I have come to realize that travelling on hoof is Extremely boring. We would have flown but Shadow refused to be carried and said that we’d be easier to spot and shoot down.

So on hoof, it was.

Of course, this meant that I could play another one of those audio files from the radio tower while we walked. If a problem were to occur Ashaa and Shadow could warn me easily.

So I hit play.

“Manager’s log number twelve:
The main generator has been fixed, though one of the atomic stabilization engines on the fourth floor combusted, causing a small fire that was almost immediately put out. I have sent out a request for the parts needed to rep-“

“Hello there Miss Hailstorm, how are you today?”

“Oh! Hello General, I happen to be doing just fine, how about you?”

“Well, progress on Stable fifty-six has increased almost exponentially with the help of my Aqua-Rangers, though I hate that we’re not our fighting in the war yet. Just waiting for Princess Luna’s approval of the new power armour and we’ll be off. If that ever happens.”

“And why wouldn’t it? Your armour could do wonders on the battlefield!”

“The only problem is that those damn zebras have started working on sonar technology, whether it’s because of spies or just coincidence it could become a major advantage over our armour. This means that until we know for sure that we’re ineffective against zebra tech we’ll be put on standby here until we’re deployed or the project is scrapped.”

“At least you’re doing something productive while you wait.”

“Ha, sure. Helping build a stable instead of helping prevent the need For Stables.”

“You have a point there. But it’s better than just laying around twiddling your hooves.”

“Indeed it is, Miss Hailstorm.”

There was a pause as if neither of the two ponies knew what to say next. Then came a small masculine cough, obviously the General what’s his name.

“Well then, I shall leave you to your work. Good day Ma’am”

“Good day to you as well, General Thunderheart”

The sound of hooves trotting off signalled the General’s exit, followed by a relieved sigh from Hailstorm, who I assumed was one of the mares that I had heard in the last two audio files.

” Oh, Damn it! I left the recorder on!”

Fzztk.

And with that, the file ended.

Before I played the last one I paid a little more attention to my surroundings. Instead of the endless rows of run-down shops and homes we had been walking through when we started it appeared that we had moved into a more industrial area. Workshops and build sites now dominated the land. Sprinkled in were a few massive factories, their furnaces long dead. In the distance, I could see the smoke of campfires, whether their occupants were of a friendly disposition I couldn’t tell. We steered clear of them anyway.

So, with no immediate threats, I played the last audio file, this one dated to be about two months after the last three.

“Alright, testing facilities A12 through C56 have been cleared. Until those nosy ass Aqua-Rangers leave town I’ll have to use only the bare minimum to work on my experiments.”

“Don’t you work for Goldenblood now? Doesn’t that mean the government knows what you’re up to, and supports it?”

“The shady part of the government yes, not the part the public sees. Not even Princess Luna knows everything the O.I.A is doing.”

“And you do? Wait, should you even be telling me any of this? I won’t end up in a quiet place will I?”

“Of course not! I make sure that all my calls are completely private.”

“Okaaaaaay, how about we change the subject? One of those nosy ass Aqua-Rangers asked me out!”

“General Thunderheart?!”

“Yes!”

“When did this happen?”

“Three days ago he asked if he could take me out to the Maison Marebon tomorrow night! Should I go?”

“Hey girl, You go for it! Just don’t give any information about me. Don’t even mention our friendship.”

“Alright! I won’t say anything about you! It’ll just be a night on the town.”

“Okay then, you have fun! Remember to bring breath mints and condoms!”

“Crystal! It’s only our first date!”

“You never know Stormy! It could be love at first sight!”

“I doubt that Thunderheart is the kind to bed a mare on the first date, and neither am I!”

“Well duh, you’re not into mares. Are you?”

“Crystal! You know what I meant!”

“I know, have a good time Hailstorm! I’ll see ya later.”

“I will, bye!”

Click! Fzztk!

And now with nothing to entertain myself with as we walked, I mulled over all that I had heard. Nothing passes the time like two-hundred-year-old mysteries!

So far we have four characters; Crystal, Hailstorm, General Thunderheart, and Goldenblood.

Crystal was preforming illegal, immoral, or just shady experiments in several different places around the city that she had to interrupt because of the Aqua-Rangers arrival.

Hailstorm was Crystal’s friend from Hoofington and one of her partners in crime, or partners in whatever Crystal was up to. Since Crystal said she had more than one testing facility, I could say with relative certainty that she had other people working for or with her.

General Thunderheart seemed to be oblivious to this operation and had fallen in love with Hailstorm, the two having met at the SPP tower that Hailstorm worked at. He was pissed that his soldiers weren’t able to do battle because of an issue with the special armour they wore. He seemed to not have taken this anger out on the stable he had been sent to work on, as productivity had increased upon his arrival.

Golden blood was the only one I didn’t have a lot of information on. He was a shady government official with his resources put into many different projects that were as shady as he was. One of the said projects was Crystal’s. Though she didn’t know how he had found out about it.

Though the chance of me finding more tapes was slim, I was hoping that I could eventually find out what happened to all of them.

Back, in reality, Ashaa and Shadow were in the midst of a heated argument involving our destination.

“Celestia Laboratories is a damn death trap. We’ll not find anything of use in that hellhole before we’re all killed.”

“It’s the only place that might have what we need! This is our best chance to get our ticket home!”

“There are far less suicidal ways of earning money! Are you willing to die for a way home?”

“Of course not! We won’t die, we’re on a mission!”

Shadow scoffed. “A suicide mission.”

Before I could intervene a bullet whizzed past my beak, hitting the ground to my left. Shadow immediately glanced where the bullet came from, a grimace plastered across his features.

“Get down, we’ve got raiders.”

More bullets flashed by the three of us. Luckily there was some rubble to hide behind. Shadow ran towards the raiders with his revolver drawn while Ashaa and I jumped behind the wreckage. I pulled out Ifrinn and removed the scope, using it to peer out towards where the hail of bullets originated.

There appeared to be at least ten of them, all armed with crude yet quite large firearms. All ponies, five earth ponies, four unicorns, and a Pegasus. Said Pegasus strapped on a huge battle saddle and took to the skies only to be shot down by Shadow. The raiders ceased fire for a moment, only to resume fire on Shadow’s position. This gave me time to reattach Ifrinn’s scope and aim, I managed to get a few shots off before their attention returned to me and I was forced to duck back down. Unfortunately none of my shots connected with flesh, but with dirt and concrete instead.

Ashaa was busy preparing a few healing mixes for later, while Shadow had gotten himself right below the raiders, out of sight and with his revolver poised to take out the unicorn who seemed to be giving orders. He pulled the trigger and the poor bastard’s head and neck were vaporized in a spray of fine red mist. They paused for a second and then began firing at the broken down wagon Shadow was hiding behind.

At this range, I knew my carbine would be useless. Metal apples were out of the question because I could just as easily blow up Shadow, unless...

“Ashaa! I need you to hand me some arrows!”

“What!? Oh, okay!” She tossed five arrows in my direction. I took these and a few of the grenades and lashed them to the arrows.

“Pull the pin and shoot it at them, but don’t wait too long after pulling the pin!” I said as I tossed the explosive arrows back to her. She nodded and began shooting them out towards the raiders, making sure not to hit Shadow’s position.

At first, they didn’t know how to react to the arrows and decided to ignore them, until one stuck in a unicorn’s helmet and exploded, throwing guts and shrapnel everywhere, killing two others in the process.

The remaining five of them began shooting at the arrows while they were in flight. They managed to hit one of them, creating a ball of fire in the air that rained shrapnel on both sides, giving Ashaa and me quite a few small gashes. The other three arrows hit their mark, blowing up the raider’s cover and allowing Shadow to advance towards them.

Before they could register what had just happened Shadow rained lead upon them, killing the last three earth ponies and injuring one of the unicorns. The unharmed unicorn galloped towards us, firing her huge machine gun and laughing maniacally. The bullets bounced off our barricade, the mare wasn’t aiming.

Once she was in range I took a shot with Ifrinn and blew out her chest. I knew that my gun probably had a range of a few miles but for me to hit accurately they had to be only a couple hundred meters away.

Shadow finished off the last raider and the fight was over. He turned towards me to say something but instead pointed at Ashaa.

“Blitz! Your sister was shot!”

I turned to see a plume of red bloom from her chest, staining her feathers a dark crimson.

Footnote:

New perk unlocked! Battle-hardened 1: you’ve had a little more combat experience and now deal 15% more damage with any firearm.

Author's Note

Well this one is a little longer than the others, that’s because I didn’t think the flow of the story would work if I cut this into two chapters.

Anyways, I hope y’all are enjoying this story and a big thank ye kindly to all of you who leave a comment and to Kkat for creating FoE.

-ABloodthirstyUnicorn