The Blade Chronicles: Book Two

Chapters

Chapter one: Blaze Burned
Chapter two: The Crossroads
Chapter three: Enter Cog
Chapter four: The Deadliest Game
Chapter five: Departure

Chapter one: Blaze Burned

The sounds of gunfire rang out as a yellow coated mare with a pink mane and pink tail flew around quickly in the air. She had a scrap pistol in her mouth as she fired a shot at a stallion that was approaching a pre-blaze army truck, its cotton cover had holes inside of it. His coat was greasy from months of not bathing, his body was covered by leather armor and on his snout rested a gas mask. The stallions armor had holes in it as the shots made contact, the first two hit him in the chest and two more hit him in the side. He couldn’t stand any longer as his body gave out. The stallion fell to the ground, his eyes glazed over as the pegasus that shot as him landed in front of the deceased male. She had on a set of scavenged light armor, a pair of goggles rested on her forehead as she turned and trotted up to the caravan. Inside sat a wounded Seeking Blade along with a couple other ponies. Seeking Blade’s family was amongst them as the pegasus climbed inside and one of the other ponies climbed into the driver's seat. The pegasus soon sat down next to Seeking Blade and began to tend his wounds.

“Um, Seeking Blade…” the timid and soft speaking voice said as the pegasus had begun to talk in a gentle tone. “I am sorry for not having had the chance to speak with you or introduce myself to you, but… My name is Fluttershy.” She took a first aid kit from underneath the stallion that was in the passenger seat as she trotted back. Opening it as she took out some alcohol and gauze, getting to work on healing the wounded stallions front right shoulder wound.

Seeking Blade grunted as the alcohol stung his wound, he had been shot, he looked from Serene Morning, to Sun Spot and Night Eye. He then turned his gaze to Fluttershy, his voice was gruff as he spoke to her in a tough tone. “Where are you from, Fluttershy?” he asked as he soon felt her wrap his wound in gauze and a bandage.

“Oh, I come from Equestria.” She said with a smile as a small, white rabbit peeked its head up and over the top of her head.

Seeking Blade blinked a bit. “Equestria…? Where Discord resides? What are you doing here?” He asked in a surprised tone.

“Indeed, the very same! And well…” Fluttershy closed her eyes and exhaled as she put the alcohol, gauze and bandages back into the first aid kit. She trotted back to the passenger in the front seat and handed the first aid kit over to the stallion before she then trotted back to Seeking Blade. She sat down next to him and gave a soft smile. “Well, it all started a few days ago when I was called up to Princess Celestia’s castle.”

A few days ago…

Fluttershy tilted her head curiously as she landed in front of the large, white oak doors at Princess Celestia and Luna’s castle. Her hoof came to rest on the door as she pushed it open and trotted inside. The pegasus shut the door behind her as she then began to trot towards the princess’s throne room. “Oh dear, I wonder what caused the princess’s to call us here, Angel. I do hope that everything is alright with everypony and the animals.” The small white rabbit gave a shrug as it sat on Fluttershy’s back and ate a carrot. As the pegasus trotted through the grand corridors, she soon made her way into the throne room where the two princesses sat on their thrones in wait. As she made her way to the steps that led up to the thrones, Fluttershy knelt down on one of her front hooves in respect as she felt her rabbit companion tumble softly to the floor in front of her, Its carrot plugged its mouth as it slowly chomped it down to bits and swallowed. The two princesses looked to one another and smiled as they got up and trotted over to her as she stood up, lifting her bunny companion back up onto her back with her left hoof.

“Ah, Fluttershy, thank you very much for coming on such short notice.” Princess Celestia said, her white coat shone softly in the warm light of the sun as it filtered in through the stained glass window behind them. Her rainbow colored mane and tail rested against the side of her neck, and on the floor. She smiled to the pegasus softly.

“Oh, yes. About that, what exactly is the problem?” the pegasus blinked as she looked between the two sisters. She cocked her head to the side as she tried to size them up. She had been curious as to what had caused them to call her to their castle.

“Right. let’s get down to business, Fluttershy.” Princess Luna said in a solemn tone, her black mane and tail rested fully against her body as her deep blue coat absorbed some of the warm sunlight. She spoke to Fluttershy calmly, though the pegasus mare could hear the well hidden worry in her voice. “Discord has just returned from a sojourning to Everglow, and says that it’s been turned into a wasteland that is full of nothing but ruins, ash, and monsters. Things that are terrorizing ponies and many other races, as well as the animals from the land. We would like you to go and see if there is any way that we can help out the races of Everglow with supplies or an extra set of hooves to help out with rebuilding. These are troublesome times for them, from what Discord said.”

The yellow coated mare gave a firm nod as she spoke. “Alright, yes. I’ll go and see what I can do! After all, it’s not like I can’t talk the sweet and adorable little animals that are there into helping me.”

The present day…

Fluttershy sat back on the seat as the truck kicked up ash behind them, her eyes looked to the other passengers as she laughed a bit. “And that’s the story about how I got here. Once I arrived, I remember talking to what looked like some cute and adorable critters, but then I started flying because they began to chase me. After flying for who knows how long, I bumped into your group here and well… here I am, getting a lift to the nearby town so that I can start looking for a way to help everypony out here as well as all of the other races.” she folded her wings against her back as she hummed a bit, her eyes closed as she listened to the rolling of the tires beneath them on the ashy surface.

Seeking Blade gave a nod as he blinked a bit, he looked at the bullet wound where the shot had been removed by Serene Morning. He and the other ponies had become exhausted from the long and tough day of fending off Raiders and monsters alike. They had been returning to Murrage after a recon mission, some of the other ponies had their eyes shut. Seeking Blade looked around a bit, before returning his attention back to Fluttershy. He had met Discord a good few years before the bombs fell, his parents almost attacked him due to being unsure as to what or who he was.He spoke to the mare who helped them out of the jam that they were in earlier, an appreciative tone came into his voice.

“Fluttershy, thank you for the assist. You really saved our flanks back there. We’re exhausted and just got done dealing with those crazy sun’s earlier. Wore us down to the bone. We also ran into some raiders before we ran into you.” he said and leaned back, a calm smile on his face. They all had settled in as the ride back to Murrage lasted two hours due to the distance they had traveled. As the sun drifted just beyond the horizon, darkness fell. The group had returned to the city and began to debrief as they lined up outside of the truck.

Meanwhile, in a small town to the north east of Murrage, about forty miles away… The sounds of swords echoed through the air, the cold steel clashed with a blade that was made of darkness. The two that were facing off against one another in the street, was an Alicorn mare who had a crown on her head with a scarlet red coat, facing off against her was a Leatherwing stallion who had on a dark black bodysuit. The False Queen had dark blue eyes that glinted in the darkness as she swung her sword once more, catching the stallion off guard briefly. He reared back on his hindlegs, his red eyes widened in surprise as he left himself open inadvertently. The False Queen took the opening, and tackled him to the cold ground below her as her sword raised to the side of his neck. His own rested against the side of her neck in return as he grinned at her.

“Well fought, your highness. Now, how about you let me up so that we can go and perform our sweep of the nearby areas for any threats that might be hiding out in the wastes?” he asked with a playful grin. His sword dissipated into the air as he looked her in the eyes.

“Oh, but of course!” The alicorn shifted her weight a bit before she got up and off of the leatherwing, she had a sache draped across her neck and chest proudly, the crest of a shield was able to be seen as she put her sword in its sheath that rested on the side of her hip. She stepped back from him so that she could give him room to stand up.

As the leatherwing stallion stood up, the alicorn mare got a look at the bulge at the stallions crotch as he stood up. He looked to her and gave her a nod, the two of them trotted towards the south side of town. The alicorn had a long and elegant snow white mane that rested against the left side of her face and covered her eye. Her well kept and combed tail rested against the backside of her hind legs, her uncovered eye glanced at the stallion as they trotted for a couple of minutes before exiting the gate. The two of them trotted a couple of miles away from the town as they began to search.

“So, Dark Heart… I must admit that since we met a few years ago, I really do wish to say that I have grown to respect you.” The alicorn mare said, her wings rested against her side softly as she gave a smile.

“Thank you, Divine Kiss! I must admit that you came across roughly at first, when we met. Normally, I would have outright killed you right then and there… What with you being a False Queen and all.” Dark Heart said to Divine Kiss in return, he had his own wings folded against his backside as he gauged her with his eyes. He couldn’t keep his eyes from wandering her body as he lost his focus for the brief moment. He managed to pull his eyes away from the lovely mare that he had been working alongside, underneath his bodysuit his emotions betrayed him and caused his cheeks to begin to burn a bright red. Thankfully, it was unable to be seen from underneath the bodysuit.

Two hours passed before they had both gotten back around to the gate that they had exited out of. Dark Heart and Divine Kiss were about to make their way back to their corresponding homes when there was a sudden sound of steel falling onto the ash covered ground. It landed with a thud, and the two had turned around with their weapons immediately at the ready. But they didn’t see anyone or anypony, at least not at first. It took the leatherwing stallion a moment before he had caught a look at a small pony that appeared to be made of steel. Dark Heart made his sword vanish once more as he made his way to the small pony, and noticed that it resembled a Steelheart. It was a mare whose eyes were closed and was still breathing. He motioned to Divine Kiss as he looked at her with a reassuring glance.

“It’s okay, she’s unconscious. But she looks like she can use some help. Let’s get her into the town and to my home, so that she can recover. Despite the coldness of the wastes, we should still give her refuge.” He said as he hefted the small mare up and onto his back, with Divine Kiss’s help. She gave a nod and blinked as she looked to the unconscious pony.

“If she is a steelheart, then she is going to want to kill me right as soon as she wakes up…” Divine Kiss said with a soft sigh, she had helped the steelheart onto Dark Hearts back and rested a wing on top of the mare to keep her from falling off.

As the two trotted back into the town, they headed directly for a mansion that rested atop a hill in the distance, though it didn’t take them too long to get there and inside. The two had found an empty bedroom to rest the small mare in. Laying the steelheart on the bed carefully, Dark Heart looked to Divine Kiss and led her out of the room. The door closed behind them. It was hours before the mares eyes slowly opened, she found herself in an incredibly dark bedroom as she looked around. Her blue sensors scanned the room slowly. It was bare aside from the essentials. There was a dresser, a door that led into a bathroom, and the bed that she had found herself waking up on. The small steelheart climbed off of the bed as she approached the bedroom door and pressed her left ear against it. She couldn’t hear anything from the hallway as she drew a slow and soft breath of air, exhaling as the bamboo chute inside of her took it in alongside of her apparatus.

“Okay Metric, You’ve got this! Whoever it is that ponynapped you is in some deep trouble now… They don’t know what pain or trouble they are in for with Metric Zoom at the ready!” Metric Zoom said out loud, her sensors widened in fear as she heard the knob begin to turn, and in a sudden rush of fear she dove back underneath the bed covers! As the door opened, Dark Heart spoke softly into the room.

“Hey, you don’t have to be scared of me… I’m Dark Heart, my companion, Divine Kiss and I found you outside of the city unconscious. Are you hungry?” He asked as he softly opened the bedroom door entirely. As he walked inside, Dark Hearts wings held a tray full of food in between them, balancing it carefully as he gave looked to the mound that originated from underneath the bed covers. He set the tray of food down on the dresser and trotted to the bed, taking a seat next to the nervous mare.

“I-I’m not scared of you!” the mare retorted as she poked her head up and out of the covers, her sensors scanned the leatherwing stallion over calmly as she took a couple of deep breaths and exhaled once more. Her tone came off as tough, but it clearly wasn’t showing since she was still hiding under the covers partly. “I’m just scared of where I am… who are-”

She was about to finish her sentence before she saw the most precarious thing walk into the doorway. It was pitch black, like the darkest of darkness as two green eyes looked at her. The being was short and lithe as it approached the edge of the bed and jumped up onto it. It looked to her, then back to Dark Heart.

“Hey, Dark Heart, who’s this? This isn’t that Divine Kiss that we’ve heard so much about, is it? Doesn’t look like royalty.” The monster scoffed as he looked Metric Zoom over slightly, acting judgemental. “Besides, this gal is too short for you, Dark Heart! You need someone big, someone that can-”

“Enough…” Dark Heart said to the monster as an agitated tone came into his voice. He glared at the small creature with a look that could kill a person. “I have heard enough, Darkling… now, go back to sleep.” The stallion pushed the Darkling off and onto the floor, where it landed with a soft thump. Not injuring it as it evaporated into smoke. Dark Heart got up to his hooves after a few moments and gave the mare a smile, regaining his cool and collected composure. “”I’m sorry, I forgot my manners. I am Dark Heart, what about yourself?” He asked in a polite tone as he extended his right hoof to her.

Metric Zoom hesitated for a brief moment before she sat upright and hoof bumped Dark Heart. “My name is Metric Zoom, I do suppose that I must thank you for getting me out of the elements and someplace nice and safe.” Dark Heart was able to get a better look at Metric Zoom, his eyes scanned her body only to find that she was entirely steel, her voice was feminine enough to where he could clearly tell that Metric Zoom was indeed a mare. “Um… do you mind if I crash here for a while? At least until I can get my bearings and figure out where I am.”

Dark Heart gave a soft nod as he trotted to the dresser and took the tray back to Metric Zoom, offering it to her, he balanced it on his back softly. “Here, get some food in you. I’ll show you around the town tomorrow.” he felt her take the tray off of his back and gave her a smile. “What are you, anyways?” he asked out of curiosity as he turned back to face her.

Metric Zoom swallowed the food that she had already put into her mouth, her eyes moved from the tray and up to Dark Hearts eyes. “I am a Blossom Forged, one of the units that Cog gave away and allowed to be abused…” She went quiet as she spoke Cog’s name, her jaw clenched shut around a piece of food that was inside of her mouth and snapped it in half. She had to take a breather as she kept herself calm, knowing that it wasn’t exactly the greatest idea to attempt to injure the stallion that had given her refuge.

“Ah, I am afraid that I am unfamiliar with the Blossom Forged. However, finish eating and you may get some sleep in, if you’d like. Feel free to explore the mansion at your leisure. If you have any questions, one of my Darklings shall assist you.” He said as he turned and trotted out of the door, vanishing.

Metric Zoom finished eating a short while after Dark Heart had left her bedroom, she was tired, but her curiosity was becoming more prevalent as she got off of the bed and left the bedroom. She had begun to explore the lavishly furnished mansion, starting off in the library as she looked at the walls lined with books upon books. However, she didn’t spend too much time in the library. Metric Zoom’s exploration had taken her throughout the entire mansion, with the aid of the Darklings she had seen everything that there was to see. As she began to return to her bedroom, there was a heavy pounding at the front door. Metric Zoom stopped in the center of the entry hall and looked, her sensors flicked all over the place. And before she knew it, the front door was busted down as two stallions with scrap rifles took aim at her.

“Where’s Dark Heart?! We have some payback for him!” Said one of the stallions as the other fired a warning shot by her ear without hurting her. These two were out for blood, whoever they are…

“I don’t know where he is!” Metric Zoom said in a nervous tone. “I only saw him a little while ago, really!” she had seen every room in the mansion, and she didn’t see Dark Heart in any of them. Her sensors went wide as the two stallions approached her slowly.

One of them smirked as he looked at Metric Zoom. “I see! Well then, how about we get what we want from you?” as his companion chuckled. They had reached her as their eyes wandered her body a bit.

The stallion on the left sighed as he spoke. “ Eh, she has no mare bits… though she does have a mouth that looks to be pretty useful!” he said with a perverted and horrible grin that caused Metric Zoom’s stomach to churn. The stallion on the right side of her grabbed her by the back of the head with his left hoof and pulled her close.

“How about this!” Metric Zoom yelled out as she was grabbed by the stallion. She quickly slammed the one that had taken hold of her with a hoof as hard as she could in the face. Sending him backwards as he stumbled a bit, blood dripped down his face.

The two stallions moved back and with their scrap rifles up, they both aimed at Metric Zoom, and pulled the trigger…

Chapter two: The Crossroads

The bullets rang loudly inside of the mansion as the two stallions fired upon Metric Zoom. Her sensors went wide as she felt her chassis lock up into place as she attempted to dodge out of the way. She was unable to bring her hooves into motion as she turned her sensors off so as to avoid seeing the bullets. There was nothing, no impact against her chassis from the rounds, no hooting and hollering from her two attackers… That was when she heard Dark Hearts voice, booming from in front of her in a pissed off tone.

“How DARE you come into my home, insult me, and try to harm this poor mare!? Just who in the hell do you think that you are…?” He snarled as he had donned his suit of dark energy,

Metric Zoom turned on her sensors and felt the food that she had put into her body as it jiggled with anticipation and excitement as she looked upon Dark Hearts outfit. He had stopped the bullets with some strange force field that had been conjured in front of them. Her voice was full of joy as she spoke. “Woah! Dark Heart! That was so cool!” she said with a small tone of happiness and relief in her voice. The Blossom Forged mare had managed to shake her legs back to wakefulness, having relaxed due to the Leatherwing stallion saving her life in the knick of time.

“Hey, that’s not fair!” The two stallions exclaimed at the same time, their eyes went wide as they both dropped their guns. The one with the smashed in face dropped to his forelegs with a whimper.

“Alright! I’ll tell you who sent us!” cried the injured stallion as he felt his legs begin to shake from fear as he watched the leatherwing stallion drop the forcefield. The two bullets dropped to the floor with a quiet tinging noise. The stallion slowly looked up at Dark Heart as he approached him quickly.

His sword appeared into his mouth, the hilt was gripped tightly in his teeth. The stallion approached the wounded, whimpering pony as he held the sword made of darkness up to his neck. His forehooves gripped the stallion as he slammed his body hard up against the wall. “Tell me.” Dark Heart said in a pissed off tone. “Who sent you, and why?” The other stallion that was uninjured took a step back as he turned to run, only to be greeted by a tall and tough looking Darkling that had blocked the way out.

The injured stallion began to shake and shiver as he was pinned against the wall. “W-w-we were paid by somepony, no… something! We had found a bunker out in the wastes and entered it. As soon as we did, though. There was this voice…” the stallion shivered as he felt his bladder begin to act up a bit, his eyes had filled up with fear. “I-it called itself Cog, and apparently it has a beef with you for something from the past. Cog said that if we killed you and brought your carcass back to it, it would pay us well over a thousand gold!” He said in a nervous tone.

Dark Heart tilted his head as he kept the stallion pinned up against the wall, his sword vanished from his mouth as it swirled and faded into a pitch blackness. “Oh? Why would this Cog want me dead? I never crossed his path before… Are you sure that you have the right stallion?” the leatherwing asked, his wings folded against his back as he grunted somewhat. “You had better tell me, before I allow Metric Zoom to beat you down into a bloody pulp. And I know that you don’t want that.” He smirked wickedly from underneath his suit.

The stallion shuddered as he let out a cowardly whimper as he spoke. “Y-Yeah! You’re the stallion we were told about! You killed some stallions that had been pony napping from this town and you then set the captured free!” he shivered even more. “Listen, Cog is going to kill us if word gets out that we failed to take you down. Just… just let us go, and we’ll never darken your doorstep ever again! Hell, keep the guns and our gold. W-we didn’t want any of it, anyway!”

The bloodied stallions companion shot him a glare, his voice was filled with a cold tone as he spoke. “No, the guns and gold that we have are ours! It’s not his gold or guns, it’s ours! OURS Blaze be damned! There is no way in the nine hells, that I will stand by and allow our things to-” he didn’t get his last word out as the darkling that was standing in front of him quickly grabbed the stallion by the head and lifted him up. The dark being took his time and held the pony by the neck, beginning to apply pressure to his windpipe slowly.

“Hey, that’s enough… You don’t have to kill him, you know?” Dark Heart said as he let go of the already wounded stallion and backed off a bit. He stared at his minion, watching as the stallion that the monster had in its grip passed out and his body went limp inside of its hand.

“I didn’t kill em, boss… just made im shut up and stop talking.” The darkling said in a calm and relaxed tone, almost as if it had known what it was doing to the pony. The monster turned to the bloodied stallion as Dark Heart let go of him.

The stallion fell onto his hooves and gulped as the monster gently set the unconscious stallion onto his back. The stallion left their guns and dropped the gold from their pockets. It wasn’t much, maybe about ten to twenty gold pieces. The stallion left without saying a word as he carried his companion away and out of the town. As he galloped away, he passed by a dusty and broken sign that rested outside of the main gates. It was old and bent at an angle. Written on the sign in Common was the name Dunport. Dark Heart picked up the gold and guns, his head turned to look at Metric Zoom with a concerned expression on his face.

“Metric Zoom, I am glad that you are alright.” Dark Heart said with a concerned tone in his voice as he spoke. “If something were to happen to a guest inside my home, then I’d be feeling pretty shitty about it.” he turned and trotted up to her, the darkling soon shrank down to its small size and wandered off.

“Well, at least we’re both safe.” Metric Zoom said in an awe inspired tone, her voice was calm and relaxed as she spoke excitedly. “Hey, Dark Heart. After seeing the way that you handled those two dumbasses. I have something to ask you! And also a few things I forgot to tell you about, earlier.” she said with a slight giggle. The blossom forged gave the leatherwing stallion a soft smile as he approached her.

“Oh? And what might that be? Surely you are happy with the way I have treated you thus far, yes?” Dark Heart asked as he stood before the mare, his head tilted as he looked down at her. He was unsure as to what Metric Zoom would say.

“Oh no! Not at all!” She exclaimed in surprise as she hugged him gently. He could hear the food that he had thought she had eaten as it bounced around inside of her chassis. Her voice was cheerful as she let go of him and spoke once more. “So, I need to go outside and deposit the food into a hole, I am not a flesh and blood pony that needs food and water to survive.” she blinked and rubbed her chin with a fore hoof. “Listen, Dark Heart… I never had a real father figure. I was thrown out of Cog’s bunker moments after being activated, and shortly after that… I was taken in by a raider, whom I eventually killed. He was a horrible stallion, nothing but wanton murder and death.” She turned her attention back to Dark Heart, pulling her mind away from the memories as she spoke in a soft tone. “I would like to become your daughter, despite the differences.” Metric Zoom gave the stallion a happy smile as her sockets closed and formed a happy expression on her face.

Dark Heart rubbed his chin a bit as he spoke, his voice was cool and collected. “Hmm, I would be more than happy to take you as my daughter! However, I do wish to learn more about this Cog character. But, I must sleep, I am exhausted from today's activities.” he trotted past Metric Zoom and gently rested his left front hoof on top of her head softly. “Whenever you’d like to explore Dunport, there is an old electrocycle out back in the shed. Just remember to put it back once your finished using it, and to put the lock back on the door.” He took his hoof off of her head and trotted off to his bedroom.

Metric Zoom blinked as she was curious about the electrocycle, but first, she had to empty her chassis of the food that she had taken in. She found a spot in the middle of the ash covered front yard, and moved it to the side. Digging a hole as she then opened up her mouth and spilled out the food that was jiggling around inside of her chassis into it. A short couple of seconds later, she had fully covered up the hole and set the ash back on top of it. Metric Zoom trotted off to the back of the mansions exterior where she found a shed. It had a lock on it, but it wasn’t locked up. The mare trotted up to the shed and took the lock off the door, opening it as her sensors went wide. In the shed rested a neon red electrocycle with a bell on its right handlebar, on the side of it was scratched. The brand name having been scratched and filed off fully to where it was unintelligible. The blossom forged mare galloped over to the electrocycle and climbed up onto it, kicking up its kickstand, she began to pedal as fast as she could. The electrocycle whirred as it sputtered to life with a cough. Metric Zoom slowed down as she pulled out of the shed and turned as she came to the front of the mansion. She coasted down the hill to the mansion as she let out a loud whoop of excitement. As she coasted, her mind kept running with the thought about having a father, one that wouldn’t abuse her or berate her… or even to belittle her like the raider used to. Then, she knew that Cog was on the prowl and that he had to be stopped… a bit later, as she reached the bottom of the hill, Metric Zoom pulled out and onto the main streets. She was going to take her time, memorizing her new home that she had to protect.

Meanwhile, in Murrage…

Seeking Blade and Fluttershy stood in the briefing room, they had been given new orders. Their orders are simple, take a squad that was comprised of themselves, Serene Morning, Sun Spot, Night Eye, Shield Stabber, Searing Staff and a couple of rookies. They were told to head to Dunport in order to regroup with Alpha Squad, which were sent over to the town so that they could send out medical supplies and rations for the citizens. Seeking Blade gave Fluttershy a nod as they looked to one another and turned around. Their scrap pistols and scrap rifle rested on their backs as they trotted out of the tent to group with their companions. Seeking Blade and his family were off on yet another adventure, it would seem. And it appears that there hasn’t been enough of that for him. After five minutes of navigating the maze that was military buildings, tents and soldiers, Seeking Blade and Fluttershy finally arrived at the tent where their companions were waiting. Two of the new recruits were waiting at the tent as well. They looked fresh off of the truck, and saluted the two ponies as they approached. Seeking blade rolled his eye and adjusted his eyepatch over his sewn up eye.

“You don’t have to salute me, rookies…” He said to them in a relaxed tone, his eye glanced over his and Fluttershy’s companions. His tone shifted from one of relaxation, to the tone of a tough and readied fighter. “This is our final mission, one that is sending us someplace in-between Stone Cross and Turves.”

“What’s out there that is so important? Last I checked, there wasn’t anything out in between those towns.” Serene said in confusion as she took out a map and unfolded it. Looking it over carefully.

“There’s also the question as to if this will involve combat or not.. I mean, your magic and my own have grown far weaker due to when the bombs fell.” Searing Staff said in a worried tone.”Besides, you still need to get in more training with your magic… that last encounter with Bleeding Heart three-hundred and eighteen years ago could have ended badly for you, if you hadn’t let your magic explode like that.” he said as he tapped his son’s forehead gently with a fore hoof.

“Even still.” Night Eye said as she and her brother finished cleaning their scrap rifles. The Earth Pony had bandages wrapped around her legs, dried blood was able to be seen. Yet she was still standing, much like the others. “Dad still kicked that eldritch assholes flank six ways to sunday. We can stand against whoever we end up facing, no matter what the wounds were. Hell, dad lost a leg and an eye, and look at him now. Kicking ass and taking names!”

“Sis, calm down… Nopony said that father wasn’t still strong.” said Sun Spot as he rested his scrap rifle on his saddle rack. He spoke once more in a calming tone, his breathing was slow as he formulated what he was going to say. “It’s simple, this mission is a recon one from what I can assume. If things escalate, then we will have to find someplace to hold down at until things quiet down. It’s that simple.”

“Yeah, sorry kiddo, you say that now… but what if we end up holding out at the very spot that is sending the attackers out from?” Shield Stabber asked in a gruff tone, the grandmare to Sun Spot and Night Eye wasn’t entirely sure about her grandcolts optimism. “Besides.” she said as her voice shifted from her gruff tone, to a more pleasant and kind tone. “If we do end up in a bad spot, all of us will be together. Isn’t that what is important?” she asked with a soft smile.

“Well, yeah. That IS pretty important… but I don’t think that us being together will just magic us out of the bad spots when we get into them.” Night Eye said as she rubbed the back of her head with a hoof.

“Well, either way. Let’s get going.” Seeking Blade said in a calm tone as he began to trot away with his family, the two recruits and Fluttershy alongside him.

They trotted towards the edge of Murrage and blinked as a soldier flagged them down from a parking area. The soldier was a gryphon who looked to be in his mid to late forties. He had on a soldier’s uniform and patted the hood of a truck that was similar to the one that they had returned in.

“Sir, I have been given orders to let you have this truck. Think of it as a parting gift. Seeing as how none of you will remember the location of Murrage…” he said and gently rested a claw on Seeking Blades head as he approached. “It was nice knowing you all, Soldiers. May Luminaces speed be at your backs.”

Seeking Blade gave a nod as he and the others trotted over and climbed into the truck. Fluttershy and Serene Morning climbed into the front seats as Sun Spot, Night Eye, Searing Staff, Shield Stabber and the two rookies climbed into the side seats in the back of the truck. They all had buckled in and the stallions cybernetic leg turned the key in the ignition. Fixing his eye patch as he turned out of the parking area and drove out of the city. As they drove over the threshold and into the ashen wastes, everypony inside of the truck instantly forgot where Murrage was as they drove onwards. Forgetting about its existence as they drove onwards. The time flew by as they made their way onwards.

The next day at Dunport…

The day passed by relatively quickly, Metric Zoom had spent time with Dark Heart, her new foster father. He had mostly shown her how to handle a firearm, starting her out with a scrap pistol. She fired off a few rounds at the glass soda bottles that he had set up for her to practice on. The Blossom Forged mare took her time to aim. She was about to pull the trigger, when a stallion galloped into the yard, breathing heavily. His eyes looked to the two of them frantically.

“Dark Heart, Metric Zoom!” he gasped and wheezed as he caught his breath. “W-We have to do something! There’s an army truck pulling into the town square, y-you gotta go see it!” he wheezed as he slowly caught his breath. His expression was worried, and Dark Heart and Metric Zoom could both see it on his face.

“Alright, we’ll go take a look… Come on, honey.” The Leatherwing said as he looked to the Blossom Forge mare, and began to trot away with her by his side. “We’ll see what all of the fuss is about.”

The two made their way down the hill and to the town square where they saw a green painted army truck was waiting in the center of the area. They saw the group of ponies and cocked their heads to the side briefly before approaching. Seeking Blade had noticed the leatherwing and the blossom forged, his eye squinted as he fixed the eyepatch over his bad eye. His cybernetic leg was hidden underneath his scrap armor.

“So, mind telling me who you two are?” He asked as he leaned against the side of the truck, his gaze was focused on the leatherwing as he stared.

“I am Dark Heart, the protector of this town. And this.” he motions to the blossom forged mare next to him. “Is my daughter, Metric Zoom. We heard that you were here, and we wish to know why.”

Metric Zoom gave a nod as she spoke in a relaxed, but playful tone. “So, what are you going after? Raiders? Bandits? Those nasty floating suns that like to suck the joy out of ponies?” she asked curiously, her playful expression turned into a smirk.

Seeking Blade blinked as he cleared his throat. “Well, This is our final assignment. But unless you want to assist us, then I can’t tell you anything more.” he said with a stern expression on his face, Seeking Blade glanced his eyes over the two ponies. He studied them, examined and took in their features. It was strange to him to have to explain everything, he didn’t like being the one in charge of this sort of situation… but he was, and he had to accept it.

“We’d be more than happy to help, I am a good melee fighter. And Metric here is a crack shot with her scrap pistol. She learns rather quickly.” Dark Heart said as he gave the stallion a nod. “Besides, you look like you can use a couple of extra hooves on hand…”

“Well, we are a little underhooved on this… so, let me tell you both what the assignment is.” Seeking Blade said as he trotted up to the two, neither of the three realized that another Pony was approaching them from behind Dark Heart and Metric Zoom as he spoke. “We are currently on our way to a bunker to try and deal with somepony or something, known as Cog. He, She or It has been causing trouble in the wastes, and must be stopped.”

Upon hearing Cog’s name, Metric Zoom narrowed her sensors at Seeking Blade, her voice was filled with a rough tone as she spoke with a sense of warning. “Cog’s bunker is constantly changing and he likes to mess with the citizens of the wastes… If you are sure that you are all set to go after him, I can lead you there.”

“Well, we can use all of the help that we can get. Climb into the truck with the others, and we’ll be heading off with your guidance. Metric Zoom.” Seeking Blade responded with a motion to the back of the truck. He then noticed the mare that had managed to silently approach them without their notice… He rolled his eyes and snorted. “And let me guess, you want to join us as well, miss…?”

The feminine voice fluttered through the air as Divine Kiss spoke to the stallion with the eye patch. “My name is Divine Kiss, and yes. I’d love to join you! You needn’t have to tell me the ordeal, I just overheard it, kind stallion.”

Dark Heart turned his head to Divine Kiss and gave a smile, Metric Zoom was about to do the same. However, as she got a good look at the False Queen, her sensors went wide and then narrowed, anger slowly crossed along her face.

“Psh. A False Queen that wants to help innocent ponies and other victims of Cog’s evil deeds? What’s in it for you, bitch?” Metric Zoom said in a very rude tone, one that caused her father to look at her with an annoyed expression on his face.

“What? I simply care about other people.” Divine Kiss responded in a relaxed but regal tone. “Is it really that hard for a Blossom Forged like yourself to understand, that not all False Queens are evil? Hell, I have my sanity. But I chose not to leave my subjects because they needed someone to protect them.”

“Yeah, sure… I’ll believe that once I find a boyfriend.” the blossom forged mare spat in response. Her sensors were locked onto the False Queens eyes. If looks could kill, she would have had the mare buried ten feet under by now…

“Metric Zoom, that’s enough.” Dark Heart said in a stern tone as he looked between the two mares. “Divine Kiss is my friend and our ally, I do not want any hostilities between any of us… We have a job to get to doing, so let’s all just get into the truck and head out before an ashstorm or some of the weird weather hits…” He gently prodded his daughter towards the back of the army truck.

“Fine. I’ll work with her, for now…” Metric Zoom begrudgingly replied as she climbed up into the back of the truck alongside her father.

Seeking Blade and Divine Kiss climbed inside, as well. The tailgate shut with a loud and heavy thump after the others climbed inside. They all sat down as Seeking Blade opened up the window that seperated the cab from the back and turned the ignition. The truck roared to life as the headlights were shut off, still having more than enough daylight to get a decent distance before needing the lights to get turned on. The stallion drove out of Dunport as they headed off towards their destination. Tension filled the air between Metric Zoom and Divine Kiss as the journey began.

Author's Note

Okay, so I had forgotten a couple of things about Seeking Blade in the previous chapter, so I rectified them in this one. It was mostly just the eye patch and cybernetic leg that I forgot, so that was a easy fix.

Chapter three: Enter Cog

Chapter Three: Enter Cog

It had been two days since the group had left Dunport, they had gone on a journey to find Cog and stop him. Seeking Blade noticed the fuel gauge and let out an audible grunt as he returned his eyes to the road. He had stopped for the group to sleep, occasionally, though most of the time the group would end up with little sleep. The stallions eyes scanned the road as the group pressed ever onward. The wasteland rolled onwards almost endlessly as he focused, Seeking Blades wife, Serene Morning, had been asleep in the passenger seat next to him with her wings folded behind her back. He looked over to her briefly and took in her sleeping face. Those closed eyes always having given him hope in the darkest of times. He turned his head back to the road as he recalled on the map that there was a small settlement that they were coming up to. Time seemed to crawl by at a slow pace as the gas ebbed closer and closer to becoming empty. After a while longer of pushing the truck to its limits, the sight of a settlement was able to be seen. It wasn’t going to be much farther for the truck as its gauge was nearly at its end. As Seeking Blade began to push the speed and neared the settlement, he squinted his eyes as he took notice of something that resembled fire. His expression changed to shock as he gulped.

“Fire? Oh shit!” The stallion said out loud, his voice became one of concern as he spoke up loudly. “Everypony, wake up! We’re reaching the settlement, but I think something is going down. Gear up and be prepared for anything! We don’t know what we’re going up against.”

Serene Morning and the others snapped wide awake as they looked around, they reached for their weapons out of instinct. They all had been ready for anything due to the nature of the journey, the mission that most of them were sent on, and the three that chose to join them voluntarily. The group had taken note of the fire as they looked out the small window that seperated the cab of the truck from the back. It was the settlement that they saw on the map, alright. But it was in some serious trouble as a small force of robots, they were unlike the Steelhearts and stood on two legs with large domed heads. The odd looking constructs appeared to have been built out of metal plating and had two red laser-like eyes that peered out through a thin slot in their domed heads. Each of the robots had a weapon built onto their right arm. The robots were bulky and looked like they could take quite a beating.

Seeking Blade pulled the truck to a complete stop as he and his companions climbed out of the vehicles interior. They stared in shock as they beheld the sight, the fire had been set ablaze from the center of the settlement as the smoke rose up and into the clouded sky. The robots had made their way inside as the sound of weapons fire filled the air. It appeared that the assault had not begun more than a few minutes ago judging by the sounds of the screams as they rose into the air. Seeking Blade looked to the others and gave a nod as he motioned with his head to follow him. The others gave a nod as they all galloped towards the settlement entrance as fast as they could.

The metal monstrosities had made their way into the settlement, splitting into three groups as they went down the side streets and began to fire their weapons at every fleeing pony that their sensors picked up. More and more screams filled the air as Seeking Blade and his companions arrived inside of the settlement. The stallions and mares all looked to one another as they took their weapons from their backs and their holsters. Seeking Blade grunted loudly as he stared at the flames.

“Alright, let’s split up. Dark Heart, Metric Zoom and Divine Kiss, I need you three to go down the streets to the west and see what you can do. We need to stop these things at all costs, no matter what.” he stopped for a moment and looked to Shield Stabber and Searing Staff as he exhaled nervously. “Mom, Dad, I need you both and Night Eye to go down the streets to the east and try to help anypony that you find. If possible, I want you to start putting out the fires and see to the injured.” His attention turned to Fluttershy, Sun Spot and the two Earth Ponies next to them. “Fluttershy, Sun Spot, I want you two to start assisting any injured ponies here by the entrance to the settlement and to start evacuating them over to the truck. It should be safe in the back for now.” Seeking Blade gulped as he looked to Serene Morning softly. “I’m going to need some back up, so I’d like you by my side on this.”

The others gave a nod as they then split up and went to their assigned areas, Seeking Blade and Serene Morning were the first to encounter their opponents as they hurried down the street. They had gotten a good way down the street before the shots rang out, the two stopped as the bullets went into the ground and they skidded to a stop. The stallion looked up as he drew his scrap rifle with his saddle rack and took aim at one of the robots. It had its own gun, along with its companions raised towards them. Quickly looking around, the stallion dashed into a doorway and pressed his side against it. Serene Morning had taken cover behind some boxes that were stacked in a three by three formation, her scrap pistol was in her mouth as the two waited for breaks in the robots fire. The two popped out from their cover as they focused their shots onto a single robot at a time, pulling their triggers as the bullets flew out of the chamber. The resounding gunshots rang throughout the settlement as they quickly popped back behind their cover.

The robots reloaded their weapons as one of them took aim at the pegasus mares cover, it pulled the trigger and sent its ammo into the boxes as it had begun to chip away at the cover. The other two had begun to focus their fire on the doorway in an attempt to draw out the stallion that was hiding inside of it.

“Commence Delta Emission,” said one of the robots in a monotone voice as it commenced to fire upon Seeking Blades position. Its sensors scanned the area in an attempt to try and perceive the stallion and mares movements as it spoke once more. “Upon our mighty and malevolent Cog’s orders, none are to survive.”

“So, It’s Cog that is behind this attack, huh?” Seeking Blade asked as he grunted and popped out from behind his cover briefly. He took a shot at one of the two robots that had him pinned down before ducking back into the doorway. The shot hit one of the metallic monstrosities right in the square of its chest armor, causing it to take some damage. The stallion noticed that his wife’s cover was beginning to break apart more and more, he yelled out to her over the sound of the gunfire. “Serene! Fall back and find better cover!”

“What? And leave you up here? No! I won’t!” she responded in an agitated tone as her cover broke apart more and more. “Besides, what if something happens to you?! I can’t risk that!” she said in a frustrated tone as she threw herself to the side of the street. Serene Mornings body throw soon turned into a combat roll as she narrowly avoided a couple of bullets. The ash flew up into the air where the shots had impacted as she got up and pressed herself against the side. Her eyes darted down the street to where the robots were firing from as her eyes carefully scanned the area. “Hey, Seeking Blade, can you use your magic somehow to cause an explosion in the middle of them and try to end this quickly?” She asked, having to yell over the gunfire.

“Damnit Serene, this is no time to be stubborn!” Seeking Blade said in frustration as he popped his head out and took another shot at one of the robots. The stallion quickly pulled himself back into cover, his ears perked up as Serene Morning suggested using his unstable magic. He took a deep breath and exhaled with a shiver as he yelled back to her from over the gunfire. “I think that can work, let me try it!”

Seeking Blade grunted as he pulled his scrap rifle on the saddle rack back and into an upright position. The stallions eyes closed tightly as he focused on reigning in his magic, his breathing became slow and deep as he brought his mind to focus on teleporting into the center of the group that they were up against. He vanished into thin air, only to appear in-between the three robots, causing them to suddenly turn their attention to him. Seeking Blade then quickly turned his thoughts to that of an explosion, he had felt as if he was becoming lightheaded as there was a loud and earth-shaking explosion that caused the buildings nearby to sway. The flames from the fire scattered scattered ever further, however, the robots were unlucky in their attempts to end the stallion.

The robots let out electrical wails and screeches as their bodies were flung to the ground, their circuitry buzzed as their sensor lights slowly dimmed. Becoming lifeless on the ground as Seeking Blade and Serene Morning moved back out into the center of the street. The mare looked to her stallion as a worried expression came over her face, she trotted over to him and rested a wing over his back as she leaned his body against her own carefully.

“Darling, are you alright? You look like you might need to sit down and rest.” Serene Morning said as a worried tone came from her voice, she helped him carefully to a nearby wall and leaned him against it. Her expression didn’t change as she took a moment to examine Seeking Blade.

“I’m fine, honey… Really. Just a little lightheaded is all.” he said as he slowly moved out from underneath Serene Mornings wing. Seeking Blades eyes scanned the area as he looked at the destroyed robots heads and exhaled. He looked to his wife for a moment before he returned his attention to the street downwards. “Let’s head down the street a bit further and make sure that there aren’t anymore of these things hiding out.” He said in a relaxed tone as he returned his scrap rifle to position, laying it to where the barrel was pointed ahead.

Serene Morning gave Seeking Blade a nod in response as they cautiously stepped onwards down the street. Their eyes focused ahead as they scanned the road. Down one of the side streets, Dark Heart, Divine Kiss and Metric Zoom carefully advanced, Metric Zooms sensors scanned the way ahead. Her sensors caught traces of hoofprints and footprints in the ashy ground, traces of blood splattered along the walls of the buildings that they passed near. The blossom forged heard gunshots from up ahead as she faced forward. The bamboo chute inside of her that held her chassis together shivered as she heard the screams of fear. She looked to her father and the False Queen that was walking alongside him, seeing that neither of them were being shaken to the core as she grunted. She had tried to ignore how the False Queen was in love with her father, tried to ignore the cruel words that were building up inside of her. But it was of no use. It was going to be too hard for her to just ignore her, her mind flooded with the possibility of the mare wanting to hurt or harm her father. As she was about to speak, the three of them encountered the body of a young stallion.

The stallion was a unicorn who appeared to have just been leaving his young teenage years, his dark green eyes were glazed over. His mane was an electric blue and his coat a gold color, a hole the size of a bullet was able to be seen as Metric Zooms sensors caught it. She let out a frustrated grunt as she kneeled down and rested a hoof against the young stallions body and turned her head to Dark Heart and Divine Kiss.

“I am not detecting any life coming from this poor stallion, I found a bullet wound in his head that is primarily focused on his temple. I hate this, I hate how Cog is attacking innocent ponies! I fucking hate it, and I fucking hate him!” Metric Zoom said in anger, she felt a wing gently drape over her backside as she took her hoof off of the dead stallions body. The blossom forged mare turned her head to find that it was Divine Kiss who had rested her wing on her.

“Well, hopefully we will be able to put a stop to all of this madness.” Divine Kiss said as she closed her eyes and bowed her head a bit. Her ears twitched and flicked slightly as her tail swished. “We’ll get him, Metric Zoom.” She said in an assuring tone, her eyes slowly opened as she looked ahead. Divine Kiss was about to say something, when the blossom forged finally lost it and snapped at her.

“Why in the fucking hell do you even care about the wasteland?! You’re a False Queen!” Metric Zoom snapped, her sensors darted to the false queen. Her voice was raised, alerting any enemies to their position. “Besides, how can we even trust you? False Queens like yourself kidnap young fillies in the dead of night, and brainwash them into thinking that they are going to be something special when they clearly will not be able to remember their families!”

“Why, I’d NEVER do that! Metric Zoom, you DO realize that I’m going to be going rogue, right? I don’t like being worshipped by the faithful! I love your father, and I want to help make the wastes a better place! Why can’t you see that…?” Divine Kiss said in response, her heart had sank in her chest a bit as she wanted the small blossom forged to like her. She shook her head and grunted. “Metric Zoom, I know that you are protective of your father… But you have to listen to what I am saying-” She began to say as she was cut off by Metric Zoom once again.

“No! Just stop fucking talking! If you truly are going to leave your worshippers, and plan on helping the ponies of the wasteland… As well as the other races, then prove it!” Metric Zoom yelled out, She felt her anger start to take the better of her as she tried to reign herself back in. It wasn’t working, and with each shout drew more and more attention to them.

“Both of you, knock it off unless you want us to be caught with our pants down…” Dark Heart said cautiously, but loud enough to where they were able to hear. “If we want to get the element of surprise, then we should stop this racket. Right now.” he said in an annoyed tone. He didn’t blame Metric Zoom for disliking the False Queens, in fact, she was right about them and how they’d kidnap fillies and brainwash them into forgetting that every pony inside of their family and their friends existed. He shook his head as he tried to focus.

As the two mares bickered and continued to raise their voices at one another, neither of them were able to hear the sounds of the approaching footsteps. Dark Heart noticed as he looked around and gulped, he could hear the footsteps but he was unable to see them. It was far too late when he finally noticed the shadows coming from the rooftops, the sound of gunshots rang out as he quickly looked around. Divine Kiss let out a loud scream of pain as her kneecaps splattered out blood. The mare collapsed to her knees as she fell to the ground, pain spread through her body as she screamed once more.

Dark Hearts eyes went wide as his anger flared, he let out a loud yell of rage as his wings unfolded from his back to their full length and he took to the sky. Long and black tendrils with blood red eyes and sharp, snapping teeth extended from his body as the darklings emerged from his wings. The darklings leapt down onto the rooftops as the leatherwing stallion swooped down from the sky at one of the robots, the two tendrils snapped at the air as he passed by it. There was the sound of metal being ripped apart as one of the tendrils got the robots right arm in its powerful jaws and swallowed it whole. The robot let out an electrical screech as sparks flew from the hole where its arm had been. Its sensors scanned the area as it watched its two companions get quickly ripped apart by the strange beings.

Metric Zooms sensors scanned the many darklings as her expression widened, she looked from her father to Divine Kiss whom was huddled on the ground in pain. She looked up to her father as she suddenly realized just how much the false queen meant to him, It did not occur to her that there was more of a bond between the two then she originally saw. All of the anger towards her that she felt, the horrible way that she acted. She felt uneasy and ashamed of the way that she acted. While the chaos ensued up above, the blossom forged mare trotted up next to Divine Kiss and knelt down next to her as she carefully helped her up onto her back. The two mares looked to one another with a confirming expression on their faces.

Dark Hearts rage was still aflame as he made a second pass at the robot, his eyes looked to the roofs where the two opposite robots were firing from. There was nothing left of the two as he then returned his focus to the remainder of the metal attackers, his two tendrils snapped and lashed out as he increased his speed. Several of the darklings had managed to get a hold of the robot, holding it in place as it had started to try and struggle its way free. It was all over for the robot though as Dark Heart brought his tendrils within biting range. The two tendrils chomped down on it as the leatherwing stallion landed on the rooftop. The darklings had been devoured by the tendrils and vanished into the shadows from whence they came. The robot emitted yet another loud screech as the tendrils tossed it up into the air, only to bite down on its body at the opposite ends. With one final screech, the robot was torn in half by the tendrils and swallowed down their throats. The stallion took a deep breath as he managed to reign his anger back in, his chest rose and fell as he calmed himself. The two tendrils chomped at one another briefly before they looked back at him and vanished.

Dark Heart took a moment to let himself relax before he glided down to the street, his wings were outstretched as he allowed the air to flow beneath his wings. After a short couple of seconds, the stallion landed next to his daughter and Divine Kiss. he exhaled before he looked to them both before he motioned to the street ahead.

“Okay, let’s go. We should make sure that the way is clear so that we can head back and get a doctor to look at Divine Kiss’s knees.” Dark Heart said with a grunt as he folded his wings against his back.

Metric Zoom and Divine Kiss both gave a nod in response, they turned their attention back to the path ahead as the three of them continued down the street. Their expressions toughened as they knew that they had a job to do. As they continued along their way, they didn’t find any other robots in the area.

On the other side of the settlement, Searing Staff, Shield Stabber and Night Eye had been making their way down the street quietly. They had been ready with their weapons drawn. Night Eye had a silver dagger as she stuck to the shadows, Shield Stabber had her longsword drawn and Searing Staff had his red oak staff at the ready alongside his spells. As the three of them moved silently across the ash covered ground, they heard the sounds of monotone voices from up ahead, Night Eye motioned to her grandparents to stop where they were as she snuck up a little further and stuck to the shadows. She peeked her head around the corner as she flattened her body up against the wall, her eyes scanned the area ahead when she took note of the three robots that were huddled around a large group of ponies of various sorts.

Night Eye motioned to her grandparents with a soft and quick flick of her tail for them to approach her position, her dagger rested in her mouth by the hilt as Searing Staff and Shield Stabber approached. They too peeked from the corner of their hiding spot, their eyes narrowed as the robots had moved the ponies closer into a group. Their weapons had been set on the innocent settlers and their sensors moved from one to the other, the robots had their victims where they wanted them and they weren’t going to let them get away.

“In the name of Lord Cog, we shall eradicate this settlement and claim domain for his mighty malevolence.” Said one of the robots as it took aim at one of the ponies. “No survivors, no prisoners, death to all.”

Three gunshots filled the air as three of the ponies fell to the ground, their bodies lifeless and limp as the remaining ponies screamed and shouted in fear and terror. At this point, Night Eye took a step out into the street alongside Searing Staff and Shield Stabber. Night Eye snuck up on the center robot, she had made her way up to the robot and was about to go in for the kill when she dropped her dagger to the ground. It hit with a soft thud, sending a little ash up from the ground.

“Shit…!” Night Eye said as she clenched her teeth, her eyes went wide as she gulped. The robot that she had been sneaking up on turned around and took notice of her. “Shit! Shit! Shit!” She yelled out as she quickly grabbed the hilt of her dagger with her mouth, her reflexes kicked in as she took a swing at the metallic monstrosity.

Night Eye’s dagger slashed against the robots metal exterior, leaving a scratch on it as she gulped. Shield Stabber snarled as she charged the robot with her longsword raised in the air, her hooves hit the ground heavily. Shield Stabber lunged her longsword at the robot, there was the sound of splintering fibers and plastic as her longsword went deep into the robots neck. The robot fell to the ground as sparks flew from his neck, Shield Stabber pulled her longsword from the robot and looked to Night Eye and Searing Staff. The two remaining robots turned their attention to the three ponies and raised their weapons to them,Searing Staff had taken the moment to begin to cast a spell despite how much time it would take. The stallions eyes closed as he chanted at a quick pace.

“We need to give your grandfather time to finish his spell!” Shield Stabber said as she took a swing at one of the other robots, missing by a bit as she had attempted to slice the gun off of the robots wrist. “We just have to keep them busy for a while, Night Eye… Do you think that you can do that for us?”

“Hah! No problem!” Night Eye said as she looked to Shield Stabber, her dagger slammed into the side of the opposite robots left leg, causing it to fall down onto its left knee. “Besides, this is fun! I never thought that I’d get to fight robots like my father!” She said in an excited tone and took a swing at the robots head, there was a loud clang as Night Eye felt her dagger begin to vibrate, and then her entire body vibrated due to the impact resonating from the robots body.

“Exterminate, exterminate, exterminate!” repeated the robot as it aimed its wrist mounted gun at Night Eye and fired. The bullet grazed her right ear as she clenched her teeth tighter around the hilt of her dagger to keep herself from screaming in pain. The robot spoke once more in its monochrome voice. “Annihilation is imminent, Lord Cog’s wishes and requests shall be fulfilled.. Nobody and no ponies will be able to stop him.”

“Oh, shut up you rusty old tin can!” Night Eye muttered around the hilt of her dagger as she slashed at the robots throat. A small cut had formed on the front of its exposed plastic, and small sparks began to fly from it. She looked to the ponies that were being grouped together as she tossed her dagger into the air above her and yelled to them. “What are you waiting for?! Run! Get out of here!”

The other ponies gave a nod as they quickly got up and fled. Night Eye saw her dagger falling back down, and with expert timing, she caught the hilt sideways inside of her mouth. She looked to Searing Staff, who was appearing to be finishing up his spell. She grabbed the robot with her fore hooves and tossed him down on top of the robot that her grandmother had killed. She looked to Shield Stabber and grunted as she slammed her dagger through the back of the robot, her jaws let go of the hilt as she grunted loudly.

“Grandma! Throw that robot here and lets get out of the way! Grandpa is about ready to cast his spell!” Night Eye yelled to her as she quickly galloped over to her grandmother. She brought herself into the air as she leapt from the side of the robot, and bucked hard with her hind legs. Her strength was just what Shield Stabber needed as she managed to knock the robot over and caused it to stumble onto the ground next to its companions. Shield Stabber grabbed Night Eye by her mane with her teeth, dropping her longsword to the ground as she darted with her granddaughter to the side and out of reach of Searing Staffs line of fire.

As soon as the two ponies were out of the way, Searing Staff finished chanting and cast his spell. A fireball came flying out of his staff and raced towards the pile of robots. The two robots that were thrown to the ground attempted to move out of the fireballs path, but were not able to in time. There was an explosion that resonated in the ground as the robots were toasted, burnt to a crisp. Electronic chips and thin pieces of metal rained down from the air as the robots had exploded, Searing Staff looked at Shield Stabber and Night Eye before exhaling.

“Well, we’re finished here… Let’s hurry up and check the rest of the area, make sure that it’s secure.” Searing Staff said as he motioned to the two to hurry up. He had began to trot on ahead as Shield Stabber and Night Eye began to trot alongside him.

The next two hours went by quickly as Seeking Blade and the others assisted in putting out the fires in the settlement and assisted the ponies that were injured. There were many ponies that did not make it out, more casualties than the stallion had ever seen before. He thought back to his crew on that fateful mission where they were chasing a chaos being into the depths of space, He had remembered how he was the only survivor due to his mother had rescued him when she was a spirit. Seeking Blade quickly shook his head as he brought himself back to the current problem at hand. He looked to his wife and the others as they stood in front of the settlements entrance.

“Every pony, I’m going to be heading to find Cog’s bunker… I would like Dark Heart, Metric Zoom and Fluttershy to go with me, so that we can attempt to put an end to this entire thing.” Seeking Blade said, his voice was calm and full of determination as he rubbed his eyepatch. “The rest of you, I want to stay here and assist the civilians out as best you can. Divine Kiss is already in a home resting up, she got injured pretty badly… Now, does any pony know what way it was that the robots had come from?” He asked and looked around.

One of the ponies from the settlement, a pegasus colt who looked to be around fourteen years in age gave a nod as he flew up and pointed to the north east. “Yeah, they came from that way! About two to five miles away!” He yelled down to them.

Seeking Blade gave a nod as he motioned to Fluttershy, Dark Heart and Metric Zoom to follow them. The four of them galloped off quickly to the north east… It was an hour before they arrived at a large building, the front door looked to be sealed shut as the four of them approached it. They were all nervous, but ready for anything as they stepped up. Seeking Blade looked around for a way to open the gear shaped door, when its gear shaped door opened with a loud squeal. The gear shape slowly pulled back and moved to the side, revealing a set of stairs that descended down into some warm fluorescent lights. The four ponies carefully stepped inside and down the stairs, the door let out another loud squeal once more as it shut behind them. It didn’t take them long to reach the bottom where a smaller set of stairs that led up to an open door could be seen. The four of them looked between one another as they cautiously approached it and trotted inside.

Seeking Blade, Dark Heart, Metric Zoom and Fluttershy entered the adjoining room and looked around, it was empty and devoid of any clutter. The walls were pure white with a tinge of steel to them. As they moved into the room a bit further, the door shut behind them with a click. In the far corner of the room mounted against the ceiling was a speaker. A terrible and cruel voice began to speak from it, one that Metric Zoom recognized.

“Well, well, well… It appears that I, Cognitive Cog, have intruders in my home… Well then, I suppose that I must congratulate you on finding my bunker, though I’ll gladly congratulate you if you manage to survive what I have in store. Welcome, to the deadliest game…”

Chapter four: The Deadliest Game

Chapter Four

The Deadliest Game

“Listen here, Cog! We didn’t come to your bunker to play in your bullshit games!” The blossom forged mare said with an agitated tone in her voice. “We’ve come to put a stop to you and your terrorizing of the wasteland!”

“Oh, have you now, my dear?” The voice asked in a patronizing tone, the harshness in the voice resonated through the air as it spoke. “Dear sweet little Metric Zoom… You truly were one of my greatest failures, as well as one of my greatest successes.” Cog chuckled through the speaker.

“I-I don’t feel okay with being here… this is getting to be scary.” Fluttershy stated as she nervously looked around, her fight or flight levels had begun to rise as she listened to the patronizing voice come from the speaker.

“Well, sorry Fluttershy… But, you’re stuck here with us, until this is done and over with.” Seeking Blade said as he looked to the speaker and to Metric Zoom. The blossom forged mare looked to be shaking a bit as she listened to the crazy madpony that spoke through the bunker. “Hey, Cog… I think that your a bastard and a half, so why don’t we do this the easy way, and end your life right here and now…!”

“Oh yes, you’d just LOVE to do that, wouldn’t you?” the voice said over the speaker. “Well, sorry! I can’t allow you to find me, not like you ever will… besides, I have control over this bunker, not any of you.” Cog let out a maniacal laugh. “You play by MY rules! You ponies will be pushed to your absolute limits, and if you can overcome my challenges that I have set up for you… Then you shall be allowed to go free.”

A door slid upwards as it opened at the opposite side of the room, the four ponies looked at one another as they slowly began to trot towards the door. Metric Zoom glared up at the speaker as she snorted, Dark Heart rested one of his leather wings reassuringly over his daughters back as he gave her a reassuring smile. Fluttershy hesitantly moved, her legs began to shake from fear as she folded her wings tightly against her backside. Seeking Blade blinked as he gently nudged the yellow pegasus mare forward. The four of them made their way into the opposite room as the door slammed down behind them, a loud hissing sound as it locked. The room was lit up by fluorescent lights that shone down onto a walkway that rested high above a massive hole in the floor. The room had two ramps that lead up to the walkway, the sounds of some strange and odd sounding beast resonated upwards from bellow. The speakers crackled again as the group stared at the room.

“Welcome to the first challenge, At the far side of the room there is a door that leads to the next challenge. In order to reach the door, you must cross over that walkway and avoid the hazards that will be thrown at you all. Flying is not allowed, and if you fall into the hole that is in the floor, you will have to fight your way to a ladder that leads up and out of the opposite side. There are things made of nightmares inside of it, and there are more hazards, but I won’t be telling you what they are.” Cog said with a malevolent laugh.

“Why are you doing this? Why attack innocent settlements in the wasteland?! What did they ever do to you?” Metric Zoom asked in a confused tone as she looked at the walkway, her sensors flicked along the walls as she noticed several loose and small panels, along with a large loose panel up at the top above the walkway.

“Why? Why do I attack the settlements?” Cog responded, his tone took on a more enraged tone. “I attack the settlements, because they are remnants of the ponies that tried to stop my experiments… My research and tried to take you away from me! You and your two sisters! I attack the settlements to protect you three, I killed your mother, and became one with this damned supercomputer, to protect you three! And now, you came here to try and take that all away from me… well, I’m sorry, my dear Metric Zoom… But much like your ability to fly not being present, I must not allow you to reach me…”

“So, what you are saying is that you hate everypony? All because they tried to stop your damned research?” Dark Heart said with a quizzical tone in his voice. He held Metric Zoom close against his body with his wing, now. His eyes flashed red with anger as he kept his teeth hidden behind his lips.

“Hate…? Let me tell you why I hate everyone…” Cog said with a screech from over the speaker. “I hate everypony, because of how they tried to kill my daughters. I hate everypony, because they attempted to shut down my project and tried to take away my research… If you were to take one of these thin wafer sized chips from my motherboard, and looked at it, you would find that the word “hate” is written on every single one about three-hundred eighteen thousand and ninety-five times… I hate everyone, because of how they tried to put me out of a job, and for making me take the course of action that I did…”

“And? Why don’t you just stop? Surely there’s some part of you that wants to go back to being a good pony…” Fluttershy said as she gulped quietly, she was even more nervous than before and felt just as scared as when they had first spoken with Cog.

“No, There is no turning back for me… I can’t just turn over a new leaf when this world is going to shit. I did this because it was to protect Metric Zoom and her two sisters. There will be no more talk of this. I shall see you at the end of the challenges.”

With that, everything went quiet. Metric Zoom looked to her father as tears welled up in her eyes. She brushed them away with a hoof before briefly returning underneath his leather wing. She was the first to approach the walkway as she trotted up the ramp calmly, her sensors looked downwards and into the pit as she heard the strange sounds and noises coming from below. She motioned to the others as she then looked back ahead and stared at the several outlines that she had found with her sensors. Seeking Blade, Dark Heart and Fluttershy trotted up behind Metric Zoom as she took to the walkway.

The walkway was just wide enough for Metric Zoom and the others to carefully move along it. The blossom forged mare began to make her way carefully towards the other end of the room, having left the safety of her companions even briefly. She made her way slowly as she flicked her metal tail, a few of the smaller panels suddenly opened up as bright red bullets shot outwards with a loud explosion. Metric Zoom’s ears caught the explosions just in time as she suddenly leapt up and into the air as the bullets went flying by underneath her. The bullets hit the wall with a second loud explosion as flames spewed forth from them and drifted down into the pit, only to dissipate in seconds. As Metric Zoom landed carefully, she continued to make her way onwards and over the walkway. A sudden and quiet electrical hum began to fill the air as Metric Zoom had made it halfway over, now. She turned her head as a few more smaller panels opened to reveal what appeared to be a strange electrical pad of some sort. On the opposite wall, a second set of panels opened to reveal another pad that appeared to look the same. Without thinking, Metric Zoom suddenly dove forward and out of the way as the trap went off. A bright neon blue flash filled the room as what looked like lightning had filled the room in a straight line and barely missed the blossom forged mare. However, as Metric Zoom dove through the air, she noticed the large panel that her sensors had scanned as it opened up.

Down from the panel came a large and rounded object that was supported by two metal strips. On the rounded object, were spikes that were surging and sparking with electricity. Metric Zoom grunted as she watched the roller lower towards the walkway, her entire body stretched outwards as she sucked in her metal gut and slid underneath the trap. Her wings just barely missed the trap as she slipped and slid to the other side of the walkway. The blossom forged mare ended up sliding into the wall with a loud thud, causing her to let out a whinny of annoyance.

“I-I’m good! I’m okay…!” Metric Zoom stated as she got up and shook her head. “I think that the traps are all deactivated, now… Those two almost got me.” Metric Zoom grunted as she leaned against the wall and waited.

Dark Heart, Seeking Blade and Fluttershy made their way across slowly as they followed in Metric Zooms hoofsteps. They eventually reached the other side of the room as the door opened and slid upwards. The four trotted into the next room as the door closed behind them once more. The room that they had entered appeared to be bare, the next door at the far end was able to be seen as they grunted in unison and began to trot forward. Metric Zooms sensors revealed small round lenses in the walls as they trotted ahead. The blossom forged mare put her right foreleg out as one of the lenses suddenly activated and a bright red laser suddenly jolted from it. The laser barely missed the group as they had stopped just inches from its path. The blossom forged mare gave a nod as she dropped her right foreleg back to the floor. The group made their way carefully through the room as they ducked and dodged their way around the laser fire as they watched the walls carefully. It took them a fair bit of careful moving, but they reached the door at the far side of the room and took a breath of air as the door opened up.

Dark Heart, Seeking Blade, Metric Zoom and Fluttershy entered the next room only to find a series of grey floating orbs scattered throughout the room. As the door slid shut behind them, the grey orbs began to vibrate and fluctuate as they slowly took on the form of what looked like puzzle pieces. Metric Zoom looks to Dark Heart and gave a shrug as the four of them moved up to the puzzle and began to get to work. The blossom forged mare looked along the ground as her sensors picked up what looked like outlines of odd floor panelling as she blinked. The four of them worked on the puzzle and attempted to piece it together correctly. A couple of failed attempts left with portions of the floor falling down into an abyss of darkness. Seeking Blade began to flail as he was about to fall, only to be caught by Metric Zoom with her mouth and set back upright.

As they worked on solving the puzzle, there were a few more failures, causing even more portions of the floor to fall down into the abyss below. Though none of them were caught off guard this time. The group had managed to successfully complete the puzzle after what felt like an hour, causing the door to the next room to open up. There was just enough floor left for them to walk across and through the door in a single file line. Their tired hooves marched onwards and into the next room as the door closed behind them. This room, however, was different. Mounted on the wall in front of them was a large monitor that turned on. A pair of large and pupil less eyes and a large, frowning mouth appeared on it. Though Metric Zoom knew who it was, causing her to sigh.

“Well, I can see that you four are determined. So, this is the final room. The door will open after what I have to say, is finished being said…” Cog stated in a dominating tone. “My goodness, I do hope that those challenges weren’t too much for all of you. You look so tired, so agitated and pissed off… Almost like you hate me.” Cog said as the face on the monitor sneered down at the four of them.

“Cog, shut the fuck up…” Metric Zoom said with a snarl as she looked up at her creator. “You’ve been a bastard long enough, and you’ve clearly shown no interest in fighting us… Just interest in being the biggest dick in the schoolyard! So why don’t you just fucking stop acting like a damn colt and man the fuck up!” She was beyond pissed off as she glared at him.

“You call me a colt, do you? Well, I suppose that your attitude has earned you a little extra!” Cog said in response as his expression soured. “Now, the door is opened. You may leave, but due to your attitude, I have put a few obstacles out… and oh yes, do enjoy the fun!” The monitor shut off as the face on it began to laugh wickedly.

The door on the right wall of the room slid open as the sounds of the very things from the pit were able to be heard from a few rooms behind them. Metric Zoom looked to the other three as her eyes widened and she took off running at a full gallop. Seeking Blade, Dark Heart and Fluttershy took off right behind her as they heard the sound of loud hooves racing towards their location. As they ran down the adjoined hallway, the sound of hooves that were chasing them grew louder more and more by the moment. As Metric Zoom scanned the way ahead with her sensors, she saw several of the wall panels open up and several turrets appeared.

“Shit! We have turrets ahead!” Metric Zoom called out as she lowered her head and charged forward, pushing her body to move at a faster pace.

“What?! Oh fucking shit!” Seeking Blade exclaimed as he looked to Fluttershy and Dark Heart. “Come on, you two! Put your all into it!”

“Right!” Exclaimed Dark Heart.

“O-Okay…! I don’t want to die here! I don’t want to die in this miserable place!” Fluttershy stated in a worried tone.

The four ponies put all of their strength into running as the turrets began to fire at them. They kept their heads down as they focused, their speed made it hard for the turrets to properly lock on to the four ponies as they made their way towards the large, gear shaped exit. It was open, like Cog had said. Metric Zoom and Fluttershy were the first to reach it as they breathed heavily and turned around. The sounds of the damned beasts that Cog had put in the pit were chasing after the four ponies at a full run, now. What was once fifty, was now forty-five. The turrets having gotten a few of them and taken them out. Seeking Blade and Dark Heart both rushed out of the open door and into the cold night air of the ashen wasteland.

Fluttershy flew out of the bunker after the two stallions, her eyes closed as she tried to forget about the monsters that were chasing them. Metric Zoom glowered at the still legion that was chasing them, her sensors took in the decaying flesh and almost earth pony like look to them. Their forms appeared to be almost amalgamations as the blossom forged mare finally turned her head back to the door release switch and pulled it. The warning alarms went off as the door began to close, that’s when she took her moment to hurry outside as well. The sounds of the monstrosities back inside of the bunker had dulled down as screams of anger and hatred had sounded. The door had closed on them… The four ponies were safe in the cool outside air.

“Well, that was something!” Seeking Blade exclaimed as he turned to Metric Zoom and the others. “We should get back to the settlement and get the truck fueled up so that we can all go back to Dunport… I just want to get as far away from this bunker as I possibly can.”

Dark Heart, Fluttershy and Metric Zoom both gave a nod as they headed back to the settlement that the rest of their group was left. The time flew by as they trotted in silence, the settlement slowly drew closer. Inch by inch, hoof step by hoof step as the four had almost made it back to their loved ones. Back to the area that had friendly ponies of all shapes and sizes. None of them wanted to be close to Cog’s bunker any longer, they had wanted to defeat him, but Cog wasn’t going to give them the opportunity. After a good while of trotting, Seeking Blade, Dark Heart, Metric Zoom and Fluttershy had arrived at the settlement and looked around as they were ushered into a bar. The bar was full with ponies that were drinking and playing various games to relax and to calm down from the hell that they had gone through.

As the four waited, they found a booth to sit down in. the time passed by as the group waited, after a couple of hours the door to the bar opened. The place had become a fair bit quieter as the other patrons had gone back to their homes. As the four ponies looked up, they saw the rest of their companions as they entered and approached the booth. Serene Morning and the others sat down in the booth as they joined them, she looked tired as Divine Kiss was the only one that wasn’t with them.

“Divine Kiss is resting in the back of the truck, the locals fueled it up, as well. So we can get going whenever you are ready.” Serene Morning said as she softly rested a hoof on Seeking Blades front left shoulder.

“Well, I suppose that we can leave now… We came and did what we could, barely got out of that bunker with our damn lives.” Seeking Blade said as he exhaled. He looked to Serene Morning and gave a nod. “Alright, let’s get going, everyone.” he said as he grunted a bit.

The others all gave a nod as they filed one after another out of the booth and out of the bar. The group headed back to the truck that they had arrived in. there was ash covering the hood, but that was normal for this hellish place. The group piled up and into the truck, Seeking Blade and Serene Morning piled into the cab and buckled up while the others climbed into the back and sat down on the benches. Diving Kiss was asleep on her seat, her eyes closed as her kneecaps were wrapped in bandages, dried blood was able to be seen having tried to seep through the bandages. As Seeking Blade started up the truck and turned around to head back to Dunport, Dark Heart softly rested the back of his alicorn lovers head on his lap. The leatherwing stallions eyes closed as the truck drove off.

Two days passed by as the truck had arrived at Dunport. Dark Heart, Metric Zoom and Divine Kiss climbed out of the back and gave Seeking Blade a wave. The three watched as the truck departed from the city and towards the horizon. Dark Heart took Metric Zoom and Divine Kiss with his wings as he lead them to his manor up on the hill. It took them a bit of time to make it up the hill due to the alicorn’s injured kneecaps and how they had to stop and rest every five to ten minutes. After a bit of time walking and resting, the three of them had made it into the manor. It had become evening and both Divine Kiss and Dark Heart were exhausted. Dark Heart turned to look to Metric Zoom with a soft smile.

“Divine and I are exhausted, we’re going to head to bed. If you need a place to lay down and sleep, if you even do have to sleep. Then you can find a bedroom or even the couch to sleep.” The stallion unwrapped his wing from around his daughters chassis and softly kissed her forehead. “If you need anything, please let me know.”

“Alright, father. Thank you for everything!” Metric Zoom said in response as she trotted off to try and find a quiet place to sit.

Divine Kiss and Dark Heart smiled to one another as they made their way slowly and carefully up the stairs to the second floor. After carefully making their way up the steps and to Dark Hearts bedroom, which was pitch black, the stallion softly helped the mare over to the bed. As they sat down on it, she could feel the soft cotton insides as the bed supported both of their weights. Her eyes closed as she felt around the bed, it was nice and big. Big enough to support the both of them. Dark Heart sat down next to her and blushed a bright red, which Divine Kiss could see in the pitch blackness.

“Hey, um… Divine… Can I tell you something?” Dark Heart asked with a shy tone in his voice.

“Yes, what is on your mind, Dark Heart?” Divine Kiss asked in response. She felt her own cheeks become red as she blushed.

“I… I’m in love with you. I have been in love with you since the day we met.” Dark Heart said with a shy and nervous gulp. “I love the way that you fight, the way that you talk… How courageous you are in battle and how you are able to be tough when the need arises… Your kind and amazing, and… I want to be with you for the rest of my life.” He blushed a darker red as he sat there next to her.

“...I feel the same way about you, Dark Heart.” Divine Kiss said as her blush too, deepened. “The way that you fight, that strength that you have… How you are able to tell when to cross the line, and when you shouldn’t be crossing that line. There’s a lot about you that really draws me in.”

There was a brief silence as the alicorn mare gently turned the leatherwing stallions head to face her own. The both of them pressed their muzzles against one anothers as they embraced in a passionate kiss, their bodies fell sideways and onto the bed. As the night was calm, the hours passed uneventfully… Until Metric Zoom heard her fathers scream as it echoed down the halls of the manor.

Chapter five: Departure

Chapter five:

Departure

Metric Zoom galloped quickly down the halls as she heard her foster father scream. Her sensors narrowed as she came upon the closed door birch door and slammed her front hooves down hard onto it. The birch cracked loudly as it splintered, the bamboo chute that rested inside the mares shell shivered and trembled in fear as she slammed down once more. The birch door slammed open with a loud groan as splinters flew up and into the air. Metric Zoom hurried into the bedroom as she quickly snapped her head around, only to focus in the center of the room. Her sensors beheld Dark Heart and Divine Kiss, the Alicorn mares eyes were wide as she held both of her front hooves over her mouth, suppressing a scream of fear as the stallion had been set ablaze.

Metric Zooms sensors widened as she watched her foster father as screams of pain escaped his mouth. The blossom forged mares chute trembled even more inside of her chassis as tears welled up inside of her sensors. The stallion that she called father, was dying.

“Father!” cried the blossom forged mare as she hurried over to his side. She yanked the covers off of the bed and tossed them quickly onto his body. “Please… please don’t die on us!” She pleaded as she carefully brought her hooves down onto Dark Hearts burning body.

A moment passed, and the flames were snuffed out by the covers. But it was too late as Dark Heart took his last breath. His voice shuddered as his body went rigid and stuff underneath the covers, Dark Heart had taken his last breath. A slim bolt of darkness had jumped from the stallions body and into Metric Zooms own, slipping in through her chassis. The tears began to flow down Metric Zooms cheeks and along her lower jaw, her sensors closed for a brief moment as she took the covers off of Dark Hearts body and tossed them to the floor. Her father's body was charred from the flames. The blossom forged looked up to Divine Kiss and noticed that she had begun to cry, as well. Metric Zoom took a calm and somewhat collected step towards the mare that she wanted desperately to call mother, but she felt anger flare up inside of her. She was mad that the cruel world that was once Everglow had taken her foster father.

“What did you do?!” Metric Zoom asked as her voice trembled and shook, the sorrow that she had been feeling mixed with anger.

“I-i didn’t do anything! Metric Zoom, please… We were just having some intimacy, and once we finished up, he just… combust into flames.” Divine Kiss said in response, she took a deep breath as she attempted to calm herself down. The alicorn mare had just watched her lover combust and die, right in front of her very eyes. Her voice was trembling and shaking, much like Metric Zooms own voice was. “I didn’t know that this was going to happen, you have to believe me!”

“I don’t know if I can believe you right now or not, I am sorry. But I think that it would be the best for both of us, if I went out and on my own for a while.” Metric said, she too had been attempting to take back control of her emotions. She had managed to push the anger that she had felt flare up away.

“What?” Divine Kiss asked in a shocked tone. “No, Metric, please… Please, We already lost Dark Heart, and I don’t want to lose you, either!” The alicorn mare stepped up to Metric Zoom and softly pulled her into a hug.

“I know, Divine, but… I feel that it is for the best, that way I won’t lose my temper and do something that I will regret.” Metric Zoom said with a sigh as she buried her face up against Divine Kiss’s chest. “I can’t believe that this happened… right when we had just become a family, right when we had figured everything out.”

“Metric…” Divine Kiss said as she closed her eyes, her wings gently curved around both of their bodies protectively. “We still are a family, and we still have everything figured out. It will just take time for us to grieve.”

“I’m so sorry…” Those three words was all that it took for Metric Zoom, the pain she had just gone through, along with the alicorn mares own pain, was all that it took for her to start sobbing loudly.

Divine Kiss bit down on her lower lip as she had began to sob, as well. The two mares cried long into the night as they mourned Dark Heart. The next few days that came after, had passed roughly for them. Divine Kiss and Metric Zoom had asked the civilians of Dunport for aid with preparing a grave for Dark Heart, and then asked them to assist in the services for the deceased leatherwing stallion. The townsfolk had held a service for the stallion, and as they were lowering his body into the grave, they all had to hold back the sorrow that was welling up inside of them. They had all been there when Dark Heart had cleaned out Dunport of the two crime families that originally had resided in the town, with the help of two outsiders. They had remembered how he had trained the guards in the city to better deal with raiders and the beasts of the ashen wastes. And now, he was gone…

The services ended after an hour, and all of the ponies had gone either home or to start working their jobs. Leaving Divine Kiss and Metric Zoom alone in the manor. They were both left with their thoughts and left with each other. A week had passed by before they knew it, their lives had begun to return back to normal. Despite the return to semi-normalcy, Divine Kiss and Metric Zoom still knew that it was just them now. The two had began to get closer, a bond like that of a mother and daughter began to form between the two of them as they spent time together.

“Hey, Divine?” Metric Zoom said as she looked to the mare, her sensors looked to her calmly.

“Yes, Metric? What seems to be the matter?” Divine Kiss asked the blossom forged mare, her wings rested against her back a bit as the two read through Dark Hearts books inside of his library. Her right front hoof lightly trailed over the front of a leatherbound journal. Her eyes scanned it softly for a moment, before she looked back to the blossom forged mare.

“Do you want to join me when I go to look for my siblings?” She asked as she looked over the cover of an old encyclopedia. “I don’t think that I can do it on my own, plus it might be a long journey. Who knows how long we will be gone from this place.”

“I don’t see the harm in joining you, besides, you might end up needing my help.” Divine Kiss said with a soft smile, her left wing stretched out and came to rest gently on Metric Zooms back. “And hey, it’s better to have the help and not need it. Then it is to need the help and not have it.”

“Yeah, you're definitely right on that.” Metric said with a nod, she blinked a bit and looked to the alicorn mares stomach. “So, what did the doctor have to say yesterday when you went out?” She asked with a curious tone to her voice.

“The doctor gave me some great news! I just wish that your father were able to hear it…” Divine Kiss let out a soft sigh as she rested one of her front hooves gently on her stomach. “I’m pregnant with your fathers child.”

Metric Zoom blinked as her sensors went wide as a soft smile formed on her face, she gently embraced the alicorn mare in a soft hug.

“Well, I’m sure that father would have been happy.” She said with a soft tone in her voice. Metric Zooms thoughts went to her father on the day that they had entered Cogs bunker and were lead around back to the entrance, the day that Cog had messed with them and egged them on. Only to be screwed with by the infernal artificial intelligence.

“Yes, He would have been happy.” Divine Kiss said as she gently removed Metric Zooms forelegs from around her body. The alicorn mare softly stood up and lifted up the journal with her magic. She trotted over to one of the bare spots on the bookshelf and slipped it inside. Divine Kiss turned her head to Metric Zoom, she blinked a bit before approaching the couch to sit back down.

The blossom forged mare blinked for a moment as her sensors flicked around and her ears twitched. She had returned to reading her foster fathers journal and didn’t notice the other mare had returned and sat back down. Metric Zoom moved the journal from her face and set it carefully on the side table next to where they were sitting, something inside of her was starting to well up… Something that was causing her to crave adventure and excitement. She turned to her foster mother, sensors widened upon the sensation as she gulped loudly.

“Mother, I am feeling something that I have never felt before.” The blossom forged mare said in a surprised tone. “I feel restless, like I want to go out and explore the world! Maybe I’ll try to find my sisters, even!” She said with excitement in her voice as she changed her tone.

“Do you want to go and try to find your sisters?” Divine Kiss asked as a soft grin came across her face. “Because, if so, I’d be more than happy to go with you and to help you.” The false queen said with a soft giggle. Her tail flicked softly as she stretched out a bit.

“Really? You’d really go with me?!” Metric Zoom slid off of the couch, excitement clear with every motion. Her metal hooves clopped against the wood floor as she looked to the false queen mare in anticipation.

“Of course I’d go with you! Besides, it’d be nice to go out and explore. It’s what your father would have wanted…” Divine Kiss said in response as she stood up once more, her voice had become sullen as her expression softened. Both of them were still healing from losing someone that they had both loved and cared about, and it left deep wounds in their hearts that would heal in time.

They both looked at one another, they had become quiet as Metric Zoom had stopped clopping in place. They both softly pressed up against one another in a solemn and protective embrace for a brief moment, the two of them had backed away from one another and nodded. Metric Zoom and Divine Kiss had hurried to their rooms and pulled their sheathed weapons on over their armor as they got ready. Not more than fifteen minutes later, the two mares had left the manor and had begun to make their way out of Dunport. The two of them had begun a brand new journey together as they stopped at the sign, took a look at it for one last time, and trotted off towards a nearby settlement. As they trotted onwards, the ashen sky had begun to darken and the temperature had dropped.

It had taken the two mares two days to reach the closest settlement. Metric Zoom and Divine Kiss trotted into the settlement and looked around. The houses and buildings looked very old and in disrepair as a strange yellow colored fungus was able to be seen growing on the side of a few of them. The blossom forged mare looked to her foster mother, who exchanged a look with her in return. The two of them trotted through the settlement for a bit before they arrived at the front door of a bar. The two looked up to see an oak sign attached to a metal rod that stuck out from the roof of the building. The name of the bar was The Parched Zebra. Metric Zoom and Divine Kiss blinked as they made their way inside.

The interior of the bar was loud as they entered, smoke filled the bar as several stallions were smoking. The two mares covered their mouths as they coughed from the smoke. They made their way to the bar and sat down on stools where there was less smoke. The bartender was a surly and stout stallion, a unicorn as well. As he approached, he gave them a nod and picked up a glass, spitting in it as he cleaned it with a clean rag.

“What can I get for you, ladies?” The unicorn asked with a relaxed expression on his face. His left eye was scarred over by what appeared to be a knife wound. He blinked his good eye as he got a good look at the two mares.

“I’ll take some coffee… black, please.” Divine Kiss said as she ran a hoof through her mane. Her eyes had bags under them as she was tired.

“I’ll take some water, if you would.” Metric Zoom said in response. She had noticed that her foster mother had been getting very little sleep the past two days. Her sensors scanned Divine Kiss’s body, only to be unable to find anything out of the ordinary.

“One coffee and one water, coming right up!” The stallion gave a nod as he turned and trotted to the opposite end of the bar to work on their orders. His back was to them and he wasn’t paying attention to the two mares at the moment.

As the two mares waited at the counter, a cyan blue pony sat with his back against the wall. A street sign was slung over his back by a leather holder that looked bent and dented in several spots. He had scars all over his pelt and body, the stallions mane was a short mohawk. He had a piece of studded leather wrapped around his upper half that covered his left shoulder. The stallions long tail flicked as his blue eyes glanced at the two mares. He recognized the blossom forged and took out a series of notecards that he had hidden away underneath his armor along with a pencil, he began to write something on each notecard as he listened in on their discussion.

“So, where should we begin to look for my sisters?” Metric Zoom asked Divine Kiss, her sensors flicked around a bit as she tried to take a breath only to stop due to the smoke that was in the air.

“Well.” Divine Kiss said in return, her right fore hoof rubbed her chin a bit as her wings relaxed against her backside. “Perhaps the bartender would know something to help us out? After all, I’m sure that he hears about everything that goes on in the wasteland.” She gave a soft shrug of her shoulders as she looked to the counter. Her tail flicked softly as she went into thought.

“Something on your minds?” The bartender asked with a blink, he carried their drinks to them and set them down on the counter, he looked to the two mares with a tilt of his head. The unicorns ears perked up as he watched them calmly.

“Oh, yes there is something on our minds!” The blossom forged mare said in response, her sensors shifted to the unicorns face as she blinked. Her voice was relaxed as she took her water and spoke. “We’re wondering if you’ve encountered anyone like me, or if you’ve heard anything about one of my kind around here?” She took a drink of her water and let out a soft sigh as the cool and refreshing fluid hit her bamboo chute, only to end up absorbed by it.

“No, I am afraid that I have not.” The bartender said as he gave a shrug. “Can’t say that I’ve heard of or seen your kind before. I’m sorry that I’m of no use to you.” His voice was relaxed as he took a look around the bar before continuing. “However, I think someone here would be able to assist you… I wish that I could help you, I really do.”

“That’s fine, we’ll ask around.” Divine Kiss said as she took a quick glance around the bar and handed the unicorn bartender a couple gold pieces from her bag that their equipment was being held in. “Well, thank you for the drinks.” She said as she took a sip of her coffee.

The bartender took the gold pieces and trotted back to the opposite end of the counter. The two mares looked to one another and sighed softly as they drank. The stallion that had been watching them had heard what they were talking about, and he knew that it was time for him to reveal himself. But he wasn’t going to do so with Metric Zoom in the bar. He watched them for a bit longer, his eyes focused on the blossom forged mare as he examined her chassis. He saw that she had pegasus wings that he thought would never fly. As the two mares finished their drinks, Metric Zoom heard a sound that was like a soft knocking sound that originated from inside of her chassis. She jolted upright on the bar stool as she looked to the false queen that she had come to know as her mother.

“I’ll be right back, I am heading outside for some fresh air.” The blossom forged mare said as she climbed down and off of the bar stool. She turned around and trotted out of the bar, going down the street a bit as she breathed deeply. Her bamboo chute took the air in easily as the trunk absorbed it.

Metric Zoom blinked as she opened up a small compartment in her chassis, and out of it jolted a being of pure darkness. She knew what this being was the moment it formed on the ground in front of her feet, she knew from the moment that she saw its doofy smile. Metric Zoom let out a loud squeal of joy as her hooves clopped against the street.

“Oh my gods! Are you my very own Darkling?!” The blossom forged mare asked, glee was able to be heard in her voice as her sensors eagerly scanned the small creature. She took notice of the darklings sapphire blue eyes as her expression turned into that of an excited smile.

“Yes! Yes I am!” The darkling replied with a big toothy grin. “I am indeed your darkling, robohorse! You may call me Joel, and I’m guessing that you’re Metric Zoom? Dark Heart talked about you a lot.”

“Yep! I’m most definitely Metric Zoom!” The blossom forged mare said with a proud and excited tone in her voice. She looked to Joel with a playful grin. “Joel? Hmmm… You look more like a Garbagefield to me! How about I call you that?” she asked with a laugh that came off as more playful than serious.

“Do I look like a useless cat that went to the North Pole, to find Santa?” Joel scoffed as he formed a chair out of pure darkness underneath him, and sat down. “No, Joel is just fine. And I think that we’ll get along great, Metric Zoom.”

Metric Zoom gave a nod as she stood there on the sidewalk, talking to Joel. meanwhile, inside the bar, the stallion that had been watching the two mares got up from his seat and approached Divine Kiss. He took the seat next to her, where Metric Zoom had been sitting just before. The stallion took some napkins out of a holder that rested nearby. He lightly drew a pen from the opposite side of the counter and began to write on the napkins, he already knew the questions that he was going to ask. After a few moments, The stallion softly tapped the false queen mare on her right foreshoulder.

Divine Kiss turned her head to the stallion as she blinked softly. She tilted her head as she took in his features, her wings folded against her back. Her eyes locked onto the napkins that he had been writing on. “Who might you be? And is there something that you need?”

The stallion took out the first of the few napkins and held it up, he didn’t speak as he showed it to her. “My name is… well… I don’t remember my name, call me whatever you want. I think that you are looking for something, which I can help you.”

Divine Kiss blinked as she took another drink from her coffee and set the cup back down. The mare looked at him with a curious expression. “Oh? And what might you know? Have you been listening in on my foster daughter and I’s conversation?” She asked with a protective tone in her voice. She was unsure about the stallion who was sitting next to her, but she and Metric Zoom had been searching for her siblings for the past couple of days and haven’t found neither hide nor hair of them.

“Yes, I was listening in on your conversation. And I apologise for eavesdropping.” He dropped the first napkin and brought up another one, along with a third in his opposite hoof. He discarded the second napkin and had written down on the third. “You are both looking for two of Metric Zooms siblings, correct? I know where one of them is located, and I can tell you how to easily navigate the wastes to get there.” the third note said.

Divine Kiss blinked as she rested a hoof underneath her chin. She was unsure of the stallion, but something inside of her was telling her that it was okay. She straightened up and turned to look to him directly in the eyes. “Alright, I’ll trust you… Yes, we’re both look looking for her siblings. Please tell us where the one you know of is at, and I’ll pay you with what little gold we have left.”

The stallion shook his head as he discarded the napkin and brought out the last to final one. “No, you don’t owe me a thing… I have written down the location of one of the siblings that your foster daughter is looking for, on this last napkin. After I give it to you, I would suggest hurrying to the location as quickly as you possibly can.”

Divine Kiss gave a nod as she took the last of the napkins and looked it over. Taking the cup of coffee in her hoof once more as she downed the rest of it. She felt the burning sensation as the rest of her drink burned her throat, refreshing her as she got up and bowed her head, she spoke with an appreciative tone in her voice. “Thank you, Stranger! We are forever in your debt.”

Divine Kiss turned and tucked the napkin into a pocket of her clothes as she hurried out of the bar. The stallion sat there and watched her leave, getting up as he returned to his seat and left the pen there.

Outside, Divine Kiss and Metric Zoom talked to one another, alongside Joel. after having explained the news, the two of them turned and galloped out of the settlement in the direction on the napkin.

In a cavern near where Port Mareheart once stood, Seeking Blade held his lantern up as he examined the circular walls. His eyes were fixated on the hieroglyphs and ancient writings as he translated them in his head. He had told Sun Spot to take post outside as watch. As he examined the walls, he heard the ash that covered the floor as it was disturbed. Seeking Blade turned around only to see darkness. There was another sudden disturbance, only this time it came from behind him. As the stallion was about to turn around, he felt a sudden impact on the back of his head. Seeking Blade dropped his lantern to the ground as everything went black. The lantern broke with a crash as the stallion was lifted up and onto someone’s back as a glowing blue portal opened. The strange pony trotted through the portal with Seeking Blade on her back, the portal closed behind her.

Two days later, Metric Zoom and Divine Kiss stared at Cog’s bunker from afar, they both had sorrow in their hearts. They had lost a father, a teacher and a good stallion… the two mares turned around, their bodies covered by robes that protected them from the cold and the brutal ashen storms. The two stared at the horizon in front of them to beyond.

“Come on, my dear Metric Zoom.” Divine Kiss said with a calm and kind tone in her voice. “Let’s go find your two siblings, and figure out what to do next.”

Metric Zoom gave her foster mother a nod, and with a galloping start the two of them had taken off straight ahead. The blossom forged mares body glowed a black light, and suddenly she found herself lifting off the ground like she had a day before. She had gained a Darkling of her own from her foster father, the blossom forged knew better than to waste or squander her newfound powers. A power that she was going to learn how to better utilize.

As the two mares flew off towards the horizon and left Cog’s bunker be for now, the two had a new adventure ahead of them…

“Click”