“Isn’t there supposed to be a light?”

Rain.

A heavy rain had begun to pour down from the thick overcast clouds above me as I stared down at the looming structure of Fort Strong on the horizon. The sound of the torrent beating against the ground filled my ears, only partially obscuring the sound of stomping hooves as the coalition army of power armoured Steel Rangers and Applejack Rangers marched forwards. Every few minutes, I’d hear a loud plopping sound as a large bead of water rolled down the broken roof above and splashed into a large puddle by my hooves. My coat and mane had been thoroughly soaked through, matting all my hair down against my body in thick clumps.

I had taken up a position at the top of one of the many ruined buildings making up the Fetlock suburbs. Long ago, I think it might have been home to a family of five, if the worn and faded picture in the living room was to be believed. Now it was only a tomb. Five skeletons lay curled up in the corner, hooves wrapped around each other as if staying close might save them from the holocaust that seared the flesh from their bones. I wished it worked like that. That I could just wrap my friends in a big hug and hold them tight till it was all over and that everything would be okay. But the wasteland was just as cruel as the balefire that had taken the lives of these innocent ponies, and in many ways, it was perhaps even crueller.

Past the crooked and run down stretch of houses, I could see the True Steel’s forces slowly trying to mobilise themselves again as they regrouped around their looming fortress in the distance. Most of their forces had made their way back inside Fort Strong, but I noticed a fairly large True Steel presence had remained beyond its walls. Clearly, they were expecting our attack. From here, I could see no signs of Bonebreaker, though I had no doubt he was in there somewhere, licking his wounds and readying himself for the onslaught he knew was coming.

Shifting my gaze, I looked up at the massive, mini skyscraper sized gun that rested deactivated atop the huge, concrete fortress. Like before, a ring of functional turrets shifted back and forth on it, searching for hostile targets. I was thankful to see the huge gun itself had not been reactivated. I had seen the dragon cannons in Las Pegasus down an Enclave Raptor in a single shot, and this gun was almost double the size. I could only begin to imagine what it would be capable of if activated.

I felt my eyebrows furrow slightly as my gaze landed on the base of the massive gun. It may be inactive, but the True Steels were clearly up to something. I could see long catwalks and scaffolding that had been built around the base of the gun, and a hoof full of True Steel scribes were busy at work, welding bits of metal to the guns base. They were building something in there. I just prayed they weren’t fixing the gun.

With my luck they were defiantly fixing the gun.

“Our forces are in position,” I voice rumbled from behind me. I turned to see Paladin Sardine and Crusader Blueberry standing in the now doorless door frame behind me. Sardine took a step forward as I met his gaze. “It’s time to launch the attack.”

“Do we have a plan?” I asked. It felt almost refreshing to be the one asking that question for once. “As soon as we launch this assault, a lot of ponies are going to die.”

Blueberry nodded. “We do. Paladin Sardine will lead a direct attack on the front gates. With luck, our overwhelming forces will be able to overpower them while they’re still weak from the fight at the Medical Centre. They may have the home advantage, but for the first time in a long time, we outnumber them. Meanwhile, You and I are going to be taking a back entrance with an elite troop. We’re going to try and cut the head off the snake.”

Sardine gave a grim grunt of affirmation. “Indeed. With Iron Hock out in the centre of Manehattan battling for control of the Celestial States building, the True Steels forces out here will likely crumble without the leadership of Paladin Bonebreaker.”

I took a deep breath. “Okay. When do we start?”

Crusader Blueberry trotted up beside me, sadly looking out at the gathered group of Rangers below. “With every second we wait, the True Steels ready themselves more. So we don’t wait. We strike now.”

I could feel an anxious ball of stress forming in my gut. It didn’t seem to matter how many battles I fought in. The nerves never seemed to go away. “Alright… Let’s do this.”

I followed the two rangers out of the building to join up with our forces outside. As I pulled myself through the crooked door and back into the pouring rain, Scarlet and Star Breeze saddled up beside me, their faces awash with grim worry. I gave them each a reassuring nod, gesturing for them to stand by me. “Stay close,” I told them, turning my gaze to face Blueberry and Sardine as the two leaders began addressing their troops. “Things are about to get messy. I want to keep you by my side if possible.”

“Steel Rangers and Applejack Rangers!” Paladin Sardine shouted out, taking another step forwards. Much of the murmuring from the assembled rangers went silent as he spoke up, every pony turning their head to look at him. It was clear to me that Sardine held a lot of respect among the ranks of the Rangers, Applejack or otherwise. “For too long now, we have fought amongst each other! Bickered and warred over petty rules and territory we no longer own. And all the while the real threat has been growing. Killing our brothers and making pacts with foes far worse than we could have known. You all know who I speak of!”

“The True Steels!” A few ponies roared out, their voices filled with violent disdain.

Sardine gave a grave nod. “Indeed. They have invaded our fortresses, taken the lives of our brothers and sisters, turned their backs on the oaths we pledged, be us Steel Rangers or Outcasts! But right now, we have a chance to take back what is ours! We will show these True Steels that the Rangers of the Wasteland are not a force to be reckoned with!”

There were a few cheers from the crowd. It was a strange emotion, seeing so much pride and excitement mingled with so much fear and sadness and rage all in one group.

Crusader Blueberry stepped forwards then, taking his spot beside Sardine. “It’s time to put our feuding aside, if only for today. Back when I was with the Steel Rangers, positioned here in Fort Strong, I felt pride whenever I looked to Fetlock, seeing our fortresses' massive walls towering over the wasteland. And when the True Steels stormed it, when they slaughtered our brothers and sisters, Steel Ranger or not, I felt sorrow and anguish. A sorrow I’m sure many of you felt and are still feeling. Today is the day we finally put all that sorrow aside and strike back. After today, when we look to the horizon and see Fort Strong's mighty walls, we’ll feel pride once again!”

Blueberry put a single hoof to his chest, his metal hoof plating clanking loudly against his power armour’s chest plate. He shouted a word, though it was rapidly obscured as every member of the group before him raised their own voice and called out in time with him.

“Ad Victoriam!”

Blueberry turned back to me, giving me a small nod. I returned it, feeling my heart beating heavily in my chest. It was time. Into the fire.

Boom!

A rocket shot out across the battlefield, slamming into the upper part of the looming wall of Fort Strong. The explosion rocked the fortress, accompanied by howling screams as a True Steel positioned on the upper wall was sent flailing to his death alongside a burst of scattered stone, knocked prone by the massive blast.

Paladin Sardine strode forwards, a second rocket notching into place at his side as the Rangers around him surged forward with a mighty battlecry, rushing towards the fortified structure of Fort Strong. The tremendous clamour of their hooves echoing out to join the endless drumbeat of the rain. Then the air was filled with a cacophony of blaring gunfire, explosions and billowing screams.

“Hold steady!” A True Steel Crusader was barking, his side mounted minigun roaring as he tried to stand strong against the onslaught. He looked at his troops behind him, snapping off command after command. “Try to flank them from behind! Get the defences up and running! Now!”

The small turrets ringing the massive dragon cannon snapped to life, swivelling out and aiming down at the charging Rangers. Crackling sounding zaps filled the air as they fired as a unit, slashing down Ranger after Ranger with pinpoint accuracy. I watched as five Rangers fell dead to the ground, their heads rendered to glittering ash.

“Push forward!” Sardine was booming, his own weapons roaring with fire. A grenade went off a few feet from him, rocking the ground, smoke and ash being kicked up into the air in a violent plume. One Ranger was blown apart by the blast, limbs, metal and gore shooting in all directions. “Corner them against the wall!”

Another rocket detonated, this time in the centre of a group of charging rangers. I saw limbs flying in every direction as the explosion blasted five ponies apart, their markers blinking out on my EFS just like that. A loud wail of pain arose from a Applejack ranger lying prone on the ground, his back half obliterated in the blast and his desicrated torso trailing bloody innards. He pulled himself forwards in the mud, trying to drag himself desperately to safety.

I weaved to the side as a volley of blasts scoured the ground next to me. I raised my magically enhanced shotgun in my magic to retaliate, only for Blueberry to pull me to the side, leading me off to and around the back of what looked to have once been a small military watch tower.

“This isn’t our fight,” he grunted, leading me away from the battle. Scarlet and Star skittered behind us, their weapons raised in case we were spotted. “This is just the distraction.”

Blueberry led us almost a mile away from the massive structure of Fort Strong. Even from this distance, I could still hear the roaring sound of battle and the occasional feeling of the ground shaking beneath my hooves as a grenade or rocket detonated. Finally, after a few minutes of walking, Blueberry pulled up beside two other Applejack Rangers that were waiting for us at the mouth of a massive sewer pipe. The pipe jutted out over a concrete ledge, hanging over the edge of a large aqueduct that had long since run dry. Before the war, it likely ran water from the Celestial Sea into the city of Manehattan, now it lay as a long abandoned ruin, cracked and coated in a thick layer of ash and debris.

“This is the entrance into Fort Strong?” Scarlet mumbled, peering over the edge and at the large entrance to the pipe. “You’d think it would be better guarded if Iron Hock knew about it.”

“He can’t guard this area. It’s technically still in Steel Ranger territory,” Blueberry told her, trotting briskly over to a small, crooked ramp that led down to the opening of the pipe. “Trying to defend this location would be opening himself up for an attack.”

“But not defending it just leaves his main base open, especially if all the Rangers know about it,” Star pointed out. “Surely he isn’t that fucking dumb?”

Blueberry gave off a small chuckle. “Oh, I very much doubt this place is unguarded. We will likely find True Steel guards further in. And if Bonebreaker is smart, which from what Sardine has told me, he is, he likely will have doubled those forces the moment he failed to wipe us out at the medical centre. With luck, our display of force on the front gate will have elevated it somewhat.”

I watched for a second as Star and Scarlet began descending the ramp after Blueberry, bits of debris shifting and crumbling away from the ramp under their weight. Blueberry managed to make it to the bottom with relative ease despite his bulky suit of power armour. Star had to jump back for a second as a large chunk of rebar and cement crumbled away.

After waiting a second for my turn to trot down, I ignited my horn and materialised a few small shields of magic in a staircase-like pattern down into the pipe. I smirked a little at the sight. I had never considered the idea of using this spell for more creative purposes.

“Show off,” Star grunted at me as I hopped down my magical staircase and easily landed at the mouth of the tunnel in front of them.

I stuck my tongue out at her. “You could have just used your wings.”

Star frowned at herself. “Fuck… I could have just used my wings.”

Not a second later, the two other Applejack Rangers skirted down the ramp, trotting up behind Blueberry and awaited further instruction. Blueberry gave each of them a nod, before addressing all of us. “You all ready? Something tells me we’re going to be in for a-”

“Let’s just get on with it,” Star grunted, cutting him off and fluttering her wings as moving past him into the dark tunnel. Scarlet and I exchanged a quick, worried glance before slowly and cautiously following after Star, Blueberry and his two knights trailing behind us. If Blueberry was offended by Stars outburst, he didn't show it.

The tunnel was longer than I had expected. I had assumed it was going to just be a straight walk from the entrance to the inside of Fort Strong, but I quickly found myself following behind Blueberry as he twisted and weaved his way through a rather impressive labyrinthian of tunnel systems beneath the city. After almost a minute of trotting through the pitch black, I gave up trying to remember what way we were going.

“I didn’t realize there were so many tunnels down here,” Scarlet muttered, her words echoing my own thoughts.

“These were used to supply the entire city with running water,” Blueberry explained, turning down another tunnel. “You could get practically anywhere in the city through these pipes, assuming you know the proper route.”

I glanced over at Star Breeze as we walked. She had started out leading the group in, though she had quickly fallen to the back of the line as she realized that, like me, she had no idea which way she was heading. Slowing my step a little, I fell in step beside her.

“Hey. You doing alright?” I asked, keeping my voice low. “You seem a little… I don’t know… A little off today, I guess.”

Star just cast me a sideways glance. “We’re in a fucking war right now. Good ponies are dying. What kind of psycho wouldn’t feel a little off.”

“Fair point.”

We walked in silence for almost a minute before Star abruptly broke the silence once more. “Fuck… How transparent am I?”

I glanced back over at her, feeling only a little smug. “Well you got snappy at Blueberry back there and seemed to be in a bit of a rush so I figured something was wrong. I mean, you forgot you had wings for a second,” I looked her up and down, trying to get a read on her. “So I’m taking it I was right. Something’s off?”

Star grit her teeth. “Of course something fucking off… I just…” She trailed off, trying to figure out what to say. When she spoke up again, her voice was distant. “Do you ever think we’ll see Brisk again?”

I gave her a warm smile that I feared didn’t manage to reach my eyes. “I’m sure we will, one way or another. Brisk and I have been through a lot these past few weeks. Hell, he’s been through a lot even before I met him. I’ve never seen anything keep him down for long.”

“So you aren’t worried about him? Or Xayah for that matter?” Star asked, almost impatiently. I was surprised by the sincerity in her voice.

“Of course I’m worried. I always am. Every day I wake up and fear it’ll be the last day I get to see them. After everything that's happened, those two mean everything to me. I feel like all of us have come so close to dying every day since this whole crazy thing started that sooner or later fate is finally going to catch up with us,” I told her, letting my own fear and anxieties seep into my words. I had to take a second to catch my breath when I realized I had started rambling. “But I can’t let that weigh me down. I just have to keep moving forward and have faith that my friends will do their best to make it through the day.”

“It hardly seems fair,” Star sighed, finally looking away. “It feels like Brisk and I only just found one another, and now we’ve been pulled apart.”

“I know what you mean. Things have been so crazy that it feels like I’ve spent a whole lifetime with Xayah already, but sometimes I think back on everything that’s happened and I realize I’ve only known her for a little over a month.”

“It’s honestly strange to think what we’ve all been through,” Star agreed. “We’ve lived through more in the last few weeks than most ponies will live in a lifetime. Looking back, it doesn’t even all feel real. And I’ve only been there for a small chunk of it,” She took a deep breath, looking forwards towards the end of the hall. “I just want all of this to be over, Amber. I’m tired of all this violence. When will things stop getting worse?”

I opened my mouth to respond, only to hear Blueberry give a small warning from ahead. “I see light. We’re almost there.”

The six of us pushed up in a small clump beside a curve in the hallway. Around the corner I could see the flicker of firelight and hear the slight clanking of what sounded like somepony shifting their weight within a suit of power armour.

“The doorway into Fort Strong is just around the corner,” One of the Applejack rangers that had been accompanying us affirmed in a low whisper. He paused for a second, listening intently. “Sounds like there are around four guards or so.”

“That’s a good sign,” Blueberry noted. “I was expecting much heavier resistance. It means our plan is working and Bonebreaker is afraid.”

“Attack on three?” I suggested simply. Might as well get this over with.

Blueberry nodded. “Attack on three.”

“One…”

“...Two…”

“Three.”

The fight lasted all of ten seconds. Three of the True Steels fell dead before they even knew what hit them, their bodies riddled with bullet holes. I heard one of the Applejack Rangers shouting something in a panic before violently slamming into me, roughly shoving me away and back down the hallway. I glanced up just in time to see the final True Steel reeling up, a balefire egg launcher strapped tightly to his battle saddle.

Star had just managed to grab onto Scarlet and pull her backwards when our vision was filled with a flash of blinding green light. I felt my hooves fly out from under me as I was sent hurtling backwards, flying end over end, only for the feeling of my back slamming roughly into the wall to jolt me back to my senses. I heard screams as the massive explosion ripped ponies apart. I felt hot blood splatter across my face, though I couldn’t tell whose it was.

I lay there on the floor of the tunnel for a long moment, dazed. My hole body was numb, my ears were ringing. What happened. The light. The pain. Had the True Steels fired the Balefire egg? Why couldn't I feel my hooves?

My head throbbing with pain, I hauled myself back up, stumbling around and trying to regain my bearings as my vision slowly faded back in. My head was pounding and I could hear very little as a loud ringing noise throbbed in my ears.

I saw Scarlet staggering over to me, the side of her face singed and blood dripping down one side of her head. Smoke was pouring through the hallway, curling around her form. “Amber…” Her words were distant and I had to focus to hear them. “Amber, are you alright!?”

I braced myself against the wall, my forehooves almost giving out from under me. I looked down, making out the torn open mangle of charred flesh on the front half of my body. I could feel my stomach lurch and I had ro resist the urge to vomit up what little food I had managed to down that morning.

“Amber! Holy shit! Hold on!” That was Star’s voice this time, though I couldn’t see her as I shut my eyes tight and tried to zone out the sudden pain that was beginning to flare up all over my body. It all felt too familiar; the same burning sensation I had felt when I dove head first into the Utopia Program suddenly flooded back into my mind at full force. I dropped fully to the ground, my whole body going limp as I struggled to hold onto consciousness.

I felt a pair of hooves reach down and start tending to my wounds. I let loose a scream I couldn’t hear as the gentle touch felt like a hammer blow shattering my ribs. A second later, I felt the mouth of a glass bottle push up against my muzzle and I hastily drank down the liquid, desperate for any end to the pain. The uncomfortable itching feeling of my flesh slithering around on my body made me squirm as the healing potion Star had shoved down my throat did its work. A few moments later I lay on the ground, breathing heavily as I tried to calm my racing nerves.

Taking a deep breath, I looked up, making out Star and Scarlet standing above me, both of them looking the worse for wear as they stared at me with worried expressions. “Blueberry?” I managed to croak out through my dry throat, glancing back at the tunnel leading to Fort Strong. From here I could see the thick smoke billowing from the tunnel and large chunks of the walls that had warped due to the intense heat of the balefire egg blast.

Star gave a quick nod in response, flapping her wings and lifting off into the air before rushing into the smoke. A few moments later, I heard her give a loud yell, urging Scarlet to come join her. Scarlet gave my hoof a quick squeeze before rushing off to help her.

Gritting my teeth, I pulled myself back up to my hooves. I glanced back down, making out the impressive work of the healing potion. Most of the seared flesh and gaping wounds had healed over, though there was no doubt they would leave a terrible scar. My Stable barding had been badly seared as well, though the ballistic weave Coco Pommel had lined it with seemed to have protected it from being completely destroyed.

I staggered a few steps towards the smoke, only to see Star and Scarlet dragging a large form from the rubble. I quickly stumbled over to aid them, helping to drag the power armoured body of Blueberry a few feet away from the smoke before laying him down to rest. His armour was an absolute mess, with large hunks of the metal plating having melted to slag.

“Is he alright? He’s not dead, right!” I frantically began asking, looking up at Star in worry as she began looking over the body. I really hadn’t known Blueberry that well, but he had been one of my greatest allies throughout my journey in the wasteland all the same. If nothing else, I had admired him. He was a good pony, and there weren’t nearly enough of those in the wasteland. I didn’t want to lose him too.

“He’s alive,” Star grunted in response, digging around in her saddlebag for medical supplies. “But not for long. Quick, help me get him out of his armour!”

I nodded, desperately beginning to peel off his power armour one plate at a time. I had to hold back a gasp as the back half of his body emerged from the metal armour. One of his hind hooves had been completely severed within the armour, leaving nothing but a bloody, mutilated stump. Most of his hide had been burned away and part of his ribcage was exposed.

Scarlet managed to pry his bulky helmet from the armour, revealing his dark blue coat and short cut white mane. Star quickly shoved another healing potion down his throat, before returning to removing the armour over his midsection to tend to the large burn wounds that the healing potion couldn’t help.

There was a loud croaking gasp as Blueberry’s head suddenly bolted up. “My men,” Blueberry gasped, spitting the empty healing potion bottle to the floor. “Where are they? Are they alright!?”

“Stay down,” Star instructed him, whipping away some blood with a rag to get a better look at one of the wounds along his back. She grimaced at the sight. “They’re dead. There is nothing you can do for them.”

I glanced behind me, making out the crumpled forms of the two Applejack rangers lying dead in the hallway. Both of their bodies had been twisted at brutal angles and their armour still smouldered red hot. I gave them both a respectful nod. One of them had pushed me out of the way of the blast mere moments before it had gone off. If not for them, I likely would have met the same fate.

Not yet even inside the Fort, and this mission was starting to go very awry. Thankfully, I could hear no sign of the last True Steel around the corner. I assumed he must have been killed by his own blast.

Blueberry lay his head against the ground and closed his eyes as the news washed over him, a small shudder racing throughout his body. “I see… Thank you…”

“Uh, don’t mention it,” Star grunted. She looked up at me over his body, worry in her eyes. “So we’ve got a bit of a problem.”

I furrowed my brow. “Aside from a third of us getting whipped out before we even got into the building?”

“Two thirds, Blueberry isn’t going anywhere like this and somepony needs to look after him. You and Scarlet are doing this solo.”

Blueberry growled, pushing himself up to his hooves and braced himself against the wall despite the clear pain the movement caused him. I was amazed to see him manage to stand even while missing a hoof. “No. I intend to finish this. These monsters have killed dozens of good ponies. Many of which I cared about. I am seeing this through to the end, you can’t-” he was cut short as one of his fore hooves buckled and he collapsed back to the ground.

“No, you’re not. Not in this fucking state. Look at yourself,” Star scowled. “Amber and Scarlet have this. Don’t worry. They snuck into fucking Fillydelphia and back! They can do this.”

“That mission was a disaster,” Scarlet pointed out, holding one hoof to her head to stop some of the blood that was dripping down her face.

“Wasn’t there, don’t care,” Star snorted. “Point is you did it and no pony died.”

“Chestnut died,” I corrected.

“Point is you both didn’t die. Fuck,” Star shot back, clearly agitated. “Look, am not saying this is going to be a fucking cake walk, I’m just saying that’s how things are going to have to be. Blueberry isn’t going anywhere, and I need to stay with him to tend to his wounds. Unless anypony has a better idea or we decide to just walk away and leave all those ponies fighting outside here to die, that’s just how things are going to go.”

“I’ll be fine!” Blueberry began to protest again, but Star quickly cut him off with a swipe of her wing.

“Stop saying that. You clearly are not!” She sighed, letting the tense muscles in her shoulders relax a little. “Look. You’ve done a lot. You got us this far. Now let us finish this for you.”

Blueberry looked back and forth between the three of us, his mind clearly racing. “No. I won’t slow down this mission. All of you go. I’ll tend my wounds myself.”

Star scowled. “You have medical training?”

“No, but the healing potion was more than enough to stabilise me,” he replied flatly. He glanced down at the ruined stump of his hind leg, the features of his face trembling slightly. “I’m not walking out of here and you three have more important things to deal with. Go. I’ll be fine.”

All our heads bolted up at the sudden sound of metal clad hoofsteps beginning to echo down the hall from behind us. They were distant, but they were clearly getting closer.

“The fuck, we don’t have reinforcements coming…” Star muttered under her breath.

“No, we don’t…” Blueberry breathed. “This was a trap… I should have known Bonebreaker was smart enough to have more ponies guarding this place. They meant to weaken us before finishing us off… ” He looked over at his armour a few paces away from him. “Amber, get me my gun.”

I nodded, scampering over and pulling his minigun from his battlesaddle before dragging it over to him. “What are we going to do?”

“As I said, you’re going to continue on with the plan,” Crusader Blueberry ordered. “I’ll hold them off as long as I can. Hopefully I can keep them back long enough to stop them from getting word to Paladin Bonebreaker that you’ve made it into the building.”

“That’s insane! You’ll die! This is suicide and you know it!” Scarlet blurted, stomping her hoof a little. “I won’t allow this!”

“Just like Star pointed out, we all don’t have a choice in this matter,” Blueberry retorted. “Now go! Now!”

Star nodded. “You all heard the buck. Come on!” She spun around, darting back into the smoke filled hallway. After a second of hesitation, Scarlet gave a grim nod of resignation before turning and sprinting after her.

I stood in the hallway for a second, glancing in the direction Star and Scarlet had gone before turning and kneeling next to Blueberry. “Try to survive this, alright?” I told him, knowing full well this was going to be one of those promises that he couldn’t keep.

Crusader Blueberry gave me a sad smile. “I’ll do my very best.”

I leaned forwards and gave him a small kiss on the forehead. “You’re one of the bravest ponies I’ve ever met in the wasteland. Did you know that?”

Blueberry’s sad smile became a little more genuine. “I try... Win this war, Amber Aura,” The sound of clomping hooves grew louder. I watched as Blueberry’s smile faltered somewhat and was replaced with a second of fear before he concealed it behind a stoic mask. “And thank you… For everything you’ve done.”

I took a step back, looking him over one last time before turning and rushing into the thick smoke after Star and Scarlet. I hadn’t even managed to catch up with them when the gunfire began to sound behind me. The smoke stung at my eyes, but I doubted it was the reason I was crying.

Up ahead, I could see a large hole in the wall where the tunnel presumably led into Fort Strong. A large metal door, clearly constructed post war, had been welded to the wall, blocking the entrance. Star stood in front of it, tapping away at the terminal connected to it. As I pulled up beside her, there was a beep and she gave a small grin before yanking the door open with a hoof and darting inside.

I followed close behind, squeezing in beside Scarlet as we stumbled into the fortified walls of Fort Strong, shutting and locking the door behind us. Interestingly enough, I actually recognized the hallway. It was the same hall I had snuck through on my first visit. I quickly pointed out both the prison and the corridor ahead of us that would eventually lead to the armoury.

“don’t suppose you also know where Bonebreaker would be holded up?” Star grunted, her eyes darting around for any dangers.

I shook my head. “I didn’t stick around in this place long. I can get us to the front door and that’s about it.”

We heard the sound of the approaching squadron of True Steels long before they rounded the corner. I quickly ushered Star and Scarlet to the side, pushing us into a side room as a group of at least twenty fully armoured True Steels rushed down the hallway.

“Get to the wall, now!” One of the True Steels was shouting. “We can’t let those bastards breach the front gate.”

I felt Scarlet put a hoof on my shoulder and hold me back. I glanced over at her in confusion before realizing that I had already raised my shotgun in my magic and had taken two steps towards the doorway. I took a second, taking a deep breath and trying to steady myself.

“This isn’t a place for rash action,” Scarlet whispered. “I know you’re angry about Blueberry, but we cannot let his sacrifice be in vain.”

I nodded. Of course she was right. Though my rage went a little deeper than just the loss of Blueberry. These ponies had ransacked Stable 25, stripped it for parts and collected the corpses of everypony I’d ever known to melt down into fuel. I more than just wanted to win this war for Manehattan; I wanted to watch the True Steels burn.

Then a thought struck me.

“Neither of you were there when we explored Stable 23, were you?” I asked, already knowing their answers. At the shake of their heads, I elaborated. “They were harvesting tech. Pretty much anything they could get their hooves on.”

“Seems pretty fuckin’ normal for these assholes,” Star remarked.

I shook my head. “I thought so too at first, but they had little interest in medical supplies and weapons. They took them, sure, but it was secondary to everything else. Since when do the True Steels not want weaponry first and foremost?”

Scarlet nodded, following along. “They have their munitions factory beneath this fort. Perhaps they don’t need more weapons and they had to prioritize getting other supplies.”

“Or they're building a bigger weapon,” Star interjected. “That would match better with what we know of Iron Hock’s intentions.”

“You think they’re fixing the big gun on the roof of this fortress?” Scarlet questioned, glancing from Star back to me.

I gave a nod. “I would be surprised if they weren’t, but from the amount of materials they were scavenging, and the amount of construction I saw from outside, I’d reckon they’re building something more.”

“Alright, more reason to kick them when they’re down,” Star nickered. “But how does this help us any? We still need to find Bonebreaker.”

“Because the True Steels are outmatched right now and Bonebreaker knows it,” Scarlet blurted, finally catching on. “They put way too much stock in winning the battle for the Fluttershy Medical Centre. They have to make a big move right now to guarantee their victory or the Steel Rangers and Applejack rangers are going to trample them.”

Star’s eyes widened. “So if Iron Hock had Bonebreaker working on some kind of massive super weapon…”

“...Then he’s going to be trying to make sure it becomes operational as soon as possible before the battle at the front gate turns into a total massacre,” I finished, gritting my teeth.

More heavy footsteps came trampling down the hall, alerting us to another group of True Steels fast approaching. I beckoned for Star and Scarlet to follow me, as I began weaving my way through the hallways, ducking out of sight whenever any True Steels came by. Thankfully, the halls were mostly empty. Most of everypony must have been sent to deal with the attack on the front.

Up ahead, we heard ponies bickering and quickly slowed our pace, careful not to let our hoofsteps be heard.

“We need to start going on the defensive,” one voice hissed, their voice clearly echoing out of the voice modulator of a power armour helmet. “If we keep this up, we aren’t going to last much longer in this war.”

“The fuck do you think we’re doing?” another voice shot back. “Bonebreaker has all of us holed up in this fuckin’ fort till Iron Hock can send reinforcements.”

“You think they’re going to get here in time?” The voice sounded desperate.

There was a long pause as the three of us slowly began slinking past the doorway, careful to stay low and out of sight. I caught a quick glance of the two fully armoured True Steels hunkered down against the far wall, their power armour singed and dented. Clearly they had just come in from the battle at the front.

“They aren’t coming...” The second True Steel finally replied, a sombre note to his voice. “Iron Hock needs all the ponies he can get in the main battle at the heart of Manehattan. The truth is… Our victory here is only secondary to that, especially now that those synths betrayed him.”

I paused, that last bit catching me off guard. Clearly the statement caught the other True Steel off guard as well, as a second later I heard him say, “What do you mean, those synths betrayed him?”

There was a small grunt from the True Steel. “We got a distress signal from Stable 25. Those synths swarmed the place and wiped out everypony stationed there.”

“But why!? That stable was empty! We scrapped it for everything it had!”

“No clue. Doesn’t matter,” The True Steel spat back, pulling off his helmet and slumping against the wall. “That was our only outpost between here and the Celestial States Building. Now we’re cut off.”

I felt my lips curl into a snarl. Silver Ace made damn sure he had control over Project Redirect. The only thing stopping him from doing whatever he was planning now was Twilight and Farmer inside the Utopia program. I prayed to the goddesses that they were still doing well.

Scarlet tugged on my leg again, pulling my forwards. “Amber, come on. We need to move,” I gave her a grim look in response before nodding and continuing on through the hallway, leaving the two True Steels behind.

After a few moments, I located a stairwell, leading both to the upper and lower floors of the base. I glanced over at my companions, seeing if either of them had any idea of which way we should take.

Star rolled her eyes at my look. “Gimme a second. I’ll fly up and see if it’s the right way,” I opened my mouth to respond, but before I could, Star had already flapped her wings and shot up the stairwell at a speed my legs could not hope to match. A second later she came swooping back down, eyes wide. “Nope nope nope fuck nope fuck!” She shouted, rapidly urging us down the other flight of steps. “Wrong way!”

Heart racing, I whirled around just as I began to make out the sound of shouting from the floor above alongside the clamour of steel clad hooves. “Star! The fuck did you just do!”

“Sorry, but I wasn’t expecting a squadron of fuckers right at the top of the goddess fucking stairs, now did I!”

"There was a what at the top of the what?!"

“There they are!” A True Steel shouted, rounding the corner at the top of the steps as we darted rapidly into the lower levels of the fort. “Open fire!”

My ears were assaulted by machine gun fire as the True Steel opened fire. Sprays of cement dusted me as the bullets riddle the wall above my head as I duck and dove back and forth, dipping out of his line of sight and bounding down the stairs after Star.

Several more True Steels came rushing around the corner, rapidly rushing down the steps towards us as their battle saddle mounted weaponry flared. My horn burst to life, erecting a magical shield as I did my best to deflect the onslaught. Star dropped to the ground, her head ducking low to keep from being blasted apart.

“We need to find a way to lose them!” Scarlet shouted, firing her magical energy pistol behind her blindly. One of the True Steels shots pinged loudly off the wall by her head, making her recoil.

I rammed my shoulder against a steel double door at the bottom of the steps, slamming it open for us to rush into the lower sections of the base. “Working on it! Working on it!”

We burst into a large factory floor. The second we were through the door, we ran face first into a wall of intense heat and I instinctively pulled myself to a stop, taking in the chamber around me, a large gasp escaping my lips. The room was so large, that for a brief second, I thought I had somehow stumbled back outside. Giant furnaces smouldered to one side of the chamber, filling the room with a hellish red glow and pumping thick black clouds into the chamber. Large, elevated conveyor belts of varying heights crisscrossed around the room, working overtime as armoured ponies rushed back and forth to keep the machinery running at maximum capacity. What had clearly once been a weapons factory had been transformed into some sort of nightmarish workshop.

In the centre of the chamber, was a massive, metallic construct clearly built post war, that formed a large armoured vehicle supported by four endless chain tracks. The top of the construct extended above the ceiling, the whole centre of the fort having clearly been hollowed out to allow room for the massive piece of machinery. The monstrous contraption must have been roughly the size of a small city block. The whole thing kinda reminded me of a giant version of one of those robobrains I had encountered in the Fluttershy Medical Centre, only a few hundred times larger.

“Is that… A tank…!” Scarlet breathed, her own eyes widening as she took in the massive, armoured vehicle.

I glanced up, my own awe at the sheer scale of the machine outweighing my drive to keep running. “Yup… And guessing from the size…” I glanced up at where the top of the large tank extended out of my line of sight. That thing connected to the massive gun atop Fort Strong.

I had been right. They weren’t just fixing the gun. They were making it mobile!

“Not the time for gawking!” Star spat, pushing us forwards. Her shout was accompanied by several rounds of detonations as a True Steel with a grenade launcher came rushing around the corner.

I dove to the side, yanking Scarlet and Star with me with my magic as the explosives ripped apart the ground where we’d been standing. I saw a bunch of the True Steels on the factory floor whip around at the sound of explosives and gunfire, their weapons turning to face us as they began to rally.

“This just keeps getting better and better,” I groaned, rolling back to my hooves. I glanced down at Star and Scarlet. “Alright, new objective. Find and kill Bonebreaker, and disable that big tank thing.”

Star gave me a quick nod, diving to the side to take cover under one of the conveyor belts. “You’re good with machines. Can you handle the tank?”

I gave a nod, scamping back and taking cover behind a large furnace. A few bullets bounced off the furnaces' metal walls, nearly blinding me with their sparks. “I’ll need cover!”

“I’ll do my best!” Scarlet shouted back. She pushed herself out from behind cover, her pistol firing beams of magical energy towards the largest collection of True Steels. “Over here you tin cans!”

“Scarlet wait! Don’t!” I shouted, blasting off a few shots from my shotgun, the magically infused buckshot blasting into the head of one of the True Steels, knocking them back but failing to pierce his armour. Before I could say more Scarlet was off, firing blindly behind her as she raced down a side hall, a majority of the True Steels racing after her. I felt my heart pound frantically in my chest. “Fuck… Crank is going to kill me…”

“She’ll be fine! Focus on the issue at hoof!” Star shouted, poking out from under one of the conveyor belts just long enough to fire off a shot from her rifle before she ducked back down. “Big tank! Disable! Go!”

“Right!”

I rolled across the floor, using the conveyor belts for cover as I rapidly began making my way across the room. Bullets whizzed past me, ricocheting off the ground as I made a mad dash to the next bit of cover. Across from me, Star took off into the air, doing her best to divert the gunfire away from me.

There was a loud thunking sound as one of the True Steels leapt over the conveyor belt I was under, blocking my path. I jerked back, rolling back out as they fired upon my spot. Hooves skidding across the concrete, I leapt up, jumping onto the conveyor belt, my shotgun flaring as a round of buckshot burst across the True Steels face.

The True Steel stumbled back, their fore hoof swinging out as they tried to blindly knock me off the elevated conveyor belt. I jumped over their swing, doing my best to keep my balance as the rubber surface beneath me rapidly continued shifting. I jumped to the next belt, my hoof kicking out at the True Steel as I leapt, sending him sprawling.

“Gah! You’ll pay for that!” The armoured soldier scowled, whipping around and trying to aim for me as I weaved back and forth. I didn’t have much cover here, but thankfully it seemed the shifting conveyor belt beneath me was making my frantic zagging hard to pin down.

The wind was abruptly knocked out of me as another True Steel rammed into me from the side, sending me flying off my hooves. I hit the floor of the conveyor belt hard, my side bruised from being steamrolled by a fully charging knight in power armour.

I rolled onto my back to get a good look at the True Steel that had hit me, only for my eyes to widen as I spotted the massive piston above me as it began to slam down. I gave a yelp of fear, tucking my hind legs and tail against my body as the metal piston slammed against the catwalk, ripples of force vibrating the whole structure.

Blam! Blam! Blam!

More shots peppered the area around me. I felt a sharp pain as one rammed into my side, the only thing keeping it from piercing my hide being the reinforced ballistic weave of my Stable barding. Star shouted something at me as she whizzed by in the air, dipping and rolling back and forth to avoid the constant string of gunfire, though I couldn’t hear over the loud cacophony of weapon discharge.

I staggered to my hooves, turning around just in time to see the True Steel that had slammed into me charging me once again, sparks bursting beneath their hooves as they powered across the conveyor belt. With a grunt, I stepped to the side, the first strike of their armoured hooves swinging past me as they tried to crush my skull.

My horn flared and I sent my shotgun spinning into the air to face them, but before I could fire, I felt a strong set of hooves grab onto me from behind, holding me in place. I glanced behind me, just barely able to make out the True Steel I had shot in the face grappling me, the front of their visor cracked.

I twisted in his grasp, barely managing to evade having my chest pummelled as the charging True Steel in front of me swung at me again. I tried to break the grapple, but the True Steel behind me scowled, tightening his grip and slamming me roughly back down against the conveyor belt.

“Help me hold the bitch down!” He shouted to the other True Steel, shifting his weight so he was mostly pinning down my forehooves. I felt the pony that had been charging me leap forwards, their armoured hooves clamping down over my hind legs. I gave a shout of pain, thankfully the impact of his metal clad hooves slamming down on me didn’t completely shatter the bones in my hind leg.

I glanced up, spotting another giant piston rapidly approaching as the conveyor belt began to align itself beneath it. I could feel the two True Steels shifting, clearly moving me into a position to be crushed beneath it. I pulled desperately against them, but their impossibly strong power armour held me fast, unmoving.

“Star!” I shouted, yanking frantically against their might again. “I need some fucking help here!”

“I don’t think so!” The True Steel holding my hind legs growled, the minigun on his battle saddle spinning up as he aimed it down at me. “You’re going to get it for what you did to Pistachio!”

“Look, I’m sorry about what happened, really, but I’ll be honest, I don’t even know who that is and I’m tired of telling you people!” My horn flared as I disconnected his minigun from his saddle, dropping it to the ground. Before the two knights had time to react, I rapidly switched the focus of my magic and snapped down on the minigun’s trigger with it. “And for the record, I think I’ve killed a few more True Steels than just him by this point!”

There was a flurry of bullets as the minigun unloaded into the True Steel holding my forehooves. I heard a loud scream as the bullets battered repeatedly against the outside of his armour before they managed to break through and began ripping through his torso. The knight staggered back, falling from the conveyor belt and hitting the floor with a crash where he lay unmoving.

The True Steel still holding onto me gave a roar of rage, reeling up aiming to slam his hooves down on my chest. I squirmed, trying to angle myself to avoid the incoming attack.

Five rounds of magical energy lanced through the air, slamming into the side of the raging True Steels head, forcing him to avert his gaze from me and up to Star as she zipped by. He scowled, reaching for a grenade launcher strapped to his leg.

I glanced up, noting our distance from the piston above, before kicking out with my hooves and using the True Steels chest to push myself away. The True Steel whipped back around to face me, staggering slightly only to note my knowing smirk as I looked back at him smugly from a few feet away.

“Look up.”

The True Steel didn’t even manage to raise his head the whole way before the large piston cracked down. There was a sickening sound of screaming metal as he was condensed into a pancake, blood splattering out in all directions.

“Could have used that help a little sooner!” I shouted out at Star, brushing myself off and firing another round at a True Steel across the room from me.

“Well I’m a little fucking busy, aren’t I!” Star shouted back, doing a quick twirl in the air. “Now you’ve got a fucking clear path! Destroy that damn thing!”

Eyes darting back and forth to find the safest path though the mayhem, I began continuing my dash across the factory floor towards the tank. I was almost there. Just a few more steps.

My hoof skidded in something sticky.

I glanced down, my eyes locking with the lifeless eyes of a pony.

I pulled up short, my eyes going wide as I realised I was standing amongst a mound of corpses that were being readied to get shoved into the furnace. Each and every one of them clad in a tight blue Stable jumpsuit. I could feel my heart rate spike. These were the ponies of Stable 25. My ponies. The ponies that I had set out on this whole stupid adventure to save in the first place. I had known this had been their fate, but to see it here, so casually thrown into a pile to be melted into fuel.

There was a hatred burning within me for Iron Hock that I had never truly tapped into until this moment.

I reached out, my hoof gently bumping the side of the face of the dead stable pony beneath me. They were cold to the touch. I think I had known this buck once. An older pony that would yell at me sometimes for my connection to my father or something like that.

I could feel my body trembling.

“Amber! Move it!”

I snapped back into focus as Star’s words reached me. I turned, dashing the last few feet to the tank. The True Steels were going to pay for this. I pulled myself up along the massive tank's side, searching for something that I could use to destroy it. Seeing nothing, I just braced myself and unloaded all of my shotguns rounds into the side of it.

Nothing. Looks like I’d have to do this the hard- oof!

A hammer slammed into my gut, sending me sprawling onto my back. I gasped, blood spurting from my lips as I hit the ground hard, my head spinning. I glanced up, watching as a massive True Steel clad in blindingly bright, polished white and gold power armour towered over me, a super sledge nearly twice the size of my body slung over his shoulder.

“Well well, You’re the damn Stable pony Iron Hock warned me about,” The Paladin nickered, tapping the end of the super sledge’s handle so that it swung down and crashed against the concrete floor with a resounding clang. His voice had a deep, resonating reverberation to it, giving his already imposing presence a more sinister impression. “You don’t seem all that tough, but I think I’ll be best to not take chances.”

“Bonebreaker,” I spat, wiping blood from my mouth with my hoof as I pulled myself back up. “I’m here to kill you.”

“You’re too late for that I’m afraid,” The looming paladin nickered. He turned his gaze upwards, calling out to somepony above him. “Activate the platform! It’s time we give Iron Hock his reinforcements!” There was a loud beep as the entire floor beneath me lurched upwards. I staggered on my hooves, doing my best to stay upright as the massive platform began lifting us and the towering tank upwards towards the roof. Bonebreaker gave me a snide smile, or at least what I assumed was a snide smile. It was hard to tell with the fully enclosed helmet. “We’ll see how well you last against the true might of the True Steels.”

“I already killed Teslacoil,” I boasted, hoping to get under his skin a little. “From what I hear, you aren’t nearly as smart as he was. What makes you think you stand half a chance?”

I dipped to the side as he swung at me again with a roar of rage, only narrowly avoiding the rocket powered super sledge as it swung inches past my head. I rolled forwards, rapidly trying to load another drum mag into my shotgun. There was a click as the mag snapped into place seconds before I whipped around and fired. The magically charged buckshot flashed out, blasting against the side of Bonebreaker’s armour. I grimaced as I realised the shots did little more than scrape the paint job.

I groaned at myself. “Shit. Mom was right. Not great against power armo- Eep!” I scampered back as Bonebreaker slammed his sledgehammer at me again. I ducked around behind the side of the tank as he swung at me, hoping I could use his own powerful swings against the tank. To my dismay, his strikes didn’t even dent the damn thing. “The fuck is this tank made of?”

“Like it? Fashioned its armoured plating out of Stable doors,” Bonebreaker bragged back, dragging his super sledge along behind him as he slowly rounded the tank after me. “You think you’ve seen firepower? Wait until we deploy this… A shame you won’t live long enough to witness its might!”

Bonebreaker threw himself at me again. I jumped up, grabbing onto the side of the huge tank and desperately began climbing it to avoid his lethal, bone shattering swings.

“Any chance I can convince you to deactivate it? Tell me where I can find a self destruct button?” I quipped back, scrambling a few more inches up the huge war machine. The platform shook as it continued to rise, forcing me to cling tightly to the side of the tank to keep from falling.

“Humour will not save you here,” Bonebreaker smirked, swinging his sledge wide as he tried to swipe up at me now a few feet above him. “Iron Hock has ensured that nothing can stop this!”

I climbed a little higher on the tank, easily getting out of his melee range. I stuck my tongue out at him. “What’s the matter? Can’t climb in all that power armour.

A grappling hook shot out of Bonebreakers battle saddle, whipping past my head and locking somewhere above me. I glanced down, watching as Bonebreaker began rapidly scaling the war machine after me, his grappling hook pulling him upwards at an alarming rate.

“Seriously, what kind of gadgets do you have in that fucking thing,” I spat, pulling myself higher to keep clear of his range. “Totally not fair.”

There was a loud shuttering sound as the massive platform came to a stop at the roof of Fort Strong. I looked up, taking in the whole tank for the first time. The thing was massive, wider than most streets and with a massive gun the size of a mini skyscraper. How they planned to move this thing around the city was beyond me.

Down below, I could hear more than see the booming sound of battle as the three Ranger factions brutally blasted each other apart as they tried to either reclaim or maintain their control over Fort Strong. I saw dozens of Steel Rangers look up in awe as they made out the massive tank.

Bonebreaker gave a loud grunt as he finally pulled himself up atop the tank with me, his grappling hook rewinding and snapping back into place at his side. His ability to hoist his body up such a steep slope in armour that heavy was a testament to not just the advancement of his tech, but to his personal strength and endurance.

I fired another round from my shotgun point blank into his chest, but he didn’t even flinch as the magically charged buckshot bounced harmlessly across his chest. He didn’t even bother trying to dodge out of the way. Grimacing, I fired again, this shot being equally as effective as the last.

“How’s killing me going?" Bonebreaker chuckled, glancing down lazily at the spot my buckshot had grazed him.

I gave him a nervous chuckle, slowly backing up. “Yeah, I’m still working out how to do that.”

"Still think I’m weaker than Tesla Coil?” He groused, swinging his sledge around in a lazy arch as he began moving in towards me. “Even if your gun could penetrate power armour, my suit is made out of the very same metal as this tank. Perhaps you’ll recognize the very same steel from your own Stable door.”

Oh, this fucker was going to die.

He lunged at me again, this time swinging low in an attempt to take out my legs. I rapidly stepped back to avoid the strike, the backs of my hooves pressing up against the edge of the tank. I glanced behind me, staring down at the ground now hundreds of feet below.

“Have I ever mentioned I don’t like heights? Because I feel like right now is a good time to mention it.”

I ducked low, avoiding another swing. My magic surged outwards, trying to slam into Bonebreaker and knock him off the side of the tank. The large paladin laughed, bracing his legs and easily resisting the magical force.

“Paladin! The cannon is ready to fire!” A True Steel shouted. I glanced over, spotting a True Steel pop his head out from a large hatch to my right. “Awaiting your order to fire!”

Paladin Bonebreaker glanced back at me, taking a few steps back to put distance between him and myself. “Well, perhaps you will get to see our true might after all. Fire when ready!”

“What! NO!” I shouted, diving forwards to try and get to the hatch in time before the pony within the tank ducked within. I didn’t get even an inch before the grappling hook shot out from Bonebreakers battle saddle, wrapping around my hooves and dropping me to the ground, sending me skidding to my side and away from the hatch. A second later, the pony within the tank ducked out of sight, slamming the hatch behind them.

Up above us, the massive cannon began glowing an ominous green, crackles of energy racing along its ginormous frame. I could feel the very gravity around the proximity of the gun increase as the massive power buildup began seemingly sucking in the matter around it. Surges of electricity raced up the large tubes connecting the gun to the top of the tank, emitting the same eerie green glow as the rest of the cannon. The whole thing reminded me uncomfortably of the large tesla cannons Crank had wielded, only this time, it was much, much, much bigger.

The huge cannon shifted, aiming down at the battlefield below, locking in on the advancing Steel and Applejack Rangers.

“Run! You need to scatter! Now!” I shouted down at them, doubting I could be heard at this distance or even over the sound of gunfire. I spun back around, struggling to untangle my legs from the thick wire of the grappling hook before facing towards Bonebreaker. “This is insane! You’re going to blow up your own troops!”

“Anything for victory! Ad victoriam!” Bonebreaker’s armoured hoof grabbed onto the back of my mane, slamming me down against the edge of the tank so that my head was looking down at all the ponies fighting below. I felt the huge True Steel lean over me, glaring down at me with a snide sneer. “Watch as we end this pathetic little battle right here,” Bonebreaker snarled. “This ends now.”

Boom!

The massive cannon fired, a searing beam of blinding green energy burst across the battlefield, filling the overcast sky with flaring light. I felt the tremendous shockwave ripple out from the hulking barrel, flattening me against the metal surface of the tank. Even Bonebreaker staggered away from me as the unexpectedly powerful blast of destructive energy ripple across the wasteland.

The cannon did not, however, blast its targeted destination. Instead, the searing beam tore through the sky, lancing through a nearby skyscraper. Fire flared up the massive, ruined structure as the green beam tore through it, followed shortly by the entire structure exploding in a blast of balefire.

“What the fuck!” Bonebreaker scowled, his eyes following the unexpected trajectory of the blast before shifting his gaze up towards the looming cannon. “I told you to fire at the-”

“What? Did you think an Enclave scientist couldn’t fucking hotwire a fucking gun?” Star snickered, flapping her wings lazily as she floated down from above us. I felt myself smile. She may swear a lot, but damn did I love that pegasus right now. “I’m sure making this was hard shit and all, but I’ve built fucking mindcontrol headsets. Redirecting this was fucking childs play.”

I could practically feel Bonebreaker seething inside his power armour. “Do you have any idea how long it takes to charge that up!? How much a single blast of that costs! That cost us enough fusion cores to fire as it would to power all our power armour for a fucking year!”

“Well then you shouldn’t have wasted it all on shooting some random building,” Star snarked back, sticking out her tongue. “Honestly, I know some of the buildings around here are eyesores, but that’s just overkill.

There was a roar of fury from down below as the Steel and Applejack Rangers resumed charging towards the True Steels with renewed vigour. True Steels began frantically retreating as they realised they had become greatly outnumbered. Down below, I saw Paladin Sardine leading the charge, his weaponry booming as he shot down True Steel after True Steel. We were actually doing it! We were winning!

“No! Stand your ground! Stand and fight you cowards!” Bonebreaker hollered, his power armour enhancing his voice to an overwhelming octave. “Do not let these profligates best us!”

“It’s over Bonebreaker,” I scowled, pulling myself back to my hooves. “Surrender. Now.”

Bonebreaker growled, his eyes narrowing behind his visor at me. “Never. Prepare to fire again!”

The massive cannon shifted back into position, aiming back down at the battle field below. The barrel began to once more glow with a deadly light.

“Charging. Please hold still while the Dragon Lance Canon Mark II prepares to atomize you. 20 minutes until fully charged.”

Bonebreaker grit his teeth at the time required to fire. Even I, with my minimal combat training, knew that in the heat of battle, twenty minutes was not an amount of time Bonebreaker could afford. Bonebreaker shifted his weight, slamming his hoof heavily against the top of the hatch leading into the tank. “No time! Fort Strong is lost to us! Get this damn thing to the Celestial States Building! Iron Hock will have his weapon!”

I felt the whole tank shift beneath us as it began rolling away from Fort Strong on its massive treads, descending down a huge ramp towards the heart of the city.

I lunged forwards, trying to reef open the hatch into the tank, but Bonebreaker quickly imposed himself between it and me, scowling. “You may take Fort Strong, but the True Steels are far from finished. Iron Hock will have all of your hides! You cannot stop this!”

“True, but killing you will at least be a step in the right direction.”

“All talk and no action.”

I smirked at him. “Actually, I just had a thought.”

“Oh, and what’s that?” Bonebreaker growled, advancing towards me, the rocket on the end of his super sledge sparking.

“Your armour is impressive, but this tank is stronger.”

Bonebreaker leaned his head back and howled with laughter. “You’re going to try and hit me with a blast from that gun? You’ll have to survive quite a few more hits of my hammer before you could possibly hope to even attempt such a trick!”

“Nah, the treads will do,” I nickered.

“The what…?”

My magic snapped out, grasping tightly to the grappling hook in his battle saddle and yanked it free before tossing it over the side of the tank.

Bonebreakers eyes went wide as he watched the metal hook and attached metal wire sail over the edge of the tank before locking with the steel hinges that made up the tank's tracks. There was a moment of stillness as we both stood there, watching the long wire spiral and unravel as it wound itself up in the wheels before it abruptly pulled taught and sent Bonebreaker flailing over the side.

Bonebreaker screamed, his hooves frantically trying to disconnect his grappling hook from his side as the force of the tank yanked him dowards. I rushed to the edge of the tank, watching as the massive True Steel paladin slammed against the cement road below. To his credit (though perhaps mostly to the credit of his impressive armour), Bonebreaker managed to survive the fifty foot fall and stagger his way back onto his hooves when the grappling hook pulled taught again and reefed him directly under the tanks treads.

There was a loud sound of rending metal as the reinforced tank treads crushed Bonebreaker beneath them, compressing his impressive armour past the point it should have. His screams lasted for several more seconds until a loud popping sound cut them short as his head burst open like a balloon as the tank rolled over him.

“Well that’s the last of him,” Star stated factually, swooping down and landing next to me, breathing heavily.

“The world could do with less True Steels,” I replied grimly. “Now come on, we need to figure out how to deactivate this tank before-”

Several turrets popped out of the tanks surface and swivelled to face us, drawing my sentence up short. I glanced up, watching as dozens of larger rocket launchers that ringed the main, central gun also began shifting towards us.

“Better idea. We get the fuck out of here and live to fight another day,” Star shot back, scooping her fore hooves under mine and lifting off into the air.

“No wait! We need to stop this thing!” I shouted, fighting against her as she hoisted me up and began making a beeline away from the tank and back to Fort Strong.

The turrets opened fire, their explosive weaponry detonating in the air around us as Star madly swerved back and forth to avoid being pulverised. One of the rocket launchers came uncomfortably close to obliterating us, their explosive fire singeing the hair in my mane.

“Yeah, no. Fuck that,” Star groused in response, diving lower to avoid the turrets. “That thing is indestructible. Best to regroup and come up with a plan. We have a lot of strong and smart ponies fighting in the centre of the city. They’ll be able to fend for themself for a bit.”

A few moments later, Star touched down on the roof of Fort Strong, dropping me down to stand on my own four hooves. I watched the massive True Steel Tank rumble off into the distance, growing smaller and smaller on the horizon as it made its way to join the frey in the centre of the city, silhouetted by the last rays of the setting sun as it set behind the eternal cloudlayer. Shifting my gaze, I glanced over the edge of the fort to the Steel Rangers down below. The fighting seemed to have stopped in the wake of the tank. It was hard to tell from all the way up here, but it looked like the True Steels had surrendered. It was unclear if word of Bonebreakers death had somehow already gotten out, or if survival instincts had simply finally kicked in as they realized how outnumbered they were. regardless, the remaining True Steels would soon begin to notice the lack of command.

We had won this fight, but the war was far from over.

It took over an hour before I finally located a pony I knew amongst the wreckage. Star had immediately rushed off to aid the wounded, which had left me to search through Fort Strong for Scarlet. Thankfully, I found her nursing her wounds in the armoury, surrounded by the bodies of several dead True Steels, to my relief only slightly wounded.

“Did you kill all of these yourself?” I asked, glancing around at the piles of corpses.

“I can take care of myself, thank you,” Scarlet smirked, whipping her long red mane a little as she wrapped a wad of gauze around a bullet wound that had pierced her hind hoof. At my shocked stare she just rolled her eyes. “No silly. I managed to evade them long enough for Sardine and his Steel Rangers to catch up with me. I’d likely be dead without them.”

“Try not to do something like that again, alright,” I scolded, shifting over to her to help wrap her wounds. “I made a promise to Crank I’d keep you safe. That’s going to be hard if you run off as a distraction like that again.”

Scarlet gave me a sad smile. “Unfortunately, your promise to Crank is the least of the world's worries right now…”

I didn’t bother voicing that she was right.

Half an hour after that, Scarlet and I found ourselves in the elders office on the top floor of Fort Strong, sitting in front of the large desk as Paladin Sardine trotted back and forth, giving orders to the last few Steel Rangers before finally turning his attention to me.

“Sorry I haven’t had the time to properly thank you for your service,” the stoic paladin grunted. “Without you, I’m sure this would have all turned out very differently.”

I just nodded, my thoughts elsewhere. “Any sign of Blueberry?” I asked.

Sardine shook his head. “I’ve got a few ponies looking for the body now, though I’m afraid I can only spare a few. We’ll find his body and make sure he gets a proper burial…”

"How can you be sure that he's dead?" Scarlet asked, propping her hooves up on the desk. "We should at least find his body before we write him off like that."

"Believe me, I hope he is alive just as much as you. But the odds are unlikely. We apprehended a group of True Steels a few minutes ago that had been hiding out in the secret entrance to the Fort. We suspect they were the ones that finally killed Blueberry," Sardine seemed to sink into himself. “Fetlock has become somewhat of a Ranger graveyard these past few days. First Steelhooves, then the fallen knights at the Medical Centre, now Blueberry. It seems the wasteland is in the mood to take. More than usual anyway.”

“And the ponies from Stable 25…” I muttered, my stomach sinking. “Can you give them a proper burial as well?”

I couldn’t tell what Sardine's expression was behind his helmet, but it was clear from his posture that the news of the mass corpse pile in the munitions factory had rattled him somewhat. “We’ll try. It’s a lot of bodies down there and we’re short on ponies as it is. Likely any funeral rites will need to wait till this war is over. But we will get to it eventually,” Sardine looked me over carefully, checking for signs of retaliation to the remark. “You must feel terrible. To see such a thing as what Iron Hock had down in his factories.”

A tremor raced down my spine at the memory of the pile of Stable dweller corpses, their lifeless, vacant eyes staring up at me. “I’m just glad they can finally have some sort of peace. None of them deserved what the wasteland did to them. Melting them down for fuel was only an insult to injury.”

“And what of Fort Strong?” Scarlet asked, wincing slightly as she flexed one of her injured hind legs. “I suppose it’s becoming a Steel Ranger base proper again? Especially since Blueberry is no longer in the picture.”

Sardine winced at the remark. I could feel more than see him give a sad smile from behind his helmet as he shifted his gaze over to Scarlet. “As much as I would love to assert complete control over this place, such a claim would not be possible. We expect the Enclave will reach Fillydelphia in less than 24 hours. As beneficial as this fort would be to the Steel Rangers, we cannot allow our cathedral out in Filly to fall. I will be leaving shortly with all of my ponies to maintain and secure what little territory we have left.”

“You’re willingly giving it up to the Applejack Rangers?” I asked, somewhat awed at how easily the Steel Ranger was giving such a valued location to his enemies.

Sardine stiffened at the comment. “If I could have had it any other way, know that I would have. But there is a war going on, and right now we need to keep up what little strength we still have. The last thing we need is to start fighting amongst the few allies we currently hold, tentative as those alliances may be,” he paused, glancing over some document on the desk I had no context to. “Even still, this is not a total loss for the Steel Rangers. I’ve reached out to Star Paladin Crossroads at Stable 29, and we’ve made the decision to make Fort Strong a mutual ground. A place where we can start rebuilding trust between the ranger factions.”

“Peace?” I asked hopefully.

Sardine shook his head. “Unlikely. At least not at first. But this is a step towards peace anyhow. It’s fitting. I feel like that is what Blueberry would have wanted for this place. He was a good pony.”

Star Breeze came fluttering into the room a few seconds later, looking exhausted. I could see the bags forming under her eyes and the stress lines that marred her face. “You know, I became a scientist because Enclave tech interested me. The question of how I ended up as the de facto wasteland medic will forever plague me.”

Sardine took a step back at her approach, taking all three of us in. “Well, your work is done here for now. Fetlock is secured and the True Steel presence has been completely isolated to central Manehattan. With your mission complete, what is your next move? Plan to catch up with the team heading to the secret institute facility out west?”

As much as I loved the idea of joining back up with Brisk and Xayah, I had to shake my head. “That tank heading for the Celestial States Building was only the tip of the iceberg. Our next move needs to be securing the centre of the city and stopping Silver Ace or Iron hock from getting this Beryllium Agitator before we can make a big push on Stable 25.”

I saw Sardine’s eyebrow raise behind his visor. “Stable 25?” His eyes flickered to the number on the collar of my barding. “Your own Stable?”

I nodded. “It sounds like Silver Ace turned on Iron Hock. Sent a small army of synths to wipe out all the True Steels stationed at what was left of my old Stable. If I had to bet, that’s where Silver Ace is currently hiding, using his project Redirect to control the synth army and the Utopia Program remotely. I’m guessing he’s likely holed himself up there behind an army of synths to make sure we can’t get to him.”

Sardine nodded. “Taking control of the centre of the city won’t be easy. Hundreds of ponies have tried over the years, none succeeded. Manehattan is simply too big and uncontrollable. But if ever there was a time. It’s now.”

“That tank looked like it was making some pretty good headway,” Star spoke up, drawing our attention over to her. “But Manehattan is huge and slow. By my best estimation, it’ll reach the Celestial States building early tomorrow.”

“Which means the True Steels will likely take the tower come morning,” Scarlet groaned. “We don’t get a break, do we?”

Star shook her head. “Not necessarily. The Enclave still holds control over the States Building, and they have a Thunderhead, not to mention their Ursa Major. They won't make it easy for the True Steels.”

My blood ran cold in my veins. I blinked a couple of times, trying to make sense of what Star had just said. From the look on Scarlet's face, I could tell she was having a similar reaction “I’m sorry, their what?!”

Star blinked at me a couple times. “Their… Ursa- did I not mention this already? I thought you knew?”

I could see Sardine stiffen from the other side of the desk. “Are you trying to tell me the Enclave has an Ursa Major on their side?”

Star gave a nod. “Same general principle as their mind controlled hellhounds. Big fancy headpiece that connects to the radio signal they’ve been broadcasting from the top of the Celestia States building since their arrival in Manehattan. Some of my best work, much as it's going to bite me in the ass now,” Star glanced back at me. “How did you not know this? You literally helped me plant a monitoring device in its layer when you saved me back in the Manehattan Gardens.”

“I didn’t know that was so the Enclave could control a-” A slapped my hoof across my face, groaning. “Fuck me, there’s no end how bad things can get, is there? An Ursa Major! Really!?”

“All the more reason to join up with the battle in the middle of the city,” Sardine harrumphed, casting Star a small scowl. “I’ll get in contact with Crossroads and see if she can supply a few Applejack Rangers to accompany you. Though I doubt she will be able to supply many. As urgent as our situation seems, Crossroads is preoccupied with Littlepip’s plan to lay siege to Neighvarro and clear the skies tomorrow.”

I gave a nod, but the idea of rushing off into yet another battle made my mind scream in protest. Not to mention my eyelids were beginning to feel uncomfortably heavy. I hadn’t slept in how long? Over a day? At least not since my brief coma in the Institute. The past several hours were all beginning to blur together.

“We’ll head out immediately,” I finally sighed, pulling myself up to my hooves. “But we’re going to need to get some rest. We can’t keep fighting like this.”

Sardine nodded. “I wouldn’t expect you to get to the Celestial states building come sunrise anyhow. You’ve all gone through far more in one day than what is expected of anypony,” he tapped an armoured hoof to his chin thoughtfully. “Friendship City should be on route to the Celestial States building. I’d recommend catching a few hours of sleep under a non hostile roof while you can.”

“It would give us a good opportunity to catch up with Nova and Tinker as well,” Scarlet agreed, standing up herself.

And a good opportunity to check out Silver Ace's apartment in the Four Star Building, I quickly noted to myself. Though I didn’t bother saying the thought aloud. “Alright, look into the ranger accompaniment, and we’ll head out by the end of the hour.”

The streets of Manehattan were uncomfortably silent. I could see signs of battle everywhere, but aside from my companions and our Applejack Ranger escorts, there was no life to be seen on the desolate streets. Bodies were strewn about, many completely unrecognisable from the explosives that had ripped through their bodies. My EFS was equally silent; not even a blip from a lone radroach.

I was thankful that none of the ponies I found dead were ones that I knew. I had lost too many friends today already.

“So much death,” Scarlet whimpered, looking at one of the bodies strewn across the street. “And for what? A better tomorrow?”

I didn’t have an answer for her. The idea seemed hypocritical at best.

The loud groaning of creaking steel drew my gaze upwards to the Pony of Friendship statue in the harbour that marked the location of Friendship City. The city still looked a mess from the Enclave invasion, its walls pitted with holes and the bridge connecting it to the mainland now missing, but I could still see the flickering lights of life emanating from within.

Approaching, I saw a few Applejack Rangers stationed on the shore, helping ponies into and out of a small life boat that seemed to have been scavenged and repaired from the Manehattan shoreline. A few tents and campfires had been built around the dock area, an indication that the Applejack Rangers had been set up here for a day or two now. I felt a spike of joy go through me when I spotted a tall purple, hornless alicorn amongst the gathered ponies, a small, beige unicorn colt with a white patch on his muzzle sitting atop her back.

“Nova! Tinker!” I exclaimed, skidding down the incline to the water's edge.

“Amber! It is most good to see you alive!” Nova commented, accepting my tight hug. “I had heard that you managed to return from Las Pegasus alive, but I have not heard of what has transpired within the walls of the Institute,” Her voice turned grave and she looked me over. “Things in Manehattan have not been going well.”

The small laugh that escaped my lips was completely involuntary. “You don’t know the half of it.”

Nova’s brow furrowed. “I get the impression I do not. I do not like not knowing…”

“How's it going kiddo?” Scarlet asked, approaching herself and ruffling Tinkers mane a little with her hoof. She gave Nova a polite but thankfully respectful nod. “Nova.”

I glanced around at the ponies around me, inspecting the rickety boat closer. “What’s going on here?” I asked, watching as an Applejack Ranger pulled another pony from the small watercraft.

“We have been helping to get ponies off the island after the Enclave’s assault,” Nova confirmed, looking down at the small boat. “There are quite a few ponies that do not wish to stay within the walls of Friendship City after the attack, though most still choose to remain. Strength in numbers.”

“I fixed up the boat!” Tinker replied happily, waving a wrench around in his magic. I smiled at the colts' antics. If there was any happiness to be found through all this, it was Tinker's ability to move on in the wake of what had happened to Chestnut. Or at the very least, his ability to repress.

“We were just about to head back to the city,” One of the Applejack rangers said, gently hoisting the last pony onto dry land. “We have a shipment of supplies we intend to bring into the city, you are all welcome to come along,” he glanced over at the small gathering of Applejack Rangers that had accompanied us. “Though we may need to do two trips.”

One of the Applejack Rangers that Sardine had sent with us stepped towards me. I think their name was Crusader Apple Cheese. I couldn't quite remember. “You go ahead. We’ll rest here with the rest of our brothers and sisters till morning. Get your rest. Tomorrow is going to be a big day for all of us.”

We quickly all loaded up onto the boat, setting out for Friendship City, Star Breeze taking to the sky to minimise the amount of ponies the admittedly rickety boat could take. Tinker had done a good work fixing it up, but not that good of a job. I noticed Nova boarded the ship with us as well. Clearly her wing had not yet fully healed from her battle with the Courser.

We made our way up the city to our old apartment room, stopping only briefly to stock up on supplies and ammo. Nova and Tinker had made decent work of fixing up our room after the attack since we had last been there. At the very least, all the furniture had been tilted back upright.

The moment I saw my bed, I slumped down onto the mattress, my body almost immediately falling asleep from exhaustion as I sunk into the somewhat stained sheets. This may very well have been one of the longest days of my life.

With what last bit of energy I had left, I raised my pipbuck, tapping into the radio transmitter Sprocket had given me earlier that day and tuned in to channel 7. I felt myself frown slightly as I fiddled with the dial, my mind replaying the image of Freedom crying over Sprocket’s lifeless body. This had been the last contraption they ever got to make.

There was radio static for a moment from the transmitter before a calculating voice spoke out at me. “Dixie? Report? What do you have for me?”

My heart wilted a little, I had hoped Pyre would pick up. “Magazine? Is that you? This is Amber Aura,” I said, resigning myself. “I’m guessing Pyre isn’t available?”

There was silence for a second before Magazine spoke up again. “Amber? How the fuck did you get this frequency? Never mind. I don’t care. I’m afraid Pyre is currently on the front lines. Whatever you need to say, you’ll need to say to me. How are things looking out in Fetlock?”

I sighed. “Fetlock is secured, but there’s trouble coming your way. The True Steels have a tank of some sort. Has a gun on it big enough to level a city block.”

“Fuck, just what we need. Any other news that spoils my evening?” The cyborg raider groused. “We had enough problems out here already.”

“The Enclave has a Ursa Major apparently,” I piped up, grimacing slightly.

There was a scowl from the other side of the radio. “We knew that. Damn thing joined the fray a few hours ago. It’s been keeping Jinx busy. Stopping us from properly advancing on the Celestial States Building.”

“I’m on my way back from Fetlock now. I should be arriving late tomorrow morning.”

“I’ll have some ponies meet you at Friendship City in the morning to escort you if you can get there,” Magazine sighed, clearly unaware I had already made it to that destination. “We’re currently camped out in Maneway Station, south west of the States building.”

I yawned, giving a small nod of my head that I knew Magazine couldn’t see. “We’ll be there. See you in the morning. Amber out,” there was a small click as the transmitter turned off, being replaced with a few seconds of static before finally going peacefully silent.

Scarlet watched me silently from the other side of the bed, clearly just as exhausted as I was. “I don’t suppose you can contact Brisk’s Pipbuck with that as well? See how they’re doing?” I saw Star’s ears perk up from the other side of the room at the request.

“I can try,” I said, flipping back through my radio frequencies and searching for Brisk’s pipbuck tag. “He knows the channel we’re on so I could… Give me a second…” I waited for a moment, hoping Brisk would pick up on the other end. After a few seconds of waiting with no response, I tried tuning in and out of the frequency a couple times, hoping it would cause some beeping on Brisks end he’d pick up on. I was met with only silence. I gave Scarlet a sad shake of my head. “Looks like it's radio silence for now. We’ll try again in the morning.”

“You think they’re okay?” Star asked, fluttering over and curling up against a pillow in the corner. “If Brisk dies, I’m going ballistic.”

I could feel my heart pounding heavily in my chest, but I forced a smile onto my lips. “I’m sure they’re fine,” They had to be fine. I didn’t know if I could keep doing all this if Brisk and Xayah were gone. I reached out with my magic, tugging gently on the pull chain for the hanging lightbulb above our heads, casting the room into darkness. “We’ll worry about all that tomorrow. Right now, we need to rest…”

I’m not sure what drove me. Perhaps the knowledge that come sunrise, I would need to beeline for the centre of the city and this opportunity would be lost forever. I knew explicitly that bringing my friends along was the wise decision, but they needed sleep. They had been through just as much as me and if they were going to plunge into a full on war zone with me tomorrow, I needed them to be in tip top shape.

Regardless, as soon as I heard Scarlet and Star Breeze snoring, I crept out of the room silent as a knife and headed down to the main gates of Friendship City.

The Applejack Rangers had stopped catering ponies across the water at this time of night, forcing me to find a more creative solution. Taking a deep breath and channelling as much energy into my horn as I could, I quietly cast a teleport spell and tried to bamf myself to the mainland, wincing as I felt the energy pulsate through the crack in my horn. To my chagrin, I only managed to make it about three quarters of the way across the water, re-materializing a few inches above the waves before dropping down with a splash.

I scowled, spitting out water as I frantically swam the rest of the way to shore, my pipbuck’s geiger counter clicking ominously from the highly radioactive water. I’d need to take some radaway after this. I doubted the radiation exposure was good for the baby; though perhaps alicorn babies were immune? Perhaps they were more hearty? I certainly hoped so. I prayed the hammer blow to the gut Bonecrusher had given me hadn’t injured it. I had put this fetus through the ringer already and it hadn’t even been a day.

I dragged my drenched body up onto the shore, giving myself a quick shake to try and dry my hide as much as possible. My Stable barding felt like it weighed another twenty or so pounds from all the water. A cold night breeze whipped through the ruins around me, making me shiver and making the accumulated water droplets on me feel like shards of ice.

Bracing against the wind, I began trudging along the desolate streets towards my destination. The moon was hidden behind the Enclaves eternal cloud cover as usual, but I could still see the soft glow where it lit up the dark night sky.

Eventually, I saw my terminus ahead.

The large apartment building looked just as I remembered it, standing roughly twelve stories tall, its uppermost floor connecting to the large elevated monorail that extended over the conjoined theatre ruins. I raised my gaze, looking at the large sign above the door, reading simply, ‘Four Star Living’.

Pushing open the front doors, I could tell something was immediately off. Where once was a relatively clean looking front room, now lay a mess of burn marks and scattered furniture. Holes had been blasted into the walls and the terminal that had once sat behind the front desk had been rendered to little more than slag. All in all, the damage looked relatively fresh. Judging by how recent the burn marks looked, this all couldn’t have happened any longer than a day ago.

It all resembled an obvious struggle, but upon closer inspection, even that was clearly off. No bodies, no drops or splatters of blood or spent ammunition. Just structural damage. I ran my hoof over one of the many blast marks on the wall. I had seen enough identical marks throughout the last few weeks to identify the cause immediately…

Institute weaponry...

“Damn,” I felt myself involuntarily whisper under my breath. “Looks like Silver Ace came to clean up after all.”

I strode through the rundown halls of the building, my eyes roaming over the scores of burn marks along the walls. Pretty much anything of value here had been rendered to ash. Moving up to the second floor, I found more of the same; just rubble and ashes scattered across the floor.

There was a faint clattering sound behind me. My ears perked up, picking out the subtle sound of hoofsteps amongst the groaning of creaking metal. I spun around, my shotgun swinging up into the air and aiming down the hall. My eyes darted back and forth, looking for any signs of something that was out of place or an unexpected danger.

If Silver Ace had sent his synths to burn any evidence or secrets he had been hiding here before the apocalypse in case I came snooping, what were the odds he also left a synth or two behind to take me out.

“Idiot, Amber,” I scowled at myself, realising that if anything, he probably left a Courser here to kill me or something. I really should not have come here without my friends.

Taking a deep breath, I took a shaky step down the hallway, my shotgun swinging back and forth as I searched for the assailants. I glanced down at my EFS, hoping to spot something. Nothing. Whatever that sound was, it was gone now.

I poked my shotgun around one door before glancing in myself, finding the room empty. I paused, realising that I had seen this apartment room before. The window had been boarded up and a large cork board sat to one side of the room, now laying face down on the floor below where I had once seen it hanging. Like the rest of the apartment building, the room had been tossed. The terminal on the desk had been melted down, its once flickering screen now cracked and dark.

Trotting into the room, I reached down and picked up a small frame that had fallen from the broken desk to land face down on the floor. I flipped it over, looking at the old photo of a beige and brown earth pony stallion through the cracked pane.

Smiling slightly, I pulled the picture from its frame and tucked it into my saddlebag before inhaling sharply and turning to face the corner of the room where I knew the body would be waiting for me.

The charred skeleton lay exactly as I remembered it, seemingly untouched by the rest of the devastation that had beset the apartment building. Above him, still scrawled in what I assumed to be his own blood, I could read the words, ‘I can’t remember anything’.

I knelt down, not wanting to touch the long dead corpse directly, but feeling the action was appropriate. “Sorry Farmer. You didn’t deserve any of this,” I muttered, my words landing on deaf ears. The silence of the creaking structure was my only response. “Thanks for looking out for Mirra and I. I’ll find a way to get you and Twilight out of the Utopia Program somehow. Or at least put an end to your loneliness…”

Picking myself back up, I continued on though the building, carefully climbing up the large ramps of rubble that lead to the upper floors. Eventually, I managed to make my way to the room that I had really come to see. I was unsurprised to see that it had been completely obliterated.

What had once been Silver Ace’s old apartment, was now a crater. The floor had been caved in, the wall leading out now a gaping hole giving me a clear view of the Manehattan ruins beyond and the adjacent abandoned theatre. Not even a desk remained in the bombed out room. If Silver Ace had left anything behind, it was definitely gone now. All that remained was an old, dog-eared brochure for the theatre next door, now mostly burned and unreadable.

I let loose a long sigh. I supposed it had been too wishful to think that perhaps Silver Ace might have overlooked something.

“Looks like I got myself drenched for nothing,” I groaned, flicking some of the radioactive water that still clung to me off with a shake of my hoof, spraying the wall a little.

There was another clattering sound behind me, barely audible. I whipped around again, once more swinging my shotgun in my magic up to bear. This time, I spotted a small flicker of light on me EFS before the individual dipped back and out of range.

“Who’s there!?” I called out, pushing my back up against a wall to keep from being snuck up on. “Come on out! I know you’re there! Did Silver Ace send you?”

There was a moment of silence where no pony responded. Then, from the floor below, I heard a voice pipe up. “Was I that loud?”

I felt a wave of relief wash over me at the familiar voice. “Nova? Did you follow me?”

A second later, the large, purple, hornless alicorn pulled herself into view, slowly climbing over some of the rubble to get to the same floor as me. “I spotted you leaving Friendship City,” the alicorn confessed. “Figured it would be bad of us- for me, rather, to let you wander off into the Manehattan ruins alone.”

“You nearly gave me a heart attack. I thought Silver Ace left a Courser here to kill me,” I chuckled, putting my gun away.

“Why did you come here alone, Amber Aura?” Nova pressed, glancing around the trashed room. “It is not wise to do so in the best of times, and these times are trying,” her face darkened slightly and she leaned towards me almost conspiratorially. “We are not doing something we should not be, are we?”

I shook my head. “Nothing so exciting. I just knew I wouldn’t get the chance to scope this place out in the morning and Scarlet and Star needed to sleep.”

“As do you,” Nova pointed out flatly, clearly a little disappointed by the answer. “Even still, you should have told somepony. Or gotten one of your Applejack Ranger escorts to accompany you. Especially if you suspect this Silver Ace pony may be up to no good here.”

I sighed. “You’re right. Honestly, I don’t know what I was even thinking,” I kicked at one of the scorched rocks by my hooves, watching as it tumbled down the pit that had once been Silver Ace’s apartment to the floor below. “I was hoping I could find some kind of secret or something that Silver Ace left behind that might give me some insight into what he’s planning. Doesn’t matter in the end. Anything I could have found here is long gone now.”

“This was his old apartment?” Nova asked, more curiously looking over the devastation. She chuckled to herself. “Doesn’t look like he liked the idea of you finding out more about him.”

I gave an exasperated shake of my head. “No, apparently not,” My eyes trailed over the wreckage one final time before I turned to leave. As I turned, my gaze landed on the singed brochure beneath my hooves, pinned beneath the rubble. I reached out with my magic, ripping it free and looking it over curiously. “Unless…”

Nova glanced at the brochure with interest. It was an old prewar pamphlet advertising the Bridleway Theatre. Undoubtably the very same one attached to this building below. “You think there is something in the theatre?”

“Worth a look, right? At the very least, it’s a location we know Silver Ace went to shortly before the bombs,” I smirked, wiggling the brochure. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

Nova grimaced at the blunt rhetorical question. “In the Equestrian wasteland? The worst could be quite bad. Hellhounds, manticores, mutant abominations, secret ministry experiments gone awry.”

“Ghouls,” I replied simply, beginning to make my way back towards the stair leading out of the building. “Brisk, Xayah and I cleared that place out on one of our first nights out of the Stable. It should be empty and ghoul-less now, unless something has moved in.”

I gave a small gasp of surprise as I felt Nova’s hooves unexpectedly wrap under my barrel and the sensation of defying gravity as she gave a flap of her wings, pulling us up into the air. She twisted in the air, angling out the large hole in the wall and beginning to descend us towards the theatre in question. I saw her face scrunch in pain slightly as she worked her injured wing.

“This is faster,” Was all she bothered to comment as we dropped down to the building below.

There was a soft thumping sound as our hooves touched down on the rotting wood floor of the theatre. Much like how I remembered, the location was dark, the only light to see by was the defused moonlight peaking through the many holes in the roof. Old theatre lights had come crashing to the floor in years long past, creating small creators along the audience seating and large central stage. The catwalks along the top of the stage had collapsed in as well, slanting towards the floor at sinister looking angles, giving the whole auditorium an almost lopsided, geometric look.

Slowly, we began pushing our way through the building's wreckage, making our way through the rotting and age-worn seats towards the stage. Hopping up onto the cracked apron, I made out the desecrated, bisected remains of the glowing ghoul we had killed on our first visit. Amazingly, his body still glowed a baleful, radioactive green, even after all this time.

“Your work?” Nova asked, looking the body over, clearly making note of the pulped head and buckshot lodged in the floor.

I nodded, explaining the whole encounter of how the ghoul had come out of a trapdoor in the stage to her as we made our way past the stage and through the wings. We spent the next few minutes scouring the theatre, searching for anything of interest that Silver Ace might have left behind. After a while, I could feel my hopes waning again.

Nothing.

Of course there was nothing. If Silver Ace had done or left anything here that might expose him or give us some kind of insite, he would have ravaged this building just as he had the Four Star building. If Silver Ace was anything, he was thorough. He wouldn’t have made such an oversight. This whole trip to the theatre had been made on the vaguest hunch, I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up.

I was about to throw in the towel and suggest we head back to Friendship City to get some much needed rest, when I heard Nova call out for me from the back of the theatre. I rushed to her, moving behind the stage to the abandoned green rooms to find Nova curiously looking over a long dead skeleton on the floor.

I walked up next to her, looking the body over. “What is it?” In response, Nova pointed at a small object clutched in the skeletons' hoof, pushed close up against its chest. I narrowed my eyes, trying to make out the object. “What is that? Some kind of fetish?”

Nova nodded, picking the small object up. The skeletons' hoof crumbled to dust as she pulled it away from them. “Specifically, it’s a zebra fetish,” She explained, rolling it over so I could see the zebra runes carved across its back. “Not a common sight in Equestria before the war.”

“Four Star were Zebra sympathisers,” I pointed out, plucking the small fetish from Nova’s grip and looking it over more closely. My eyes caught on a collection of four stars around the base of the figurine, circling a moon with an alicorn's head imprinted upon it. I pointed it out to Nova immediately.

“A Zebra fetish for star worship?” Nova gasped, her eyes widening slightly. “That is most disturbing.”

“Four Star,” I scowled, running my hoof along the image. “This is the same image used to depict the Utopia Program.”

Nova nodded thoughtfully, though I could tell she wasn’t fully following my train of thought. “So what does all this mean then? Other than affirming that which we already know.”

“It means that Four Star was here for one…” I thought allowed, more for myself than for Nova. “But more than that, since this pony died in the greenroom backstage, that leads me to believe that Four Star had operations in this theatre as well.”

“Silver Ace didn’t have this place destroyed though,” Nova commented. “You would think that if there was something of value here, he would have come back for it?”

Nodding, I began glancing around, hoping to spot something of interest. My eyes caught on the destroyed body of the ghoul I had fought with Brisk and Xayah all those weeks ago. Where had it come from?

“I’ve got an idea,” I said quickly, trotting back out onto the stage. “This ghoul came from beneath the stage. Which means there's likely some kind of tunnel or crawlspace beneath us for the actors to get around.”

I gripped the secret hatch with my magic and gave it a yank. The rotting wood hatch gave way immediately, snapping free from the floor. Instantly, green fog began bubbling up from the hole, wafting across the stage. My pipbuck began clicking away furiously and I had to take a rapid couple of steps back to avoid the radioactive cloud.

Shit, I had forgotten about that part!

“Give me a moment,”Nova said cooly, stepping into the green haze and beginning to lower herself into the hidden tunnel. “Radiation does not bother me.”

She slipped out of my line of sight, disappearing into the fog. I waited for a few moments, straining my ears as I tried to listen for any signs of Nova below. After a few moments of restlessness, I called out to her. No response.

“Nova? You alright down there?” Again, my call was met with nothing. Steeling myself, I took another step towards the hole, grimacing as my pipbuck began clicking a little faster. I took a long, deep, breath. “Alright, I’m coming down there to-”

Click.

The fog burst upwards for a second before suddenly rapidly deteriorating. I took a jumping step back in alarm, watching as the radioactive haze dissipated. A second later, Nova popped her head back out.

“There was a pipe down there pumping some sort of radioactive fog into the tunnel. Likely was used pre war as a way to fog up the stage. We have blocked it now. The radiation isn’t gone, but it should have dissipated enough for you to be safe,” the alicorn ducked back down out of sight. “Come now, There is something interesting here you will likely wish to see.”

Following after Nova, I lowered myself down the hatch into the narrow tunnel beneath the stage. Sure enough, my pipbuck started clicking away, but at a much lower rate. I switched on my pipbuck light, illuminating the area around me with a wash of green light.

The tunnel seemed to stretch out across the whole of the theatre, allowing pre war actors to spring up though secret hatches from beneath several different parts of the stage, and apparently places in the audience as well. There was a door at the end of the hallway that looked like it had once led out somewhere backstage, but it had long since collapsed inwards, barring any possible entrance or exit through there. No wonder we had been unable to find this place.

“Look at this,” Nova said, urging me towards a spot at the back of the tunnel. To my surprise, the wooden walls gave way to hard jagged rock as the tunnel began descending deep into the earth. “This does not appear to be part of the original construction.”

“Looks like they blasted this tunnel with explosives,” I noted, running my hand along the rough hewn stone. I peered down the sloping tunnel into the rocky depths of the earth. “Where do you think this goes?”

Nova gave a shrug and began slowly trotting downwards into the darkness. “There is only one way to find out, correct?”

Nodding, I followed after her, using my pipbuck light to scan the rocky cave walls. The tunnel travelled downwards for a few minutes, twisting and turning at strange angles. A few times we had to stop to squeeze through parts of the rock that were too narrow to walk through normally.

“This may not be part of the original construction, but its still old,” I said, nudging an ancient pre-war corpse with my hoof as we continued to descend. “Somepony likely didn’t want whatever this tunnel was to be on any sort of record.”

“Then it was used to house secrets,” Nova affirmed, her slitted eyes glancing around. “Perhaps we have stumbled across something Silver Ace has forgotten.”

I felt my heart rate quicken with excitement. I got you Silver Ace! I got you!

At the end of the tunnel, a thick steel door came into view, locked behind an expert terminal. I immediately began hacking away at it, switching through possible passwords. A few times I had to back out and try again before I finally found the correct password. Hollowshades.

There was a faint beep, and the metal door swung inwards, hitting the wall of the room beyond with a clang.

I stepped forwards, my eyes adjusting as I made out the small chamber within. The steel walls had clearly been built into the cave to fit a large blinking device of some sort. Strange mechanical control boards had been built into the floor and walls and a web of thick wires formed a complex canopy across the ceiling. The massive device seemed to accumulate in the centre of the chamber where an unusual pedestal protruded from the still rock ground, supporting some strange glowing black and white orb. A noxious black aura pulsed around the orb, radiating some sort of cruel necrotic energy. The simple proximity of the vile sphere sent a shiver up my spine.

Carefully, I slinked into the room, eyeing the walls nervously before cautiously looking over the pulsing orb in the centre. There was an uncanny familiarity to it, like staring at a face I had once seen in a dream. Just looking at it gave me a strange sense of roiling hatred. I had to take a step back as I felt the waves of rage wash through me.

“What is that thing?” Nova asked, clearly noting my strange reaction. The orb clearly put her at unease as well.

I shook my head, shaking myself free from the weird blip of anger. “I… I don’t know. It looks like some kind of memory orb, but I’ve never seen one quite like this.”

That was somewhat of a lie. I had seen something similar inside of the Utopia Program, but those had been much more advanced and stable. This one seemed to be held together by scrap electronics and some weird dark magic.

There was a loud beep as one of the terminals on the wall flickered brighter. The orb pulsed slightly before abruptly shifting, as if an arcane eye swivelling to face us.

“Ah, I had wondered when you would come and find me to finish the job-” The orb cooed in its strangely commanding, echoey tone. My whole body went rigid at the voice. That was a voice I knew well. A voice I had hoped never to hear again. There was a sudden moment of hesitation from the sphere as it peered at us before I heard it give a weird, distorted scowl. “Wait, you aren’t Silver Ace.”

I growled, raising my shotgun with my magic. “Kamari? Is that you? You’re supposed to be fucking dead!”

That was Kamari’s voice. I could never forget a vile voice like that. I didn’t know how or why, but if that bastard was still alive somehow, I was going to make sure he died again in very short order.

“Amber Aura…” Kamari’s ragged voice oozed from the orb, filling with a vile loathing. “I confess, you are not the pony that I expected to find me here. How such an unexpected variable in a centuries old plan can come so far… You have impressed me.”

“Amber, you know this… uh… orb?” Nova asked, taking a tentative step forwards.

“I’d love to tell you I didn’t,” I scowled. “I don’t know how or why, but that voice is Kamari’s. A zebra I killed almost a month ago.”

“Death is hardly an ending for one in my line of work,” Kamari’s voice scoffed, the orb shifting on its pedestal to glance at Nova. “I escaped death when the bombs fell. I escaped death when Pureblood sent his wretched cyber ponies after me. Do not think I am so foolish as to not prepare contingencies. Death is but a tool. A tool that I control.”

“So then what is this thing?” I growled, waving my shotgun at the orb. “How are you still alive?”

“A memory orb,” Kamari drawled, sounding almost bored. “I created a backup of my mind well over a hundred years before you and your friends decided to come crawling through my operations out in the Hollow Shades. I had hoped to use this to assert control over the Utopia Program; once I had Luna Prime activated. You saw to it that that never happened. When that bitch Shade put a bullet through my skull, my consciousness was sent here… Just as planned. A little earlier than I would have liked mind you…”

“Just like Twilight in the Utopia Program…” I muttered, realizing where I had seen all of this happen before.

“Twilight Sparkle is inside the Utopia Program?” Kamari’s voice piped up, suddenly filled with wrapped interest. I winced. I probably shouldn’t have said that out loud. When I refused to expound upon my statement, Kamari sneered. “She is, isn’t she? And you have been too. That must mean Pureblood is dead and Silver Ace has begun the final stages of his plan.”

My eyes narrowed. “What do you know about Silver Ace and his plans?”

There was a moment of silence from the orb as Kamari deliberated the question. After a few moments, I heard Kamari give a dark chuckle. “Oh, I know a great deal. It was once my plan after all, before Silver Ace decided to cut me out…” There was a violence to his tone. A seething rage comparable to my own hatred to the star worshipping zebra who commanded this voice. When Kamari spoke again, his voice had settled into a calmer octave. “I’m afraid I have been dead for the past few weeks, you understand. I don’t hear very much of the goings on in the wasteland from down here, stuck inside this memory orb, though from your words I gather quite a lot has transpired in my absence. Tell me, Amber Aura, what do you know of Silver Ace and his plans for Utopia?”

“That’s not how this is going to work,” I shot back, pushing the barrel of my gun against the memory orb. “I don’t owe you anything after you had Azar wipe out my entire Stable! Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t just destroy this orb right here and now!”

I could feel a boiling rage begin building up inside me. An anger I hadn’t felt since I had first travelled to the Hollow Shades. Even in my state of delirium, I could feel the hatred clogging my senses, blocking my reason.

“Because you are going to need me,” Kamari nickered, the monochrome memory orb pulsing slightly with each word. “I know Silver Ace. I understand his secrecy. You need information. And I have all of it.”

“And if I deem your information insufficient?” I retorted. “What’s to stop me from killing you then?”

“You won't,” Kamari’s voice was like a dagger in my chest. I hated his confidence. I hated his inflection that sounded almost like a cheap mockery of Xayah’s own melodic tone. “You see, I can offer you something far greater than information. I can offer you victory.”

“I don’t want whatever sick form of victory you’re offering!” I spat back, seething.

“Amber, perhaps it would be wise to hear him out,” Nova said softly, resting one of her long hooves on my shoulder.

I flinched slightly at the comment, but remained silent. After a few seconds, I lowered my shotgun. “Alright, start talking.”

If a smooth, glowing memory orb could roll its eyes, that’s what Kamari did. “You want me to talk? Then I need to know what’s happening up there. I can’t give you the answers you seek if I don’t even know what’s happened.”

I had to bite back a snide response. Finally, I just sighed and gave in. “Long and short, Pureblood is dead, the Institute is under my control, Silver Ace is controlling the Utopia Program and an army of synths from Stable 25 and Manehattan is at war. Anything else you need to know, asshole?”

Kamari was silent for a moment as he thought all of that over. “And so it was that all the pieces were at last in play, exactly as we planned. Neither of us anticipated you controlling the Institute, surely, though Silver Ace will make due with project Redirect in Stable 25, I’m sure,” He was quiet for a second longer before scowling under his breath. “The bastard likely has found some way to acquire the launch for Luna Prime as well… Though I’m not sure how, with my maneframe in the Hollow Shades destroyed.”

I grimaced. “He downloaded it off my pipbuck. I had to download it to deactivate it when I stopped you.”

There was a soft sound of laughter from the orb. “Of course. Even against the impossible odds of the unexpected variable Amber Aura, Silver Ace finds a way. He always was a clever pony.”

“Now I think it’s time that you start talking,” I scowled. “What is Silver Ace planning?”

“Normally I would never divulge such secrets. Secrets being the most valuable weapon, though considering the circumstances, I think it is at last time to reveal them,” Kamari hissed, sounding almost disappointed with himself. “The two of us are going to be working very closely, now that our goals are aligned.”

“I’m not going to be working with you on anything,” I groused. “You are going to be very lucky if I don’t kill you the second you’ve told me everything I need to know.”

Kamari made a faint clicking sound with his imaginary tongue. “Not very good at making friends, now are you, Amber Aura. Trust me, if there were another way for me to do this, I would, but you and I need each other. Neither of us has any hope of defeating Silver Ace on our own. Not me, and certainly not you. You will understand before this conversation is over,” He paused, deep in thought. “Do you know yet what Silver Ace’s end goal is?”

I had to bite back my pride slightly before shaking my head.

“Then allow me to enlighten you…”

The orb began glowing brightly for a moment, flooding the room with glowing white light. I stepped back, covering my eyes to shield myself from going completely blind. I opened my mouth to demand an explanation, but the next thing I knew, the whole world flashed away, and I found myself in a world long ago.

Silver Ace was brought before Kamari. As per usual, several books floated around his head, illuminated by the glowing white magic emanating from his strange magical talisman. Two zebra’s flanked Silver Ace on either side, either as bodyguards or as prisoner escorts, I couldn’t tell.

I glanced around myself, taking in my new surroundings. We were in some sort of ancient looking temple, clearly predating any of the modern structures that I had seen through Manehattan by quite a few hundred years. From the many zebra glyphs and depictions across the stone walls, I guessed we were likely somewhere in the Zebra Empire.

Looking down, my body seemed somewhat ethereal. I doubted, I was anything more than a passive observer in these memories. Beside me stood the slightly shimmering form of Kamari, likely his own avatar in this projection. I felt a wave of loathing pass through me just by looking at him.

“What is this?” I asked, though I had a pretty good idea of what I was about to see,” I glanced around me for a moment before glaring back at Kamari. “And where is Nova?”

“Your alicorn companion is still standing with you in the room,” Kamari drawled, seemingly annoyed by the question. I was surprised to hear that his voice still had the same echoey distortion to it. “Do not worry. I doubt she even realises any of this is happening. Within the mind, the distortion of time is at my command. All of this is happening within a fraction of a fraction of a second.”

“That’s impressive,” I forced myself to admit, hating myself just a little for being impressed by anything this waste of a zebra did.

“No more impressive than the SATS on your pipbuck,” Kamari sneered. “The relay of information with advanced enough technology can be done instantaneously. If you think for a second that everything Silver Ace and I have devised over the past two hundred years was without the use of time distortion, then perhaps you need to reconsider just what you are up against.”

I furrowed my brow at that comment. “Silver Ace is using time distortion on himself? Why?”

“In the great game, the most important step is to stay ten steps ahead of your opponents. To have contingencies and be prepared for the future,” Kamari shrugged. “Through memory magic, Silver Ace has all the time in the world to calculate every possible outcome and then plan for it accordingly. Whatever plan you devise, he will have already thought of.”

Nodding thoughtfully, I turned my gaze to the vision before me. “And what is all this?”

“The beginning,” Kamari smirked. “Silver Ace came to me many years ago. The war was only in its infancy back then. At the time, he was on an expedition to the zebra lands funded by Pureblood to research non-unicorn magic. He was, even before the madness of the war, a devout zebra sympathizer of course, as I am sure you have figured out by now. And rather obsessed with our magic and advanced potions.”

“He denied being a zebra sympathizer when I questioned him on it,” I groused, calling back to one of my only conversations with Silver Ace.

“He would deny it. The term never appealed to him. Silver Ace called himself an advocate for life. He wished to end all wars. For all life to prosper. A war with the zebra’s was an affront to that belief.”

“A advocate for life and an anti war mentality hardly makes him a zebra sympathizer,” I noted, narrowing my eyes at the scene before us.

Kamari rolled his eyes. “And yet he joined Four Star, worked with zebras in secret, leaked valuable Equestrian intel to the Zebra empire,” He listed on and on, his voice both harsh and smug all at once. “Silver Ace took an especial interest with the Ministry of Peace when he learned they planned to help all life, zebra’s included. He may not have been the one to give the zebra’s the megaspell, but do not think he was either unaware of Fluttershy’s actions or displeased with the results.”

Turning from me and once more addressing the scene before us, Kamari continued. “Silver Ace approached me after learning of my skill in necromancy and soul jars. He had a rather unique plan to create a string of growing, learning memory orbs that could take on an infinitely perfect world of their own. A creation that I had already done some amount of research into at the time.”

“You’re Starkatteri,” I heard Silver Ace state factually as he looked over Kamari’s strange stripes in the memory. I recalled Xayah mentioning something similar when she had first seen Kamari.

“You’ve done your research,” Kamari smirked back at him, crossing his hooves in front of his desk. “Will that be a problem for you?”

Silver Ace just shook his head. “On the contrary, I think it might be of great use…”

“We both knew our alliance was to be short lived,” Kamari told me, his eyes switching back and forth between the memory of Silver Ace and the memory of himself. “We had different goals for this hypothetical utopia. Silver Ace, seeing even back then that the only world where war never existed was a world devoid of all issues, wished to create a world without strife, arrogant as the notion seems.”

“And yourself?” I scowled, noting Kamari’s clear omission of his own agenda. “What was your plan for the Utopia Program?”

Kamari worked his jaw for a second, clearly not wishing to say more. “I am but a messenger of the stars, Amber Aura. My god is not of the physical world as you understand it. They are beyond all of us, trapped in limbo with the vessel Stygian and ensnared in a spell so strong that not even a hundred thousand years of research could hope to break.”

“The Pony of Shadows,” I breathed, quickly realizing what Kamari was referring to.

I could see the surprise in Kamari’s face that I knew the word. His hoof twitched slightly and suddenly we found ourselves standing in a different location; a dark cave hundreds of miles beneath the surface. Before us, I could see the memory of Silver Ace and Kamari looking at a leering, vile obelisk protruding from beneath the rocks. I had seen this very obelisk when I had travelled to the Hollow Shades myself.

“Few know of that name. Fewer still know what the entity is truly called,” Kamari stated, looking the obelisk over. “The Pony of Shadows, The Hound of Starlight, Ug-Qualtoth. All names forgotten to time and lost to the forgotten god. But the powerful magics that bound him to limbo leave echoes of memory. Tangible memory that can be tapped into.”

“I saw this Pony of Shadows when I was inside of the Utopia Program,” I shivered, remembering the horrific beast that had nearly broken my mind simply by looking upon it.

I saw an uncomfortably smug smile spread across Kamari’s ethereal features. “Then the two of us are bound more than you can hope to understand,” He paused for a moment, collecting himself. “What you witnessed was not the Pony of Shadows, but the memory of it, imprinted forever within the depths of the Hollow Shades. Had it been my real master, your mortal mind would have been sundered and driven to madness at the mere sight of it. No. Instead, you witnessed a vast collective of memories that I have compiled over nearly two thousand years of life. The Pony of Shadows is gone from this life. It has taken on a new form, and as such, it has since taken on a new name, one more befitting its current state. The Collective.”

That must be the Collective the Courser had been talking about. Instead of pursuing that train of thought however, I let my mouth drop open. “Two thousand years! I thought you had lived so long because you were a ghoul! But that makes you way older than the great war was.”

“The radiation extended my already prolonged life, indeed,” Kamari groused. “But I have been around far longer than even that. A gift from my god to ensure his return.”

“And that’s what the Collective is then?” I asked, curious. “An echo of the Pony of Shadows. Made up of memories from some ancient spell that sealed him away?” I was starting to feel completely out of my depths. This was all far too big and grand for me to understand.

Kamari nodded. “I had hoped to create the Utopia Program to house my lord's mind. To grant him autonomy, even as a mere memory. A massive brain in which to pilot his new vessel.”

“His vessel?” I asked, almost absentmindedly as I tried to absorb all this information. I glanced around the simulacrum of the cave we were in and at the looming obelisk before me. Suddenly I was beginning to have a better understanding. I felt a loud gasp escape my lips involuntarily. “Luna Prime… That was to be the Pony of Shadows, er- The Collectives vessel…”

Kamari’s grin was unbearable. “Indeed. Had things turned out differently, that would have been well underway.”

“That’s what you were doing out in the Hollow Shades before my friends and I stopped you. That makeshift maneframe you had was a sort of project Redirect of your own, wasn’t it,” I assumed, recalling the massive spire-like computer that Kamari had plugged himself into in his attempt to activate Luna Prime.

“You catch on quick. Had you not interfered, I would have hijacked the Utopia Program from the MAS Hub and brought my god into this world long before Silver Ace and the fool Pureblood had the chance to retake the Institute. A temporary solution, but with control over the Utopia Program, I would have asserted a more permanent control in short order. Silver Ace had his suspensions of my intentions, even before the apocalypse I’m sure; though he had a desperate need of my alchemical skills and untraditional magics and I had need of his brilliant mind and the numerous resources he was able to pull from Pureblood,” Kamari continued, slowly walking around the obelisk before looking once more at me. “In time, I convinced him of the necessity of the Luna Prime megaspell. A failsafe against those who would resist our new era. Our partnership worked for a time.”

“Wait, so let me get this straight, You wanted to create the Utopia Program to bring back your banished god and Silver Ace wants to use it to create a world without war and you somehow convinced him a weapon of mass destruction was needed to create a warless solution for violence?”

“Silver Ace’s hypocrisy is not lost on me,” Kamari sneered. “And do not think his perfect world is a viable solution either. Utopia is only a Utopia so long as there is nopony in it. The moment Silver Ace brings everypony into the program, he will either need to deal with the realisation that ponies cannot live in perfect harmony or he will need to erase all of your memories and start anew. He is so madly blind and obsessed with his chance at creating perfection that he hasn’t stopped to think what would happen if he actually succeeded.”

“So that’s it then. All Silver Ace is planning is to bring everypony into a true Utopia?” The idea that all of this was for something so simple and well meaning was almost baffling to me. I had been trying so hard to figure out what his huge master plan had been that I hadn’t even considered that it could be so blatantly simple. Of course that’s all Silver Ace wanted. He had designed the Utopia Program. It made sense that its primary function what his primary goal.

Kamari gave a curt nod. “It is. Often the most important things in life are simple. But ask yourself this, what would you rather? A world of perfection, a world where you no longer need to fight for anything and everything is freely given. A world where whatever happens, good or not, is out of your control. Or this world, a world of violence and death and sorrow. A broken world, where every day is a struggle for survival and a mockery of fairness, but a world that you get to fight for. A world that you get to shape, for better or for worse.”

“Silver Ace’s option does sound like the nicer option. An easier option...” I admitted after a few seconds of deliberation, almost relishing in the idea of living in a perfect world. “It sounds nice... Especially after all these days in the wasteland…” I sighed, letting the fantasy slip away. “But so did Pureblood’s world, and that world turned out to be a nightmare.”

“Silver Ace thinks he is this world's saviour; The pony that will bring peace to this desperate, war torn reality. But his plan will lead to its inevitable conclusion,” Kamari soothed.

“Says the zebra that literally wants to unleash an evil god,” I shot back, somewhat hotly.

“Good and Evil are binary concepts,” Kamari spat, sounding almost exasperated. “The world the Collective would create is neither good nor evil, but simply another avenue in which Utopia can be attained. We view the world very differently, Amber Aura. You would fight for a world of fairness and safety. An imperfect world that you will never need to stop fighting for as you will never be able to fully attain. Silver Ace would see a world of perfect balance due to the lack of personal autonomy. I would see the world become what it is meant to be.”

“Which is what?”

“Perfect silence,” Kamari whispered. The conviction in which he said those two words caused tingles to race down my spine. “Silver Ace’s utopia will never work because living beings cannot coexist without fault. He is destined to be driven mad trying to achieve the unachievable. So the solution is simple. Reality is better off without living things. The melodies of life are only made beautiful through the reprieve of eternal death.”

I just gawked at him, horrified. “That’s- that’s madness!” I exclaimed, my heart beating rapidly in my chest. “You would kill everypony to see a world without suffering?!”

“In a word, yes,” Kamari breathed, the sick smile on his face almost euphoric. “It may seem cruel and violent to your simple mind, but you have not known the peace of death as I have. You have not been shown the wonders that my god has shown me. There is so much more to this vast universe than you could ever hope to understand. Why fight; why torture yourself with the agony of existence day in and day out, when the only real reprieve is silence everlasting?”

I shook my head. “Because I’m not crazy.”

Kamari just chucked. “Perhaps you will see in time. Most do before the end.”

“Just continue your fucking story,” I scowled back. I was running out of patience with the damn zebra.

With the twist of his hoof, the scene shifted again. I found myself once more in the Four Star apartment building, watching as Kamari squared off against Silver Ace. The two of them looked to be in a violent debate, though their words were muffled. I wondered if Kamari simply didn’t want me to hear what they had been saying, or if he himself didn’t fully remember the words of the argument. Blood dripped from Silver Ace's neck where a long gash had been cut while a jagged looking green knife oozing with black ichor was clenched tight in Kamari’s mouth.

“As we both anticipated, our partnership came to an end, only one day before the end of the world,” Kamari said flatly, stepping forwards and looking the memory of Silver Ace and himself over. “We both saw it coming, but for some reason, it felt like a betrayal all the same.”

“What eventually caused the falling out?” I asked. I had wondered this a few times myself, even before Kamari had offloaded all of this information onto me.

“What else, the Utopia Program was completed,” Kamari said simply, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “I had planned to slit his throat in the night and be done with him. I was only hours away from completing my goals. Once Silver Ace was out of the picture, I was going to activate project Redirect and let the Collective be reborn anew,” Kamari looked loath-fully at the memory of the fight happening before us. “As you can see, things didn’t go according to plan.”

I watched as the memory of Silver Ace activated his talisman and sent a wave of magical force ramming into Kamari. Kamari was slammed back, crashing into the wall, his head striking the stone surface roughly..

“I figured you’d be coming,” Silver Ace gasped, applying pressure to his blood soaked neck. “It was wise of you, of course… We both knew this had to happen. Might as well have been on your terms,” as he spoke, Silver Ace yanked a small syringe from his vests pocket with his magic, quickly injecting it into himself.

“Silver Ace was well aware of my plan to kill him,” Kamari scowled, glaring daggers at the needle as Silver Ace administered what I could only assume was an anti-venom.. “I suspect that given a few more days, he would have likely tried to kill me; the only other that knew the full extent of his plans outside of himself.”

“So there was no big revelation or anything like that? You just both ran out of use for each other?” I surmised bluntly. “What a trustworthy lot you both are.”

The memory of Kamari dragged himself back to his striped hooves, leaning on the wall for support. I could hear the sound of rapid hoofsteps approaching from outside the door. From the expression of the memory of Kamari’s face, I could tell their little scuffle had caused a much greater commotion than he had intended. I watched as the deadly zebra took one last swing at Silver Ace, his poisoned blade aimed at his throat, only for the strike to be knocked aside from a magical field of Silver Ace’s faux aura. The memory of Kamari gave a final hiss of frustration before ducking out the window, disappearing into the night, moments before a group of armed ponies burst through the apartment door, guns at the ready.

The vision faded out, being replaced by darkness. I glanced around, expecting something else to show, but it seemed Kamari was finished showing me things.

“As you can imagine, Silver Ace immediately put the Institute on high alert for me. Changeling spies were hunting me out. All entrances into and out of the Institute facility and Stable 25 we blockaded. Even I was impressed by the speed in which Silver Ace locked down his operations. He knew I was a threat to him.” Kamari’s spectral from phased back into my view, hovering a few feet above me in the darkness. “Without access to all of our work, I had to spend the next two hundred years recreating project Redirect from scratch. The last piece I needed was the A.A.S.S. from Stable 25. I'm sure you know the rest.”

“Maybe if you had been a little less blood thirsty and a little more compassionate, you would have succeeded,” I told him smugly. "Seems Silver Ace was smart for cutting you out of the plan. You attacked him."

“Perhaps,” Kamari admitted, almost wistfully. “But it is far too late now to be bothered with what could and could not have been. Perhaps had I not tried to kill him, I would have found Silver Ace’s knife in my own neck. Perhaps not. But regardless of the truth, it stands as testament to the only universal truth… War never changes… And as such, death is the only solution,” Kamari sighed, looking past me and into the darkness beyond. “But now, I think we’ve talked long enough…”

There was another flash of light, and I felt my mind return once more to my body.

The light abruptly shut off, my mind rapidly slamming back into myself. I staggered, collapsing backwards. Before I hit the ground, I felt Nova’s hoof reach out and grab onto me, catching me before I injured myself.

“Amber?! Are you alright? What was that flash? What just happened?” Nova was asking, trying to make sense of the strange burst of light that had sent me staggering.

“I’m fine, Nova, really,” I said, pulling myself back up to standing. I glanced around, finding myself once more in the dark, metal chamber beneath the theatre, terminals and other circuit boards flickering faintly along the walls. I looked over at the glowing memory orb in the centre of the room, still seemingly staring at us ominously. “Kamari just showed me some stuff, that’s all.”

“Indeed. I have done as you requested… And now you are going to help me,” Kamari’s voice oozed, once more echoing around the chamber from within the orb. “I cannot do much, stuck down here in this hole in the ground, but with your help, You can plug me into the Utopia Program. We can finally bring an end to Silver Ace’s reign.”

I scoffed, raising my shotgun and pressing it once more to the smooth surface of the memory orb. “If you think for even a second that I’m dumb enough to help plug you into the Utopia Program, you have greatly miscalculated what your current situation is.”

A low growl came from deep within the orb. “No, perhaps you have miscalculated the situation, Amber Aura,” Kamari seethed. “Sure, you can destroy this memory orb now; end my existence once and for all. I’m sure it will make you feel nice. Make you feel like you’ve gotten revenge for what I did to your Stable… Or, you can put your blinding hatred aside and take me with you. I think you’ll find that without me, stopping Silver Ace will be quite impossible.”

I grit my teeth, praying this was all some kind of bluff. “Oh yeah? And why is that?”

“Because by now, Silver Ace will have already fully downloaded himself into the Utopia Program. He is just as much a part of it now as Twilight and the rest of her friends are,” Kamari said, a dangerous edge to his tone. “The Utopia Program is more than a machine. It’s a memory. It cannot be destroyed or deactivated. It can only be altered. Silver Ace has become one with it now, as was always his intention. He is indestructible. You cannot kill him. You will find yourself unable to reason with him. All that is left to be done is to corrupt the memory.”

“And you think I should corrupt the memory with you? Whatever that means,” I spat. I hated everything about what was happening right now. If Kamari thought for a single second that I was going to team up with him, after he had ordered the death of everypony in my Stable, he was dead wrong.

“It is the ideal solution; and your only gambit,” Kamari stated. “I already told you, With unlimited access to the Utopia Program, Silver Ace has all the time he needs on his side. Any plan you devise, he will have come up with well over a hundred counters. He is smarter than you, he is stronger than you, and he has imbued himself with the power of a god within Utopia, the only place you can hope to confront him. You will need to have a plan that he could not possibly expect. He does not yet know I still live, and as such, will be unprepared.”

“And what is to stop you from taking control of the Utopia Program once I plug you in? Huh? Wouldn’t downloading you into the Utopia program just give you the control that Silver Ace currently has?”

“It would. I am not going to lie to you, Amber Aura. We are all well past hiding our intentions from one another. From here on out, I shall be fully transparent with you, just as I was with Silver Ace two hundred years ago…” Kamari leered. The black and white memory orb pulsed ominously upon its pedestal as he spoke. “I need you if I hope to bring about my god's new reign, and you need me if you want to bring an end to Silver Ace’s madness. The two of us, we are bound together by something far stronger than friendship. We have a mutual need. Our partnership is a necessity that you cannot escape from. So, you can kill me, forever dooming this world's chance of preservation, or you can do what I say, and finally bring an end to all of this madness. After that…”

“...It's everypony for themselves…” I finished for him, my words trailing off slightly. I cast a nervous glance over at Nova, hoping she could give me some sort of advice, but the alicorn looked as lost as I felt. We were all out of our depths here, and Kamari knew it.

“Exactly… An alliance forged from necessity. Enemy of my enemy…” Kamari purred, clearly pleased with himself. “So, Amber Aura… What’s it going to be?”

Footnote: Maximum level reached

Author's Note

Whoops, and I thought the waits between some of the other chapters were long. Sorry this took so long to get out. Hopefully it was well worth the wait. The story is rapidly approaching its conclusion (Or as rapidly as I can get chapters out, anyway).

Hope you all enjoyed, and I hope you all have a wonderful day!