I woke up in another hospital gurney. This one, however, wasn't dusty and covered in blood. Looking around, I could see we were still in Tia's control room. I sat up, holding my head. There were dozens of small worker drones cleaning up the mess of rubble and broken robots left in the wake of our battle. Luna was now proudly situated In the place where Tia once hung from the ceiling, her eyes glued to the massive screen on the opposite wall. Shadow stood underneath her, apparently having a conversation with the AI. I couldn't quite hear what they were saying from this distance, but it didn't look heated.

I then concerned myself with getting out of the gurney in a dignified manner. I completely failed that attempt and instead flopped face-first onto the ground beside me. This display of agility attracted the attention of Shadow and Luna, who turned to face me.

Ah yes, you are awake. You will be glad to hear your sister survived her surgery. Unfortunately, her original wings were too damaged to reattach. So with her consent, I made her new ones.

"Wait," I said as I managed to get back on my hooves, "You made her new wings?" Luna nodded, a smile on her face.

Indeed I did, and now that you're awake you and your friends are free to go with anything in this facility, You did a good job. Please do not linger here, however, I would like my privacy.

Shadow nodded and picked up the power core with his crimson magic. Once he reached me he hefted the oversized battery in my direction, giving me time to catch it with my azure magic and carefully place it in my inventory.

"Let's grab some basic supplies and go, we don't want to take advantage of her hospitality." He said as he began trotting towards an elevator embedded in the wall nearby. "Ashaa's waiting for us at the top, so let's be quick." I made a sound of confirmation and followed close behind.

I was tasked with heading to the armoury while Shadow raided the kitchen. Like the rest of Celestia Laboratories, the armoury was a massive space. It was a wastelander's paradise. I grabbed a bunch of high-quality rifles and ammo to sell in town, as well as an assault rifle for me. I found ammo for both my weapons and Shadow's revolver, as well as some new toys. In a secluded corner, there was a locked case. breaking it open revealed a monster of a weapon, a huge double-barreled shotgun made of dark metal and bloodstained wood. It seemed out of place in the futuristic room, as it had definitely seen combat already. On the end of the barrel, there was a strange alien symbol. It looked vaguely neighponese in shape but not quite. I didn't think it was a word or letter, I thought it was more of a trademark.

I put it in my inventory along with all the shells I could find for it. After one last once over of the room I walked back over to the elevator and pressed the up button. The lift took me right back to the ground floor where we had entered. Waiting for me in the main welcome room was Shadow and Ashaa. My sister did indeed have a new pair of mechanical wings painted to look exactly like her old ones. The only thing that revealed they were synthetic was the small Celestia Laboratories logo on the tip of her right wing.

"Took you long enough, let's get the hell out of here," Ashaa said, turning away towards the exit. Shadow hastily tossed me the two bags of food he had collected for me to put away and turned to follow my sister out of the facility.

"Hey! What's wrong?" I said as I caught up to the two of them outside the massive fence. "I'm sorry I couldn't keep you safe throughout this trip, but we made it out! with the power core too!" Ashaa shook her head, smiling slightly.

"No, none of this was your fault. And I'm not mad at you, but myself. Just because you're the warrior of the family doesn't mean you have to protect everyone. I should be able to hold my own out here, and I've been doing a horrible job of that. I've been shot, mangled, and ra- uh, nevermind." Before I could ask what that last word was, she opened her new wings, letting the metal glint in the light. Seeing them up close revealed that the edge of each feather was serrated. "If we're to survive this and get home, we all need to do our part. And just being the medic with basic combat training isn't going to cut it, so I took some lessons from Luna while you recovered, I'm also planning to get some armour when we get back to town."

I had to take a second to process this new information, why was all this coming out now?

"Ashaa," I said, putting a talon on her shoulder as she folded her wings. "You're my sister, I'm always going to have your safety be my first priority. It doesn't matter if you weren't prepared for this, neither of us was! Yes, being able to defend yourself is important, but don't think you have to become a different person because of it. You will always have me, and Shadow for however long he decides to stay with us." Ashaa hugged me, I could feel a tear running down her cheek as I tried not to get mauled by her wings. Eventually, we separated, and I realized that Shadow was staring off to our left.

"If you two are quite done, I suggest we find cover. I fear there's an incoming band of raiders, more than we can handle." He whispered, jogging towards an abandoned shack not far ahead. Ashaa and I quietly followed, thankfully the building was big enough for all three of us, now we had to hope the raiders wouldn't decide to look inside.

At first, I thought Shadow was just hearing things, but soon enough I could see the lights of their torches and hear the sound of their hooves on the cracked asphalt road. As the party of raiders grew near, the sun began to set behind the clouds. I really hoped that they would pass us by, that way we could sneak out and around them through the darkness.

As usual, luck was not on our side. The possibly pugnacious pack of ponies had set up camp for the night about twenty metres away from our hiding spot. Afraid of being spotted, we hunkered down as the smell of campfire smoke and roasting meat wafted into our shack. Soon the darkness fell in earnest, yet we still weren't able to leave, as their small campfire had turned into a massive bonfire the lit up the surrounding area in an eerie yellow glow. There was no sneaking out now.

Around ten o’clock, Ashaa had fallen into a fitful slumber as Shadow stood guard. I almost drifted to sleep as well, but just as I did, the chanting started. I took a tentative peek out the window and found a horrific sight on the other side.

The raiders stood around the bonfire, as two of them wearing decorative bone armour carried a scared mare tied with barbed wire to a metal pole in between them. She was a unicorn, but her horn had been sawed off, as well as most of her mane and tail. I couldn’t see her cutie mark through the layer of blood, puss, and dirt that covered her entire coat. One of the mare’s eyes was swollen shut as the other stared at the flames before her. She tried to scream, but those monsters had sewn her mouth shut with barbed wire. The chanting grew steadily louder as the mare was brought next to the fire. The poor unicorn was slowly lifted into the fire, struggling frantically as the ends of the pole were place on two piles of cinderblocks on each side of the bonfire. The chanting turned into manic screams and howls, the raiders now running in circles around the fire as the crackle of wood and muffled screams emanated from inside.

Ashaa was now awake and by my side, watching in horrified silence with me. We held talons as the noise died down, the two bone druids retrieving the pole and heaving the scorched remains of the unicorn out of the fire. Three more raiders, each holding a bucket in their mouths, trotted over and poured the contents of their buckets onto the corpse. A dark red substance drizzled onto it, hitting the burnt flesh with a sizzle. Once the buckets had been emptied, the unicorn was laid on an old tarp. One of the druids said something incomprehensible, and the whole group dove towards the carcass. I could hear the sickening crunching sounds as the creatures began to eat.

Ashaa and I finally tore our eyes away from the disturbing scene as someone yelled,

“Hey, guys! Her pussy tastes even better than before we cooked her!” Which was met with manic laughter.

As we both sat down Ashaa tried her best not to puke as Shadow scared the shit out of both of us by dragging us further into the shed.

“Two of them, coming this way.” He whispered, silently pulling a huge hunting knife out of a sheath hidden in his duster. When I stopped and listened, I could hear the hoofsteps as they approached. The two strangers stopped only a few metres away from our position, just out of earshot of the raiders. Shadow was wound up like a cat, waiting for them to come closer. Instead, they began talking.

“Are you sure about all this sir? These raiders aren’t the best travelling companions.” The second one scoffed,

“Of course they aren’t, but that doesn’t matter. The Commander wanted warriors, and these foul creatures are the worst kind of foe you could meet on a battlefield. Besides, they’re not going to kill us in our sleep, we just fed them that mare we found yesterday. That will keep them happy and obedient until we reach the main army.”

“Why does that crazy stallion need an army anyway?” The first one asked. "If he was working for Red Eye I'd understand, but even that lunatic doesn't use raiders."

"He's preparing to invade that merchant town near the coast, Marebon Street I think. Doesn't care about the collateral damage."

"heh. If there's one thing these guys are good at, it's doing a lot of destruction in a small amount of time."

"Exactly! They're perfect. If the Commander's elaborate scheme works out, which is very probable, I'll be one of his top lieutenants. Meaning we'll both get three meals a day, pleasurable company, and high social standing."

"And if his scheme ends like the last one?"

"If it does, which I'm very sure it won't, then we lose only time and effort. These cannibals are cannon fodder, not trained soldiers. Either we get everything, or lose nothing! It's the perfect plan."

"If you say so sir, but can we take turns on watch tonight? I don't want to get eaten for the 'perfect plan'"

"Ugh, fine. Let's head back then."

And with that, the two ponies trotted back towards the fire. Their conversation fading into the ongoing shouts and screams emanating from the raiders.

"This is bad, really bad." Shadow whispered from behind us. I turned around as quietly as I could to look at him.

"What should we do? We have to warn Marebon street, if they destroy Marebon Street we can’t go home! But there's no way to get all of us past them!" Shadow paused for a moment, thinking.

"You probably can't fly me all the way to Marebon Street, but can you fly me a good distance away from them and then set me down? You two could then fly ahead and warn the town while I grab some allies. I doubt those cannibals have more than crude melee weapons, so there's not much chance of getting shot out of the sky." I nodded, this was our best option.

"Are you sure you'd be okay without us for a while?" Ashaa said quietly, fidgeting anxiously. Shadow chuckled softly, shaking his head.

"I'm used to being on my own, I've had lots of practice."

"Alright, let's get going then."

We then packed up what little we had unpacked earlier and got ready to fly. It took a while to figure out how to carry Shadow, but once we had him in a comfortable position we took to the skies, following his directions.

Just as I predicted, our exit did not go unnoticed. A few raiders stripping the bones of the unicorn saw us and began yelling, they tried to follow us on hoof, but were soon lost behind us.

We were on our way save the town and secure our way home.

Footnote:

Quest progress: In a rich colt’s world, 3,075/10,000 caps. Time limit: 26 days remaining.

New quest added! Hero of the village: Save Marebon Street from and impending attack! Time limit: 5 days remaining. Reward: 500 EXP.

Author's Note

I got two chapters out in one month! Hooray!

As always, suggestions and feedback are much appreciated! And thank you to all who’ve made it this far, I hope you continue to enjoy this story!

-A Bloodthirsty Unicorn 56.