trotted over to Pyre, giving my friends all one last wave before following her out. Pyre led me down the halls of the Institute silently, clearly picking up on the fact that I wasn’t in much of a mood for talking.

After a long time of walking, I realized we weren’t heading in the direction I had expected. “Wait. Where are we going?” I asked, skipping a little to make sure I didn’t fall behind Pyre’s long strides.

“Outside,” Pyre answered back bluntly. “Jinx is waiting for you on the roof of the overpass between the MWT Hub and Ironshod.”

True to her words, we made out way out of the long tunnel connecting the Institute to the MWT Hub before making out way up to the roof where Jinx was waiting for us, gazing out at the wasteland beyond with her golden, slitted eyes.

“Thank you Pyre,” Jinx cooed as we stepped out onto the slick surface, not bothering to look back at us. “You may leave. I wish to speak with Amber Aura alone.”

Pyre nodded, leaning in close so that only I could hear her. “I’ll be just downstairs if you need me,” She whispered, before turning and trotting out.

I stood there for a long moment, the wind whipping at my mane as I waited for the large sphinx to speak, but Jinx seemed to be more interested in her reflection on the metal surface of the broken skyscraper.

Finally, unable to take the silence anymore, I cleared my throat. “You wanted to see me Jinx?”

“I know why Pyre convinced you to recruit the Las Pegasus Raiders help, you know,” Jinx soothed, still not bothering to look at me. “What she actually hopes to achieve through all this. Magazine and Dixie think she’s trying to become Overboss. I understand why they think this. Most of her actions would suggest such a thing to a pony that doesn't know better. But I know the truth. She wants to reform us. Show us the… hmmm… what’s the right word… Light? Like she has seen. Like you have shown her,” She finally turned her head, one of her immense golden eyes looking me over. “She isn’t going to succeed. Reforming all of them as she hopes would take years, if it were even possible at all.”

I narrowed my eyes at her a little. “I hope you didn’t call me up here to complain about Pyre. You know that no matter what, I’ll always stand by her.”

“Of course,” Jinx replied bluntly. “I wouldn’t dare waste either of our precious time on something so unchangeable and irrelevant.”

“Why did you let Dixie challenge Pyre in the meeting like that,” I blurted, giving the large sphinx a hard glare. “You would have known full well that Pyre didn’t kill that True Steel, but you let Dixie almost start a civil war amongst the Las Pegasus Raiders anyway. Why?”

Jinx sighed. “I’m not omnipotent, Amber. Though I may seem it, I can be just as easily fooled as every pony else. True, I can see glimpses of the future or the past, but these glimpses are riddled with inconsistencies and contradictions. Sometimes I am just as blind to the world as you. For all I knew, Pyre very well might have killed that pony and you were simply covering for her and blaming it on another faction as a political move. It would hardly have been the first pony Pyre would have killed. And when Sirloin played out that message with Pyre’s voice, what else was I to do. I control the Las Pegasus gangs, but only to a point.”

“But Dixie was going to start a civil war! Had Brisk not stopped her, Pyre would have died and you would have had one less raider gang!” I protested. “Clearly that called for you to intervene! Flash your teeth and claws and scare them off, tell them to deal with the issue once the threat of war is gone! Something!”

“I did intervene. I told Magazine to back off,” Jinx hissed. She straightened up a little and sighed. “Imagine if I had sided with Pyre, Amber, after near irrefutable proof that she intended to betray me? Had Iron Hock played his cards a little better, perhaps I would still be unsure if that message was real or not. I would have had more than just a civil war on my paws, I would have a full on mutiny.”

I sat down hard, my mind reeling. Her logic was there, but… It was a cold, calculating logic that looked out for no pony but herself. I was reminded, not for the first time, that Jinx was not my friend. Despite Jinx’s more diplomatic nature, she was still the queen of raiders.

“The Pack...” I started slowly. “What is going to happen to them?”

“Pyre was already losing their favour. Many members of the Pack had been searching for a reason to overthrow her ever since she replaced Viscera,” Jinx informed me, her gaze looking almost sad for some reason. “Many members of the Pack are loyal, and will likely stick by Pyre for now, but many of the more… bloodthirsty… among them have already begun to break away from the Pack and side with Dixie and her Disciples. This meeting was a clear and decisive victory for Dixie, if for no pony else. The Disciples have not had this much power since they first came to Las pegasus.”

I gave a slow nod, not sure what to do about that. “Pyre really does have a long way to go before the Las Pegasus raiders are reformed, doesn’t she… Things are only getting worse.”

Jinx nodded. “No doubt removing Viscera from the picture was a big win for Pyre, but no, reforming the raiders of Las Pegasus will take a far more work than Pyre can give. She will fail. She will either once more succumb to the life of a raider or die trying to undo it,” She paused, shifting her gaze once more to the jagged Manehattan skyline. For a long moment she was silent. “But for what it's worth, despite the simple fact that she'll fail, I hope she succeeds.”

A small jolt of surprise passed through me. “You… you do?”

Again, Jinx gave a solemn nod. “I told you back at Dashite City, did I not? I once tried to leave this life of raiding behind. But old habits die hard. I like to think that maybe one day, under somepony better than I, the empire I built can be something better.”

That was a… surprisingly noble and strangely emotional sentiment from Jinx that I had not been expecting. Jinx was complicated. Just when I thought I knew her, she through a statement like that at me and everything I thought I knew got thrown out the window.

Not knowing what else to say, I followed her gaze, my Amber eyes rolling across the broken city landscape before finally landing on a tall building protruding from the centre of the city. The Celestia States Building, I recalled. Gazing upon it now, from all the way up here, I understood why everypony was so surprised I hadn’t heard of it. It was massive, almost triple the height of every other building in the city, with the massive figurehead of a pony built atop it. From all the way out here, I could see the small back shapes of Enclave Raptors swarming the top of the tower.

Letting my gaze shift downwards a little, I spotted what appeared to be dozens of fires smouldering across the city, the crimson light giving the gridded city streets a hellish glow, a clear sign that the True Steels had begun their march towards the centre of the city, eradicating anything in their path. The city had become a war zone already, and we hadn’t even entered the fray.

“So this is how a war begins,” I breathed, my eyes rolling over the devastation. “Not with two armies charging towards each other across the battlefield, not even over the heated debate of politicians, it starts here, in the calm before the storm. The silence and peace that precedes the bloodbath,” I paused again, lost in my own thoughts. “I guess it was all for nothing after all. It didn’t matter what we did. We were bound for war no matter what.”

“You managed to keep the Las Pegasus gangs in line and prevent the Friendship Express and Institute Scientists from killing each other,” Jinx pointed out. “Plus, you managed to get the Applejack Rangers easier access to Friendship City. That likely will save many lives, so no, not everything was for nothing. War was inevitable, but a winnable war was not. You’ve given us a fighting chance. That’s more than most can say.”

As we stood on the precipice of the overpass, a huge shadow passed overhead. I looked up, my eyes wide as I made out the huge shape of a massive, black airship as it slowly flew over us, blotting out the sky above entirely. I saw Enclave Raptors deploying from its huge hull, flashing out and raining fire down upon the streets of Manehattan below.

“What is that thing?” I muttered, my eyes fixated on the huge ship. It was at least fifty times the size of an Enclave Raptor, large enough to practically be a flying city all on its own.

“Enclave Thunderhead,” Jinx mused, her gaze turning skyward as the huge Thunderhead passed overhead. “The Enclave is preparing for their final assault on Fillydelphia and the last stages of Operation Cauterize. They will kill any pony that they deem a threat to them. Considering the resistance and losses they've taken over the past few days, I would guess that's every pony in the city at this point. They will likely stop at the Celestia States building to regroup before heading to Filly, which means taking the tower is going to be a lot harder, but that also puts another obstacle in Iron Hock and Silver Aces path as well.”

“Do you…” I paused mid sentence, not sure if I really wanted to ask the question. “Do you really think you can keep the tower out of their hooves? I mean, you could take on that Thunderhead, right? Nothing can kill you.”

Jinx grimaced. “We will see, but I too have my limitations. Remember that it took all I had to keep only one Enclave Raptor at bay during the siege on Dashite City, and even then I barely escaped with my life. I am just as capable of dying as everypony else, Amber. Do not forget that.”

I nodded, my gut twisting. “So is that all you wanted to talk to me about?” I finally asked, not able to bear looking at the burning city any longer. "Talk about Pyre and how screwed we are in these coming battles?"

“No. There is one more thing,” Jinx sighed, turning away from the city completely and resting down on the ground before me. “You mentioned something back in the meeting, something I did not at the time have the ability to address... You mentioned Luna Prime.”

I felt my heart thud heavily in my chest. “You’ve heard of it?”

She shook her head slowly, her eyes practically burning into me. “No, I have only felt it. During the war, somepony convinced Twilight and Luna to start digging in the Hollow Shades. They found something down there. Something that should have stayed buried. I felt it then, a strange power that I could hardly recognize. Older than Equestria itself. I felt it again a month ago, the day the MAS tower in the Hollow Shades was destroyed.”

“The same day Kamari tried to activate Luna Prime,” I noted, my brows furrowing in worry. “You think the Luna Prime megaspell is connected to whatever Twilight dug up?”

Jinx raised an eyebrow at me. “Do you not?” She let her smug smirk fade. “But I believe there is more to this than even that. I felt it again, when you were inside the Utopia Program. That strange force, it moved.”

I went rigid. “It… Moved?” What the fuck did that even mean?

“Not far. Only a few inches. But that’s more than it had moved in two hundred years,” Jinx told me. “Pyre told me about what you saw inside the Utopia Program. That there was a beast in there. Something dark. Something longing to escape. A pony of Shadows.”

A chill passed through me at the memory of the eldritch beast dwelling within the darkness of the Starswirl the Bearded wing. “I’ve been thinking about that thing as well…” I confessed nervously. “I keep seeing it in my mind. As if it's calling to me. Beckoning for me to free it. You don’t think it was the- the same pony of Shadows you mentioned to me before? Back when we were in Las Pegasus?”

Jinx cocked her head slightly to the side. “Would you doubt me if I said I did? The connections are far too similar. The description, the connection to the Hollow Shades, the very feel of its energy. When you and Pureblood interacted with the thing within the Utopia Program, the thing in the Hollow Shades moved in turn. If that thing really is the Pony of Shadows like I fear it is… Well…” She looked back at the city of Manehattan, her eyes rolling over the rising pyres of flame and smoke billowing from the winding streets and the huge silhouette of the Enclaves Thunderhead as if loomed over the waiting city. “Well if it is… Silver Ace and the war for Manehattan may just be the least of our concerns.”

Footnote: Maximum level reached

Author's Note

I hope you enjoy fantasy politics, 'cause this chapter had just a little bit of that. (Okay, a lot of that)

Fallout Equestrian belongs to Kkat

I hope you all have a great day!