Fallout: Equestria - Aim For The Moon

Chapters

Chapter 2 - Down The Rabbit Hole
Chapter 3 - Dogs Of War
Chapter 4 - Foolish Decisions
Chapter 5 - Winter Rose
Chapter 6 - In Whom Do We Trust
Chapter 7 - Testing Bonds
Chapter 9 - Paradigm Shift
Chapter 11 - Moment Of Truth
Chapter 12 - The Other Side Of The Coin
Chapter 13 - By A Wolf’s Ears
Chapter 14 - Flight Of The Valkyries
Epilogue
Chapter 1 - For Want Of A Nail
Chapter 8 - Fire Where Once Were Ashes
Chapter 10 - Hunting Monsters

Chapter 2 - Down The Rabbit Hole

“Intrepid.”

I look away from my leather-bound book and look around the room, wondering where the voice is coming from. Nopony seems to be in here. Just a couch, a couple of chairs, and a half empty bookcase. But it is dark, somepony could be hiding in the shadows. And the light green magical glow from my horn gives the room a very eerie feeling to it.

Thankfully, I’ve already used the books from the bookcase to create a sturdy book fort. Just as long as I stay in here, I should be safe from all the monsters that are hiding in the shadows.

“Intrepid.”

A soft violet light shines from the hallway, getting brighter and brighter with every passing second. To a young colt like myself, that can only mean trouble. Dismissing my light spell, I quickly retreat back into my fort and use the leather-bound book to block the entrance.

The sound of hoofsteps grow closer to my fortress of literature before a relieved sounding mare asks “Intrepid, are you in there?”

“No,” I answer sheepishly, honestly hoping she will believe me.

“Oh really?”

“Yes,” I say just before it dawns on me that she’s not buying it. Within seconds, the roof of my fort opens up and I look up to see the one pony I did not want to see right now.

Mom.

Using my highly tuned colt-like reflexes, I try to run from the dark grey mare, desperately trying to get away from whatever punishment is in store for me. An attempt cut short when she quickly catches my tail in her magic and pulls up into the air.

“Eep!” I blurt out before covering my mouth in embarrassment.

Now upside down and hanging by my tail in the air, I desperately try to avoid eye contact and instead focus on the purple ponytail resting on her shoulder.

“Intrepid, what are you doing out of bed? Do you know what time it is?” Mom asks with a mixture of concern and relief.

“I-I just wanted to read more about Twilight and her friends?” I say sheepishly. “I-I know it’s past bedtime but I wanted to know what happened to…” I fall silent when she sighs.

“Honestly, I don’t know what to do with you,” She gently lowers me to the floor and then points a hoof at my book fort. “Now let’s get this cleaned up before your Dad comes home from guard duty.”

With a silent nod, I move to dismantle my fort. As Mom helps me put the books away, a thought pops into my mind and I look up at her. “Mom, Dad has that robot eye because a mean pony took his real one out, right?”

She pauses in the middle of putting a book back in the bookshelf and looks back at me. “Yes, that is right. That’s why being a guard can be scary and dangerous.” She answers carefully, not really sure where I am going with this.

“But he still wants to be a guard?” I ask while putting another book away.

She nods. “He wants to keep our home safe from raiders and all the other mean ponies that want to hurt us. So that we don’t have to face those scary monsters outside.”

I ponder that for a moment before looking back at Mom with a big smile on my face. “So Dad’s brave like Fluttershy!”

Mom gives me a rather confused look, so I grab my leather-bound book and hold it up. “Fluttershy was afraid of a big dragon that was near ponyville. She didn’t want to do it because it was scary and dangerous too. But when her friends needed her she faced her fear and told the dragon to be nice and not be a bully!”

Mom chuckles. “Yes, she was very brave wasn’t she? I bet your father would have done the same thing in her shoes too.”

“That’s why I want to be like Dad when I grow up!” I say excitedly as I put my book down. “I want to do what’s right and be able to help ponies out no matter what!”

Mom smiles as she affectionately ruffles my mane with her hoof. “I’m sure he’ll be happy to hear that,” She says before giving me a kiss on my forehead. “And I have no doubt you will become like your father when you grow up.”

“Really?!” I ask as I beam with joy at her. A frown then forms on my face as I realise that all I’ve been doing is praising Dad this entire time. “I think you’re brave too, Mom.”

“Oh Intrepid. Come here,” Mom says before pulling me in and embracing me tightly against herself. “I love you so much.”

My smile returns as I press my head against her chest and hug her back. “I love you too, Mom.”

Sounds of metal creaking greet me as I groan and slowly open my eyes, wincing a bit as they adjust to the flickering light. My heart aches as the last bits of my dream drift away from my mind, reawakening feelings of regret over my decision to have ever left home in the first place. But I push those feelings aside and try to figure out what to do now. The facility didn’t turn out to be the treasure trove I was hoping for. And bumping into that murderous hellhound only made my situation worse. At least I managed to deal with him and escape from that pack of feral ghouls by using the elevator. An elevator that looks more like a cage than anything. Controlled by a grumpy voice who calls the feral ghouls upstairs sick…

I’m still asleep and trapped in one long, nonsensical nightmare, aren’t I?

My body aches as I sit up, telling me that I am very much awake. Rubbing my sore neck, I take a good look at my surroundings, noting for the first time just how worn out the cage surrounding the elevator looks. It’s a miracle that it withstood every attack the feral ghouls did against it.

The room lying outside of the cage is pretty spartan in design. Faded yellow caution lines outlining the elevator landing area contrast the barren concrete floor and walls. Incandescent lights line the upper parts of the walls, with one of them flickering badly above the only entrance to this room: a vault door.

Thankfully, this one is a boring square one, with metal bracings and a faded yellow line right down the middle. If it had been one of the round automated ones that mark the entrance of a Stable, then… Well, then it depends on what kind of experiment went horribly wrong here. The chances of finding a ‘safe’ Stable is pretty slim, which is ironic given its purpose of saving ponies from the apocalypse. Though, given the faded hazard sign above the control panel to the door, this place might be as ‘safe’ as a Stable.

Putting away my book that I was hugging while asleep, I stretch my legs out and then force the cage door open. Wasn’t my raspy sounding savior supposed to meet me down here? I couldn’t have been asleep for longer than an hour or so, right? Noting the intercom next to the door controls, I walk up to it, press one of the buttons, and-

“I told Bright Eyes I can handle this,” A familiar raspy stallion voice blares out of the speaker.

“I’m not saying you can’t. But there’s a reason why I have to come along too,” An equally raspy mare voice says in a notably softer tone than the stallion.

“I can handle the sick-”

“Feral.”

“Sick.”

“Umm…. H-Hello?” I say into the intercom.

The door’s hydraulics hiss to life as it opens and two ponies walk into the room: A dirty tan earth pony stallion with a balding snow white mane and a ghoulish-looking zebra mare with a well-kept black mane. Both are wearing lab coats, though the earth pony’s coat has spots of oil on his. And a standard Stable-Tec PipBuck on his left foreleg.

“Salt Cube, I am not arguing this point with you again.” The zebra ghoul says while glaring dangerously at the earth pony, the glass sphere in her left eye socket making the glare all the more unnerving.

“Fine. But I still don’t see why you need to come along, Floria,” The earth pony looks back defiantly. “I can get them back into their rooms just fine. I’ve done it before.”

“Not when they’re riled up like this!” She rubs her temples before finally noticing me. I give the ghoul a very sheepish wave as she looks up at me and smiles. “Now who is this tall unicorn over here? I take it you’re the pony that Salt Cube was talking to earlier?”

I nod. “Intrepid Scholar. It’s nice to meet you, Miss?”

“Floria, just Floria,” She says while offering her hoof towards me. Despite my desire to be polite, I stare wearily at the rotting hoof before me, the memories of nearly being eaten alive by feral ghouls still fresh in my mind. Thankfully, she doesn’t seem to take offense as she jokingly adds “Don’t worry, I don’t bite.”

“I-I beg your pardon,” I spit out and quickly shake her hoof. “I-I guess I’m still a little shaken from what happened upstairs.”

Nearly dying twice in a short span of time can do that to a pony.

“What were you doing up there anyway? You don’t look like you’re from around here,” Salt Cube looks me over suspiciously, his eyes stopping on my makeshift PipBuck. “You’re not trying to steal something from us, are you?”

“Salt Cube,” Floria warns.

“N-No I’m not here to rob you or anything like that!” I say before rubbing the back of my neck. “I mean, I was scavenging for supplies, but that’s because this place looked abandoned. Untilthe hellhound attacked. And killing him ended up attracting the ferals out and… why are you both looking at me like that?”

Floria looks outright shocked while Salt Cube skeptically stares at me and asks “You killed a hellhound? By yourself?”

I shrink back under his gaze. “Yes?”

There’s a moment of extremely uncomfortable silence before Floria walks over to the elevator and boards it. “I guess we’ll find out if you’re telling the truth or not soon enough. Salt Cube, keep an eye on him while I’m up there,” She closes the door behind her and presses one of the buttons before glancing over at Salt Cube. “And be nice!”

“What? Hold on! I didn’t-” Salt Cube complaint is cut short by the elevator starting up. He mutters something under his breath as we watch Floria ascend to the world above before he shoots me a dirty look. It’s enough that I get the hint and quietly sit down against the nearby wall. Pulling out the scavenged parts from the front desk terminal, I open up my PipBuck’s casing and proceed to look over the wiring underneath.

“So,” Salt Cube says awkwardly as he approaches me and points at my PipBuck. “Where did you get that... thing?”

“This thing happens to be my PipBuck,” I answer back irritably while replacing some of the old wiring in it.

“Uh-huh,” He looks my PipBuck over carefully. “It doesn’t look like any PipBuck I’ve ever seen before.”

“Yeah, well I only had scrap parts and a half of a manual to work with,” I shoot him a quick glare. “But it’s just as capable as the one you’re wearing now.”

Salt Cube raises an eyebrow at me before moving in closer to get a better view of what I’m doing. “Are you sure it works properly?”

“Of course it works properly!” I say indignantly while closing my PipBuck’s casing and turn it on before muttering quietly “Most of the time.”

I ignore whatever reaction he might have given me for that last part and go through all of the menus to make sure they still work: Map is still somewhat useful. Inventory is still depressingly small. The E.F.S. spell shows Salt Cube as a ‘friendly’ green dot, so that still works. And it seems like all of the notes and messages I’ve gathered over the years are still in one piece.

"Where did you get that?" Salt Cube points a hoof at the screen and it takes me a few seconds to realize which message he is pointing at.

"Oh, umm, I got that one from the front desk terminal in the main lobby.” I answer back sheepishly. “Don’t worry, it doesn’t have anything in it. Just a garbled mess of data and… "

My voice trails off as Salt Cube gives me a stern look. “You’re telling me you managed to get something from a terminal that has been dead for years?”

“Well, it helps when you have a basic understanding on how… terminals… work?” I say nervously as he looks me in the eyes, trying to determine if I am lying or not. And making me feel as uncomfortable as possible.

I silently thank Luna when the intercom crackles to life and Floria’s gravelly voice mercifully comes through it. “Salt Cube, are you there?”

Salt Cube walks over to the intercom and answers “Yeah I’m here. How’s the situation up there? Is Hay Bale ok? Did anything happen to her?”

“She’s fine,” Floria answers back. “But some of the others weren’t so lucky. Looks like Intrepid’s story checks out: One of the hellhounds found their way over here and went on a killing spree before our friend here blew his brains out.”

“Good,” Salt Cube says, looking visibly relieved at what Floria says. “That’s one less problem to worry about.”

“Umm, not to be rude or anything,” I immediately speak up. “But what does she mean by one of the hellhounds? Are there more of them roaming around here?!”

He glances over at me, looks me over briefly with a thoughtful expression on his face, then turns his attention back to the intercom. “Floria, can you check the receptionist’s terminal for me?”

“You mean the broken one up in the lobby?” Floria asks. “Sure, but why?”

“There’s something I want to confirm,” Salt Cube answers back. “See if anypony was messing with it recently. Please.”

“Alright, give me a minute then,” She says before the intercom goes silent.

“So, about my question?” I ask while Salt Cube taps his hoof on the intercom. After a few seconds it becomes clear that either he’s lost in his own thoughts or he is intentionally ignoring the question. Neither of those are comforting, to say the least. I let out a frustrated sigh and lie back against the wall. After what feels like an eternity of waiting, Floria’s voice finally comes out of the intercom again. “Salt Cube.”

He presses a button. “I’m here.”

“Somepony did gut the terminal up front. Strange thing is, it doesn’t look like a hellhound did it. Whoever decided to take it apart definitely knew what they were doing.”

Salt Cube smiles. “Alright, get back here as soon as you can,” He says before looking over to me. “I think Luna just answered our prayers.”

Turning the page on my leatherbound book, I glance up at Salt Cube and Floria arguing in hush tones as they lead me down what looks to be an old maintenance tunnel. Floria had said that she needed to talk with him alone the second she got back, so it’s not like they’re being rude or anything. But after an hour of this, it would be nice if they would take a break and give me some answers as to what is going on here and why they were insistent that I follow them.

From what bits I can glean from their conversation, it seems that they’re trying to figure out how to explain what happened to their leader. Not that I blame them, I’m still surprised I’m in one piece right now. But is that really something they need to keep quiet about. Then again, it’s not like being left out of the loop is anything new. At least they’re not patting me on the head and condensing telling me to ‘not worry about it’ like a certain griffon I could name.

I shake my head and go back to reading my book, trying to focus my thoughts away from Silverwing and the past and onto the story on the page. One of many about the world before the war. Back when life was simpler and peaceful. When ponies were more concerned with making friends than eking out a living from the carcass of a dead land. When having morals wasn’t a sign of naivety or weakness.

When doing what you thought was right didn’t carry unintended consequences.

“Hello, umm, Mister Scholar? What are you doing?” A colt’s voice asks in the back of my mind.

“Hmm? Oh, I’m reading ‘The Mare in the Moon’,” I say in the memory playing out in my mind’s eye. I remember looking up from my book to see a yellow pegasus colt with a red mane walking next to me, his blue eyes looking up at me.

“My aunt said you’re going to make us safe?” He asks.

“That is right,” I give him a grin before glancing at one of the ceiling mounted turrets that line the military styled hallway. “See these turrets here? I’m going to fix them so that they’ll shoot at whatever bad ponies decide to try and hurt anyone living in this bunker.”

“Really?” He asks excitedly with the biggest smile I have ever seen on a colt.

“Really,” I ruffle his mane just a little bit. “Don’t worry, once I fix these turrets, everyone will be safe.

“I promise.”

I slam my book shut.

A little too hard, it seems, as Floria and Salt Cube are startled by the sound of my book slamming shut and glance back in my direction. I sheepishly smile and quickly put my book away as Floria nudges Salt Cube and motions towards me with her head.

He rolls his eyes before clearing his throat. “So, umm, Intrepid? What’s it like, umm, serving under the New Canterlot Republic?”

I give him a confused look. “I beg your pardon?”

“You’re an NCR Ranger, right?” Salt Cube asks while quickly sizing me up. “You definitely look like one.”

My eyes widen and I quickly throw up my hooves in protest. “Oh no, no, no, y-you got it all wrong! I-I’m not an NCR Ranger! My outfit just happens to look similar to theirs! See?” I show him my shoulder. “No emblems! I’m not even a citizen!”

“Alright, alright, I get it. My mistake,” Salt Cube says. “I guess they wouldn’t send anypony this far out of their territory.”

“Right!” I sigh in relief. Although this misunderstanding may explain all the secrecy from before. What are they working on down here that they don’t want the NCR to know about? “Don’t worry, you’re not the first pony to assume that I’m a Ranger. I mean, I bet a lot of ponies take one look at your PipBuck and assume you’re from a Stable, eh?”

“I am from a Stable,” He says sharply, which earns him a glare from Floria.

“Oh! Umm,” I awkwardly say. “Which one?”

“There wasn’t a number attached to it,” He answers in the same tone as before. “Nopony knew why and nopony cared. If it had nothing to do with hoofball then it wasn’t worth thinking about.”

That piques my curiosity and quickly replaces my feelings of awkwardness moments before. “Oh really? I’ve never heard of a Stable like that before! Do you like hoofball then?”

“No, I hate it,” Salt Cube says flatly. “You would think that was a sin with the way they carried on and on about it. I swear, those idiots didn’t care that our leaky reactor turned me into a ghoul as long as I got things working for them.”

Ok, did I just hear that correctly?

“I-I don’t mean to be rude but, well, umm, you’re a ghoul?”

“Well, of course I’m a ghoul!” He says indignantly before pointing to his hairless scalp. “You think ponies naturally go bald?”

I look over the clearly not a ghoul Salt Cube and then glance at Floria. Seeing her roll her eyes is enough to assure me that I’m not the only one to find his claim to be ridiculous. Rather than point this out and risk starting an argument, I instead ask “So they eventually kicked you out?”

“No, I left,” He answers, much to my relief. “The outside world stops being scary after you’ve been dosed with as much radiation as I have. And I’m sure they were happy to see the heathen leave their little Hoofball sanctuary. We’ll see who gets the last laugh when their generator breaks down again.”

I quietly nod my head in agreement.

“Anyway I stumbled onto this place after wandering for who knows how long,” He says before his tone becomes noticeably softer. “That’s when Hay Bale found me and convinced the others to let me stay. She helped me adjust to being a ghoul until…”

“Salt Cube,” Floria finally speaks with a tender tone. “You know she’s-”

“She’s just sick, ok?!” He snaps at Floria before looking down with a pained expression on his face. “She’ll get better. I know she will.”

An awkward silence descends between the two as Flora looks at Salt Cube with solemn sadness. It drags on for a few minutes until I decide to end it by clearing my throat.

“I get the impression that you’ve been here for a while,” I say while turning my attention to Floria. “How did you find this place? It’s pretty much hidden in the middle of nowhere.”

“It’s pretty simple actually,” Floria says with a smile, probably happy for the change in subject. “I used to work here back before the war started.”

“Wait, you’re saying you used to work for the Ministry of Wartime Technology?” I ask rather skeptically. Considering the blatant racism and lies towards zebras the Ministry of Image’s spread through propaganda and literature, the idea of one working for any branch of the Equestrian Government is, frankly, ridiculous.

“This Lunar Institute wasn’t a part of that Ministry at the time,” Floria points out. “The acquisition happened long after I joined the team.”

So the Ministry of Tech didn’t make this facility after all; the Institute was just another company brought under the government’s umbrella to aid in their attempts to win the war. Or forced under it, if the hint of bitterness in the way Floria said acquisition is anything to go by.

Before I can inquire further on that topic, Salt Cube speaks up. “I still don’t get why you and the others let me join your team in the first place: I’m just a lowly engineer from a Stable. I don’t have the same type of training or expertise that you and the others must have gotten from the Ministry.”

“Just an engineer?” Floria raises an eyebrow at Salt Cube. “Don’t sell yourself short. You’re just as skilled in your craft as the rest of us. You’re the only reason we got this far in the first place."

Salt Cube rolls his eyes. “You’re the only one who sees it that way. You could have easily fixed those problems without me.”

“And what, exactly, are you doing here?” I ask. Then, when the two exchange concerned looks, I sheepishly add “I-If you don’t mind me asking.”

“It would be best if Bright Eyes explains that to you,” Floria says.

I tilt my head slightly to the side. “Bright Eyes?”

“One of our leaders here in the facility,” Salt Cube answers before looking up ahead. “We’re here.”

We stop in front of another square door like the one back at the elevator room. Salt Cube walks up to the door controls and, after a few button presses on the keypad, the door opens for him.

“I’ll go up ahead and see what they want to do with him,” Salt Cube says to Floria before motioning his head towards me. “Can you keep an eye on him while I’m gone? I shouldn’t be too long.”

Floria smiles. “Of course. I’ll make sure he doesn’t get into any more trouble.”

With that, Salt Cube gives a nod and then walks through the door before pushing a button on the other side. The door creaks as it shuts itself tightly and the sounds of locks activating echo throughout the tunnel.

Between the recent experience with feral ghouls and Floria standing with unnerving stillness next to me, an uneasy silence settles between us as we wait for her companion to return. Not even my curiosity, armed with dozens of questions about this facility and life before the war, is strong enough to break through my own discomfort around ghouls of any kind.

After several long minutes of feeling uncomfortable, I finally pull off my duster, wincing a little as the leather rubs my shoulder wound, before looking at the blood-stained tears on it. Thankfully, the damage doesn’t look too bad and, with a little bit of magic, I manage to fix up my duster and make it look good as new. Relatively speaking. It would be nice to be able to make old, worn out stuff brand new again.

Satisfied with my work, I throw my duster back on when I notice Floria staring straight at me, as if she is looking straight into my soul.

“Umm, do I have something in my mane?” I ask as I run my hooves through my mane. Mostly to deal with my own discomfort, but a small part of me wonders if there really is something in my mane.

Floria blinks and then calmly shakes her head. “Oh, no, there’s nothing wrong. I was just thinking…” Her voice trails off as she glances up at my horn before closing her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she opens her eyes and gives me a smile. “Just thinking about how rare it is to find a pony who knows the mending and cleaning spells nowadays. Did somepony from town teach them to you?”

“Thank you but no. My mother was the one that taught me most of what I know. Including those spells,” I blush while rubbing the back of my neck. She’s obviously lying but it doesn’t matter since I don’t plan on staying here too long. Plus, any conversation is better than going back to being awkwardly silent again. “Speaking of town, have you ever been there? I was on my way over when I stumbled upon this place.”

Floria shakes her head. “No, sadly. I haven’t left the facility in years. However, Salt Cube goes there sometimes, when we need something and can’t wait for the local trade caravan to stop by. I’m sure he can tell you a thing or two about the place and the locals if you ask.”

She then bows her head. “And I should apologise for the way you’ve been treated so far. We’ve had our fair share of thieves and ‘heroes trying to wipe out a den of ferals’, so it’s become easy to assume the worst from strangers,” She looks up and smiles. “At least you’re not one of the Steel Rangers stationed in the area. Thankfully, they don’t seem to care about this place or what we’re doing here.”

Anger and disgust begin to burn inside of me at the mention of the Steel Rangers. Emotions that must have shown on my face when Floria asks “I take it you don’t like them?”

I look away from her. “Let’s just say there’s some bad blood between us and leave it at that.”

At that moment, I hear the door open and Salt Cube emerges from the other side. He then motions to us. “Come on, Bright Eyes wants to see you.”

Salt Cube, you couldn’t have come at a better time!

“Thank you,” I say politely and take a few steps forward before looking back at my rifle. “Do you need to take my stuff before I’m allowed in?”

He shakes his head. “No, you should be fine. Follow me.”

I nod and Floria and I walk through the door, the dull grey colors of the tunnel gives way to the bright colors of the office space I’m now walking into. It’s jarring how clean and pristine the intersection before me looks. Almost like I just stepped through a portal into the past.

As I gawk at the scene before me, Floria slightly bows her head towards Salt Cube. “If you don’t mind, I need to head to my room,” She tells him before glancing over at me. “There’s something important I need to look up.”

He nods before patting my shoulder. “Let’s get going,” He says before continuing down the hallway before us. “We don’t want to be late.”

“Umm, alright,” I say and give a quick nod to Floria before catching up to Salt Cube.

I can’t help but continue to marvel at how clean and well kept everything looks as we make our way through this mysterious place. How did they manage to do all of this? There doesn’t seem to be any rot or grime anywhere. The ceiling isn’t collapsing under its own weight. Hay, the wallpaper isn’t even peeling in the slightest. It’s like… it’s like I’m back home again.

Before my homesickness has time to set in, I notice that the rooms Salt Cube and I are passing by are full of ghouls: ponies, zebras, and even some griffons, surprisingly enough. All of them working hard on different projects, organizing charts and folders, or discussing things that just goes over my head.

Then I notice a few of those ghouls poking their heads out of those rooms and whispering to each other. I keep my head low, trying not to draw any attention to myself, only to see them leave their rooms and silently follow us. The feeling of their eyes on me only serve to make me feel even more anxious. Enough to start noting all of the possible escape routes while taking some measured breaths.

This isn’t some old maintenance tunnel and these are not feral ghouls. They are not going to attack and tear me apart. Now get a grip before I lose it and make things worse!

It doesn’t help that the group of ghouls following us keeps growing. Salt Cube looks back and rolls his eyes. “Don’t worry about them,” He tries to reassure me. “We don’t normally let non-ghouls into the facility itself.”

Unfortunately, his reassurance doesn’t quite work but I appreciate his attempt nevertheless.

“So where are we anyway?” I ask in an attempt to distract myself from the whispering behind me. “This is clearly not the museum that message mentioned before.”

Salt Cube raises an eyebrow at me. “Museum? No, this is the main office complex. The museum is over at the R&D complex. Or what they managed to set up before the bombs dropped,” He then leans in close and whispers. “I wouldn’t bring it up with them if I were you. It’s not a topic they like to talk about.”

I nod my head. So somepony was insane enough to try to build a museum out here. That just raises even more questions as to why anypony would. But if asking for more details means getting on the wrong side of these ghouls… I glance back at the small crowd behind me.

As if I’m not apprehensive enough already, now I have to be careful about what I say now or risk angering the leader of a horde of ghouls. No pressure.

“We’re here,” He says, motioning towards the turn up ahead.

Turning around one more corner, we end up in a rather large room filled with various kinds of research equipment. In front of a large vault door stands two ghouls: a rather tall griffoness and an average sized unicorn.

The griffoness’ plumage (what’s left of it. There are dead spots of skin showing through in places) is a dirt brown color with faded white feathers covering her head. Her empty eye sockets glow with an ethereal light that seem to draw me in as she speaks with an eerie echo to the unicorn present. “I don’t know why the Goddess saw fit to put this trial before us. But She has rewarded our faith in Her so far. I don’t think She will abandon us now.”

The unicorn nods and smiles. “Yes, you’re right. Of course you’re right,” he says in the gravelly voice that nearly all ghouls have. Admittedly, his appearance is peculiar: Old bandages cover up nearly all of his ghoulish body, including his cutie mark and one of his orange eyes. He brushes aside what is left of his pale light brown mane and adds “It’s just hard to wait for Goddess Luna to aid us with our problem after losing so many good ponies.”

Salt Cube clears his throat. “Prophetess, Mr. Shores,” He says respectfully before taking a step back and motions towards me. “This is Intrepid Scholar, the pony I was telling you about earlier.”

Wait, prophetess? She’s a prophetess? Of Luna? I-I mean, I know Stable ponies believe that the princesses ascended into godhood. But a griffon believing in an alicorn goddess? Enough to think that she’s been called by Luna to be Her prophetess? What in the world of Equestria is going on here?!

“Ah, the hellhound slayer I take it?” The prophetess places a talon under her beak as she looks me over. “Quite an impressive feat, even if that seems to be expected for an NCR Ranger like yourself.”

“Umm, thank you. But no, I’m not from the NCR. Just a pony from Tenpony Tower,” I say while my mind slowly makes sense of the whole prophetess thing. “And I know my gear resembles that of a Ranger, but I’m definitely not… one….”

I feel an overwhelming sense of horror as it suddenly dawns on me that I just said I’m from Tenpony Tower. A place notorious for its racism towards ghouls. To the point where they painted the infamous words ‘No Zombies!’ proudly in giant red letters across the main entrance of the tower, just to make it clear how much they hate ghouls.

And I said this while surrounded by ghouls.

“A-And I swear I have no problems with ghouls whatsoever! H-Honestly, I think you are all decent folks! A-And I definitely wouldn’t call you something as degrading as ‘zombies’ or, umm-” I bite my tongue before I humiliate myself any further.

Smooth as gravel, Intrepid. Smooth as gravel.

Salt Cube facehoofs before looking at the prophetess. “I already told you, he’s just a random scavenger that wandered into this place by himself.”

“Is it wrong for me to confirm that for myself?” Bright Eyes asks coldly as she shifts her gaze over to him. “After all, it wouldn’t be the first time you’ve fooled yourself into thinking something that wasn’t true.”

“You-” Salt Cube grows and the two exchange glares while the ghouls around me try really hard to blend into the background.

“Enough!” The unicorn slams his hoof into the ground. “Can’t we go for five minutes without the two of you going for each other’s throat?” He sighs before moving over and offering his hoof to me. “Rocky Shores. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise,” I say while timidly shaking his hoof.

“And my name is Bright Eyes,” The prophetess says, bowing slightly with a claw on her chest. “I’m sorry that we made you uncomfortable. The last few weeks have been trying for all of us.”

“Oh no! It’s fine! Really,” I try to give her a smile to alleviate her concern. But with all of the discomfort of having ghouls silently staring at me from behind, that smile must seem forced to her.

Salt Cube once again clears his throat. “Maybe it’s time we finally fill him in on what’s going on here.”

Bright Eyes smiles and gives me her full attention. “Gladly. Over two hundred years ago, Equestria was cleansed in unholy fire-”

“Are you really going to break into monologue here?” Salt Cube asks snidely.

“If we’re going to explain things, we might as well give it some context,” Bright Eyes shoots another glare at him.

“No offense, but I am well versed with Pre-War History and how it ended,” I immediately cut in before they can get going again. “What I would like to know is what brought you all here in the first place.”

Bright Eyes glances at me, then at Salt Cube, before she sighs in defeat. “Very well. By the great mercy of our goddess Luna, I have been blessed with a vision and a task to gather her chosen in preparation for our great journey to the promised land.”

“As you might be aware of, many of us used to work here before the bombs fell,” Rocky chimes in. “Though Bright Eyes, Luna promised us a way to achieve the dream we had set out to accomplish here all those years ago. The rest joined us later, when they heard about the Goddess’ plan for those of us who remain loyal to Her still.”

I tilt my head slightly in confusion. “And what is Her plan, exactly?”

“We’ll show you,” Rocky says before nodding to Salt Cube.

Salt Cube nods back and walks over to the terminal next to the door. Within seconds the door hisses to life as it opens, revealing a large room lined with terminals, control panels, and other things that clearly mark it as the control center of some sort.

And beyond the large observation windows lies a… no, it can’t be.

Running into the control room, I stare out of one of the observation windows and then rub my eyes to make sure that I’m not seeing things.

“I-Is that really an L33-742A Eclipse Missile?!” I exclaim with a giant smile on my face. “I-I saw the model of it when I was making my way over here! This is one of the single greatest finds in all of Equestria! To think that a relic like this is still in one piece after all these years! But how did it get here?! Or was it made here? If it was made here, then why was it made? Maybe to figure out the weaknesses of the zebra’s own balefire missile? But then, they would have had to have gotten schematics to make one. Unless they somehow got their hooves on an actual missile. Which would mean….”

I slowly look back at Bright Eyes as an uneasy feeling creeps into my mind. “What are you planning on doing with this thing, exactly?”

Bright Eyes gives me a smile as she walks to my side. “That, my dear Intrepid, is how we plan to travel to the promised land. That is our ticket to our dear goddess’ majestic moon.”

… What.

“We were lucky that this place was untouched after all these years,” Rocky says from somewhere behind me. “Even more so when we found that this missile was still in the silo. Of course, we had to use whatever we could salvage from-”

“Ok, stop, just stop!” I back away from the window and turn around to face the others. “Let me get this straight. You converted an L33-742A Eclipse Missile into a rocket capable of carrying ponies… so you can go to the moon?”

“Yes,” Bright Eyes says promptly.

“The same moon that Luna was banished to decades ago?”

Salt Cube nods.

“With something that can easily wipe out a city should it ever come crashing back down?” I ask, silently praying that this is some sort of joke.

“We have faith that we can pull this off,” Rocky Shores says calmly.

I slowly sit down and rub my temples. “O-Ok, let’s just set aside the idea that you converted a weapon of mass destruction into a vehicle to travel to a place that no mortal pony or being has ever been to before. That still doesn’t change that no pony knows what it is like up there! What if it turns out to just be a giant floating rock? How the hay are you planning to survive up there?!”

“We’re ghouls, we don’t need any kind of sustenance outside of radiation,” Salt Cube says without any hint of self-awareness. Bright Eyes and Rocky Shores exchange awkward glances, showing that I’m not the only one that sees the irony in him being the one to point this out to me.

“Ok, valid point,” I say before turning my attention to Rocky. “So how are you going to solve the lack of radiation then? Because as far as I’m aware, the zebras didn’t launch any Balefire missiles at the moon.”

“We found a large stockpile of Balefire warheads in storage when we came back here,” Rocky explains. “Once we reach the moon’s surface, we’ll set one off as needed and-”

I hold my hooves up and shake my head. “Wait, wait, wait, you’re telling me there’s a stockpile here?! Of Balefire warheads? In Equestria? How, how many are we talking about here?”

“Well, the last time we counted there was...” Rocky taps his chin thoughtful. “... about a hundred in total?”

My blood runs cold as I give them all a blank stare. ‘A hundred warheads? A hundred warheads?!’

“Are you all insane?!” I spit out. “Do you realize that, if you screw this up, you could potentially blow up half the moon? And that’s assuming you actually make it! If you fail and that rocket comes crashing back down to Equiss, forget about wiping out a city! At this point, you’ll sink the entire continent! Or worse!”

“I think you’re overestimating how powerful these warheads actually are,” Rocky says while taking a step back.

“Am I?” I ask skeptically.”Am I really?!”

“And what else are we to do?” Bright Eyes speaks up as she looks at me somberly. “There isn’t any radiation left in Equestria anymore. Who knows how long it will be before it disappears from the world completely? It’s a small mercy from Luna that these warheads still have radiation in them.”

I shift my gaze away from hers. Right, of course, how could I forget about that day so many years ago? When a rainbow shockwave swept across the land, taking away all of the balefire radiation and other magical effects that had turned Equestria into the nightmarish wasteland that it had been. The day when the permanent cloud cover finally broke and allowed the sun to truly shine on the land. A ray of hope to all wastelanders who have, predictably, come to call it a ‘Day of Sunshine and Rainbows.’

It didn’t occur to me that, to a ghoul who needs that radiation to keep existing, that day would be anything but.

“There is no place for us here anymore,” She continues. “And we dare not scar the land any more by setting off one of those bombs here. At least in the place Luna has prepared for us, we can get rid of these last few creations of hate and continue to live without causing further harm to others.”

A few minutes pass in silence before I finally look up at Bright Eyes and then at the ghouls hovering just outside of the door. “So why are you telling me all of this?” I ask somberly.

“That… device on your foreleg,” Rocky Shores points to my PipBuck. “I understand you used it to access the broken terminal in the lobby and download its contents without issue?”

I nod.

“On the top floor of the R&D complex, there’s a room that houses a mainframe that contains the crucial data we need to make this flight possible,” He explains. “The hellhound you killed was part of a pack that attacked us while we were wrapping up our work there.”

Ok, I think I know where he is going with this.

“Not to be rude or anything,” I speak up. “But if you’re looking for somepony to kill an entire pack of hellhounds then I’m definitely not that pony. Killing that hellhound was a simple fluke that I doubt I’ll be able to do again.”

“That won’t be necessary,” He says and I give him a confused look as he walks up and places a hoof on my shoulder. “All we really need is that data. If you can get that for us, we’ll pay you five thousand caps for the job.”

My confused look quickly turns into a more wary one as I look straight into Rocky’s eyes, err, eye. “Five thousand caps. Just to get some data from some bloodthirsty hellhounds so you can fly a rocket carrying balefire warheads to the moon.”

“So we can fly a rocket carrying world-weary ghouls safely to the moon,” He corrects, patting my shoulder before giving me some space.

On the face of it, the deal really isn’t all that bad. Just run in, avoid the murderous hellhounds, get the data, and run out with all of my limbs intact. Considering some of the things I’ve done in the past, this is possibly the most straightforward and least shady job I’ve been offered. Even the pay, which is more than most ponies see in a lifetime, seems reasonable considering how dangerous this job is.

This is too good, actually. There has to be a catch. Something that they will spring on me once I accept the job.

“And once you return with the data,” Bright Eyes says. “We’ll also need you to assist Salt Cube with launching the rocket.”

Ah there we go. There’s always a catch-

“Wait, what?!” Salt Cube and I spit out loudly and in unison.

Ok, calm down. I must have misheard what she said. That’s it. She can’t possibly have said-

“What the hay do you mean ‘assist Salt Cube with launching the rocket’?!” Salt Cube walks past me and glares up at Bright Eyes. “I’m coming too, aren’t I?!”

Bright Eyes returns his glare. “Somepony needs to stay behind to run the controls,” She says in a very measured tone. “Unless you think he can do it all by himself?”

I feel the blood drain from my face as he replies back with “Of course he can! He knows his way around a terminal and the rest isn’t all that difficult to pick up! So I can go with you while he presses the button to-”

“N-No, no no, I-I can’t do this!” I spit out. “I-I can’t help launch this thing to the moon! I-I don’t know the first thing about launching rockets! What if I miss something and screw this up?!”

“Intrepid, listen-” Rocky Shores starts but I brush his hoof off my shoulder and back away.

“No! I’ll just get everypony killed like-” I shake my head vigorously. “I’m sorry! You’ll have to find somepony else to do this!”

With a curt bow, I turn around and start heading towards the exit, wincing as Salt Cube says “Great, we scared away the only pony that could do this.”

You wouldn’t feel that way if you knew what I’ve done.

“What do you mean ‘we’?” Bright Eyes retorts, “You’re the one that suggested that a random stranger handle the controls by himself.”

“Yet you trust him enough to believe he wouldn’t shoot me and sabotage the launch somehow,” Salt Cube answers back.

And I really can’t be trusted. Not with something like this. I’ll just get everypony killed if I get involved with this. Like last time.

“Look, it doesn’t matter now,” Rocky Shore sighs in resignation. “We’ll just have to hope that Winter Rose can pull through for us.”

My ear twitches at the new name and I slowly stop near the exit. Who?

“That braggart? She said she’d take care of our problem in three days!” Salt Cube scoffs. “Now we have hellhounds leaving the R&D complex to hunt ponies in the front lobby! I knew we shouldn’t have trusted her.”

“We just need to give her more time,” Rocky says.

“But he has a point: it’s been two weeks since we last heard from her,” Bright Eyes points out. There’s a small pause before she continues “As much as I hate to say it, we should assume that she’s dead now. We can’t risk losing anypony else in an attempt to see if she is still alive.”

There’s a hint of regret in Bright Eye’s tone with that last sentence. Looking at the ghouls hovering at the exit, it’s clear to see that all of them will be dead before they take two hoofsteps into that hellhound’s den.

And if this Winter Rose is still alive-

I shake my head. ‘It’s none of your concern,’ The little pony in my head says while the trio continue to converse behind me. ‘Just keep walking. No good will come from you getting involved in this.’

But there’s one pony out there that is in danger or worse! If she is still alive, then I’m the only one here with the equipment and skills that can save her, right?

‘She obviously knew the risks or she wouldn’t have taken the job,’ My little pony points out. ‘You’ve already refused to help them launch their rocket. Why jump in now?’

Because they’re not in any danger right now! She is! I can’t launch a rocket and be sure it won’t come crashing down because of something I did. But maybe I can bring one pony back safely.

‘And what if things get worse because of you?!’ My little pony asks harshly. ‘Face it, you’re cursed! Ponies die when you get involved!’

I know! But who else can they turn to?! It’s not like there’s a line of would-be heroes right outside their door! I’m the only one they can turn to right now!

‘They’re not asking you to find her,’ My little pony says bluntly.

I know they’re not asking me to find her! But-

‘I want to be like Dad when I grow up!’ The words of my younger self echo in my mind. ‘I want to do what’s right and be able to help ponies out no matter what!’

Closing my eyes and taking in a deep breath, I say loudly and abruptly “I’ll go find your friend and bring her back safely!” Turning around, I open up my eyes to see both Salt Cube and Bright Eyes taken aback by the declaration. Rocky Shores, however, just smiles at me. He must have noticed that I haven’t left yet before I spoke up.

Salt Cube shakes his head but the shock is still evident in his voice. “Really? But you said-”

I raise a hoof in front of me. “Don’t get me wrong, I want nothing to do with this rocket launch. But…” I rub the back of my neck. “Look, somepony might be in danger right now and if there is really nopony else that can bring her back safely, then I guess I’m your stallion.”

“That is rather noble of you,” Rocky walks up and offers his hoof. “Alright, I accept your offer. Thank you.”

“Oh, umm, n-no problem,” I awkwardly shake his hoof before looking towards the ground. “I am a little short on supplies, though. So I’d appreciate it if you could spare me some MFCs for my rifle?”

“We’ll get you whatever you need. Just bring her back safely,” He says to me before walking out of the room. “Alright, that’s enough gawking, everypony!” He shouts to everypony else. “Let’s get back to work!”

There’s some murmuring as the group outside disperses, save for a couple Rocky waves down to, supposively, fetch some supplies. Bright Eyes smiles and pats my shoulder on her way out while Salt Cube nods at me before quickly tailing her.

Finally alone, I turn my attention towards the rocket. It really is a marvel to behold: a breath-taking creation that really has no right to exist outside of old history books and stories passed down from since the war ended. To think that these ghouls were able to put together something like this, when everything around them is in complete ruin, is nothing short of astounding.

If only everything else about it didn’t feel like something out of a bad fever dream: the warheads, the hellhounds, the ghouls and their plan to go to the moon.

“Intrepid!” Rocky calls and I turn to see him next to another ghoul. “It’s going to take us some time to get those supplies you asked for together. So why don’t Simmer here escort you to your room and you can take a load off for the rest of the evening?”

My first instinct is to refuse the offer: I don’t want to take advantage of their hospitality any more than I have to. But the yawn that comes out of my mouth instead of my refusal convinces me that it can’t be helped. “Thank you,” I say instead with a smile and Rocky nods before leaving Simmer with me.

I take one last look at the rocket behind me before following Simmer out of the room and towards the room they’ve prepared for me here.

There’s no point in worrying about this now, I have a job to do. And once I rescue their friend, I need to get out of here as fast as possible.

Before I make things worse for them.

“Let’s try this again.”

Hovering a MFC in front of my face, I close my eyes and focus on transferring some of my magic into it. After a few seconds, the MFC starts to leak magical energy and I quickly stop the transfer. Hesitantly, I open an eye and then the other before letting out a sigh of relief.

“Finally.”

Placing the newly charged MFC into my bag, I look over at the small pile of damaged and burnt out cells on the table in front of me. It’s surprising how easy it is to overload these things and it’s taken me the entire morning just to figure out how to keep them from blowing up in my face. But now I should have an endless supply of power for my gauss rifle. That should help in avoiding what happened yesterday.

Yesterday.

I look over the pre-war style room: the comfy bed, the refurbished furniture, the bookshelf full of old trinkets. By wasteland standards, this is pure luxury right here. One that I haven’t been able to enjoy since leaving home. It honestly feels wrong to be able to spend the night here without having to do anything to earn it. Then again, I am about to run a suicidal rescue mission for them, despite common sense and past experience telling me that I shouldn’t do this.

This is probably one of those moments where I should just swallow my discomfort and wait patiently for them to gather up the supplies I asked for.

With that thought in mind, I pick out another empty MFC and-

“YOU CAN’T LEAVE US HERE!”

Salt Cube’s voice quickly drags my attention to the slightly ajar door of my room. Just in time to hear Bright Eyes say loudly and with clear irritation in her voice “This isn’t up for debate. You simply can’t-”

“I put more work and effort into making this a reality than anypony else!” Salt Cube retorts. “So did Hay Bale! We’re going!”

The hallway goes quiet for a moment. While my curiosity begs me to walk outside and ask what is going on, this really isn’t something a stranger like myself should be getting involved in. I turn my attention back to my empty MFC and focus on filling it up with magic.

As if on cue, Bright Eyes speaks up again in a very strained yet measured tone. “Listen to me: there’s nothing we can do for Hay Bale now. If we could bring her back, we would have by now! And we are not trying to exclude you: you will die if you go with us!”

“No I won’t!” Salt Cube shoots back instantly. “If it’s about the radiation poisoning then I can handle it! I’m just as much of a ghoul as the rest of you!”

“NO! YOU’RE NOT!”

Suddenly something touches my shoulder, startling me enough that I instinctively teleport to the other side of the room. Now finding myself sitting on top of the bed, I turn to see Rocky Shores standing next to my chair, his hoof still hovering slightly above where my shoulder was seconds ago.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” Rocky apologizes while placing a bag on the table with his blue-tinted magic. “I guess I should have knocked louder.”

“No, no, you're fine,” I get off the bed and sit back down in my chair, placing the empty MFC on the table and a hoof over my racing heart. “I’m the one that was so focused on recharging my MFCs that I tuned everything else out.”

Or tried to. Everypony in the wasteland can probably hear those two bickering outside.

“Well, I can’t blame you. Not with those two going at it again,” He motions towards the door with his head. “Some days I wish I could tell them to knock it off, but that’s not going to happen anytime soon.”

“No kidding,” I say as the argument in question, while quieter now, still rages on outside. Then a question comes to mind. “I’ve heard him mention Hay Bale before. Who is she?”

Rocky becomes visibly uncomfortable at the question as he takes a seat on the other end of the table. “Hay Bale is… was one of the engineers working here before the war. A sweet old mare who wouldn’t stop working until the loss of her grandson drove her into depression. Things only got worse after she was turned into a ghoul.”

He slowly shakes his head. “Nothing we did could drag her out of it. Until she found Salt Cube and took him under her wing,” He lifts up a hoof and gives me a firm look. “Now Salt Cube is a brilliant pony and I’ll never regret making him a part of our family here. Honestly, we wouldn’t have gotten as far as we have without him. But as you’ve seen, he has his fair share of issues. And despite our misgivings about her humoring some of his weirder ideas, we were happy to finally see her acting like her old self again,” He sighs sadly. “Maybe that’s why we ignored the signs that she was going feral until it was too late.”

So that’s why Salt Cube insists that Hay Bale is just sick. He must have noticed that she was suffering from some kind of mental illness, but he willingly went along with it. All because she treated him better than anypony in his Stable. Hay Bale must have gone feral recently then, given how fiercely he’s fighting everyone on the topic. I don’t even want to think about how he would have acted if that ghoul I killed yesterday was actually her.

Rocky looks wistfully at the bandages wrapped around his foreleg. “It’s hard to live for two hundred years with that kind of pain eating away at your soul,” He stops for a moment before giving me a smile that poorly hides the pain he’s feeling. “It’s why I took up medicine for the first few decades of my new life: to keep my mind from thinking about the past too much.”

But those bandages remind you of something from your past, don’t they?

I keep that question to myself and instead glance over at the door. “I can understand not wanting to remember the past too much. Though… if you don’t mind me asking, is that why Bright Eyes turned to Luna then? Until now, I thought only Stable ponies seriously believed in the goddesses.”

Rocky smiles. “I can understand your skepticism. Hay, she was my second in command back in the day, so I was just as surprised to see her as a prophetess when we met up again.”

“Really now?” I look back at him and lean in closer.

“I know it may not look like it, but she used to be more stubborn than she is now. Prideful to a fault too,” He leans back in his chair. “But no matter what happened, she always had my back.”

His smile disappears as his tone becomes more solemn. “Then she lost her eyes when a bomb detonated near her. She tried to act like nothing had changed, but I knew her long enough to tell when she was suffering just as badly as the rest of us. Suicide wasn’t uncommon for ghouls in those days. So when she just disappeared one day, I thought I’d never see her again.”

“But obviously she came back,” I say as Rocky stops leaning back and gives me his full attention again. “So what changed?”

His smile returns to his face. “A miracle happened. She said Luna came to her in a dream, restored her eyesight, and told her to gather others and bring them here. Meanwhile, I got the urge to come back here with a few co-workers, just to tinker with the rockets like we used to. When we all met at the same time, it became clear that we all wanted to try to aim for the moon again. When more kept coming, all with the same desire as us, it honestly felt like we were being guided by an unseen hoof towards our goal.”

“It’s too bad that the hellhounds don’t seem to share your enthusiasm,” I say with a frown on my face.

Rocky nods sadly. “Like Bright Eyes tells me, it’s just another trial for us to face and overcome. Thankfully, Luna saw fit to send us aid in our darkest moment,” He opens the bag and fishes out a holotape. “Here’s a map of the complex. We don’t know where Winter Rose is at, but at least you won’t be completely lost as you try to find her for us.”

Despite having no reason to do so, I look at the holotape with some suspicion. Levitating it over to me, I look it over before inserting it into my PipBuck. Sure enough, a map of what looks to be the R&D complex shows up on the screen. With nothing that might look like a virus or some other malicious thing hiding somewhere in the background.

“The offer still stands, by the way,” Rocky says.

“I’m sorry, but my answer is still no,” I say respectfully before closing the map on my PipBuck. “Nothing I get involved with ends well and this task is way too important to leave with a random stranger like me. You’re better off with someone more competent at this kind of stuff.”

He frowns. “I know Bright Eyes made it sound like we’re expecting a lot from you, but all we’re really asking you to do is get some data and help Salt Cube monitor some simple things while he preps the rocket to launch. Is that really too much to ask?”

It’s all I can do to look away from his pleading eye and mutter a regretful “It is.”

How do I even explain the amount of horror and bloodshed I caused the last time I attempted to do something that was clearly over my head? I shouldn’t even be trying to rescue their friend! I’m sorry, I really am, but I’m involved too much as is.

Rocky must have caught a glimpse of how I’m feeling inside as he says “I guess it can’t be helped then. You must have a good reason for refusing to help us with this,” The words pierce through my heart as he gets up and motions towards the bag. “All of the supplies you need should be in there, along with a few extra things for Rose. Floria will be in her office when you’re ready to leave,” He then gets up and bows. “And thank you for going after Rose for us. It’ll be good to finally find out what happened to her.”

It feels awkward to say thank you after what was said, so I simply nod my head at him. Rocky nods in return and walks over to the door before stopping. “Luna made her fair share of mistakes while she was still mortal,” He says sincerely. “We don’t think any less of her because of them. Whatever you’ve done in your past, I’m sure you can overcome them just like she did.”

There’s a difference between a goddess and somepony like me.

I watch Rocky leave through the door before turning my attention to the bag he left behind. After putting away all of the MFCs I was experimenting with earlier, I open up the bag and take stock of the supplies inside: a random assortment of food items, a few water bottles, even more MFCs, quite a few .308 round magazines, and some health potions.

All I need to wage a one pony war against hellhounds. Now to find myself a minigun and some power armor and I’ll be set to go.

*BANG*

I nearly teleport again from the sound of something hitting the wall hard. Emptying the contents of the bag into my saddlebags, I quickly rush outside to see what is going on.

It doesn’t take long to find the culprit: a depressed looking Salt Cube with his head resting against the wall, with his hoof firmly planted next to it. Seems like he lost his argument with Bright Eyes.

‘You should keep walking,’ The little pony in my head tells me. ‘This really doesn’t concern you.’

Maybe it’s guilt from saying no to Rocky again about the job he wants me to do, but I find myself unwilling to leave Salt Cube alone without attempting to cheer him up. Somehow. “A-Are you alright, Salt Cube?” I ask hesitantly. “I heard that you were arguing with Bright Eyes earlier.”

“Everypony heard me arguing with Bright Eyes,” Salt Cube doesn’t bother to look up as he talks. “Now unless you need something from me, I’d like to be left alone right now.”

“Alright,” I turn around and start walking away. For about a few steps before the nagging feeling that I didn’t try hard enough compels me to look back and say “You know they’re not trying to be unfair to you or anything. It’s just that, well, you know,” I rub the back of my neck while trying to figure out where I’m going with this.

He lets out a sigh. “I am a ghoul, Intrepid. I know I haven’t completely transformed yet, but it’s just a matter of time. Hay Bale even said so and no pony was saying she was wrong back then.”

Because they thought you were helping her get better and they were willing to turn a blind eye because of that. And now they’re reaping what they sowed here.

“I knew she was sick when I met her and that might have had something to do with it. But ever since she got quarantined, the others…” Salt Cube shuts his eyes tightly “I don’t know what happened to make them doubt that I am one of them. I do belong with them, don’t I?” He gives me a look of loneliness and fear that I am all too familiar with. “After all I’ve done for them, why would they leave me behind?”

As uncomfortable as the situation is making me, I give him the most comforting smile I can manage. “Because they want the best for you.”

“Don’t patronize me, Intrepid.” Salt Cube warns before looking back at the wall.

“I’m not, honest!” I answer back with hooves raised. “I’m just saying that they do value you here. Rocky even told me he doesn’t regret bringing you onboard.”

That little nugget of info earns me a very derisive snort from him, but I press on. “Look, sometimes you have to say and do things that might hurt the pony you care about in order for them to be happy in the long run. They know that in the, umm, state that you’re in right now, that you won’t be able to survive the trip. They’re just looking out for you, that’s all.”

I brace myself for the angry retort I know is coming from him. Instead, Salt Cube silently thinks about what I said for a few seconds before saying, “I think I get what you mean. Thanks.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I slowly lower my hooves and widen my smile more. “Just don’t let this poison your relationship with them and make good use of the time you’ve got left with them, ok?”

Taking the small nod from him as a sign that the conversation is done, I walk away knowing that I did all that I could for him… for about a few steps before a sudden realization has me looking back at him with a more sheepish smile on my face.

“Say, umm, do you happen to know how to get to Floria’s room from here?”

Call me ignorant or horribly misinformed about zebra culture, but I was expecting Floria’s room to be more… zebra-ish.

Instead of tiki masks, bone chimes, and other tribal things, her room is pretty ordinary. With a pony-styled bed and two bookshelves filled with books instead of jars of organs. On the wall hangs a couple of faded pictures of what looks to be a younger version of her and a pegasus. Along with some talismans and a signed poster of the Wonderbolts in action.

Huh, I never would have taken her for a Wonderbolts’ fan.

At a rather large study desk sits Floria, intensely focused on something that I can’t quite make out from where I’m standing. Not really wanting to give her a heart attack, I lightly knock on the open door.

She looks over at me and gives me a grin “Hello Intrepid, I was just about to come get you,” She says before she stands up and walks over to me. “Are you ready to leave?”

“About as ready as I’ll ever be,” I say while looking over her shoulder to see a rather large worn tome open on her desk. “So did you find what you were looking for?”

“I’m not sure,” She looks back at the book. She opens her mouth to continue, but hesitates and instead walks over to the wall and pulls off one of the talismans hanging on it. “This contains a disintegration spell ward on it,” She explains as she puts it around my neck. “It should help against the energy weapons some of the hellhounds used against us.”

Great, on top of getting dissected by sharp claws, I now have to worry about getting disintegrated as well. Today keeps getting better and better, doesn’t it?

“Thank you,” I nod in appreciation, though my curiosity compels my eyes back onto the book on the desk.

Floria notices and gives me an amused smile. “Are you curious about what I was reading?”

“Oh! Umm, y-yes. I-I mean no, I don’t to be rude,” I quickly look off to the side to hide my embarrassment from her.

“I don’t mind,” She reassures me before she walks back to her desk. “It’s an old book my grandmother gave me centuries ago. Since I was born and raised in Manehattan, it was her way of teaching me about my culture and such.”

That piques my interest even further, given that my knowledge about zebras comes from the rather macabre-obsessed medic I used to travel with.

The thought comes to ask her if I could borrow her tome when she carefully closes it. “I didn’t much care for it back then, I was too busy looking towards the sky and beyond,” She says before giving it a tender look. “I’ve had a lot of time to make up for that mistake.”

Seeing her treat her tome in the same way as I treat my book kills whatever desire I have to part her from it. Something that important to her shouldn’t be placed in a situation where it can be torn to pieces.

Floria brushes her mane back and I move out of the way as she walks out the door. “Well then, let us get you on your way.”

As we walk down the labyrinthian corridors that make up this complex (Honestly, how anypony can navigate this place without a map is beyond me), Floria opens up about her old life to me: First about how much of a Wonderbolt fan she is and how she never missed a chance to see them in action. Then about how she met her future husband at one of their events, a pegasus who was a sweet pony with the flaw of being a little too full of himself at times. Her glass eye was apparently a gift from him and what ultimately convinced her that he was the one.

I quietly listen while she reminisces about the past. The way she explains every detail as if it just happened yesterday, it reminds me of what a pony I once knew said about ghouls: They’re just normal ponies who just absorbed a little too much radiation.

Well, zebra in this case, but that's beside the point. To think of all that could be learned just by staying here and talking with them. All the history they could impart to me. It’s a shame that they’re dead set on leaving this world behind; Equestria will certainly lose part of its soul with their departure.

Suddenly Floria becomes silent as we approach a large vault door, the words “R&D Complex” written on a sign next to it. She walks up to the controls under the sign and stays still for a moment before asking “Intrepid, what do you know about the spirits in this world?”

I raise an eyebrow at the odd question before giving her a shrug. “Not as much as I would like. I’ve heard rumors of a group of vampire ponies that supposedly got their blood magic from an ancient spirit, but I never did find out if that was true or not. Even when my old group found their lair, we didn’t find anything outside of a few old bones and old smears on the wall.”

Floria looks back at me, her eyes piercing right through my soul again. “Are you certain you didn’t find anything else there?”

A chipped and cracked orb, surrounded by the weathered bones of ponies, flashes through my mind before I shove the memory back into its box. Though even remembering that little bit causes my body to shiver. “I’m sure,” I say calmly, praying that she won’t dig any deeper than that.

Floria continues her soul piercing gaze for what feels like an eternity. Then she looks back at the door and presses a few buttons to it. The door creaks as it slides upward, revealing the signs of age and damage of the tunnel walls on the other side. It seems the hellhounds were not driven back without a fight.

With a deep breath, I try to calm my nerves as I quickly take my first steps through the door. I then look back at Floria and give her a reassuring smile. “Don’t you worry, I’ll have Winter Rose back before you know it. I promise.”

“I have no doubt you will,” Floria says back. “Just please stay safe when you’re out there.”

I nod and start walking down the tunnel when she adds “Don’t give in to it, Intrepid. You are stronger than you give yourself credit for.”

That word of warning outright confuses me and I look back to ask what she means by it. Only to see the vault door slide shut behind me.

Well, I guess I can get an answer to that when I get back. But it sounds like...

I shake my head and turn my attention to the long dark tunnel in front of me. A tunnel that feels much like the entrance to a dragon’s lair the more I stare at it. With no other paths left open to me, I crack my neck and begin my very ill-advised quest inside the hellhound infested complex to rescue a pony who may or may not still be alive.

Dear Luna, what have I gotten myself into?

Author's Note

You’ve discovered a new faction and accepted a new quest!

New Faction Discovered:

The Children of Luna - Current Status: Neutral

Quest Accepted:

Aim For The Moon.

Quest Objective Gained:

Find Winter Rose.

Chapter 3 - Dogs Of War

******

From: Copper Hardwire
To: Pastel Skies

Pastel,

As requested, one Mr. Handy has been selected to become our first ever “Mr. Tour Guide” and plans I’ve drafted for turning one of the offices in its charging station has been attached for financial approval.

Now with all due respect, why do I have to gut this robot and turn it into something it isn’t? It’s already bad enough that they’re expecting us to practically rebuild this facility to accommodate their stupid museum idea while understaffed with no extra funds to make this work. Now they expect me to have this done by the end of the month too? I don’t even know the first thing about programming robots! Let alone one that was meant to just check ID Badges! Can’t Robronco or some other Ministry of Tech company provide us with one instead? It’s like they don’t care what happens as long as this stupid museum gets built.

Look, I understand you have a lot on your plate now with your new position. Especially with all of the pink slips the Ministry gave out recently. All I’m saying is that an expert in robotics would be nice to have right now. Or even a training manual on the subject.

Regardless, I’ll make sure our “Mr. Tour Guide” is ready by opening day, even if I have to cut some corners to do it. Just help the higher ups understand what I have to work with here.

Your friend and colleague,
Hardwire

******

The screen flickers as I exit out of the message and select ‘Power On Mr. Tour Guide’ on the menu again. And just like before, the ‘Invalid Command’ message blinks on the screen.

“Come on, I need a break here,” I moan before turning my attention to the Mr. Handy nicely tucked in it’s little alcove nearby. The chrome plating on its orb-shaped chassis seems to shine in the light of the terminal next to it. And from each of its three arms to the booster rocket at the bottom, the robot looks better taken care of than the ruined room it currently rests in.

What I would give for the rest of this facility to be in the same state as this Mr. Handy.

The fight between the hellhounds and the ghouls has wreaked havoc on the structure integrity of this place. Collapsed hallways, makeshift barriers, and large holes in the floor turns what should be recognisable landmarks into impassable ruins. And this is on top of the place already looking like something that Discord would design himself.

And if that isn’t frustrating enough to deal with, there’s another issue to deal with: the fact that I have no clue what Winter Rose looks like.

In all honesty, why did it take me this long to realize this? Even with all the madness that I had to take in earlier, asking for a simple description of the pony I’m rescuing should have been the first thing to cross my mind! What kind of an idiot forgets to ask that before rushing into the jaws of death?

‘What kind of idiot rushes into the jaws of death at all?’ The little pony in my head asks while rolling his eyes at me.

I press my forehead against the screen. Thankfully, the one bright spot in all of this is that Rose should be the pony in an entire complex full of hellhounds. Big. Bloodthirsty. Hellhounds.

Yeah, it definitely shouldn’t be hard to spot her at all.

With a groan, I look back at the Mr. Handy next to me. Maybe that thing can tell me what she looks like? It sounded like she might be part of the security of this place. And Mr. Hardwire’s message did suggest that it used to check IDs before it got converted to… whatever it is now. If it even holds that kind of information inside of it still.

I just need to get this thing to work. But how?

Moving in front of the Mr. Handy, I consider it carefully. Think, Intrepid, think. How am I going to get this thing to work when it can’t receive any signals from its terminal?... Maybe I can try jump starting this thing? Shouldn’t be any harder than charging an MFC, eh?

Taking in a deep breath of the dusty air, I touch the robot’s cold plating with my horn focus on channeling my magic into it. It takes some effort, but soon I feel my magic pouring into the robot’s power core on the other side of the plating. Now if only there’s a way to sense how much it needs before it can turn itself on.

“That rat has to be around here somewhere!”

Instinctively, I break off my connection and quickly duck behind the mostly intact wooden door. Peering around the edge, I spy about five hellhounds frantically looking around the intersection nearby.

Each has ragged fur of varying colors with quite a bit of scarring along with random pieces of armor strapped on to them. One of which reminds me of Applejack’s pet dog, Winona (If Winona was a large bipedal bringer of death with razor sharp claws and teeth, of course). A couple of them also have magical energy rifles slung over their shoulders.

And the largest one, a grey hellhound with dried blood staining the fur around her mouth and paws, wears a metal helmet with the symbol of the Grand Pegasus Enclave etched onto it.

Not good. This is not good at all. The Enclave must have caught wind of the warhead stockpile here somehow. Gah! Shouldn’t those racist bigots be fighting their civil war with the Dashites instead of sending hellhounds out to the middle of nowhere?!

“You two! Go down that way!” The grey one barks and two smaller hellhounds instantly move in my direction. I shrink back behind the door right before the second largest, a dirt brown hellhound wearing some patched up leather armor, throws his claws up into the air.

“We’ve been running around for hours now!” He yells, causing the two to pause and look back at him. “Just admit that you lost her scent already!”

The large grey one turns around and glares at the brown one. “What did you say?” She snarls.

“You heard me,” The brown one answers back.

The other hellhounds stand perfectly still as she slowly steps up to the brown hellhound. Despite her towering presence, the brown one doesn’t look the least bit intimidated as he defiantly holds his ground against her.

H-Hang on, aren’t Enclave hellhounds supposed to be mind-controlled somehow? Why are they arguing here? Shouldn’t there be a couple of pegasi around to make sure this doesn’t happen?

“Back. Down. Now,” The grey one finally warns coldly, causing all the other hellhounds to slowly step away from the two.

“Why? It’s been two weeks already and you still can’t find one stupid grey pony,” The brown one sneers back.

A chill runs down my spine as the grey one lets out a low threatening growl.

“Face it, Lupa. Smarty only picked you to lead so you could feel better about yourself,” The brown one says with a smirk on his face, seemingly unaware that ‘Lupa’ is slowly extending her razor-sharp claws. “What good are you if a rat like that winged pony can escape from right under your nose?”

Slowly, Lupa removes her helmet with her left paw and examines it, tracing the symbol with her right claw. “Do you remember the sound the winged ponies used to make us their obedient pets?” She asks in an eerily calm tone. “How it crawled into your head and told you to sit or stay or kill? Do you remember that Max?” She stops tracing and looks straight into the brown hellhound’s eyes. “Do you?”

The smirk on Max’s face fades. Terror slowly showing itself in his eyes despite his best attempts at keeping his defiant stance against the now unnervingly calm Lupa.

“Well, Max. I remember,” Lupa continues. “I remember when Smarty called to me. I remember how she showed me how to make the sound stop. And when it finally stopped,” She flashes him a toothy grin. “I remember how I made those ponies scream!”

In a flash of movement, blood instantly sprays on a nearby wall. A scream of pain rends the air as Max staggers backward, his claws clutching his face while fresh blood runs down it.

It takes all of my self control to stay still even as the little pony in my head screams for me to run away before they figure out I’m there.

“Now,” Lupa says coldly as she puts her helmet back on. “When I find that pony, I will gut her like all the others!Anyone else think I can’t do that?”

No one dares to answer outside of one hastily shaking his head.

“Good. Now split up, find Smarty, and bring her back to me along with that little thieving rat,” Lupa snarls before glaring at the rest. “In one piece.”

The hellhounds quickly scatter and I duck my head behind the door as one of them passes on by. After a few seconds, I peak around the door again and find Max alone in the intersection, clutching at the bleeding gash running down his face.

Out of all the things that could possibly happen, this is, well, not the worst possible thing. Having the Enclave get their hooves on the warheads here so they could nuke innocents with impunity is the worst. Rogue hellhounds, while bad, aren’t likely to care about the warheads at all. Although them being from the Enclave does explain the wiring and stuff inside the head of the hellhound I killed earlier. Meaning these are cybernetically-enhanced rogue Enclave hellhounds.

And Winter Rose somehow managed to foalnap one of them for whatever strange reason. So on top of finding her, I have to figure out a way to lose the hellhounds and figure out what to do with Smarty. Without getting killed in the process.

You know what? I take it back. Out of all the possible things that could happen, this is the worst. Possible. Thing. Dear Luna, why did I promise to bring this pony back in one piece? I should know better than to do that.

‘Even if you didn’t promise that, you’re never going to abandon this pony now, are you?’ My little pony asks solemnly.

The answer to that question is obvious. Looking past Max to the hallway behind him, I look for a spot to teleport to so I can sneak away without him noticing.

“HELLO FELLOW ROCKETEER!”

The booming voice triggers my instincts and I teleport into the hall without thinking. Turning around, I spot the Mr.Handy robot move into view from the door I was hiding behind. It waves one of its claws at me a little too earnestly.

“Oh, for the love of Luna!” I shout back while placing a hoof over my racing heart. “Don’t sneak up on ponies like that! You nearly gave me a heart… attack.”

An uncomfortably warm, moist breath that hits the back of my neck and I slowly turn around to see a rather surprised Max staring back at me.

Oh this isn’t good.

“Umm, hi. Sorry, I’m a little lost here,” I say and slowly back away from him while looking for a viable escape route. “B-But you look a little busy right now, so I’ll just be on my way, ok?”

“You dirty little winged-!” Max snarls while wiping the tears and blood from his eyes. “I’m going to have your hide stupid grey pony!”

And of course he would react like that.

Teleporting behind Max, I start galloping down the hallway, hoping to put enough distance between him and I before he decides to give chase.

Great, just great! I now have the undivided attention of an extremely pissed off hellhound! That stupid robot! Isn’t it smart enough to understand what is going on?! Of all the times it could have activated and blurted out its stupid greeting!

Suddenly, a massive force slams me into a wall, sending a surge of pain through me and dragging my attention back to reality. I look up to see Max lifting his claws above me and I teleport just as he swings them downward, leaving deep gashes into the wall as I reappear further down the hallway.

Pulling out my gauss rifle, I activate S.A.T.S. and queue up two attacks on his head. With a silent prayer to Luna that my shots will find their mark, I pull the trigger and execute the spell.

The first shot, however, misses and glances the hellhound’s shoulder instead. As Max whips his head towards me, the second shot slams into the armor covering his chest, causing him to stagger backwards a few steps.

As I pull out the spent MFC from that second shot, the sound and smell of frying circuits reaches me. A quick glance confirms it: My barely functional gauss rifle is now completely dead and utterly useless to me.

Luna, whatever I did to tick you off today, I profusely apologize for it! Honest!

Dread slowly creeps into my mind as Max digs his claws into the ground and lunges at me. I barely manage to jump out of the way, wincing as his claws scrapes along the side of my body, and slam the butt of my rifle into the gash on his face. He immediately howls in pain while backing away, one of his claws instinctively reaching up towards his face.

Seeing my chance, I quickly start to gallop further down the hallway while looking around frantically for a place to teleport to. A room or janitor closet or something to hide in until Max and the others give up on looking for me and-

Blinding pain sears through my left hind leg, causing me to lose my balance and tumble down one of the gaping holes in the hallway. I land hard on the floor below, crying out in agony from both the impact of the fall and the three deep gashes running up my hind leg.

The sound of movement forces my attention upward and I barely teleport out of the way as Max slams into the ground where I once stood. His eyes seem to glow in the dimly lit surroundings as they lock onto me.

A cruel smile creeps onto Max’s face as I struggle to stand. Unlike the fast movements from before, he slowly walks up to me, claws gleaming in the light as a small chuckle escapes his lips. It is almost like he is deliberately drawing this out just so he can savor the moment. Finding some kind of sick pleasure from my pain instead of getting it over with like any other predator.

I hate monsters like you.

As Max goes in for the kill, my instincts kick in and I lash out with anything my magic can grab hold of. In an instant, he reels back, screaming in pain as he clutches his snout. His nose lies on the ground between us.

And hovering next to me in an aura of green magic is a long thin blade made entirely of blood. My blood.

Like a siren’s song, I feel myself drawn to the wound I inflicted on Max. A dark inflection of my own voice whispers to me from the back of my mind.

‘He doesn’t deserve to live.’

‘Cut into him. Tear him apart. Rip the life out from his body.’

‘Make him pay for hurting you. He deserves nothing less.’

I shake my head violently and throw the blade away in disgust.

These aren’t my thoughts! This isn’t me! I am not like this!

As it loses form and splatters harmlessly against the wall, I look back to see Max now lost to his own bloodlust. He lunges at me with reckless abandon and I barely manage to teleport into the dark hallway near us to get away.

The fact that I’m no longer in front of him doesn’t seem to register to him as he blindly tears into the walls and floor before howling in rage. I barely manage to drag myself around the corner as he begins to look around the place.

Pressing my body against the wall, I peer back to watch as he frantically scans the room. His frustration and anger are evident through the haggard breaths he takes.

Then his eyes focus on a blood trail near me and I quickly duck back before he can spot me. My heart beats out of my chest as I hear his paw steps getting closer to me.

Any thought of running dies the moment I look down at my left hind leg. With it being torn up like it is, running is no longer an option. Can I chain enough teleports to get away? No, it’s too dark to see that far ahead. I won’t get far enough away before Max here can catch up and run me through.

So this is it then. I’m going to die now. Just like I should have a long time ago.

Why do I keep making promises I can’t keep?

The sound of something crashing into the floor echoes throughout the place. I peak around the corner again and see Max glare down the hallway behind him. It doesn’t take long for him to dash down it and disappear into the darkness ahead.

A minute passes.

Then two.

Finally I let out a sigh of relief. It seems he’s finally gone. And it doesn’t sound like the other hellhounds are heading this way either.

Slumping down against the wall, I wince at the pain shooting through my body. Outside of the gashes on my duster and riot gear, the left side of my body doesn’t seem to have suffered all that badly. If only that is the case for my hind leg. It’s a small blessing that it didn’t get cut off with how deeply the gashes on it are.

Nothing a healing potion can’t fix. I open up the saddlebag where I keep my potions, only to find a large hole at the bottom of it. Looking back one more time, I notice the contents of that bag scattered on the floor. Along with the broken remains of the potions reflecting the light from the hole above.

Perfect. Just perfect.

I turn my attention to the blood seeping from my wounded leg. At this rate, it won’t be long before I bleed out. And yet, the more I stare at it, the more a certain feeling takes hold of my mind. Like a spell that is on the tip of my horn but I can’t seem to cast it. Except this spell feels foreign to me. And dark in nature. Where have I felt this before?

‘You already know the answer to that,’ That dark voice from before whispers in my mind, recalling my memory of a chipped and cracked orb as it does so. My body shakes at the imagined sight of it and I press my hooves against my forehead while forcing that memory out of my mind.

No, don’t think about that! That magic is evil! I’ve already used it without me thinking about it. Nothing good can come from using it.

I stare at my leg, watching it bleed, hoping against hope that another solution will appear. Nothing else comes to mind.

Reluctantly, and with a deep breath, I focus my magic on my blood and allow instinct to take over. It’s unnerving how natural I feel doing this, wrapping my own blood around my leg and hardening it into a cast. It’s even more unnerving on how well it works, as if I’ve mastered this spell despite never having done this before in my life. A few hard taps confirms that this cast isn’t going to break anytime soon.

Just until I can find a health potion. Then you come off and I have nothing to do with blood magic ever again!

Luna, if you really are up there, please let there be a health potion nearby.

I slowly lift myself off of the floor, making sure that the blood cast can handle putting my weight on it in the process. When it’s clear the cast is not going to split open on me, I magically mend my equipment and then limp over to retrieve the items scattered on the floor.

There isn’t much to gather, honestly. A lot of the supplies the ghouls gave me must have fallen out while I was still upstairs. Even so, the stillness in the air is enough to quicken my pace. Knowing my luck, Max will decide to come back or any of the other hellhounds in his pack will decide to drop in right now.

Stupid grey pony. I am not a stupid grey pony, thank you very much! Just… ok, I am stupid sometimes. But it does seem like he mistook me for somepony else. Is Winter Rose a grey pony like myself? And they keep saying ‘winged pony’ too. They probably mean pegasus. So am I looking for a grey pegasus ghoul then? Or is she a normal pony like Salt Cube? At least I have an idea as to what she looks like now.

I pull up the map on my PipBuck, stare at the confusing mess for a few seconds, then decide that any direction opposite of where Max went is the best one.

“Here’s hoping we’ll bump into each other soon, Rose,”I mutter to myself as I make my way further into the darkness. “For both our sakes.”

Under the flickering hallway lights, an old oak door stands before me. Strong, sturdy, without any hint that age has weakened it at all. The sign next to it simply reads ‘Office’, with an empty spot for somepony’s name to be placed there. Placing my hoof against the door’s rough surface, I give it a firm push before turning the door knob when it doesn’t budge.

Locked.

I limp over to the nearly identical door next to it and attempt to open that one.

Locked.

Again, I limp over to the next one after that and try a third time.

Locked.

I look back at all the oak doors lining the dusty hallway. Every one of them blocking passage to an office. An office that might contain a first aid box that I could use right now.

And every one of them is locked.

Because of course they would be. Why didn’t I get a crowbar when I had the chance?

Normally, this wouldn’t be the end of the world. But this blood cast is making walking difficult and the idea of facing a hellhound without being able to run is downright suicidal. Actually facing one period is suicidal, but trying to never run into one again is, at best, asking for a miracle and past events proves that I’m not that lucky. Thus, getting a healing potion so I can patch up my leg and get rid of the cast is priority one.

I look over at the final oak door at the end of the hallway and begin to limp towards it.

Maybe this door will be unlocked. And I’ll find an untouched library, filled with Pre-War books and healing potions, and a terminal containing everything I want to know about this place. And while I’m asking for the impossible, there will also be a beautiful mare that’ll come out of nowhere to sweep me off my hooves and make me happy for the rest of my life.

Shaking my head at my own silliness, I place my hoof on the door and blink when it opens with the slightest push. Poking my head into the room beyond, I see an ornate wooden office desk with a terminal on it, two first aid kits mounted on the side wall, and a few bookcases behind the desk, filled to the brim with actual books!

I immediately look around for a beautiful mare. Sadly, there doesn’t seem to be anypony else here.

It’s probably for the best that every sarcastic request I make isn’t granted on the spot.

Limping my way towards the first aid kits in the room, I attempt to open them. Only to find that time has caused them to be stuck shut. After a few good tugs, it becomes clear that only something with the force of a jackhammer is going to open them up. Or Luna is subtly suggesting that I need to work out more.

If only I was an earth pony like Dad….

Maybe there’s a hammer or some other tool inside the desk here that I can pry the kits open with. As I make my way over there, I can’t help but glance at the bookcases and pick out a book that looks interesting. Opening it up, I frown when ‘Approved by the Ministry of Image’ shows up in relatively small print on the inside of the cover page.

Yet another casualty of the Ministry’s war on truth. Maybe I’ll have better luck with the next one?

Tossing that book aside, I pick out another one, only to find the same printed message on the inside of the cover page as well. At that point, I start pulling book after book, searching the inside cover page for the accursed message. After the eighth book, I groan and press my forehead into the bookshelf.

Is it really too much to ask for just one book that hasn’t been twisted into a haven of lies and pointless propaganda?

With a deep breath, I pick out one more book and look at the cover. “Give Peas a Chance,” I read flatly. “The Vegetarian’s Guide to Cooking.”

Well… it’s something. I guess. Nothing that I’m interested in at the moment, sadly.

Placing the book back in its place, I finally turn my attention to the desk. The desk drawers, however, are all locked. Not that that’s surprising anymore, given how rotten Lady Luck has been to me lately. Thankfully, the terminal doesn’t blow up the moment I touch it and hooking my PipBuck to it doesn’t set off any random alarms somewhere. A good sign so far.

And the security exploit once again works for this terminal too. With a few keystrokes, I get the admin password: ‘F1n@nc3s’. A single word, like every other terminal I’ve come across, but at least it isn’t something that can be simply guessed.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a note about where the key for the desk might be (another strange habit some Pre-war ponies tend to have) among the items that appear on the screen. Just a long list of financial reports and receipts. A brief glance through some of them shows that the biggest expenses back then seems split between supplies, replacement parts, and one that is simply labelled ‘accident payout’.

Not that any of that helps with my current predicament. Unless there’s a receipt for healing supplies here and a note where they might be stored at? I skim through the list, trying to pick out the ones that might help me in that regard, when one particular memo catches my attention: ‘With regards to the rumors surrounding the upcoming Ministry of Morale visit.’

Visit seems too tame a word for that particular Ministry. The only reason they would go anywhere if they suspect that there is a zebra sympathiser around. And, if what I’ve read about them is true, they weren’t picky about who they drag away.No sane pony would involve them unless the situation absolutely demanded it.

With that in mind, I open the memo up to see what it says:

******

To whom it may concern,

As you may have already heard, the rumors of stallions being stalked by a ghost are partially true. Security has recently confiscated some StealthBucks while cleaning out the office of one Amber Blossom, who recently joined us a few months ago and was let go earlier today. And yes, the Ministry of Morale has been notified and will be here to take care of the situation shortly.

Everypony is expected to cooperate with the MoM agents while they are conducting their investigation. If we all do our part and be as helpful as possible, then they should finish in a timely manner and we can continue our work on the museum conversion.

Finally, remember that the NDA is still in full effect here. Anypony found talking about this incident to those that are not employees or members of the Ministries will be dealt with.

Sincerely,
Pastel Skies

******

Well, this definitely sounds like something to involve the Ministry of Morale over. So this Amber Blossom a spy then? And how did she steal those StealthBucks from the Ministry of Arcane Science? No, the important question is why this spy was here in the first place? The warhead stockpile didn’t exist until the ghouls returned to this place after the war. And with this place being turned into a museum, any government secrets would have been moved elsewhere or destroyed long before they got to this point. Right?

Maybe I should have asked Rocky what happened all those years back.

Regardless, it doesn’t seem like the information on the terminal will provide me with any more answers about this place. With nothing but outdated financial documents left to sift through, I go to log off the system when I notice the options to either play or eject an unnamed holotape. Curious, I check and find that there is indeed a holotape loaded inside of the terminal. While it definitely won’t help with my current situation, it might shed some light on what that spy might be interested in here.

Not really wanting to give away my location by playing the tape, I type in the command to eject the tape only to get an error in return.

Unlike a locked door, this is something I can easily get around. Pulling out my trusty screwdriver, I take off the side panel and dig through the inner workings to find the holotape in question. A few prods and some magically assisted tugging only proves one thing: it’s stuck in there tight.

A blood-curdling howl blares throughout the hallway outside followed by someone running towards this room. I panic, hiding under the table while pulling out my gauss rifle. With the vain hope that maybe it’ll prove useful as a club and I can beat my way out.

Against someone who is stronger, faster, and out for blood.

Here’s hoping it doesn’t come to that.

Suddenly, the door slams open and the familiar voice of Max roars “WHERE ARE YOU?!”

My body stiffens as I hear Max rip something off the wall and slam it against the desk.

“I know you’re around here, winged pony! Even if I can’t smell you, I know you’re around here somewhere!” He rants. Even though I can’t see him, I can sense him pacing around the room. “So come out and give me a straight fight you dirty little rat!”

My body tenses up as one of the bookcases is violently knocked over. “Or do you think you’re too good for me?” He snarls. “You arrogant little master-!”

There’s a brief pause before something violently breaks against the wall on the other side of the room. “YOU’RE NOT A MASTER! YOU’RE A… a…”

The desk cracks as Max pounds something into it. “A stupid winged pony. It’s your fault my mind is this screwed up! You and all of your kind! And I will rip those wings off and shove them down your throat for what you did to us! For taking Smarty! For killing my sister! Don’t think cutting my nose off will save you from me!”

Another pause. Then Max taps his claws on the wooden surface as his voice becomes calm. “No, wait. That red blade was hovering in the air. Winged ponies can’t make things hover in the air. But unicorns can.

“There’s another pony with her.”

He digs his claws into the desk. “I get it now. That’s how she keeps staying one step ahead of us,” The desk creaks once again as I hear Max’s voice move away from me. “Well, I’ll have to find this other grey pony then. Rip her legs off, let her scream for all to hear. The winged pony will have to come to me to save her after hearing that. And when she does.”

The tearing of metal fills the air followed by things dropping to the ground. Then everything grows quiet again. I hold my breath and strain my ears to try and figure out what Max is doing next.

But there is only silence. And it doesn’t feel like he is here anymore.

Not really want to trust my feelings on this, I activate E.F.S. to see if it can pick up anything. Granted, it doesn’t work properly, but it is better than nothing. When no red dots show up in my view, I carefully crawl out from under the desk and peer over its now damaged surface.

It feels like a tornado hit the place. One of the first aid kits has been ripped open, a bag of Rad-Away drips its orange liquid onto the carpet, while the other lies open on the floor. The medical supplies that were inside the second one now lie scattered on the floor along with some books and the torn remains of the terminal. All tiny little hints as to what would have happened to me if Max had found me.

Moving fully out of my hiding spot, I sift through some of the items on the floor and find a dose of Med-X. Not the healing potion I was hoping for, but a powerful painkiller like this might prove useful in the future.

As I put the drug away, I notice how badly I’m shaking from the whole experience. Even after everything I’ve been through, I’m still handling these situations badly. If Flare was here, she’d probably tell me to inject that Med-X into myself to take care of the shaking. Drugs and violence was her two answers for every problem and it was a miracle she didn’t kill herself with all the drugs she put into herself.

No, what ended up killing her was…

I shove that thought out of my mind before it can dredge up any old memories and quickly turn my attention towards the desk. Although seeing the deep claw marks on it doesn’t help calm my nerves any. However, a deep fist-shaped imprint on one of the sides has warped the wood enough to leave a gap between the desk and its first drawer. That is enough to bring a smile to my face.

It doesn’t open easily (probably because of how warped the desk has become now), but I manage to pry it open with my screwdriver all the same. Inside are three perfectly intact StealthBucks! Pulling them out, I give them a quick look over before placing two of them into my saddlebag and prepare to hook the third one up with my PipBuck.

As odd as it is to find these here, I’m not going to turn down the option to turn invisible whenever I want. Especially now with Max hunting me down in this part of the facility.

That’s if I can figure out how to use this thing. It seems straightforward enough: attach it to my PipBuck and flip the switch to activate it. Except my PipBuck isn’t exactly a ‘standard’ model. Hay, it’s a miracle that it works considering what was on hoof at the time. The idea of any kind of potential extensions for this just never crossed my mind until now.

Keeping the StealthBuck hovering by me, I limp over to the remains of the terminal. Maybe with some luck, there will be enough left over to jury-rig a connector for this thing.

As I search through the wreckage for whatever useful parts I can lay my hooves on, I surprisingly find the holotape still intact. Not that there’s time to listen to that now. I put it in my saddlebag and go back to pulling wires and duct taping them together. The end result doesn’t look pretty at all, but it does connect the StealthBuck with my PipBuck. Now to see if it works.

A gunshot suddenly thunders outside, startling me into teleport back to the desk. I take cover behind it as another gunshot echoes throughout the hallway, this one closer than the last.

Ok, that’s definitely a sign that I need to get moving now!

Moving to the exit, I scan the hallway for any hellhounds before leaving the room as fast as my crippled leg will allow. That last shot definitely didn’t come from a magical energy weapon. And none of the hellhounds from earlier were carrying any normal guns with them. That means that Winter Rose must be fighting one of them right now. Something that feels confirmed when another gunshot rings out as I make it to the intersection, followed by a familiar sounding roar.

I look towards the sound of fighting and then to the other end of the dimly lit hallway, where a sign points to a set of stairs a little ways from me.

‘You’re in no condition to help anypony with your leg as torn up as it is,’ The little pony in my head warns as I look back at where Rose might be. ‘Get out of here while you still can.’

Glancing back at my only escape route, I take a deep breath before moving towards the sound of fighting. If Winter Rose is there right now, fighting for her life against the most deadly monster in the wasteland, then there might not be another chance to find her.

‘And what are you hoping to accomplish when you get there?’ My little pony asks harshly. ‘Wave your broken rifle around and hope that scares the hellhound away? All you’re going to do is make yourself a target.’

This isn’t the first time I’ve played bait for something that could easily kill me. If that is what it takes to keep Winter Rose safe, so be it.

My little pony shakes his head. ‘You really think you can distract him long enough for her to escape? It was pure luck that you managed to escape him last time!’

Yeah, but I promised to bring her back safely. And I always keep my promises.

‘You couldn’t keep your last promise,’ My little pony points out. ‘And you were stupid for making another one when you knew better. All you’re going to accomplish now is getting yourself killed.’

Then at least I’ll die trying to help!

My little pony glares at me. ‘And what if your ‘help’ gets her killed too?’

I stop and look down at the ground, that yellow pegasus colt coming to mind as my little pony somberly says ‘Nothing good has ever come from you trying to help others out.’

*Beep*

My ears shoot straight up and twitches. I know that sound.

*Beep Beep* *Beep Beep Beep*

That is not a good sound!

I immediately teleport behind a large piece of debris and hit the deck when the mines go off. The explosions seem to rock the foundation of the facility as the whole place shakes around me. Then everything goes quiet and still, though it’s hard to notice with my body shaking as badly as it is. I take a few deep breaths and attempt to calm down, barely noticing that I’m rubbing my right foreleg in the process.

Land mines. Why are there always land mines? Who in their right mind uses mines in a place that’s barely holding itself up as is?!

One more deep breath and then I push that thought out of my head. There are more important things to worry about. Moving away from my cover, I limp towards the opening with smoking coming out of it when a blood chilling howl comes from somewhere behind me.

Right. Forgot there were others.

With how close that howl sounds, there isn’t enough time to find somewhere to hide. So, looking down at the StealthBuck crudely attached to my PipBuck, I silently pray for it to work as I flip the switch. Some sparks fly out from the wires connected to the StealthBuck but the little green bulb on it and….

Nothing happens. Why isn’t anything happening?

I toggle the switch on and off frantically as I hear claws scratching against the floor start getting closer and closer.

Oh dear Luna, turn on already!

But my silent plea goes unheard as this stupid piece of junk continues to not work. Because nothing ever works!

My head snaps to the other end of the hallway as the scraping of claws against the floor grows louder. Hovering my rifle next to me like a club, I stare into the darkness and wait for them to come.

And like living nightmares, two hellhounds leap from the darkness, running on all fours, their teeth bare. It takes every ounce of will to not shut my eyes and accept my death. No, if I can time this just right then I can teleport away just as they leap for me and lead them away from here.

Gritting my teeth, I stand my ground and defiantly glare at them as they run up and... completely ignore me as they move past me? Wait, what?!

Turning around, I watch as the two hellhounds bank the corner and disappear from my sight, leaving me utterly confused as to what just happened here. How hard is it to not see a pony standing in the middle of the hallway? It’s not like I was trying to hide or anything. Am I really so pathetic, standing here with a broken rifle, that they didn’t want to waste their time with me.

I glance at my rifle only to realize that I can’t see it. It is there, my magical grip on it confirms that much. Moving it back and forth reveals a very slight distortion effect as the appearance of my rifle tries to mimic its surroundings. I look down at my hooves as it suddenly dawns on me.

It works! Ha! That stupid StealthBuck actually works!

I look myself over just to make sure that no part of me is actually visible.

So this is what it feels like to be invisible! Or close to it. Moving seems to give the spell some issues. Which means the spell matrix that operates the StealthBuck must have deteriorated over the years and- no, focus! I need to figure out if they found Rose yet.

Creeping forward so as to not make too much noise, I strain my ears to hear what is going on up ahead. There isn’t any talking, though. No cursing or yelps of pain either as I get closer to the corridor they went down.

Just a low growl that makes every step forward harder to do.

Finally, I manage to poke my head around the corner and recognize the two hellhounds for Lupa and the one that reminded me of Winona. Lupa seems crouched down next to something lying in a puddle of blood, though it is hard to tell what that something might actually be. It doesn’t help that the smoke and dust hasn’t completely settled yet. Then again, given how violent that explosion felt and seeing the damage it caused, From broken viewing windows to parts of the ceiling and walls missing, I’m surprised there is a hallway left.

“I can’t smell anything with all this crap in the air,” The ‘Winona’ looking hellhound complains as she nudges the object in front of them with her paw. “We might have just missed her.”

“She’s still here somewhere,” Lupa says coldly. “Waiting for one of us to drop our guard so she can snipe us. Keep sniffing.”

With that order given, she lifts her nose into the air and sniffs a couple of times. Maybe out of stubborn pride than any reason that makes sense. The smoke here is so strong that even I am having a hard time breathing it in. If the other hellhound can’t smell anything, then I doubt Lupa will-

Suddenly she whips her head around and my blood freezes as her eyes seem to stare straight into my eyes. Her calm, calculating, crimson red eyes. With a terrifying sense of bloodlust lying just behind them.

My little pony screams for me to get out of there, to run before she finds out that I’m here. But my body refuses to budge. Every muscle is locked in place. Even my eyes are unable to tear themselves away from Lupa’s as she slowly gets up and moves towards me.

A gunshot rings out into the hallway as a bullet shatters part of Lupa’s helmet and knocks it off her head. A small stream of blood runs down her face as her head snaps towards one of the shattered viewing windows behind her. She ducks just as another shot is fired and swiftly leaps through the window, the other hellhound following close behind.

Cold, alone, and terrified beyond reason, I stand motionless in my spot for what feels like an eternity until the sound of sparking wires finally snaps me out of it. I disconnect the now visible and burnt out StealthBuck from my PipBuck and hold it in my shaking hooves.

“This is ridiculous,” I mutter to myself while fighting back the urge to laugh hysterically. “My first encounter with a hellhound left me crippled. Then another one sensed that I was here even though I was invisible! And I’m supposed to keep one step ahead of them?”

I throw the StealthBuck to the ground and look at the object-... at the upper half of Max’s body lying in his own blood. His lower half is simply nowhere to be found and the pieces of shrapnel embedded in his torn up body… this is not a way anyone should die.

And Winter Rose did that. With a few landmines, she was able to take down Max while I barely did anything to him. She clearly knows what she is doing down here. There really isn’t a need for me to have come down here at all, is there? All I can do now is get in her way.

I should go. Before something else happens.

With my fear abating, I turn to leave when another feeling surfaces. The same dark feeling from before tugs at my mind, trying to pull me towards Max’s remains. And that pull is getting stronger with every passing moment.

‘That monster is still alive,’ That dark voice from earlier, that dark pony that keeps trying to influence my thoughts with my own voice, whispers.

But that can’t be possible. No one can survive an explosion like that.

My eyes widen as Max struggles to reach out one claw towards the window.He opens his mouth but only a hoarse moan escapes his lips. A cry for help? Maybe, though with how Lupa and the other hellhound treated him, I doubt they would come back. And maybe he realises that too as his claw lowers to the ground. Pain and fear show in his eyes as tears start running down what’s left of his face.

I start limping towards him.

‘Are you insane?!’ The little pony in my head immediately asks. ‘This is the same hellhound that nearly took your leg off!’

‘That is right, he nearly did take your leg off,’ That dark pony reaffirms. ‘Not to mention all of the horrible things he was planning on doing to you once he got his claws on you. You should pay him in kind. You have the power to do so, remember?’

‘But he is bleeding out. He’s going to die regardless of what you do,’ My little pony points out. ‘And getting close to him might tempt him to use the last of his last strength to rip you apart!’

‘Like that pathetic mutt can do anything in that state,’ The dark pony smiles smugly. ‘And if the situations were reversed, he wouldn’t let you die peacefully. Why give him the same courtesy?’

Despite the assertions of the figurative angel and demon on my shoulders, Max doesn’t seem to notice or care about me as I approach. A shiver runs down my spine as I place a hoof on his body, ignoring the blood that gets on it while taking a good look at his wounds. It is honestly a miracle that he is still alive, let alone conscious.

‘Then it would be kind to put him down, wouldn’t it?’ The dark pony asks as that dark feeling becomes more insistent and desperate. ‘You know you want to feel that power coursing through you again. To finally rid the world of monsters like him. So go ahead. Give him what he deserves.’

I open up my saddlebag and search through it until I find the Med-X from earlier.

‘That’s not going to save him,’ My little pony points out. ‘All that will do is delay the inevitable.’

With a deep breath, I tune out the two insistent voices in my head and do my best to administer the Med-X to Max. “There. That should take care of the pain,” I say quietly, as to not attract anything else that might be lurking nearby. “It’s not much, but it’s something at least.”

Sitting down next to him, I watch as the drug does its work on the suffering hellhound. “Pegasi. The winged ponies are called Pegasi. Or Pegasus when singular. I figured you’d like to know since…”

If he understands a word I’m saying, he doesn’t show it as he rests his head on the ground. Calm now replacing the fear and pain from before.

“Sorry, the last thing you probably want is to hear me go on and on about pegasi,” I continue with a weak chuckle. “It’s just that not all Pegasi are evil. Fluttershy would probably snap if she were to ever find out what happened to you.”

I look up at the ceiling. “Fluttershy treated everyone equally. Didn’t matter if you were a pony or not. She didn’t let anything get in the way of helping those that needed her. Dad was much the same way. He even disobeyed orders to save mom and…. Sorry, you probably don’t want to hear about that either.”

“I guess I really don’t know what to do with myself,” I admit. “Outside of keeping you company until Luna comes to reunite you with your sister. Or whoever shepherds hellhounds to the afterlife. Say, do you have a goddess or-.”

My sentence dies as the dark feeling in my head fades away. Confused, I look back over at Max before finally realizing why. “Luna,” I mutter softly as I carefully close Max’s now lifeless eyes. “If you can really hear me, goddess or not, please make sure he gets to where he needs to go.”

It’s strange, really. Even with a beast that wanted me dead, I still can’t help but wish the best for him.

But then, I’ve always been a poor fit for the Wasteland, haven’t I?

Standing back up, I brush myself off and look over at the broken window Lupa and her companion went through.

‘This is probably your last chance to leave,’ My little pony says. ‘Forget about Winter Rose before you get yourself killed trying to find her. She doesn’t need you to go rescue her. She has this under control.’

But for how long? Two weeks is a long time to be fighting anypony, let alone hellhounds. And if this trap is anything to go by, it takes a lot to kill just one hellhound. The amount of supplies she is going through has to be high. So to run away from here with the supplies I currently have, the supplies she probably desperately needs right now… no, it isn’t right to abandon a pony in their hour of need. Regardless of how terrifying those hellhounds are.

It’s just unfortunate that I’m the one that has to help her. I wonder what curse she was inflicted with to have me as her savior in this situation.

Assuming I live long enough to even meet her. From the looks of it, my best chance to find her now is to follow Lupa’s trail and hope that I run into Rose before I run into Lupa. As far as stupid decisions are concerned, this one ranks around the top. I let out a heavy sigh.

Honestly, I really need to stop putting myself into these kinds of situations.

With my path set, I brush myself off and notice that blood has gotten onto my fur coat and leather duster. ‘It’s a shame Max died the way he did,’ That insistent dark pony whispers in my head. ‘It would be an even greater shame to let all of his blood go to waste.’

It doesn’t matter if he is dead or not. Blood magic is evil. No pony should have this kind of power.

‘Call it evil if you must,’ The dark pony says as my magic removes the blood and returns it to the pool near me. ‘But without your rifle, that magic will be the only thing keeping you from an early grave,’ The dark pony then shrugs. ‘Or do you want to risk running into Lupa unarmed?’

A flash of movement catches my eye and I quickly look into the dark room on the other side of the window. E.F.S. doesn’t show any red dots in that direction and nothing appears after a few tense minutes of waiting. The thought of some other hellhound stalking me from the shadows creeps its way into my mind as the dark pony smiles mockingly.

‘Remember, if you die, she dies. That’s the conclusion you came to just now, isn’t it?’

I bite my tongue and hesitantly look down at the blood pool. Unfortunately, as much as I hate to admit it, that evil dark pony has a point. Pulling out one of the few water bottles in my saddlebag, I gulp it down with one go before using my magic to fill the empty bottle up with blood.

This is only a last resort. Until I get my rifle fixed. Then I get Rose out of here and I can go back to my self-imposed solitude.

Stashing the bottle of blood away, I look to the lit hallway that the room exits out to on the other side and teleport there. Just then, the lights ahead flicker for a moment, revealing the torn up remains of two dead ghouls from the darkness, before completely dying out. And out from the black abyss I find myself in, the piercing red eyes of Lupa stare back at me.

My body tenses up as I stare back into them. Only for one of the bulbs above to flicker back on, the red eyes disappearing in the dim light. A figment of my imagination. Maybe.

With a quick glance of my surroundings, I lift a small rock off the ground and cast a light spell on it. Looking down the parts of the hallway still cloaked in shadows, I toss the rock there and sigh with relief when the spell’s green glow doesn’t reveal any hiding hellhounds.

Honestly, like those two would give up the chase and come back for me. They don’t even know that I’m here.

Shaking my head at my own silliness, I limp forward towards the end of the hallway. As I turn the corner and into the intersection, I notice a group of shadows further down along my path.

I pick up another rock.

Author's Note

Congratulations! You’ve managed not to get torn apart by hellhounds within the first few hours of your journey!

Quest Objectives Gained:

Scavenge For Medical Supplies.
Don’t Die.

Current Quest Objective:

Find Winter Rose.

Chapter 4 - Foolish Decisions

The glowing rock skips across the broken floor of the ruined hallway, dispelling a small area of darkness around it as it slowly slides to a stop. After a few seconds, another glowing rock skips past it and lands further down the hallway.

Then another skips past that one. And another one after that.

This feels a little foalish: tossing glowing rocks ahead of me in some vain attempt to spot some hellhound lying in wait for me in the dark. And yet, I can’t help but pick up yet another rock to cast a light spell on and toss it further down my path. Simply because my mind can’t stop seeing Lupa’s red eyes peering out of every shadow and dark corner I come across.

It doesn’t help that this area feels like a scene in a bad horror novel. Flickering incandescent bulbs that barely light up the hallway they are in, broken walls and piles of rubble large enough to hide a monster behind, ruined rooms with enough claw marks and bloodstains to work up the imagination. And the silence. With only the sound of my hoofsteps and the skipping of the rocks to break it.

If I didn’t see the hellhounds go down this way, I would have gone back and picked a different path forward.

But here I am, following two elite killing machines down a dimly lit hallway because this happens to be my best guess at where Rose might be. With literally no clue on if I lost them or if I’m walking around in circles or what. This place seems to blend together in how completely ruined it all is. Even the signs are too illegible to be of any use. Although I doubt they would have helped, given how useless the map is turning out to be.

Alright, what is a good way to keep myself from getting lost here? Or, more lost than I already am. Well, there are stories about how ponies use a trail of breadcrumbs or rocks to help them figure out where they’ve been before. Plenty of rocks around here, but how do I make mine stand out? A light spell? No, while that’s good for checking corners, a path of glowing rocks will stand out too much and attract the wrong kind of attention… wait.

I look back and then plant a hoof on my forehead at the long trail of glowing rocks behind me. The one I had been unwittingly creating this entire time and one that any hellhound can easily follow right to me.

Dear Luna, why didn’t I realize this earlier?

I levitate one of the glowing rocks near me off the ground and stare at it. Then again, this has been my life for a while now, hasn’t it? Making rash decisions for what I thought were good reasons only for me to realise how stupid and naive I was long after the damage has been done.

Alright, focus. E.F.S. isn’t showing anypony following me right now. If I move fast enough, then they come to the end of the trail long after I’ve left the area. Of course, being crippled doesn’t help matters and making it bright enough so I can see where I’m teleporting to is out of the question. But if I extend the trail towards the opposite direction of where I’m going….

Limping towards another intersection, I pick a corridor at random and fling my glowing rock down it. It flies through the air and then pegs a chain of tin cans hanging from the ceiling. I flinch as the cans crash into the ground, the sound echoing throughout the nearby area.

Great. Just great. If they didn’t know where I am before, they do now. Not like things can get any worse.

A few grenades then roll into the light. A few pinless grenades.

Instinctively, I teleport backwards and dive into the nearest open door. The explosions thunder loudly outside and seem to shake the ground beneath me as I cover my head with my forelegs. When everything finally becomes quiet again, I pick myself off the ground. “Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid,” I mutter under my breath as I quickly limp to a knocked over desk to hide behind. “At this rate, everypony in this entire area will know where I am!”

Peering over the edge of the desk, I check my surroundings. Scorch marks, dried blood splatters, torn up remains of ghouls scattered along the floor of this half collapsed room, but no hellhounds. Yet. Despite E.F.S. confirming that nothing is out there, or rather, because my E.F.S. isn’t always reliable, I hunker down in my hiding place and let out a sigh.

Of all the things that could possibly happen. This is the worst. Possible. Thing.

Ironically, the sole bright spot in all of this is that the grenades seem to have taken out a little bit of my glowing trail. Making it less obvious that I’m here even if it leaves me sitting in the dark until I can figure out my next move. Not that it’ll be wise to stay here any longer than I have to.

Pulling up my map on my PipBuck, I do my best to hide the light coming off of it while trying to figure out where to go from here. According to the map, I’m in the security office for this floor, which really doesn’t seem right but it’s too dark to really confirm that right now. It would explain why the StealthBucks were in that financial office, however, if they were moved after the room collapsed in on itself.

Anyway, there’s a set of labs nearby and a storage bay a little ways past that. So if I don’t run into any more grenades, hellhounds, ill-tempered robots, or anything else that wants my head, I should be able to make it. And maybe find more supplies to make up for the ones I lost.

I pull out another StealthBuck out of my bag (after all, Lupa sensing me earlier might have been a fluke) and begin to hook it up when something reflects the light of my PipBuck back at me. It looks like some kind of metal object sticking out of the rubble. Curious, I cautiously move closer and dig it out, revealing it to be a very long and dented red box. Dragging it back to my safe spot behind the desk, I brush off the dust and open it up.

Inside is a broken magical energy rifle with a note inside: “In case of zebra invasion, changeling takeover, alien abduction, genocidal robots-” Ok, nevermind, this note is turning out to be a long laundry list of increasingly ridiculous scenarios. Skipping to the end, I find the name of the note’s writer: Mahzun.

Well, Mahzun, thankfully none of what you were afraid of ever happened. But Luna bless your soul for preparing for them regardless. Thank you for the spare parts.

Poking my head back over the desk one more time to make sure there isn’t anypony outside, I take out the broken rifle and strip it for parts. Then I pull out my gauss rifle, strip out all of the burnt and broken bits, and start the long process of figuring out which parts will work with my rifle.

I wish I had that spell inside my PipBuck that provides a breakdown of what can be used to fix a piece of gear and gives a step by step process on how to do it. Unfortunately, the instructions on how to weave that particular spell into the main spell matrix of the PipBuck was missing from the manual. Actually, it’s a miracle that the current spells on this thing work in the first place, considering there were more pages missing from that manual than was still attached.

At least my mend spell takes some of the guesswork out of it. Some days I wish it could fix something as complicated as this rifle, but being able to fuse wires together without needing some kind of tool to do it is good enough. Hay, it’s more than paid for itself for the amount of caps I would have had to spend fixing up my gear after every battle by now.

After a few minutes of repair work, the dead silence surrounding me starts to tug at my paranoia and it isn’t long before I clip an earbloom to my left ear and plug it into my PipBuck. It won’t be bad to listen to something if I keep the other ear open for danger, right?

Pulling out the holotape from the office, I load it into my PipBuck and press play. A high pitch screeching sound assaults my left ear, causing me to wince as I quickly turn down the volume. Well, there goes my hearing.

The sound soon dies out and is replaced by the voice of a very professional sounding mare. “Pastel Skies. Head of the Financial Department. Late 30s. Pegasus. Mare. This is a recording for insurance purposes concerning the ‘Green Bean’ rocket incident. As of-”

A door slams open, causing me to look back at the entrance before realising that it’s from the recording as somepony loudly asks “Pastel, what is the meaning of this?!”

Wait, this voice sounds familiar. Almost like she sounds like Bright Eyes. But this really can’t be her, can it?

“You’re going to have to be more specific if you want me to answer you properly, Raina,” Pastel says calmly. A bit too calmly, actually, unless this is a regular occurrence for her.

“This!” Raina declares while what sounds like a stack of paper hits a desk. “What do you mean we’re almost broke?!”

Yes, the way she is talking just now: Raina has to be Bright Eyes. Just without the whole echoey voice bit.

“Exactly what I said in the memo: we’re running low on funds,” Pastel states plainly while I get back to work on my rifle. “Ever since testing began on the new prototype rockets, their results haven’t been impressing any of our potential investors.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. My rockets are performing spectacularly,” Raina arrogantly answers back (might as well refer to past Bright Eyes as Raina for now).

“So having your rocket destroying the Mayor’s statue in town is what you would call ‘performing spectacularly’?” Pastel asks dryly.

“Hey! That had nothing to do with how my rocket was designed!” Raina snaps back. “It’s Mahzun’s fault for not making sure that the launch pad wouldn’t buckle under pressure!”

“Please leave my cousin-in-law out of this,” Pastel says in the same dry tone as before. “The building contractor was the one using shoddy practices and Mazhun did find the evidence we needed to sue him out of business. Not to mention that his unique skills managed to secure us this property for cheap in the first place.”

“Yes, by convincing the previous owner that it was an ancient dragon burial ground with a zebra curse on it,” Raina says, unimpressed. “That paranoid zebra also spent some of those extra bits he saved up to make sure that this place’s layout is as confusing as possible.”

“You should be glad then. That layout kept the spirits of bad luck away and allowed your rocket to launch without incident,” Pastel says (sarcastically? It’s hard to tell with how dry her tone is) and I can picture her smirking as she calmly adds “Right into the Mayor’s statue.”

“You’re only taking his side because he’s related to Floria,” Raina points out with an edge in her voice. “Honestly, I don’t get how those two are related some days.”

“My sister-in-law might be willing to answer that question for you if you ask her nicely,” Pastel says flatly. “Of course, I doubt my brother would take kindly if you choose to act this rudely in front of his wife. Now if you will excuse me, I have an insurance claim to-”

“Pastel, this can’t fly! We-” Raina pauses for a moment and then she continues in a noticeably softer tone. “Rocky hasn’t gotten a copy of this memo yet, has he?”

“Would it destroy your perfect image if he did?” Pastel asks, devoid of any kind of spite or anger that I would expect to be in her tone.

“Pastel, this is serious!” Raina shouts, a tinge of fear creeping into her voice. “We can’t go broke. Not when we’ve gotten this far. If he finds out that we’re this far into the red…. This is his lifelong dream we’re talking about here!”

“This is all our lifelong dream, Raina,” Pastel answers back. “None of us would be here if it wasn’t.”

“Then isn’t it your job to keep this from happening?!” Raina asks.

“It is,” Pastel acknowledges. “But I can’t very well do that when the Vice President of this facility can’t cope with the fact that her mistake has just cost us dearly.”

Raina groans, her frustration clearly evident in her tone, but Pastel continues. “The only way to avoid this now is if we managed to secure a loan from a place that’s willing to risk signing one with us. Although, considering the current political climate, this accident might be the final nail in our coffin.”

I stop working and listen closely as Raina asks “What do you mean?”

“We are a rocket research facility near the border with about a fourth of our staff being zebras,” Pastel explains calmly. “Once the Ministry of Morale catches wind of this, they will come here to investigate. And if they suspect that any of us are enemy sympathizers, what do you think will happen?”

The recording goes quiet for a solid minute before Raina quietly asks “Can’t we just pay the town to keep quiet or something?”

“And risk going to jail?” Pastel asks rhetorically. I can imagine her shaking her head as she continues. “Even if we had the bits, that would make us guilty in the Ministry’s eyes if they, no, when they find out.”

Another minute passes before Raina speaks up. “Look, this project can’t fail. Not after getting this far. I won’t allow it!” Something slams against a desk and I check my surroundings to make sure it is just the recording as she adds. “There has to be something we can do to fix this.”

Suddenly a non-gravely version of Rocky Shore’s voice asks “And what do you propose?”

“Mr. Shores!” Raina says, trying hard and failing to hide the surprise in her tone as she speaks. “What brings you over here?”

“I got the memo, same as you,” Rocky Shores says as a door closes near them. Ignoring the urge to look around again, I go back to fixing my rifle as Rocky asks “So? What’s your plan?”

“Well, I... don’t know,” Raina begrudgingly admits. “But I got us through worse situations than this. I can get us out of this one!”

“I’m sure you can,” Rocky says in an oddly cheerful tone. “But that won’t be necessary this time.”

“You sound like you already have something figured out,” Pastel says, though the quality of the recording makes it hard to tell if she sounds impressed or skeptical.

“Well,” Rocky begins to explain. “My secretary just informed me not too long ago that a representative from the Ministry of Tech has a pretty interesting proposition for us. She’ll be coming by in a few hours and I would like you two to be there for the meeting.”

“What could they possibly want with us?” Raina asks.

“I don’t know. That’s why I want both of you with me when she presents her proposal: to tell me if the deal is any good or not,” Rocky says before quietly adding “I don’t really want a repeat of that building contract fiasco.”

Then, with what I can imagine would have been a smile on his face, he asks, “So, can I count on you two for that?”

“Of course, Mr. Shores,” Pastel says. “I can hold off on this statement recording and get to work preparing for the meeting right away.”

“Excellent!” Rocky says enthusiastically. An enthusiasm that dies down to a noticeable degree when he adds “Ah, I see you’re using a holotape again.”

“Yes, I am. Why would I use anything else?” Pastel asks politely.

Rocky clears his throat. “Well, I thought your work would be easier if you used a memory orb instead?”

I tense up, my mind unwittingly recalling the last memory orb I used: that cracked metallic orb that cursed me in the first place.

No, no, they’re not talking about that thing. They’re talking about a normal memory orb. The kind that let’s one relive a stored memory through the eyes of the memory’s owner. Not what… whatever that cracked orb did to me.

“Mr. Shores, please, I deal with sensitive information here,” Pastel says in a blunt yet professional manner, mercifully pulling me out of my thoughts before I could relive something truly horrifying. I clear my mind and take a deep breath to calm down as she continues. “And I won’t risk somepony viewing a recording of me reading this report and noticing something through my eyes that could potentially jeopardize our company.”

“But I spent all those bits on that shipment of memory orbs last month,” Rocky groans. I can’t tell by the tone of his voice if he’s sincerely upset about this or just faking it. Hopefully the latter, since Pastel is right about not using them in this regard.

“And I’m sure we can use them for recording holiday events rather than sensitive information,” Pastel says rather flatly. “I just wish you two would stop giving me reasons to use red ink in my ledgers.”

“Idon’t know what you’re talking about,” Raina says sharply.

“Well, if this all works out then we won’t have to worry about red ink ever again. Come along, we’ve got a meeting to prepare for!” Rocky says cheerfully. “Oh! And please don’t terrify our guest, Raina. We really do need this deal.”

“You’re never going to let that go are you?” Raina asks with some annoyance in her voice.

“Nope,” Rocky says before the recording ends with an audible click.

Ok, this recording is interesting, to say the least. I didn’t think I’d get a peak into Bright Eyes’ and Rocky’s past while wandering around down here. Or find out that Bright Eyes’ former name was Raina. Or that this place nearly went under until the Ministry of Tech bailed them out. That last point might explain why this place is labeled “Equestrian Defense Silo One” while the sign outside still has the original Lunar Institute name.

Although, why they would want to invest with a company that accidentally ‘replaced’ the mayor’s statue with an experimental rocket is beyond me. Makes even less sense to put balefire missiles here with that incident hanging over this place. Then again, it sounded like they only appeared after the ghouls returned to this place. Which means somepony thought it would be a good idea to store dangerous weapons while this place was a museum.

None of this really makes any sense. But it isn’t my job to try to piece together what happened here. Not when there’s the option to ask Rocky and Bright Eyes for an explanation later.

Fusing the last wire into place, I put the cover back on my gauss rifle and pull off my earbloom. Thankfully, it doesn’t seem like anypony has come around to check up on that explosion. Here’s hoping it stays that way.

Slowly, I make my way to the door, poking both my rifle and my head around the edge. With E.F.S. not picking anything up, I then move further into the dark hallway, casting a dim light spell to light the way.

Once again the atmosphere hangs oppressively over me. Every awkward hoofstep sounds louder than normal now; the shadows seem to move oddly when the light hits them; the ponies in the old propaganda posters, normally cheerful, now seem to stare at me as I pass.

Then I step down on something soft and squishy.

Under my hoof lies the torn up remains of a ghoulish griffon. Memories flash before my eyes as I step back. Ones of that accursed silver-winged griffon lying on the ground before me. His right wing horribly mangled and bloodied. His eyes stare back in fear as he claws at the ground in a vain attempt to get away from me.

And blades of blood hovering above him. Ready to tear him apart.

‘You should have killed him.’

Ignoring the sneering voice of the dark pony, I push the memories back into their box. This is not something I want to think about now. Or ever.

‘As if forgetting about the past will erase what you did,’ The dark pony says mockingly as I limp around the dead body. ‘You know that griffon deserved worse. They all did. So why did you hold back then? Why are you holding back now?’

“Enough already,” I mutter under my breath. The atmosphere here is already making me jumpy. No need to have that voice wear my nerves down further.

Suddenly the hallway lights flicker on and something catches my eye. I turn and point my rifle to where I think it might be just as the lights die out. In the soft green glow of my light spell, nothing moves. Seconds pass. Then minutes. Finally, I let go of a breath I didn’t realize I was holding in and slowly move forward again.

Only to stop again when something else moves. Pointing my rifle in that direction, I get ready to shoot at… a spider crawling up the wall.

At this rate, I’m going to end up shooting a poster, aren’t I?

To be fair, some of them seem to be designed to be unsettling. Like the Ministry of Morale, one hanging on the wall near me. With the Ministry Mare creepily staring out and the caption ‘Pinkie Pie is watching you FOREVER!’ surround the old pink mare. Old. That feels wrong somehow. Outside of the grey streak in her mane and the small amount of wrinkles on her face, Pinkie Pie still looks much like the younger version I used to read about. Hmm, how would she handle a terrifying situation like this? Probably by singing a song, like she did when she and her friends were on their way to confront Nightmare Moon. How did that song go?

‘When I was a little filly and the sun was going down-’

Right, nevermind, I remember now. And definitely remember why I don’t like this song now. With a shake of my head to dispel it, I continue onward. Only for Pinkie Pie’s voice to creep its way back into my head.

‘The darkness and the shadows, they would always ma-’

No, no! Not getting this stuck in my head for another week! I try to tune it out by focusing on my surroundings more. But that doesn’t seem to help any.

“I’d hide under my-”

Picking up my pace as fast as I can, I look around for something, anything, to distract me from this inferno song! Honestly, what was up with ponies in the old days and their obsession with catchy impromptu musical numbers?!

Again, something catches my eye, causing me to stop and look around with my rifle at the ready. Did Lupa and that Winona hellhound finally decide to turn around and check out the explosion? Or am I getting worked up over another spider again?

Then I spot two red orbs through a nearby window. The same shade of red as Lupa’s.

Quickly, I aim my rifle and shine my light at the window, ready to shoot Lupa before she can kill me. Instead, the orbs turn out to be lights on some odd research equipment.

I glare at the stupid machine. “And tell that big dumb scary face to take a hike and leave you alone and-” I stop, realizing that I’m now quietly singing the song to myself. And that I feel slightly at ease now. Whether it is because of the song or my now growing sense of embarrassment for acting so ridiculous, I’m not sure. Either way, one thing is clear: “You win this time, Ms. Pie.”

Hearing the mare snickering doesn’t make me feel any better.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh at the silly unicorn why don’t you?” I say bitterly. “You’re not the first one to kick me while I’m down.”

Wait, that doesn’t sound like Pinkie Pie at all. And it sounds awfully real for something that should only be in my head.

Of course the snickering stops the moment I look in the direction where it’s coming from. I wait, scanning my surroundings to make sure nothing is going to jump out at me, before finally letting out a sigh. “Get a grip on yourself, Intrepid,” I mutter to myself as I go back to limping down the hallway again. “This is no time to start hearing things.”

‘You know Dad wouldn't be jumping at shadows like this,’ The little pony in my head says pointedly as I move forward yet again. ‘He would have kept his cool and found Winter Rose by now instead of wasting time bumbling into traps and being terrified of everything. Hay, even she seems to be doing alright for a mare that supposedly needs rescuing.’

The words stab into me like daggers in the back. It hurts how true they all are and another dagger soon joins them with the realization that I don't really know what Winter Rose looks like. Just that she is grey and maybe a pegasus ghoul. At the very least, she'll be the only pony down here, so there's that going for me.

‘But Dad would have made sure he knew what she looked like,’ My little pony continues as I limp around the remains of another grenade trap. ‘He would have gotten every single detail he needed before setting one hoof into this place. Unlike his useless son, who rushed down here with only a nearly useless map and an unhealthy desire to be a hero to help him. Just like last time. And every time before that.’

I stop and stare at a trail of blood leading through a giant hole that used to be a dead end.

‘You know you’ll never be like him,’ My little pony finally says, twisting the final knife into my heart. ‘Why can’t you accept that and give up?’

Ignoring the question, I limp through the hole and into a mostly dark room, with the only light source shining in from what’s left of the exit on the other side. Some of the scientific equipment reflect the light off their glass surface as they sit on the counter in front of me. Rubble and broken glass litter the floor in a way that suggests that somepony has moved through here recently. Although, how recently is anypony’s guess.

As I limp towards the obvious exit, a red dot appears in the corner of my eye. Expecting yet another stupid red light bulb from some broken lab machine, I turn my head and see the face of a hellhound.

A real hellhound.

The back of her paw slams into me, sweeping me off my hooves and into the opposing wall. Pain wracks my body as I lose my concentration over my magic, causing my light spell to vanish and my gauss rifle to fall to the ground near me.

Before I can fully grasp the situation, the hellhound picks me up holds me to her face. It takes a second to recognise her as the Winona hellhound from earlier as she sniffs my mane and grins. “Heh, I told Lupa someone was following us,” She says, her rancid breath causing me to gag. “But I wasn’t expecting a living unicorn.”

“And I wasn’t expecting a hellhound with bad breath!” I answer back, trying to sound calm despite the panic flooding my mind.

She chuckles. “You’re funny. And noisy too. I like that in my prey,” She extends the claws on her other paw. “It’s almost a shame to gut you now. Maybe I should have some fun with you first.”

“Sorry, I-I hate cat and mouse,” I say, panic seeping into my tone now as I look around the place. “P-Plus, you don’t really want to kill me, do you Winona?”

She slackened her grasp on me. “Winona?” She asks, obviously confused by the name that I gave her without thinking.

That split second is enough to let me teleport behind the counter and turn on my StealthBuck. It’s magic kicks in not a moment too soon, turning me invisible just before the hellhound runs past me and straight through the bright exit. Her head whips around frantically, her ears in attention, her eyes scanning every inch of the area around her.

Right. Not going that way then.

Slowly, as to not attract her attention, I inch towards my gauss rifle, feeling a small sense of relief as it disappears the moment I grab onto the strap with my mouth. With backtracking being the only real option available, I limp back to the giant hole I entered from when suddenly the hellhound rushes back into the room. Fear keeps me rooted in place as she leaps onto the counter and slowly scans the room. Even with the StealthBuck cloaking me, moving can still give me away if I’m not careful. And with her being so close to me, a single misstep could mean death.

But this is fine. As long as she doesn’t bump into me, I can just wait right here until she gets bored and-

My heart stops as she sniffs the air and slowly turns to stare straight at me.

She knows I’m here, doesn’t she?

Her extended claws swinging towards me says that she does. I teleport away in time to hear those claws dig into concrete instead of my hide. Reappearing at the furthest end of the dark hallway, I strain my eyes to see the hellhound’s red silhouette on E.F.S. in the darkness. She tears into her surroundings frantically until the silhouette cocks her head into the air.

Then the silhouette tears the floor apart as she dashes on all fours towards me.

Fumbling in the dark for my rifle, I finally just cast my light spell and then attempt to activate S.A.T.S.. No point in trying to hide anymore. However, S.A.T.S. doesn’t turn on by the time I have my rifle pointed towards the silhouette and fire. Despite it being a near blind shot, I somehow manage to hit her leg, knocking it out from under her and causing her to stumble and slow down to avoid crashing into the ground. With the few seconds that shot buys me, I hit my PipBuck against the ground, trying to get it to work.

Come on! Come on! Work you stupid piece of junk!

It doesn’t work. The hellhound gets back up and starts moving towards me again as I give up and reload my rifle.

So you know, Luna, this is completely unfair! My leg gets torn up and I can barely walk because of it! This hellhound gets shot in the leg and she shakes it off like it was nothing! Just saying!

Firing another shot at her shoulder, I watch the bullet miss her completely before loading another round while she picks up speed. With no time left to end this non-lethally, I aim for her head.

Sorry. If there was any other way, I’d take it in a heartbeat. But I made a promise and you are in my way. So if it’s between your life and mine-

I pull the trigger.

-I’m picking me.

With a roar, the rifle fires and the bullet grazes Winona’s cheek as it misses her head. I swear under my breath and pull out the spent MFC. My body won’t stop shaking as I try to focus on reloading my rifle. Another shot, if I can just get another shot in.

But she appears in front of me before I can even do that, claw raised above her head, ready for the kill.

Then, a shot rings out. Blood erupts from her claw as it slams into the nearby wall. She roars in pain and immediately turns her head to the adjacent hallway. Another shot hits her shoulder and, surprisingly, ricochets into the ceiling. She growls with pure hatred before tearing into the nearby wall and vanishing into the darkness.

I sit down. My heart feels like it is beating inside my head, my body still shaking from the fear and adrenaline running through it. “Buck it all, Silverwing!” I yell, “Did you really need to cut it that close before-”

Before what, exactly? Why am I yelling at that stupid griffon for? He’s not here. If he was, there would have been more bullets fired, followed by a sword-wielding mare hyped up on drugs-

No, this isn’t the time to start thinking about that stuff! I need to get out of here before that hellhound comes back!

Getting back up, I teleport a couple of jumps down the hallway, backtracking until I spot a room to hide in. Moving past some of the construction supplies on the floor, I push over a table and hunker down behind it. With a deep breath, I peak over my cover and scan the room with E.F.S. on. No hellhounds. Not in the room and not in the hallway outside. Allowing myself to relax just a little, I slump back down against the table.

This isn’t an ideal situation to be in, not knowing where my opponent is. Neither is holding up in a room where half-finished plywood walls are the only thing separating me from the rest of the facility. Then again, there isn’t such a thing as a safe room when dealing with someone that can tear through walls with ease, is there?

At least I was saved at the last minute by a mysterious pony. Of course, it kind of ruins the romanticism of the event when it is obvious that that mysterious pony is Winter Rose. Maybe I shouldn’t have teleported away so quickly and given her a chance to show herself?

A glimpse of red catches the corner of my eye. A clear sign that I am definitely not out of the woods yet.

Focusing on the red dot showing up on E.F.S., I ready myself and point my gun towards it as it gets closer. Soon it transforms into the familiar silhouette of the hellhound, moving carefully just outside of the wall to my left. It will not take long for her to catch my scent again.

Given how thin the wall looks, I could just shoot through it and, with luck, end this once and for all.

Luck. Right. I pull up my inventory on my PipBuck to check on how much ammo I have left, in case this plan goes as well as all of the other ones I have had lately. As I search the list, my eyes come across the entry for the bottle of blood I got earlier.

And in the back of my mind, the dark pony chuckles. ‘You almost forgot that was there didn’t you? You know, a blade is more likely to kill at this point than your rather unsteady aim.’

Closing the inventory, I try to line up my shot with the head of the silhouette. My aim is good enough for this and I have more than enough ammo for if something goes wrong. There is no need to resort to that magic here.

‘But it is your power, is it not?’ The dark pony asks. ‘What’s wrong with using it here, where no one else will get hurt? Outside of that annoying hellhound, of course. Is it really horrible to feel empowered? To force her to be the weak one here?’

Time seems to slow to a crawl as the silhouette stops. I try to keep my rifle steady even as it slightly shakes in my magical grip. And… is killing her really the only option here? The other hellhounds are clearly following Lupa out of fear. Max showed very clearly what happens when someone challenges her.

So that hellhound out there really hunting me down, is because she truly wants to kill me? Or is she only doing it because she’s afraid of disobeying Lupa?

‘That doesn’t really change anything,’ The dark pony says coldly. ‘All that matters is that she is trying to kill you now. And you’ve already seen how effective bullets seem to be on her. Are you really betting your life on the vain hope that one more might take her down?’

Taking a deep breath, I try to push the dark pony out of my head. He is right about one thing, bullets didn’t slow her down. But if I were to charge my rifle, like I did with that hellhound that nearly killed me back at the main entrance, maybe that might stop her? It is worth a shot. And better than killing her outright.

‘And do you think the ghouls would agree with you?’ It keeps whispering in my head. ‘How many of them were ripped to shreds when the hellhounds first attacked? How many friends and loved ones died because of these monsters? Did any of these hellhounds think twice about killing them like you are doing now?’

“Enough,” I mutter to myself.

The dark pony glares in response. ‘Pretend all you want, none of them are innocent and you know it. They have blood on their claws and they deserve to be torn apart just like their victims. Just like Silverwing when he-’

The silhouette suddenly jerks backwards, startling me into pulling the trigger. The plywood wall explodes around the area where the bullet punches through it. I hold my breath, partially to not breath in the newly formed dust cloud, and silently curse when it becomes obvious that the silhouette has disappeared. Because of course E.F.S. would stop working right now.

And there wasn’t a yelp or a howl of pain after the shot. So that is definitely a miss. But, there is not a hellhound bashing through the wall now. No demands that I show myself. Just silence.

Silence is the last thing I want to hear right now.

My heart beats faster as I replace the spent MFC from my rifle and scan my surroundings. This is what I get for relying on a spell that doesn’t tell me how far away something is. I shouldn’t have assumed that that hellhound was on the other side of the wall. Dear Luna, I should have tried sneaking away when I still had the chance.

Ok, stop, focus. What would a huge death machine do now?

Splinters hit my face as Winona tear through the unfinished wall. I panic, instinctively teleport away just as she slashes at me, swinging through empty air instead.

“Nice trick, unicorn.” She snarls, turning to glare at me at the other end of the room.

“Thank you,” I point my rifle at her. “I spent a lot of time getting it right.”

With one swift motion, she lunges at me. Again, I teleport out of the way and fire another shot the moment I reappear behind her, hitting her shoulder. She winces in pain and spins around, her claws nipping my neck as I once again teleport away.

Blood trickles from a small cut on the side of my neck as I reappear behind the table. Loading another shot, I wait for her to strike yet again. She isn’t going to get another lucky cut against me. Not now.

I blink when she stands up calmly. No sign that she is going to attack again. Although the light pouring in through the new hole in the wall doesn’t make her look any less threatening.

“Look, you’re more trouble than you're worth,” Winona says as she levels her eyes to meet mine. “So let’s make a deal: tell me where the… the… where the winged pony thief is and I’ll let you go.”

I aim my rifle squarely at her head. “And I’ll believe you because?”

She extends her claws out menacingly. “I could kill you now.”

While this is a peaceful resolution that I normally look for, it sucks. Partially since that means betraying the pony that I’ve gone through Tartarus and back already to rescue. Which goes against every fiber of my being, on top of it being an utterly stupid thing for me to do.

But mostly for one very, very obvious reason.

“I, umm, don’t know where she is?” I say, trying desperately to figure out what to do next.

“Don’t lie to me!” Winona snaps back. “I know she’s here! I know she’s helping you! Now tell me which shadow she’s skulking in!”

“Why would I lie about this?!” I spit out while throwing my hooves up into the air. “I have no clue where she is! Do you think I would be following you if I did, Winona?!”

“Why do you keep calling me Winona?” She snarls loudly.

“Because you remind me of-” I thankfully stop myself before I do something incredibly stupid like telling a hellhound that she reminded me of Applejack’s pet dog. “Nevermind, what is your name then?”

Winona looks at me with a surprised expression on her face before thoughtfully looking at the ground. I can’t help but feel relieved by this.

Dear Luna, she’s actually humoring me! This is how Equestria should work! Everypony sits down, gets to know each other, and works out their differences without resorting to bloodshed. If I can play my cards right, I’ll be able to resolve this peacefully and-

“It’s Princess,” Winona mutters while looking away. “My name is Princess.”

-And that can’t be her name, can it? Really?

Sure enough, she looks embarrassed enough for this to be real. I hear some snickering in the room and it takes a second longer than it should to realize that I’m the one making that sound. That immediately stop when she smashes the table in front of me with her good paw.

She doesn’t attack right away, but any chance of ending this peacefully is probably truly dead now. Good job me. I try to subtly activate S.A.T.S. and teleport away while I still have the chance. Winona notices my attempt to manipulate my PipBuck, though and rushes forward to cut me down. That rush slows down to a crawl as S.A.T.S. activates just in time.

Finally! This stupid piece of junk activates on time for once! Now, let’s think. Where should I go to get away from here and… wait, is that a grenade?

Sure enough, the S.A.T.S. is not targeting Winona but the flashbang hovering between us. A pinless flashbang.

As much as I would love to know how that got there, that will have to wait until later. If a flashbang isn’t a sign that I need to leave now, I don’t know what is.

I queue up a teleport spell, focusing on the lit hallway Winona came from. Then, with a small prayer to Luna that I won’t reappear inside of a wall or the floor, I execute S.A.T.S.. The scene in from of me speeds up and I notice the hellhound’s expression turn into surprise before teleporting away. The moment I reappear, I throw myself onto the floor and cover my ears while shutting my eyes tightly.

The flashbang goes off behind me, followed by faint gunshots. The flurry of activity keeps me rooted in place until the sound of claws digging into concrete prompts me to stand up and start limping away.

An unfamiliar voice stops me as she yells out, “While you’re running back to Lupa, go ahead and tell her that Smarty says ‘Hello’ for me, Princess!”

She does not sound like a hellhound. She does not sound like a ghoul either, for that matter. So, who is this? I slowly turn around just in time to see the mystery mare walk through the hole in the wall.

Standing right in front of me is a bat pony mare.

I have to blink a few times to make sure I’m not seeing things. Sure enough, she is still there as she turns to look at me with her piercing cyan eyes. Her tufted ears twitch slightly as she brushes her white highlighted, light blue mane back. Her red scarf around her neck seems to highlight her lithe, light grey body. In no way does her sturdy-looking leather barding seem to hinder her graceful movement, or the strong-looking pair of bat wings sprouting from her back. A knife is holstered on her shoulder while she slings her hoof-lever sniper rifle onto her back.

When she gives me a wonderful smile that shows off her sharp canine teeth, I decide to open my mouth.

“Oh dear Luna! You’re a bat pony! Or is that thestral? Nevermind that, there’s a bat pony standing right in front of me! I didn’t think any existed! N-Not that I don’t want your kind to exist, mind you! I do! But no one has seen one since that ghoul bat pony appeared, but he’s a ghoul and you’re alive! A-Are you really nocturnal?! Do you eat meat?! Can you really fly with thos-Mmphh”

Her smile disappears as she quickly shoves a hoof to my mouth.

Smooth, Intrepid. Real Smooth.

“Ok, as soon as I remove my hoof, I want you to take a breath, ok?” The bat pony mare instructs. Once I nod in agreement, she removes her hoof and, as instructed, I take a deep breath.

“Sorry, I just wasn’t expecting to find a bat pony here of all places,” I explain while rubbing the back of my neck.

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” She answers back before looking me over with some concern. “You alright? You look like a mess.”

“I’ve had better days,” I admit while looking over her shoulder to the room behind her. There is a giant hole in the ground where the table used to be. “So is Wino-, err, Princess gone?”

“Yeah, she’s gone,” The mare says with some annoyance in her voice. “Stupid mutt kept thrashing around. Couldn’t get a clean shot on her before she finally tucked her tail between her legs and escaped. Luna, I hate hunting them on this floor.”

“I’m sorry,” I reply back instinctively.

“What for? You couldn’t have done anything to stop her,” She says. “If anything, I screwed up the perfect opportunity you gave me.”

Was that a backhoof compliment or genuine?

“Come on, let’s get going before more show up,” She pats me on the shoulder and then starts to walk off. I quickly follow.

“Oh! By the way,” She looks back at me. “What’s your name?”

“Intrepid Scholar,” I answer her back. “You?”

She looks back with pride in her eyes. “Winter Rose, the greatest bounty hunter ever!"

I stop and stare at her. “Winter Rose?”

“Yep!” She gives me a wink. “Now, you going to stand there admiring how awesome I am or you going to keep up?”

“Oh! Right!” I quickly stop gawking and hurry to catch up with her. A giant grin appearing on my face.

Thank you, Luna. After every stupid thing that has happened so far, thank you for finally letting me find Winter Rose in one piece without dying. Now I can quickly get her out of here and get back to my self imposed exile. For once, things are finally looking up for me.

Please let things stay this way. Please?

Author's Note

Congratulations! Despite every setback, you’ve managed to find Winter Rose!

Quest Objective Completed:

Find Winter Rose.

Quest Objective Gained:

Escort Winter Rose Back To Safety.

Current Quest Objective:

Scavenge For Medical Supplies.
Don’t Die

Chapter 5 - Winter Rose

“Watch your step.”

I absentmindedly nod at Winter Rose while keeping my eyes fixed on the floor. The floor covered in bear traps, landmines, blood stains, and scorch marks. There’s too much here for her to have brought all of these traps with her, so this storage bay must have contained this stuff in the first place. It is rather strange for a research facility to contain any of this stuff in it in the first place.

Not that it will matter much if I make a wrong step here and end up losing a leg again. Or worse. How Rose can effortlessly walk around her traps like they weren’t there is completely beyond me.

“Oi, you ok back there?” She asks as she stops for a moment to look back at me.

“I’m fine!” I answer before looking back at the mines again, rubbing my right foreleg as I do so. “Just… fine.”

“If you say so,” She says. And yet she turns around and waits, tapping her hoof as seconds pass. And making me even more nervous about where I’m stepping. “So… are you going to follow me or do I have to carry you?” She asks after a few more seconds pass.

“No, thank you, that just wouldn’t be proper!” I answer back and then, after a deep breath, carefully take a few steps forward.

“Proper, huh?” She frowns. Then she turns around and takes a few steps before stopping and asks “Hey, can’t you teleport past all of this or something?”

“Only to where I can see,” I explain. “And all I’m seeing at the moment are mines and boxes.”

“Well, keep following me and you’ll see where we’re going soon enough.” She says before walking forward again.

Easy for her to say, she’s not the one limping around the place. Still, I try to pick up my pace as I follow Rose through the minefield. Eventually, a second story platform comes into view. It doesn’t look too good, with old wood planks replacing most of the equally old metal gratings that serve as its floor. Most of the large crates and shelving units in the large bay have been moved to form makeshift walls and barricades around and on top of the platform. Anything to force potential invaders to move through the field of death before getting a clear shot at their target.

Provided Rose doesn’t manage to snipe their heads off first. As another dried blood splat reminds me of what happens when a bullet meets a head at high speeds.

“So are you from the NCR?” Rose suddenly asks. “I didn’t think they expanded this far up yet.”

“The New Canterlot Republic?,” I ask, slowly turning my attention back to Rose. “No, I’m not a citizen. Why do you ask?”

She shrugs. “I figured you were one of their rangers with that getup of yours.”

“I think I would know how to shoot better if that was the case,” I say, managing to stop myself from stepping on a bear trap. “Better at not nearly getting myself killed too.” I quietly add before carefully limping around it.

“Ok, how about a Steel Ranger Scribe in disguise?” She glances back at me, probably to make sure I’m still behind her.

“No.” I say very firmly.

“Alright, alright, I didn’t mean to offend you, yeesh,” She thinks for a moment. “So if you’re not from the NCR and you’re not a Steel Ranger….”

I nearly bump into her as she suddenly stops and turns around. She looks me over a couple of times then grins. “Got it! You’re a Stable pony, aren’t you? You even got that weird PipBuck thing on your leg!” She exclaims while puffing her chest out proudly.

At least she’s the only one to recognise my PipBuck as one. It’s almost painful to correct her seeing how certain she looks with her answer. “No, I’m just a normal unicorn from Tenpony Tower.”

To my surprise, she gives me a rather skeptical look. “Tenpony Tower?”

I nod my head.

“You don’t mean the one in Manehattan, right?” She continues.

I raise an eyebrow. “Is there another tower with the same name?”

She looks me over one more time before saying “You don’t look like a Tower pony to me.”

“Hey!” I say while glaring at her. “What is that supposed to mean?”

Now Rose raises her eyebrow at me. “Your mane’s too long and messy, you’re covered in dirt and blood, and your clothes are pretty plain looking.”

“There aren’t many places to get your mane cut out in the middle of nowhere.” I point out incredulously. “And despite what rumors may say, we don’t immediately melt upon contact with filth. Also, I happen to like my plain looking duster a lot, thank you very much!”

She lifts up a hoof. “Not saying it’s bad, just thought Tower ponies were supposed to look better than everypony else by law or something. I mean, they definitely walk around like they are better than everypony else and you… don’t.”

“So let me get this straight,” I start rubbing my temples. “You think that, because I’m from Tenpony Tower, I’m supposed to be pretentious and snobbish at all times?”

Rose gives me a blank stare.

“Stuck up,” I explain. “You think I have to be stuck up to be from Tenpony.” When she nods her head, I let out an exasperated sigh. “Look, not everypony in the tower is a completely irredeemable jerk. A lot of us are helpful and nice.”

“Only when they feel like it,” Rose says bluntly. “Hay, from what I hear, ever since that Twilight Society appeared and showed off that light beam spell of theirs, Tower ponies have become even more stuck up. Charging a hoof and a leg for their services if you’re not ‘sophisticated enough’ for them. Whatever that means.”

I slowly nod my head then look down at the ground. No matter how hard I try, it is still uncomfortable to hear the Twilight Society mentioned so casually like this.

Before, the idea that a secret society controlled Tenpony Tower was something that only a few ponies whispered about, if any dared talk about it at all. Content to stay in the background, pulling whatever strings it had to, all to guard their secrets at any cost. Those rumors rarely lasted a day or two, if they even lasted that long.

Now? Tenpony Tower, ruled by the Twilight Society, has become a superpower with the most destructive tool ponykind has ever created under their control; their knowledge and control of Pre-War technology now laid bare for all to see. I can’t begin to decide how to feel about all of this. Not that Rose’s words help me feel better about the whole ordeal.

On the contrary, her words feel more like salt being rubbed into an open wound.

“Alright, stop frowning, I believe you,” Rose suddenly says. When I give her a confused look, she adds “Well, I think that you’re ok. And if you turned out ok, then maybe some of them are ok too.” She smiles and places a hoof on my shoulder. “The rest will have to pay me before I even consider placing one hoof inside that fancy little tower.”

I laugh a little at that comment. “I doubt they’ll do that any time soon.”

“Their loss,” she pats my shoulder and then points to a corner right below the platform. “So that’s where we’re headed.”

It takes a few seconds to recognize the ramp she is pointing to, hidden behind some crates. It’s obvious that she doesn’t walk to this point, given how the path I have been going down tapers out here.

“How do you normally get past all of that?” I say after looking back at her.

She lifts her left bat-like wings. “They’re not for show, you know,” She says while giving me a wink.

Yeah, I should have realized that by now.

“Now, can you teleport from here?” She asks. When I nod my head, she smiles. “Great! Ready when you are!”

She’s not serious, is she?

I just stare blankly at her and watch as her smile fades. “You are going to teleport us over there, right?”

“Oh no no no no!” I say while waving my forehooves in front of me. “I’ve never tried to teleport another pony with me before and I’m not going to risk it now!” I stop when I remember that sudden movements and minefields don’t mix.

“Oh come on! I’ve always wondered what it would be like to just magically go poof from one place to another!” Rose says. “What’s the worst that can happen?”

“For one? You might be permanently fused with that ramp over there,” I point over to the ramp, mentally cursing myself for suddenly moving again. “And there isn’t anything I can do to fix that if that happens.”

“That didn’t stop you from zipping all over the place when you were fighting back there,” She motions towards the exit with her head.

“I wasn’t trying to teleport two ponies back there either!” I give her an annoyed look. “Can we please not have this argument in the middle of an active minefield?”

She rolls her eyes and begrudgingly says “Fine. I needed to have a look around anyway.”

In one swift movement, Rose spreads out her wings, one of which seems to get dangerously close to a mine. Panicking, I instinctively teleport to the ramp and look back expecting to see a crater. Instead, I find a completely unharmed and rather confused Rose looking back at me. Then she shrugs and takes off into the air without triggering any of the traps around her.

For a moment, I stare in admiration at how gracefully she seems to move in the air. Then I stare in utter confusion at the spot where she had taken off from.

Is the ability to ignore the existence of life threatening traps some kind of bat pony perk that I’m unaware of? Or maybe I’m overestimating how sensitive all of these mines are?

Ignoring the temptation to toss something near one of the mines, I turn around and limp up the ramp and in Rose’s hideout. One look around the place and already it feels strangely homely. More homely than a spot in a storage bay has any right of being, anyway.

There’s an old cot, an open crate full of canned goods, and a few boxes serving as makeshift tables. One makeshift table has a “Danger: Explosives” label and is currently empty. That does explain where the mines came from, even though it doesn’t really explain why they are here in the first place. What, did the military accidentally send a crate over here before the end?

Regardless, I pick a spot next to some large crates and start to make myself at home. Placing my saddlebags to the side, I take off my duster and examine the large tears on it. Thankfully, the damage doesn’t look bad enough to pull out material components for the mending spell this time. Thank Luna, I didn’t die in that encounter. Or from any of my other hellhound encounters. Or hay, just any encounter I’ve been in, really. It is a miracle that I am still alive, considering everything I have been through.

It’s also a minor miracle that this duster has survived for as long as it has. It is silly to get attached to this rather poor disguise, yet here I am. Really, it doesn’t bring back that many good memories….

“Ok, ok, you’re going to have to start over, Intrepid,” The orange earth pony mare says before spitting something out. “So you found a sexy looking mare-”

“I never said she was ‘sexy’!” I shoot back at her before meekly adding. “Just that she looked nice.”

“Right, right, sexy looking.” The mare says, brushing her red mane back before popping yet another orange pill of Buck in her mouth. What was her name?… Ah, right, Amber Flare.

“If you keep taking those you’ll end up giving yourself a heart attack,” Says the blue maned zebra without looking up from the gash he’s treating on my shoulder. His name was Ziggurat.

“Whatever, you’re not the boss of me,” She gives him a glare while popping another pill into her mouth. “And I’m talking to Intrepid here, so why don’t you cut that out and admire it somewhere else?”

Zigs taps his chin for a moment. “Maybe I will. His shoulder would look nice next to my broken skull collection.”

“Flare, please stop giving Zigs ideas! You know he’ll do it!” I say before wincing at the pain from my shoulder. Zigs raises an eyebrow, which prompts me to add “I’ve seen the collection of bones you carry around.”

“I have no clue what you are talking about,” He says nonchalantly before pulling out a small shard of glass out of my wound.

“Anyway,” Flare cuts in before I can say anything. “You go up to the mare and asked if she wanted to roll around in the hay with a ‘real’ NCR Ranger and-”

“I DID NOT SAY THAT!” I yell rather indignantly.

Flare ignores me and continues. “-Then her marefriend walks over, mad that her one true love is cheating on her and demands that it’s either both of them or-”

“Now you’re just inventing things!” I glare at her.

“So then what happened?” Zigs speaks up. “You sat next to the pegasus mare, noticed that she was drunk, and…” He motions with his hoof for me to continue my story. I don’t even remember how I got sidetracked enough to require Flare’s colorful recap in the first place.

“She, umm… well, she… tried to make out with me,” I mutter while looking down to try my embarrassment.

Hearing Flare whistle only makes me feel worse. “So you did manage to see some action, you lucky stallion!” She says with a wink.

“N-No!” I stutter out. “I freaked out and knocked over the commander, who was also drunk. Then he got angry, tried to hit me with his bottle, hitting somepony else instead, and before I knew it, guns were being fired. It got so bad that the whole outpost had to get involved just to keep ponies from accidentally killing each other.”

There is a moment of silence before Flare finally asks “That’s it?” I look up to see the rather disappointed look on her face. “At least tell me you managed to drink somepony under the table and then steal their marefriend from them!”

“You know I can’t hold my liquor well,” I point out. “And do you really think I’m the kind of pony that can steal anypony’s marefriend that easily?”

“And here I thought you’d do something exciting with that outfit we got you,” Flare shakes her head sadly. “I should have gone instead. I would have knocked them all out and got me some love at the same time.”

“How would that have been better than what I did?” I ask rather indignantly.

Before Flare can answer, the door suddenly slams open and it takes all of my self control not to instinctively teleport away as Silverwing dramatically enters the room.

“Intrepid, I could kiss you right now!” He says, grinning proudly. “That was a brilliant idea, getting the whole checkpoint involved in a bar brawl! Just the distraction we needed!”

It’s hard to contain my discomfort over being praised like this. Especially since it was all just an accident on my part. But the stinging pain pulls me out of it as Zigs applies some kind of goop on my wound.

“Yes, good job indeed,” Zigs says to me. “Considering that all Silverwing did was pat you on the back and told you that he had faith in you without actually telling you what to do.”

“And that faith wasn’t misplaced,” Silverwing says while patting me on my good shoulder. “He went in and caused a commotion, we got the crates past the checkpoint, and nopony was the wiser! It was perfect! Just like all of my other plans!”

“Soo, that time you convinced me to try and sweet talk that raider into giving us that ‘very valuable’ artifact that turned out to be a stupid hub cap? That was a perfect plan?” Flare asks skeptically.

Silverwing points a talon at her. “Don’t forget that ghoul still paid good caps for that hub cap.”

“Then there’s the time you had me pretend to be an ancient zebra fortune teller so we could con some mercenaries into attacking a slaver camp that we were getting paid to get rid of,” Zigs says before putting away his mysterious anti-scarring zebra goop. “That was another perfect plan?”

“How was I supposed to know that they were smarter than they looked? Besides, the camp was still taken care of and we got our pay.” Silverwing points out, irritation starting to seep into his tone.

“Then there was the ghoul sniper with the minefield…” I can’t help but add while rubbing my right foreleg.

“Alright! I get it! But the crates still got through and our employers are happy with what they got,” Silverwing pulls out a worn piece of cloth from a small pouch on his belt. “So, my little bookworm, can you tell me if this is the real deal?”

Never did like that nickname. Then again, I don’t like nicknames at all. Just never had the spine to tell him off about that back then.

Taking the cloth with my telekinesis, I unfold it to reveal a rather crude map with zebra glyphs on it. This… this is it! After following so many false leads and rumors, this might actually be the map we’ve been looking for for so long! The map that might finally lead us to where the vampire ponies’ lair might be! There are so many questions I want to ask! What is their lair like? What kind of rituals did they do back in the day? Did they have any kind of spells or insights that we might be able to use to help other ponies with blood related illnesses and the like!

Ok, admittedly, I am reaching a little bit here. For all we knew back then, the place might as well just be a sacrificial altar with some broken knives lying on the floor. But like Silverwing always said, we can sell what we do find and use those caps to help others out!

After we factor in Flare’s drug addiction, Zig’s herbs and medicine, Silverwing’s socialising costs, parts for my PipBuck. That realization always made me feel less heroic.

Still, it was exciting. But since my grasp on the zebra language is… tenuous at best, and with my only translator busy bandaging my shoulder, I decide to ask Silverwing “So, who gave you this?”

“Nopony you need to worry about,” He says while waving my question away with his claw. He had been doing that a lot lately.

“And the crates? Did you ever find out what was in them?” I ask.

“Intrepid, you worry too much.” Silverwing says with a smile. While also avoiding eye contact with me. Which is another thing he had been doing a lot of lately. He places a claw on my shoulder. “I swear on my name that they will be used to make Equestria better.”

“Your real name or the pony name you keep insisting we call you?” Flare pipes up with a mischievous grin.

“Both,” Silverwing says flatly while glaring at Flare.

“I don’t know, Intrepid,” She says with a smirk. “I don’t think it’s worth it to trust a griffon that uses a pony name so ponies can be ‘more comfortable’ around him. Maybe we need to ask for more caps?”

“Do I need to remind you that you would be nothing without me?” Silverwing says as he starts moving towards her, his anger showing in every step he takes.

Zigs sighs and goes to play mediator between our now arguing teammates. Deciding that getting involved would be a bad idea, I stay put and study the map for a little bit more. Sure, they’re not how I imagined my group of friends would turn out to be when I struck out to change the world. But we’ve done some good, even if some of our motivations for doing so were less than pure.

At least, that’s what I thought back then. The little pony pony in my head nagged at me about how Silverwing had been acting odd lately, but I brushed it off. If he said that I don’t need to worry about things, then I didn’t need to worry. After all, he was my friend. He wouldn’t do anything to betray that trust.

If only I knew.

“So you got an odd way of hunting down hellhounds,” Rose says suddenly, pulling me out of my thoughts as she sits across from me. “Personally, I don’t think making a lot of noise to draw them out is a good idea. But I can get behind talking to distract them long enough to shoot them right in between the eyes,” She holds out her foreleg like a rifle and aims down it before making a griffon-like firing gesture.

“That wasn’t what I-” I stop myself and focus on fixing my duster. “I’m not here to hunt down hellhounds.”

She gives me a skeptical look. “Eh, I guessed that makes sense. No offense, but you kinda suck at it. But, what are you here for if you aren’t hunting hellhounds?”

I glance up at her briefly. “I was asked to look for you actually.”

“Oh really?” She says with an amused look on her face. “How much did the ghouls upstairs offer to convince you to walk into this death trap?”

“Nothing, actually,” I say nonchalantly. “I decided to come down here and find you on my own volition.”

There’s a moment of silence as Rose stares at me before cleaning out one of her ears. “Ok, I don’t think I heard you right,” She gives me a rather confused look. “Did they not warn you that there were hellhounds here?”

“They did mention them,” I answer back.

“But you decided to come here anyway?” she asks.

I nod my head.

She gives me possibly the most dumbfounded look a pony could muster. “Without getting any caps for the trouble?”

I shrug. “It didn’t feel right to ask for caps for something like this, so I didn’t ask.”

Another few seconds pass, then Rose quickly strikes her hoof against the wooden floor. “Oh, I get it!” She says before brushing her mane back. “Sorry bud, you’re cute and all, but you need to be as awesome as I am before I’ll even consider sleeping with you.”

“What.” I say incredulously.

“Yeah, I bet once you heard that I was down here you thought it would be like one of those old fairy tale stories.” She explains. “You would be the heroic stallion that would beat back the evil hellhounds and I, as the lovely defenseless mare, would be charmed by your dashing good looks and demand that we spend the night together!” She places a hoof over her forehead as she swoons towards me and I instinctively hold out my forelegs to catch her. As the remarkably light bat pony lay in my forelegs, she looks up and gives me a wink. “Am I right?”

Where do I even begin?

“First, literary tradition dictates that the mare is usually the one that saves the stallion from danger, not the other way around!” I explain, trying hard to keep my irritation from leaking into my voice. “Second, I’m not so conceited, err, full of myself that I’d take advantage of a mare after just rescuing her! No stallion should treat mares like trophies to be won or objects to screw around with! Third, I didn’t even know who you were, let alone that you were a mare!”

“Wait a minute,” She gets off of me and stares straight at me. “Lemme get this straight: you’re not here for caps, you're not here to seduce me, and you didn’t even have any clue who I was before you decided to look for me? They didn’t even bother to tell you what I looked like?”

“W-Well they told me your name, at least…” I sheepishly look away from her. When she puts it like that, I really do sound like an idiot.

“Are you sick or something?” Rose asks, placing a hoof on my forehead.

“N-No, I-” I quickly teleport away from her. Too close! She was way too close. My heart races as I try taking a few deep breaths to calm down. Personal space exists for a reason!

Rose blinks and looks around before spotting me spotting me again. "Oh, whoops. Umm, sorry?"

I take one more deep breath before looking back at her. "Not your fault,” I say before shaking my head. “Anyway! Why are you here then?”

She turns to face me and says, rather nonchalantly, “I’m hunting hellhounds.”

“Obviously!” I press a hoof to my forehead. “But why?!”

“Because it sounded like a great challenge for somepony as awesome as I am.” She says with confidence. While also averting her gaze and scratching at her scarf.

I put down my hoof and raise an eyebrow at her. “And?”

Rose glances at me a couple of times before sighing. “And I, may have, sort of, kind of… lost a game of poker.”

“You lost. A game. Of poker.” I say slowly.

“Yeah well that unicorn was obviously cheating. I should have won that game!” Rose says with her forelegs crossed in front of her. Of course, it doesn’t help her case when she quietly adds “I swear he had a hoof of nothing when I went all in.”

I raise an eyebrow. “That still doesn’t explain anything.”

“Well," She says. "I needed some caps and there were some rumors over in Green Bean that there was something going down around here. So I checked it out and found our friendly neighborhood ghouls. They had just got kicked out by the hellhounds when I showed up and Bright Eyes promised me five thousand caps if I got rid of them.” She grins. “How could I turn that down. A few hellhounds ain't much when you're the greatest bounty hunter around!”

“Greatest bounty hunter, huh?” I ask dryly. No good person ever makes that claim.

“Yep!” She answers proudly. Either completely unaware that I wasn’t complimenting her or not really caring about what I think of her claim.

Oh dear Luna, save me.

“I don't think five thousand caps is worth risking your life over,” I say while going back to mending my duster. “Regardless of your reputation.”

“Says the unicorn who walked into a den of hellhounds looking for a pony he didn’t even get the description for.” Rose points out before raising a hoof. “For free, might I add.”

“Touché,” I admit. Her point is valid, even if it is rather frustrating to admit as much. Who complains about the motivations of their rescuers, anyway? Even though I haven’t been that good at rescuing anypony lately. Or at all.

“So,” She considers me for a moment. Or, more accurately, scrutinizes me as she watches me repair my duster. “What other kinds of magic tricks do you got there? Besides the whole teleporting thing.”

“Nothing special really,” I shrug. “I can clean, I can mend, I can cure radiation. In other words, what you would expect out of a glorified maid.” I stop and glare at the now snickering Rose. “Really?”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Rose manages to spit out in between bouts of chuckling. “It’s just that, well, I think you’d look good in a maid outfit.”

“I'll have you know that I'm an expert in Pre-War tech!” I say indignantly. “I even made my own PipBuck, thank you very much!"

And now I sound like a whiny nerd in front of her. Dear Luna, she’s going to mock me mercilessly for this, isn’t she?

“Oh did you now?” She asks with an amused look on her face. That stupid smug little- “Does it work?”

“Of course it works!” I glare at her before looking back down at my duster. "... Most of the time, anyway.”

“Nice. That might come in handy later,” She says before rubbing her chin thoughtfully. “Ok, you can teleport, have the powers of a maid, and know your way around a PipBuck,” She then points at my blood cast. “So what about that then?"

My whole being tenses up at the question. "What about it?”

“It's just that it isn’t anything I’ve seen before," She says. "What kind of magic is it? Some kind of secret healing spell?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I state coldly.

“But-”

“I Don’t. Want. To Talk About It,” I repeat myself, with a more harsh tone than I wanted. Not that Rose is improving my mood any with her rolling her eyes at me.

“Fine. Yeesh, it’s just a simple question,” She complains. “I figured after all the questions you asked me about bat ponies-”

“Of which you haven’t answered any of them yet, might I add," I retort.

She sighs. “Alright, I’ll wait until you’ve calmed down then."

Good! Finally! Some peace and quiet! Maybe I’ll finally get this stupid duster finished!

It’s nice, actually. Not having to worry about a hellhound appearing out of nowhere while I try to fix things up. Just me, my duster, and now a perfectly quiet bat pony. A bat pony I was horribly rude to just now. Yes, she did ask about my blood magic when I’m trying to forget it existed. But it’s not her fault that she’s curious about it. It’s more my fault for being an idiot and needing to use that magic to make a cast in the first place. It’s probably screaming at her that I’m some evil blood mage planning on sacrificing her to some evil goddess or something. Ugh, when I get the chance, I’ll have to apologise to her.

At least the duster’s finally repaired. Then a healing potion to land on top of it. Wait, what?

“Here, drink up,” Rose says while I stare at the potion in front of me. “Don’t want you to keep limping all over the place.”

I look over and find a very curious bat pony rummaging through my saddlebag. “Hey! Hooves off my stuff!”

“Relax! I’m not taking anything that is yours,” She says while fishing out a .308 round to add to the small pile next to her. She then glances back at me. “Unless your gun uses .308 rounds?”

“No, but that’s besides the point!” I force myself onto my hooves and glare at her. “You know it’s rude to rummage through other ponies’ stuff without asking, right?”

“I’m not seeing any mines or explosives on you either.” She says, completely ignoring my very valid question. Much to my growing irritation. “This might be a problem since I’m all out with the stock I brought in.”

“First Silverwing, now you,” I mutter under my breath as I set the healing potion aside and throw on my duster. “Whatever, you can tell them all about that when we go back tomorrow.” I say before moving my bag away from Rose with my magic. “I’m sure they’ll be very happy to see that you’re still in one piece.”

Rose looks at me for a second, then grimaces as she rubs the back of her neck. “Yeah, about that… we can’t go back.”

This is not what I want to hear. This is the last thing I want to hear. And it must be written on my face if she is averting her eyes away from me. So I take a deep breath and, with a calm voice, ask one very simple question: “Why?”

She stays quiet for a few seconds. Probably thinking of some way to not tick me off, which only makes me feel even more guilty about my behavior. Then she looks back up at me. “What do you know about Smarty?”

“Only that Lupa and her pack are extremely ticked off that you kidnapped him. As insane as it is to kidnap a hellhound anyway,” I answer before looking around the place. “Speaking of which, where is Smarty anyway?”

“Over here,” Rose walks over to her cot and rummages through the things underneath. Curiosity gets the best of me as I move closer to get a better look. Is Smarty a hellhound cub? No, that’s silly. No sane pony would put a hellhound cub under their bed. So, maybe the keys to his cage are hidden under there? But where’s the cage then? Actually, how does somepony cage a hellhound?

Before I can try to figure that last question out, Rose emerges from under the cot. In her mouth is a raggedy old doll. It is mostly grey with a couple of different colored patches. Two buttons for eyes, one red and one blue. A pair of blue pants with white polka dotted. There’s even a little notebook and quill sewn onto her hooves. Ok, so she has a doll. I don’t see how that could possibly-

Wait.

Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no, no.

Dear Luna, please don’t tell me!

I slowly point at the doll. “I-Is that…?”

Rose puts the doll down in front of me and clears her throat. “Intrepid, Smarty. Smarty, Intrepid.”

The weight of this revelation hits me hard as I slide down onto my haunches and stare at the ragged Smarty Pants doll. Some small part of me wants to cry at how ridiculous this has become. Another part is waiting for the other horseshoe to drop.

“Smarty here is the hellhound’s ‘true leader’,” Rose makes air quotes with her hooves. “They’re obsessed with having the doll with them at all times. So, when they were planning on butchering all of the ghouls upstairs, I knew what I had to do. It’s been war ever since.”

Slowly, I lift the doll up with my magic. “So. We’re dealing with insane hellhounds here.”

Rose nods. And with that nod, my hope of quickly getting out of here dies.

“I guess talking our way out isn’t an option now, is it?” I ask rhetorically before letting out a groan. “Considering that Winona-”

Rose gives me a funny look. “You mean Princess?”

“You have to admit that Winona’s a better name,” I answer. When she shrugs in response, I continue. “Anyway, they already think I’m working with you. To think they want you dead because you took a doll away from them.”

Rose places a hoof on my shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. Ponies have wanted me dead for worse things,” She smiles. “Just think of the fame we’ll get once we get rid of them all.”

“I think I need a drink,” I brush her hoof from my shoulder, put down the doll, and limp over to where I left that healing potion Rose gave me.

“Come on, it’s not that hard,” She pleads. “I’ve already killed three since I got here. You just set up a lot of traps and keep them at a distance. Easy!”

“Says you,” I remove the cap from the potion and take a sip. Ick, cherry flavored. “If it was that easy, then my leg wouldn’t be in a cast right now. We’re talking about hellhounds here. Deadly killing machines! The kind that can rip apart power armor like it was tissue paper! Putting aside the morality of actively killing a group of intelligent, albeit insane, beings, this is suicide!”

“Sure, it might have been insane when it was just you. But you’ve got me around now!” She says with a wink. “We’ve got this!”

“No, we don’t.” I shake my head. “I may have managed to kill one on the way here, but that was pure dumb luck! I get that you’ve been doing this for a couple of weeks now. But you can only tempt fate for so long before it decides to go against you!”

“Then what do you suggest?” She says, clearly frustrated by my unwillingness to hunt down hellhounds with whatever we have on hoof. “It’s not like we can sneak out of here and hope they’ll follow. Lupa’s smart. She might threaten to kill Bright Eyes and the others to get us to come back. If she doesn’t just kill them all in a fit of rage before hunting us down first.”

“Right. Right…,” I limp over to a nearby box and rest on it while drinking the rest of the potion. It’s healing magic coursing through me as I try to wrack my brain around this new problem. Nothing comes to mind immediately.

Ok Luna, if you have any bright ideas that you’d like to share with me, I’m all ears. As long as I get out of this alive, I’ll do whatever you suggest.

I wait a few seconds before sighing. Of course it’s silly to expect a ‘goddess of the moon’ to give me what I want now. If I didn't know better, I'd think this whole situation is punishment for ignoring her so called prophet’s plea for aid earlier. Her and her kind and eccentric flock of ghoul believers.

And suddenly, it hits me. A plan that would neatly solve all of my problems in a way that I could live with. And I outright hate it. If Bright Eyes foresaw this happening somehow, she’s probably having a good laugh about it right about now.

“Rose,” I say, my inner pony cringing at what I’m about to do. “What if I told you that there’s a way to save the ghouls without having to kill every hellhound in sight and you still get paid?”

Rose’s ears perk up as she gives me her undivided attention. “Ok, shoot.”

“Y-You know about the big rocket they plan on taking to the moon?” I hesitantly ask.

Rose slowly nods. Thank Luna, I didn't want to have to convince her of that insanity.

“Well, the last bit of that plan requires some data from a mainframe somewhere around here,” I explain. “Once they got that, they can fly off into space. Then, while the rocket is taking off, we can run away before the hellhounds figure out what happened. Problem solved.”

She scrutinizes me for a moment as I try my best not to look nervous. It is not like I'm trying to trick her or anything like that. This is just a slightly better idea than going on a hellhound hunt. Something I assume she recognizes as she then looks down while tapping her hoof on the floor, the gears behind her eyes turning as I anxiously hold my breath. Finally, she asks “So we just walk in, get the data, and walk out? Simple as that?”

“Simple as that,” I say.

“And they don’t care if the hellhounds are still around after we do this?” She asks.

I shrug. “They’re leaving this planet behind, so I doubt it.”

She then stares straight into my eyes. “And we’ll be equal partners in this?”

“Of course,” I tell her. Though that goes without saying. Right?

Or maybe not, as she narrows her eyes and asks “Same pay?”

“Same pay,” I answer with a firm nod. In truth, I don't really know if there was a caps reward for getting this data. But if Rocky and the others hired her to kill hellhounds, they shouldn't mind paying the same amount for a holotape full of data, right?

'Rocky might not have enough to pay us both the same amount,' The little pony in my head warns as Rose looks away for a moment to silently think the offer over.

If that happens and there aren't enough caps to go around, then I'll give up my share. Maybe even exchange it for safe passage over to the nearby town. Regardless, this is way better than the alternative.

'Then what about the data itself?' My little pony asks. 'What if something happened to it since the hellhound and-'

Then I’ll double check it to make sure everything's alright. And I'll make sure they triple check the thing after I give it back to them. There won't be a repeat of last time. Not if I can help.

"Yeah, it sounds like a good plan," Rose finally says. "I’ll have to talk it over with the ghouls. But if they're ok with it, then I’ll make sure you get their data to them in one piece.”

I blink. “Umm, I didn't think you had a way to contact them. At least, I assume you haven't been willingly keeping your bosses in the dark for the last two weeks.”

"Yeah, Lupa had most of the intercoms destroyed or rigged with explosives traps," Rose explains. "So it wasn’t worth it to try and give a report when it meant getting a face full of shrapnel or worse. But that was before a certain Tenpony Tower unicorn came by. One who just so happens to be an expert in Pre-War tech stuff.”

“You’re not suggesting-”

“That you fix one of the broken intercoms? Of course!” She cuts me off before moving over to hug me with one foreleg. “Come on Treppy, you’re intelligent. Just think of it as fixing one giant PipBuck.”

“First! Personal space!” I say while trying to get out of her hug. It is surprisingly difficult. “Second, There’s a big difference between a PipBuck and an intercom box. And who are you calling Treppy anyway?”

“I’m calling you Treppy, Treppy," She explains while looking completely ignorant to my escape attempt. "I always give nicknames to my partners."

“Well, please don’t call me that. It makes me sound like a colt-” I stop struggling and tilt my head at her. “Partner? You haven’t even accepted the job yet.”

“But we’re going to be working together until I do, right? So we’re partners,” Rose nods as if that is a given. “And besides, none of my partners stick around after the job, so is it really that bad that I call you Treppy?” She then leans close with a knowing smile on her face.“Plus, didn’t you make up that ‘Winona’ nickname for Princess back there?”

“T-There’s a difference between that and-” I finally stop struggling and glare at her. “Look, can you get off of me, please?!”

She chuckles, clearly proud of herself, and backs off. “Now then, are you going to fix the intercom or are we going hunting?”

Is that even a question? With a deep breath, I attempt to regain my composure and say “I pick fixing the intercom. Better than actively trying to get ourselves killed.”

“I think you’re giving these hellhounds too much credit. I’m too awesome to get killed by them,” She slaps my back and picks up the doll. “Now rest up, we’ve got a long trek ahead of us! And who knows? We might even convince them to pay us extra for this!” She says with a wink before heading towards her cot.

I roll my eyes. Honestly, what is up with this mare?! Is caps and image all she thinks about? It’s like I’m dealing with Silverwing all over again!

With a sigh, I rest my head on the box in front of me. Well Rocky, I found her alright. Not only that, but now I’m doing that insane job to avoid doing a more suicidal one with her. You better be happy about this when I get back.

Provided that I don’t die first. Dear Luna, what did I just get myself into?

Noticing that the pain in my left hind leg is gone, I pull up my vitals on my PipBuck. Sure enough, my leg is completely healed. Turning around to place my back against the box, I focus my magic around the blood cast. With disturbing little effort, the cast breaks apart and disintegrates before me. Considering how it withstood everything up until this point…

Rose whistles but I ignore her as I stand up and move the leg around. While it feels stiff to move, I don’t feel any pain moving it. Which is normal after drinking a healing potion. What isn’t normal is that there doesn’t appear to be any scarring whatsoever. In fact, my leg looks like it never was injured in the first place. Regardless, the important thing is that I can walk around normally now.

With that taken care of, I take one look at my more damaged riot gear and open up the box I was resting on. Praying that the assorted junk inside will be enough to get it as close to top condition as possible. Knowing my luck, this is going to be a long trip.

“Soo,” Rose speaks up.“If I give you some caps, will you tell me about that magic you used on your cast?”

I glare at Rose. “No!”

Yes, this is going to be a very longtrip.

Author's Note

Congratulations! You’ve gain Winter Rose as a companion!

New Companion: Winter Rose

A bat pony mare who seems to be the bane of every hellhound in the R&D Complex. She was hired by the ghouls to get rid of the hellhounds but apparently hasn’t been doing a good job of keeping them informed of her progress. She favors using sneak attacks, explosives, and rifles in combat.

Companion Perk: Quiet As A Shadow

While Winter Rose is your companion, you gain a modest increase to your rather pathetic stealth skill. Along with increased awareness of nearby traps. She can’t have you giving away her position now, can she?

Quest Objective Gained:

Repair A Broken Intercom In Order To Contact Rocky Shores

Current Quest Objective:

Escort Winter Rose Back To Safety.
Scavenge For Medical Supplies.
Don’t Die

Chapter 6 - In Whom Do We Trust

Silence.

Pure, sweet, blissful silence.

Is what I’d like to say. But after my previous brushes with death, my imagination refuses to leave me alone. Every sound, every movement that catches my eye, every uncomfortable feeling seems to suggest the presence of a hellhound to my rather terrified mind. Even with the amount of light seeping through the cracks in the ceiling, I can’t help but see red glowing eyes in even the smallest of shadows.

It's a small mercy then that I still have my book with me.

Granted, reading while walking in dangerous territory isn't the wisest thing anypony can do. Especially when death could be around any corner. But letting my nerves get to me is as equally dangerous as that, if not more so. Winona nearly killed me because I couldn't relax enough to not make stupid decisions. So between that and reading for a few minutes, the choice is pretty clear.

And really, it's not a suicidal decision when the surroundings is taken into consideration. All the hallways on this floor are more or less identical to each other. The room layout is the same, the doors and windows are the same, and even the occasional worn poster decorating their walls are similar. Which means that all the likely ambush spots should be the same too.

Thus, with E.F.S. active and with Rose by my side, I should be perfectly safe to read my book while I walk. The fact that Rose doesn't pester me with unwanted questions while I'm reading is an added bonus.

Although, Rose hasn’t said anything to me for quite a while now. Sure, it is nice not to have her pester me about my blood magic. But now it is starting to feel like she isn't around me anymore. I look over the top rim of my book, just to make sure she's still in front of me.

And she is not there.

Oh buck it all, she was in front of me a few minutes ago! I think. Honestly, how do I lose somepony who was right in front of me? I swear I was paying attention and-

“Hey-"

My heart skips a beat as I suddenly teleport myself a few feet back. I frantically look around to try and figure out where that voice came from. Nothing shows up on E.F.S. however.

“Calm down Treppy, it’s just me,” The voice, whom I now recognise as Rose, says.

“Yeesh Rose! Warn me next time, will you?! You nearly gave me a heart attack!” I take a couple of breaths to try and calm back down again. Ok, note to self: tweak E.F.S. spell matrix next chance I get. Because it is clearly not working if it can’t spot a hiding pony.

“Yeah, my bad,” Rose says from… somewhere. "Didn't think I would have spooked you that badly."

After taking in one last deep breath, I ask “So where were you anyway? Or rather, why are you hiding right now?”

“I thought I saw something moving around so I decided to check it out,” She says while walking out of the shadows.

“And you couldn't warn me before you vanished because…?” I ask with some irritation in my voice. This kind of behavior is clearly undermining my justification for reading in the first place.

“Because that would have risked tipping the hellhound off that we are here,” She says. Almost as if she was staying something obvious. “Look, I’ll come up with a signal to use before I do that again. Promise.”

I just shake my head and continue to walk and read again. Rose walks beside me and, after a few seconds of silence, asks “How are you doing that?"

"Doing what?" I ask while turning the page.

"That whole walking and reading thing," She says. "How do you do that without running into anything?”

“Practice," I say. Not like there's any other answer to that question.

“But isn’t it hard to look around with that book in your face?” She asks. “It’d be pretty easy for somepony to just sneak up on you and slit your throat before you turn a page.”

I can't help but roll my eyes at that and keep reading. While that is a valid point, it is not one I'm willing to accept if it means giving up on the only way to calm my nerves. Again, it's either reading or jumping at shadows and I am definitely making the right choice here! Besides, who would slits a pony's throat while they're reading a book anyway? That's absurd-

Suddenly the book I have been hovering in front of me presses itself up against my face. Taking a few steps back, I move my book out of the way to reveal the waiting hoof of Rose right behind it. “I think I’ve proven my point.”

“Look, I’m on edge as is and if I don't distract myself, I'm going to lose it,” I close my book and hold it up in front of her, “Reading this is how I can calm down without drawing unwanted attention. With that in mind, does it really matter that much whether I choose to read while walking or not?”

“It does,” She gives me an annoyed look. “What if you miss something because you were too busy reading and that gets us killed?”

“Me? Get you killed? Please,” I say with obvious irritation now. “You can hide so well, my E.F.S. can't pick you up. And setting that aside, even when I wasn't reading I still managed to walk right into the waiting claws of a hellhound! I don’t think reading is going to hinder my obviously poor observation skills.”

“Well it ain't helping you improve it either,” She pokes my chest with her hoof. “There’s a lot of traps down here and I’m not taking any responsibility if you walk right into one of them. You need to be more alert.”

“Right, right," I say dismissively. “Because telling me to be more alert will instantly make me better at it.”

“Hey, I’m trying to be nice here!” She says angrily as she jabs her hoof more forcefully into my chest. “You don’t need to be a jerk about it!”

“I… I…” I try to think of something, anything, to justify my desire to keep reading. But, in the end, I’m being selfish, aren't I? Dad wouldn’t put his desires before somepony else. I let out a sigh. “No, you are right. I am sorry.”

“Like hay, I’m right! We’re partners now, Treppy, and if you get killed under my watch then it’ll hurt my rep-” Rose stops and blinks. “Wait, did… did you just say I was right?” When I nod, she asks “And what did you say after that?”

“I said that I am sorry,” I say as sincerely as possible. “You voiced a legitimate concern and, instead of listening, I treated you with disrespect. I also acted like this earlier too. A stallion shouldn’t treat an exceptionally skilled mare like yourself as badly as I have," I bow my head. “So again, I’m sorry. I’ll take your advice and do better.”

There. Now to endure the typical ‘next time, listen to what I have to say instead of arguing with me’ or ‘I’m glad you finally see that I’m better than you’. It’s not like I don’t deserve it at this point. It’s just that it was always humiliating to hear Silverwing do it. And from what I know about Rose, it is going to be just as bad if not worse. Although, she is taking her time getting started on rubbing it in.

Slowly lifting my head up, I find myself looking at the astonished expression on Rose’s face. Almost as if she wasn’t really expecting this, given the way she starts to open her mouth only to close it again. Seeing her slowly turn around and start walking again only adds to my confusion. I carefully stow my book away and quietly follow suit.

Did I overdo it with my apology? I mean, I did mean every word of it. I was being a jerk and I deserved being called out on it. Maybe, despite my efforts, I didn’t sound sincere? Then again, words are cheap, aren’t they? Ugh, what a mess I made.

Huh, is this ash on the floor?

I start focusing more on my surroundings. And sure enough, some of the piles that I thought was made up of dust is, in fact, actually ash. Strange, but not really abnormal. Some of the hellhounds do have energy weapons. So this is the remains of the security robots they faced? That would explain why I haven’t run into any outside of that Mr. Handy.

And why I haven’t seen any corpses either.

With that pleasant thought, I turn my attention to the rest of the hallway. Nothing of interest really sticks out for me, though. Just the same broken walls and cracked ceiling as usual. With the occasional working light to remind me that this place is still getting power somehow. Maybe a backup generator? Guess this is another thing to ask Rocky about when I get back.

Another thing I’m noticing is how often Rose is glancing back at me as we walk. I check behind me but find nothing out of the ordinary. Or maybe there is something there and I’m missing it? She is testing me, isn’t she? Or, more likely, she is seeing if I am going to open my book back up again?

She suddenly stops walking. “You were actually being serious earlier, weren’t you?”

“Well, yes,” I say before rubbing the back of my neck. “I admit my apology might have been a bit too much, but I really meant every word. Is that bad?”

“No it’s just… weird,” She admits as she turns to face me. “Nopony I’ve worked with ever admitted that they were wrong before,” She considers me for a moment. “Hay, nopony has ever apologised and complimented me at the same time either,” She smiles. “I kinda like it.”

I try to not look embarrassed by her comment. Seeing that smile on her face only makes it harder.

“Now then,” She continues. “You say you suck at spotting things, right? Normally I don’t do this, but because you were nice and finally recognized my awesomeness,” She puffs out her chest and places a hoof over it. “I am going to personally train you until you can spot a black cat at night!”

I raise an eyebrow. “A black cat at night, eh? How do you plan on doing that exactly?”

“I’ll figure something out,” She waves her hoof dismissively at me before she begins to walk away. “Now come on, we’re almost there.”

Not the most reassuring answer to my question, that is for certain. Still, I can’t help but smile as I follow after her. Rose is the first pony since leaving home that is willing to teach me anything. Zigs was never willing to teach me the zebra language. And Silverwing’s art of ‘bartering’, as he called it, required more charisma than I could ever obtain.

‘And guile, a complete lack of moral fiber, a willingness to destroy others for one’s own gain,’ The little pony in my head reminds me. ‘Rose is probably using one of those arts by making you owe her a favor for the lesson. If it can be called a lesson.’

It is true that Silverwing always found a way to turn a favor into a lifetime of indebtitude… that is a word, isn’t it? Nevermind, Rose may or may not be like Silverwing, turning one favor into an opportunity to blackmail me into doing her bidding forever. But I’m wiser now that I was before. I am not going to be anypony’s little puppet ever again.

A bright light assaults my eyes and I raise my hoof to shield them. It takes a second to make out the large gaping hole in the ceiling that the light is coming from. Just in time to watch Rose fly right through it and land on the floor above. Folding her wings, she looks down at me. “You can make it up here, right?”

“Yeah, give me a moment,” I say. Although, as my eyes adjust to the light, I find myself staring at the breath-taking sight of Rose being bathed in light as she waits for me to follow her. As I take in the view, something stirs within my heart. Though it is hard to make out what that feeling actually is. Maybe Luna is trying to tell me something here. That, despite my misgivings, things will get better somehow. In a way, this could be seen as symbolic: My departure from the dark hallways of the first floor to continue my journey into lighter paths with…

With a proud mare that thought hunting hellhounds was a good idea. With whom I had to convince to give up her suicidal plan with the offer of similar pay by helping some ghouls go through with their suicidal plan. That reality puts a damper on the whole hopeful message bit, doesn’t it?

“Enjoying the view from down there?” Rose asks playfully while brushing aside some strands of hair from her face.

Rolling my eyes at the question, I quickly teleport right next to her. My sudden appearance startles her enough to jump back. That was definitely not my intention there and I give her some space as she regains her composure.

“Ah, so that’s how ponies feel when I do that to them,” She places a hoof over her heart. “Guess we’re even now.”

“Sorry,” I say while looking away in embarrassment. Even if it does make us even, I still feel bad unintentionally doing that after the heart-felt apology I gave her.

“Well,” She rubs her chin. “If you’re really sorry, you should humor me and tell me more about-”

“For the last time, I’m not telling you anything about my blood magic.” I say with some exasperation in my tone. Will she never let go of that subject?

“Oh, so that’s what it’s called,” She replies back with a mischievous grin. Nothing good ever comes from a grin like that.

I glare at her and then start walking down the hallway. “Honestly, how many times are you going to bug me about that?”

“Until I get an answer.” She says frankly as she quickly catches up to my side.

“Joy,” I say flatly. “I can see why none of your partners stick around.”

“Hey!” Rose glares at me but I decide to ignore her and keep walking instead. If there is one thing that can sour my mood, it is talking about that. Along with the sudden pain to the back of my head as a hoof smacks hard against it. I stop to rub the injury as Rose casually takes the lead, but I bite my tongue before I spit out more verbal venom at her. I completely deserve what I got for my remark. Still, would it kill her to just leave me alone about that particular subject?

“Look, it’s just not something I want to talk about,” I say as I start following her again. “Don’t you have something personal that you don’t like sharing with others?”

She stops suddenly, placing a hoof on her scarf with a tinge of pain on her face. A few seconds pass before she says softly “Yeah, I guess you have a point.”

I hesitate, not sure if I should say something to that, but end up following her in silence when she continues walking. As I begin to wonder just how many more social landmines I can step on today, Rose decides to break the silence.

"Fine. I'll leave you alone on that. Besides," She looks over her shoulder at me. "there are other things I can pester you about."

It is a relief to see that she isn’t going to be sulking the rest of the trip. But this just begs one simple question to be asked: “Why?”

She stares at me as if I just asked the stupidest question in the world. “Why? Because you’re interesting and I haven’t met a pony like you before. Now, that song you were singing. Before Princess found you. Can you sing it for me?”

Song? She’s not talking about… of course she’s talking about that song. It is the only one I was singing since I got here. Which means one thing.

“No, it’s an annoying song and I don’t want it stuck in my head again,” I say, ignoring the pouting she does once she hears my answer, before asking “How long were you following me?”

She thinks for a moment. “After you set off that grenade trap. Although, I think I caught glimpses of you while I was hunting Max down.”

That does explain a couple of things, like the sound that distracted Max and the laughter from before. Which also means she has been using me as bait to lure Princess out, doesn’t it? “And you couldn’t have let me know you were there because?”

“That would have tipped Princess off,” She says. When I frown at that answer, she adds “Hey, I saved you from getting your face ripped off. Twice.”

That is true, no doubt about that. Still doesn’t alleviate the feeling that I was being used.

“Anyway, that’s all in the past now,” She makes a dismissive gesture with her wing. “What matters is that we’re working together now. So about that song?”

“I’d rather we walk in silence, if you don’t mind,” I say. Unintentional or not, her attitude about the whole affair is ticking me off. This just feels too much like what Silverwing would say and do.

“If that’s what you want,” She shrugs. “I figured we could trade some info. You tell me about your song, I tell you a bit about being a bat pony,” She then looks forward again. “But silence works for now.”

This really feels too much like being with Silverwing again. I bite my tongue hard and keep walking in silence. It’s a trap. The moment I tell her what that song is, she’ll use it to get something else out of me. And before I know it, she’ll find something to blackmail me with. But Luna curse it, I really want to know more about bat ponies!

Ugh! This trip isn’t going to get any better, is it?

Luna must be ticked off at me today.

Wiping the sweat from my brow, I glare at the inner workings of a Sunrise Sarsaparilla vending machine. It has already been a few minutes and yet this piece of junk still refuses to hoof over my drink already. There is power to this place (the bright lights are evidence of this) but the controls refuse to respond. And the anti-theft magic field blocks my attempts to use my magic to guide a bottle to the take-out port. At least the wiring is accessible, so there might be an attempt to get it to work again. Of course, this would be easier if the door to the machine wasn’t locked. Or jammed shut. The door doesn’t have an obvious lock on it. Not that it matters, I can’t pick locks anyway.

I glance back at the bathroom Rose is currently in before going back to work. The last thing I need right now is her mocking me about this. After all, I did say that I am an expert on Pre-War Tech. She will start questioning that claim if I can’t get one simple bottle out of a broken vending machine. Or worse, she will try to use this as a way to dig into my past. There's just too much of my past that needs to stay buried and she will not be happy about that.

With that in mind, I pick up the pace, rewiring the machine and using my PipBuck to adjust its spell matrix. Eventually, the machine shakes and I hear a bottle land in the take-out port. I grin as I get up and go to retrieve my prize. That grin disappears when I see a certain bat pony holding my Sunrise Sarsaparilla in her hooves.

I let out a sigh. “Let me guess, you bucked it and the bottle fell out.”

“No, you managed to convince it to give one up on your own,” Rose passes me the bottle. “I just kicked it when it got stuck on the way down.”

“Thanks,” I take the bottle with my magic. “So where are we headed now?”

She shrugs. “Not sure yet. Right now, I’m just avoiding paths that are rigged with traps. I’ve seen how well you deal with traps.”

I roll my eyes before looking at the bottle’s label. There’s a faded cartoon picture of a smiling Fluttershy pointing to a warning box. “The Ministry of Peace would like to remind everypony that drinking too much Sunrise Sarsaparilla may cause the following symptoms,” I read out loud. “Anxiety, nausea, dizziness, severe vision loss or blindness... kidney damage... organ failure… peripheral neuropa- ok, now it’s descending into gibberish. What does half of this stuff even mean?”

“Wait, there are words you don’t understand?” Rose asks as I feel her head rest on my shoulder. “I figured you knew all of this stuff.”
Why is she getting this close to me? She can just ask to see the bottle if she can’t read- Wait, is that her soft fur pressing against my neck? Ok, don’t freak out. Don’t freak out. Don’t freak out!

“I-I’m not a doctor, I-I don’t-” I scoot away from her, if only to keep what remains of my composure intact, before clearing my throat. “I don’t know what epistaxis, polyuria, or polydipsia could possibly mean. I remember Halitosis from a book, but why bother saying your drink might cause bad breath after saying things like organ failure and blindness?”

Thankfully, Rose stays in her spot and places her hoof on her chin. “I don’t know. I think some Tower ponies would rather die than get bad breath from a drink.”

“Getting bad breath is a fate worse than death? Come on,” I attempt to pull off the bottle cap, only to find it shut tightly. “They’d rather die than get caught drinking a second rate soda,” I pull harder on the cap. “I’ll give Sunrise this. At least, *Unh*, they weren’t insane enough, *Grr*, to put radiation, *Gah*, in their drinks!”

With one last tug, the cap finally loosens its grip and flies down the hallway we are in. It bounces off the ground a couple of times before landing next to some rubble at good three feet from us. Rose whistles at the feat, even though there isn’t anything impressive about it.

I move to retrieve the cap only for her to lift a hoof to stop me. A sly smile forms on her lips. “Alright Treppy, training starts now. Tell me what you can see there.”

“I told you already, my name is Intrepid,” I say before scanning the area in front of us. “Let’s see. There’s a pile of rubble, scorch marks on the walls, some ash that may or may not be what remains of some poor ghoul. Oh, and the bottle cap over there.”

“And?” Rose asks, her eyes fixed on something ahead of us. “Come on Treppy, you’re smart. What out there doesn’t look quite right?”

That isn’t even close to helpful. And being called Treppy after making it clear I don’t like it only adds to my annoyance with her over this pointless ‘guess what is in my head’ venture. But it is clear that she is seeing something out there, so I scan the hallway again and…

“Is that a robot buried over there?” I point to the pile of rubble near the bottle cap.

“There you go! I knew you’d see it!” She says then punches my shoulder playfully. I rub it, not really sure how to feel about this, then wonder what she is doing when she scoops up a rock off the ground.

“Now watch this. And take a few steps back please,” She shoos me away whimsically. Once I take a few measured steps back, she winds up and then chucks the rock at the robot before quickly running to my side.

*Thunk*

The robot lights up as the rock pegs its metal shell. Then small electrical bolts arch out of its exposed wires before the whole thing violently explodes. Rose and I hit the ground as pieces of rubble and rebar are sent flying and dust fills the air.

“So that’s, *Cough*, what happened to all the, *Cough Cough*, security bots, *Cough*, around here.” I spit out while pushing myself off the ground. Note to self: get water to wash out my mouth later. Last thing I need is a mouth full of dust and ash in my mouth. Ick, please don’t let this ash be from a dead pony. Please.

“Yep, *Cough*, they’re all like that, *Cough*,” Rose says back. The dust settles after a few seconds and she takes a deep breath. “I was too slippery for them, so Lupa had her pack set these traps up to flush me out. I thought they had a good idea so I copied them.”

“Thank Luna that Mr. Tour Guide wasn’t rigged to explode then,” I say before helping Rose up. “That would have ended this trip rather quickly.”

Though it did its best to kill me anyway. Situational awareness really should have been a key thing in programming robots.

She gives me a confused look as she brushes herself off. “Mr. Tour Guide?”

“Don’t worry about it,” I say before realizing that I dropped my Sunrise Sarsaparilla. I frown at the puddle of soda in front of me and then pick up the bottle with my magic. Figures, as if today can’t get any worse. Although, maybe this is for the best, given the list of side effects on the drink.

Two red dots suddenly appear on E.F.S.. Looking up and down the hallway doesn’t reveal anything. But after what happened last time, it is better to hide and feel stupid than risk life and limb thinking that E.F.S. is broken again.

“We’ve got company,” I say quietly as I look over to Rose and find the spot devoid of my bat pony companion. “Buck it all!” I mutter under my breath. “Is she going to do this to me every time?! Ugh! At least Silverwing would say something stupid that’s supposed to be inspiring before leaving me behind!”

Ok, think, I need a hiding spot. Umm, there’s a storage room next to me, if the sign is to be trusted. Alright, let’s just quickly go over there and- “Mnph!”

Something immediately grabs me and pulls me into the storage room, covering my mouth as it does so. Instincts kick in at the same time and I teleport deeper into the room. It takes a second to make out Rose in the darkness. Looking rather surprised while holding on to the thin air where I probably was a few seconds prior.

“So that signal you mentioned earlier?” I whisper as she finally realizes what just happened. “It could use some work.”

“Sorry, old habits die hard,” She whispers back before going prone and looks down the sights of her rifle. “You don’t have to be rude about it.”

“Rude? You disappeared on me at the first sign of danger!” I whisper angrily while taking cover on the other side of the door.

“I said I was sorry!” Rose whispers back. “Yeesh, were you like this with Silverwing too?”

“How do you-?” I stop talking at the sound of movement outside. Slipping the empty Sunrise Sarsaparilla bottle into my bag, I pull out my gauss rifle and peek into the hallway.

Two hellhounds immediately rush into view, teeth bare and eyes darting around the place. The closest one is a light grey hellhound, wearing armor made from an assortment of metal signs and plates held together by leather straps and wonderglue. And it actually has color to it! Not the stupid shades of brown or grey that seem to dominate this rundown place, but an honest to Luna bright yellow! Or, well, at least a lighter shade of dull yellow. But still! Color!

The little pony in my head promptly clears his throat. ‘Focus.’

Right. That hellhound takes one look at what remains of the robot trap and lets out a heavy sigh. “Yep, this one got set off early too,” he says with some resignation, relaxing his posture as he slides off a knapsack full of tools off his shoulder.

“That pony rat is toying with us, Rover!” The familiar voice of Winona growls as she stands, easily towering the shorter grey hellhound. “We shouldn’t have to resort to stupid traps to flush her out!”

“You got a better idea, Princess?” Rover asks. He crouches down to pick at the pieces of the trap.

“Don’t call me that! I hate that name!” Winona snaps at him before quietly adding “It’s Winona now. That’s a much better name than... Princess.”

Ha! I told Rose that Winona was better than Princess!

“Didn’t a unicorn give you that name?” Rover asks before rummaging through his tools. “All you are doing is swapping one pony name for another.”

“Who asked you?! Now shut up and do your job,” Winona says, delivering a light tap to his head. “Why I let you talk back to me I will never know.”

Rover doesn’t answer back. He seems content to salvage what he can from the trap in silence. Along with pulling out a few broken bits of robot that are decidedly not salvageable. Winona just shakes her head and starts limping towards the vending machine. Bandages adorn her left paw and right leg, places where Rose and I hit her from our last encounter with her. I tense up when she steps into the small puddle of Sunrise Sarsaparilla. She crouches down, takes a whiff of it, and then starts smelling the air.

I ready my rifle, remembering clearly the glare Lupa gave me when she started doing the same thing, and glance down at Rose to see how she wants to play this. She, however, doesn’t move outside of keeping her rifle aimed at Winona.

A low growl snaps my attention back at Winona, who is now looking in our general direction. “Please don’t let her see us,”I quietly pray as she takes a step closer. Her claw extending outward, ready to strike, as I aim for her right leg. I start to squeeze the trigger.

“So that unicorn you found. Was it a ghoul?” Rover asks, causing Winona to pause for a moment before looking back at him.

“No, it wasn’t some stupid ghoul,” Winona says, relaxing a little as she walks back to Rover’s side. “It was this annoying grey pony that kept disappearing and reappearing all over the place,” A toothy smile forms on her muzzle. “When I get my claws around his neck, I’ll really show him how to be in two places at once.”

I fight back a gulp as I keep my rifle trained on her. Guess giving somepony a name doesn’t automatically make them friendlier to you like it does in storybooks.

“I wonder if the grey ponies have something against us?” Rover asks while putting his tools away. There is a pile of scrap sitting next to him that is obviously from the trap. “Do you remember if any of our ma-” he looks up to see Winona glaring at him with such intensity that even I can feel it from over here. “-if any of the winged ponies we killed were grey?”

“Does it matter? After what they did to us, they’ll be lucky to get a quick death,” Winona looks back at the puddle on the ground. “That unicorn isn’t going to be lucky. Not after making me look like an idiot.”

Suddenly the room feels a whole lot colder than before. Was talking to me really that bad of an experience to you? Aside from the whole “Rose ambushing you with a flashbang” part.

“Think Lupa will do the same thing to Rex when he finally gets back?” He asks as he sorts the scrap pile into smaller piles of bolts, wires, and other things. “It has been a while since she sent him off to find food.”

Winona rolls her eyes. “Knowing Rex, he went back to that one building full of caged ghouls so he can get his gun back. He’s probably going to kill a few and drag their corpses back so he can ‘pretend’ he was actually doing his job.”

Wait, what? D-Did you just- No, no, y-you can’t be saying that hellhound, the one I bumped into when I first got here, was just looking for his gun?! And he was killing ghouls because-

“Bleh, I don’t want to eat ghouls. They taste rotten and there’s barely any meat on their bones,” Rover says. “And they’re boring to hunt down too. All they’re good at is yelling and dying, not like that rat we’re hunting. Hey, maybe if we start killing them again, that’ll drag her out of hiding.”

That- that’s just- Why? Why are you killing defenseless ponies in the first place?! They didn’t do anything to you! They were just minding their own business until you came along, weren’t they?

“And what happens if she escapes while we’re slaughtering them?” Winona shakes her head. “No, I’m with Lupa on this one. We keep the pressure on, keep cornering the rat, and her unicorn friend, before we catch them. Then we can make them watch as we kill all of their ghoul friends in front of them. That will make all of this worth it.”

Worth it?! Are you insane?! Would you like it if somepony forced you to watch as your pack got killed in front of your eyes?! Wouldn’t that hurt you?!

Max’s broken body flashes before my eyes, along with how little Winona and Lupa cared upon seeing one of their own like that.

‘I don’t think that would hurt them at all, Intrepid,’The dark pony says quietly as the voices of the hellhounds fade away. ‘That’s just how the Enclave programmed them to be: Cold-blooded. All they want to do is kill. It doesn’t matter who dies as long as the blood flows. But you can stop this madness. You have the power. So stop being stubborn and-’

Suddenly, I feel something press against my right foreleg. Looking down, I realize two things: that I had taken a step forward and that Rose’s outstretched foreleg is held out in front of me. Keeping me from taking another step forward. I feel sick as I take a step back, the images of blood and the broken bodies of my former companions quickly coming to my mind.

Dear Luna, I really was about to do it again, wasn’t I?

Rover laughs, bringing me back to reality just as him says “Maybe you can use that unicorn’s horn as a toothpick after we eat them,” He picks up his knapsack, now full of scrap and tools, and moves over to the vending machine. “Like how she’s going to let me keep that rat’s wings to make into a fancy hat.”

Winona shakes her head. “I’ve got enough toothpicks. Even if it is pretty long and skinny for a unicorn horn.”

“Hey! My horn is only slightly longer than average thank you very much!”I mutter under my breath as I glare at Winona. My anger still burning from what they said about the ghouls earlier.

“Maybe you can use it as a spit then,” Rover helpfully suggests.

“My horn is not a skewer either!”I again mutter through gritted teeth, shifting my glare over to him while he pulls off the side of the vending machine.

“Not pointy enough,” Winona points out before noticing my bottle cap on the ground and picks it up. “It’s like he files it down so it’s blunt or something. And it looks like it’ll snap if you try to pierce a thick steak with it too.” She considers my bottle cap for a moment. “Eh, forget the horn. He has a pretty long tail I could cut off. You think we could turn that into a scarf or something?”

I shift my glare immediately back to Winona and try my hardest to set her on fire with my mind.

“Does it look like I would know?” Rover says as he pulls out a grenade from his knapsack. “I only do two things: Carry the explosives and rig stuff up to explode right.” He sticks the grenade into the vending machine along with some wires. “Go ask Roxie if you’re serious about this. She might know more about that.”

Winona sighs. “But I don’t want to listen to her rant about how Smarty’s a pony. Smarty isn’t a pony! She’s…. Look! Are you done yet?”

“Yeah, I’m done,” Rover says as he does some more stuff with the machine before putting the cover back on. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and see her splattered against the wall the next time she decides to get a drink.”

“Yeah,” Winona says thoughtfully, glancing back at the soda puddle. “Maybe.”

Rover slings his knapsack over his shoulder and runs off. Winona lingers for a few seconds longer before running off to join him. They leave my sight, replaced by the red dots as E.F.S. continues to track them through the wall until they disappear completely.

It feels like an eternity before I finally feel comfortable moving again. I walk over to the nearby wall and sit down against it. Rose gets up from her prone position and gives me a serious look. I let out a sigh, knowing full well where this is going as she walks over to me, and says “Alright, I know I almost-... what are you doing?”

“I’m seeing if you actually file your horn down,” Rose says while leaning in uncomfortably close to inspect my horn. “Now that Winona mentioned it, it does look a little longer than most.”

“Winona doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” I say before pushing her back with my hoof. “A unicorn’s horn is a conduit of magical power and it should be respected as such. It should not be used for something so mundane as a stupid skewer. Sure, my horn might not quite fit the proper parameters of what typical unicorn horn should be but… ok, why are you smiling?”

“Oh, no reason,” She says as she backs off and walks outside of the room. “I just didn’t think you would care this much about how you look, that’s all.”

I roll my eyes. “Please, I’m not vain. I don’t care what they or anypony else thinks about my appearance. I just prefer to look decent.”

“That’s not what I was hearing, Mr. ‘My horn is only slightly longer than average’,” Rose says as she makes her way to the vending machine. “The way you were muttering under your breath made me think you had some kind of fire spell going on there.”

“You heard that?” I ask, not really liking the idea that Rose heard me talk in such a foalish manner.

“What can I say? I have good hearing,” She says, flicking an ear for emphasis. “Personally, I don’t see why it bugs you so much,” She shrugs. “I think your horn looks fine.”

"T-Thanks," I say meekly before getting up. Noticing Rose digging into the now explosives-rigged vending machine, however, removes my desire to move away from the doorway.

"It wouldn’t be a bad idea to sharpen your horn, though,” She suggests. “Use it as a backup weapon in case you need to stab somepony-"

"No thank you," I say abruptly. Then quickly clear my throat. "I, umm, prefer to keep it blunt like this."

“Alright, alright, it was just a thought,” She says before pulling out Rover’s grenade and proudly showing it off to me. I offer back a nervous smile and wait until the explosive is safely in her saddlebag before moving away from my cover to join her.

That smile dies when Rose gives me a serious look. “Now, what were you thinking when you almost blew our cover there?”

No answer comes to mind. At least, nothing that doesn’t sound outright insane. How does one explain that a voice inside his head is trying to tempt him into using dark eldritch magic to murder everypony in sight?

“I... wasn’t,” I answer honestly. “I was letting my anger get the better of me and nearly did something stupid because of it.”

If I’m going to be reprimanded for my actions, I might as well be honest about it. I close my eyes, waiting for her to dress me down over my incredibly foalish actions. Only to feel a soft strike on the forehead. Confused, I open my eyes to see her giving me a concerned look as she says “Hey, they were ticking me off too. But do remember that if you die doing something stupid, my reputation may as well die with you. I’m taking a big risk teaming up with you and I would like it if you didn’t risk our lives like that again.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” I apologise while rubbing my forehead. “I’ll try not to do that again.”

“Ah, music to my ears,” She says with a smile.

“But can you quit it with the disappearing act?” I ask, which instantly kills her smile right there. “I don’t want to die because you disappeared without warning me first. Think of how that will ruin your reputation.”

Not that anyone would know exactly how I died if that happens, but the point still stands.

“But I didn’t mean-” She pauses for a moment and then sighs. “No, you’re right. I’ll try to stop doing that to you from now on,” she says firmly before looking down the hallway. “Now then, with that out of the way and a shiny new grenade in my collection, I think we can continue.”

I raise an eyebrow at her. “Did you actually set off that trap to get a grenade?”

“Not exactly, I just wanted to know who is on this floor right now,” She says nonchalantly. “But I’m not going to say no to free stuff.”

“That’s not how I’d like to get free stuff,” I say, then politely extend my foreleg outwards and bow my head slightly, “Mares first.”

Rose looks shocked at my gesture, making me wonder if she’ll do this every time I try to be polite. But she quickly recovers, giving me a small nod before taking the lead. As I follow her, the feeling that we are being watched creeps into my mind. A glance behind us doesn’t reveal anything, though, and E.F.S. isn’t picking up anything. And Rose is still by my side, so it must be in my head. Though I feel slightly guilty for so quickly assuming she would just disappear again without telling me. Just after she told me she wouldn’t do that.

But then, it’s not the first time I’ve been given hollow promises. There is no reason to be mean to her. But there is no reason to completely trust her either. It’s because I completely trusted Silverwing that all of those ponies died the way they did.

And I’m not making that mistake again.

“Copper Hardwire’s Office” reads the sign on the door we are walking past, piquing my curiosity enough to stop and look at it. Unlike the other signs, this one looks slightly newer. Or rather, that some effort has been put into polishing it so it gleams in the light. Wondering what’s inside, I try to open the door and find that it is locked. Because every interesting door is locked. Always.

“Find something interesting, Treppy?” Rose asks while looking over her shoulder at me. She will never stop calling me by that stupid nickname, will she?

“No, just another locked door,” I say, feeling a little disappointed that that is the case. But there isn’t really anything I can do about it, so I start walking again. Only to stop as Rose passes by me and examines the deadbolt lock on the door. Without a word, she digs through her saddlebag and pulls out a set of lock picks. That is enough for me to ask “Umm, Rose? What are you doing?”

“Unlocking this door,” she says nonchalantly as she looks over her collection of various picks and tension wrenches. “Don’t you want to see what’s inside?”

“I’m curious, yes,” I admit before giving her a serious look. “But we really don’t have time for this. We do have hellhounds hunting us down, if you haven’t forgotten.”

“I didn’t forget,” She says with a sly grin. “We’ll be in and out before they know we’re here.”

“I highly doubt that,” I say back.

“Come on, Treppy, have some faith in me. Besides,” She picks up a pick and examines the lock. “It’s more thrilling this way.”

“Thrilling?” I say rather incredulously. “More like terrifying if you ask me.”

“You can’t live life if you’re terrified all the time,” She says as she slides the pick into the lock and starts moving it around. I watch her work for a second before shoving my curiosity away and shaking my head.

“Whatever,” I start to walk away, hoping she’ll stop this and follow me before I get too far. “I’m not going to stay here and risk the hellhounds finding us.”

A soft click stops me dead in my tracks. This means nothing good for my attempts to be the voice of reason. Especially after turning around to see Rose walk through the now open door. But it is hard to keep my excitement tempered as I follow her in. And notice that she is already trying to get into a wall safe. This is the complete opposite of ‘in and out’ in my book.

I rub my temples as the mare presses one ear against the door and turns the knob. “Rose.”

“Be done in a minute,” Rose says without so much as a glance in my direction. “There’s something good in this one, I just know it.”

“A minute?” I raise my eyebrow at her. “For a safe? Right. Let’s risk our lives in the hope that Mr. Hardwire has something worth stealing in his safe. That sounds like a good idea right now.”

She rolls her eyes. “I’m not stealing from him, I’m just having a look and seeing if it’s something that I can return to him. For a small finder’s fee, of course.”

My eye twitches. “That’s called extortion, assuming he’s still alive. And that tends to get you a one way trip to the hanging noose in Tenpony.”

“Well thank Celestia that we’re not in Tenpony then,” Rose glances my way and gets a glare in return from me. “Ok, I won’t ask for a finder’s fee,” She says before turning back to the safe. “So why don’t you look around the room for stuff that we can use.”

With her shooing me away with her hoof, I let out an exasperated sigh. Yeah, Rose is definitely like Silverwing. Although she’s willing to compromise, which is something Silverwing never did. And she does have a point. If there is something to help me figure out how to fix an intercom box, then it might be here.

After all, this place looks more like a workshop rather than an office. Along the left wall, there are a few terminals in various states of repair sitting on top of a metal desk. Pinned neatly above them are schematics for various different kinds of devices. On the adjacent wall are two rather small bookshelves with a modest collection of books on them. I move closer to one of the bookshelves and pull a book off of it, hoping to find an instruction manual of some kind.

Noting how well kept this old book is, I carefully check the inside cover for the censorship stamp. Not that the Ministry of Image would care all that much about the inner workings of intercoms, but one never truly knows what was and wasn’t ok with that Ministry. I then flip through the pages before confirming that it isn’t what I am looking for. Sliding the book back into its place, I pick another one out and start the process all over again.

That second book, while an interesting looking discussion on different terminal designs, isn’t what I am looking for either. Neither is the third book I pick. Nor the fourth. As much as I want to read them all, there are still hellhounds after us and wasting a day reading books is likely to get everypony killed. Not to mention that it would be hypocritical of me to do so after getting on Rose’s case about wasting time. We may not see eye to eye on things, but I want to treat her fairly. That still doesn’t make putting the books away any easier for me.

Pulling the last book of the collection off the shelf, I take a good look at its cover. It is the familiar emblem of the Ministry of Wartime Technology emblazoned in gold.

“So, who gave you this, Silverwing?” I can hear myself say in the back of my mind.

“It’s not anypony you need to worry about,” Silverwing says.

“And the crates?” I ask, curious as always. “Did you ever find out what was in them?”

“Intrepid, you worry too much,” He answered back to me that day. “Trust me, we helped a lot of ponies out this day.”

He was so full of reassurance that I felt comfortable letting the matter go. Even past the point where things stopped adding up, I kept trusting him.

And look where that got me.

Yet, one glance at Rose and suddenly I feel guilty for the way I’ve been treating her recently. She has been nice to me. Annoying and infuriating at times, but nice nevertheless. But Silverwing and the others were nice too and that didn't stop them from using me for their own selfish ends. I don’t want that to happen again. I can’t let that happen again. Not after what happened to Trian Mill.

Placing the book back onto the shelf, I walk over to the schematics and look them over more carefully. They detail the inner workings of terminals, mainframes, control consoles, and one very detailed schematic of an intercom box. Jackpot! I unpin them one at a time, rolling them up, and placing them in my saddlebag. Unlike the books, I can justify taking all of them with me. As painful as it is to admit that. I’m never going to see those books again, am I?

On that depressing note, I walk over to the desk. “Any luck?” I ask, noting that Rose is still working on the safe.

“It’s a tough one,” She says, briefly looking over at me and then at the terminal on the desk. “Can you see if that thing will open it up?”

“Only if you promise me that we’ll leave right after it opens,” I say. Mostly because of the hellhounds, but partially because there doesn’t seem to be anything else of note in this room.

“Deal,” She says before going right back to work on the safe.

Thus, focusing on the task given to me, I crack my neck and begin the process of hacking into the terminal. There’s a sinking feeling that this will take a while when, instead of the usual display of single words or short phrases, I’m greeted with five to eight word sentences for possible passwords.

I can’t tell if I want to hug or hurt Hardwire for this rare display of competence.

Attempt one doesn’t work. Neither does attempt two. Nearly permanently locked myself out after attempt five. But attempt sixteen wins with ‘To Boldly Go Where Nopony Has Gone Before’. It is probably best not to question this choice of password (given that it did keep me out of this terminal for so long) and instead look over the list of options. It is mostly just documents and such. With the remaining few options that, sadly, have nothing to do with the safe. “Looks like we’re out of luck.”

Rose shrugs. “Worth a shot. I think I’m getting close to cracking it anyway. Two, maybe three minutes tops.”

Didn’t you say you would have this open in one minute?

Rather than say that, I decide to go through the documents. Only to get an error message from each one that they are inaccessible. Not that the terminal feels like telling me why. However, there are two entries that can be accessed: One is a simple reminder to backup all messages and such onto backup tapes in the first drawer of this desk. The other one that is labeled ‘Fw:’Aiming for something higher’. With two, maybe three more minutes to kill, I open it up and start reading.

******

From: Copper Hardwire
To: Rocky Shores

Hey Rocky,

Guess what I found while digging through some old tapes of mine? Luna, this brings back memories. It seems like it was yesterday when I got this message. Hay, did this thing ever spiral out of control. I even remember when Floria got this message. You’re not still mad that I left you alone with her after all these years, are you?

Anyway, I’m forwarding the message over to you so you can get a good laugh at it too.

-Hardwire

From: The Ministry of Wartime Technology
To: All Lunar Institute Employees

Hello,

My name is Smooth Charmer, acting liaison for the Ministry of Wartime Technology. As you are all aware, the Ministry of Wartime Technology has recently entered into a partnership with the Lunar Institute of Rocket Research and Development for a crucial project. There are some that have expressed fear that this partnership will mark the end of your independence. So know that Minister Applejack understands and respects the massive effort everypony has put into building this company. My job is to report back on the progress of this project and advise when needed, nothing more.

That said, there are some protocols that need to go in place to make sure that our two ‘families’ work in harmony together. For those that still do not know, the ‘Equestrian Missile Defense’ project is a way to defend against a balefire missile attack before it can hit its target. Because of the sensitive nature of this project, a badge system will be implemented, in conjunction with the installation of new security robots at key locations throughout the facility. This is to protect you from zebra infiltrators that may cause irreparable harm to you and your work. The robots themselves will not interfere in your work provided you wear your badge at all times. Should you forget or lose your badge at any time, please contact security immediately. A temporary badge will be issued to you until a replacement can be made. For your own safety, do not attempt to enter the facility without your badge. The robots are armed and will consider you a threat should you ignore their warnings and try entering the facility without one.

As an extra precaution, all incoming and outgoing messages will be monitored from now on. This is to prevent security leaks and ensure the safety of everypony here and in Equestria. I will remind you that this includes discussing project details to anypony that is not directly affiliated with this project. Doing so is grounds for immediate termination and incarceration along with any other punishments deemed appropriate.

One last thing, at the request of the Ministry of Morale, your facility will be visited by one of their representatives every month for the duration of this project. This is to ensure that you are as comfortable with this new arrangement as possible. Should you have any complaints or concerns, you are encouraged to bring it up with them and they will handle the matters with the utmost care.

Minister Applejack would like to extend her personal thanks for working with us. Both her and I hope that we can make this project a success and keep Equestria safe from those that would do us harm.

Thank you for your time,
-Smooth Charmer

******

Funny is the last thing that comes to mind for a memo like this. Depressing is more like it. Not like this isn’t the first time this has happened to a company working with the Ministries. And none of them ever escape, although I’m sure Rocky and the others are all too aware of that fact by now. I wonder if Rocky knew that he was selling everypony’s soul with a deal like this? Or was he naive enough to think that they would leave him alone with a project like this?

What even is this project? It sounds like they were hoping it would help take down balefire missiles. But how? With other balefire missiles? Given the amount of balefire warheads there are here, that is the reasonable conclusion. Even if that does stretch what is considered reasonable. No, there’s something else going on here. There has to be. I just haven’t found that piece of information that will make all of this click. Or destroy what’s left of my faith in ponykind.

Maybe those backup tapes will have something in them. Turning my attention over to the drawer to my left, I open it and quickly sort through the random items inside. It takes a couple of seconds to find three holotapes with the label ‘File Backups. Do Not Touch.’ on them. I hesitate for a moment, wondering if taking them would be a good idea, before shaking my head and putting the holotapes into my saddlebag. Not every tape has a virus in it.

The safe behind me creaks open, with Rose exclaiming “Jackpot!” as it does so. She then quickly says “Treppy, take a look at this!”

Feeling a little curious as to what she has found, I turn to look at her and-

A clear glass orb sits in Rose’s hooves. A memory orb.

Pure terror grips my mind as I shake uncontrollably, the memory of a chipped and cracked metallic orb instantly flashes before my eyes. The pain it caused. The agony. And something much darker forcing itself into my head. Some distant part of me knows they are not the same. But it is dangerous! They are all dangerous!

Then orb moves closer. I violently knock it away and quickly pull out my gauss rifle.

“Wait! Stop!” Somepony says before the gun is wrestled out of my grasp. I frantically back away to a nearby corner, desperate to put as much distance between me and the orb.

I curl up into a ball, gripping my head with my hooves and shutting my eyes tightly. Anything to make the terror go away. Tears run down my cheek as the memories just keep coming. Joy from finding the orb. Curiosity when I touched it with my horn and channeled my magic into it. Pain and darkness where there should have been a memory waiting for me. Panic when I discovered that I couldn’t pull my mind out of the orb. As if something was trying to lock my consciousness away forever.

The disturbing realization of how close I was to being brain dead when I came to and discovered the shattered orb in front of me.

“What’s gotten into you?! You almost let everypony know where we are!” Rose practically yells at me. There’s a small pause before I hear her ask “Treppy? Hey, are you ok?”

It is hard to force myself to respond. I curl up tighter when I hear hoofsteps coming closer to me. But, this isn't good. There are hellhounds around. So get a grip already! Just take some deep breaths and calm down. They’re just memories. The orb can’t hurt me. It can’t. It simply can’t.

Then somepony touches my shoulder and I hear her say “Treppy, it’s ok. The orb’s gone now.”

It takes all of my willpower to force my eyes open. Through the tears, I see a very concerned looking Rose next to me. Slowly, I manage to sit up and look around the room. As she said, the orb is nowhere to be seen. Though that does little to alleviate the anxiety attack I’m going through.

I look at Rose and force myself to smile. “S-Sorry about that,” My voice shakes as I speak. “I-I know that was stupid of me to, well...”

She frowns. “I’d say. What would have happened if we were in the middle of a fight and this happened?”

“Y-You’re right, I’m sorry,” I say, wiping the tears from my face.

She winces at my response. “No, I didn’t mean it like that. I, just, why didn’t you tell me you had this problem?”

“It doesn’t matter now,” I say, trying to brush her off as I retrieve my discarded rifle. “Let me step outside for a second and clear my head before I do something stupid again. Ok?”

“Intrepid,” She says. It’s odd to hear her say my name normally. More so with the amount of concern in her tone.

“I’m fine, Rose,” I lie to her, fighting the urge to look back at her as I quickly make my way to the exit. The longer I stay here, the more unbearable my anxiety becomes. It will only be for a few minutes. Just long enough for the feelings to subside. Then Rose and I can keep going like nothing happened.

But that is just wishful thinking. Wishful thinking that dies when Rose manages to catch up to me and places a hoof on my shoulder. “No you’re not. Come on, tell me what’s going on. You can trust me, right?”

Some part of me wants to. Some part of me desperately wants to trust her. To have somepony to lean on in moments like this. But her tone. It’s the same firm but kind tone that Silverwing used to use on me. It definitely sounds more genuine coming from her but- no, not again! I can’t tell if she’s being sincere or if she’s just pretending to care! If she is manipulating me like he did….

“It’s nothing I want to talk about,” I brush her hoof off of my shoulder and make my way towards the door. “Just please, believe me. I really am fine. I just need to step out for a moment and catch my breath.”

Just please, stop acting like you care about me. It hurts.

The door barely swings open when I’m immediately tackled into the hallway. Suddenly my ears start ringing as an explosion rocks the ground around me. Pieces of debris hit my body as dust fills the air around me. With a fit of coughing, I sluggishly get to my feet as I try to comprehend what is happening.

Pain erupts from the back of my neck, followed by a burning sensation that nearly has me collapsing onto the ground again. The talisman around my neck glows faintly as a voice shouts out from in front of me. “Winona, you idiot! Don’t shoot the unicorn! He might have Smarty with him!”

“Idiot?! Whose fault was it for setting off the explosives early?!” Another voice shouts. A chill runs down my spine as I recognize it as Winona’s. “We were supposed to trap them in the room! Not bury them!”

The dust clears to reveal Rover standing above us with a magical energy rifle in his claws. I quickly back up and turn around, only to find Winona blocking the only other way out of the hallway. Also pointing a magical energy rifle at us. With the office door completely covered by rubble, it is safe to say that we are trapped. Thankfully, Rose doesn’t seem injured from the blast as she stands next to me. But with two hellhounds trapping us here, that will change soon.

Really, out of all the worst things that could happen, this is the worst. Possible. Thing.

Slowly, I try to pull out my gauss rifle. The ray of magical energy that nearly misses my horn is enough to convince me to stop.

“Oh no you don’t,” Winona growls, her gun powers up to shoot again.

“Stop it! You disintegrate Smarty and we all will have your head!” Rover growls back. Then he shifts his attention down to me. “Alright unicorn, let’s make a deal: You give us Smarty and the winged pony next to you and you can go.”

“I-I,” I take a couple of deep breaths and try to get a grip on myself. Though it would be easier if my anxiety isn’t forcing my heart to beat out of my chest at the moment. But if I lose it now, I might end up getting Rose killed.

“Ugh, he's obviously not going to say yes,” Winona bares her fangs. “Maybe re-arranging his spine will get him to talk?”

“Winona,” Rover warns her before focusing on me again. “We have no issue with you. Give the rat and Smarty up or die with her. Your choice.”

“You can’t be serious!” Winona practically roars out. “We should kill him now while we can!”

Rover gives Winona an irritated look. “If he’s as annoying as you keep telling me, then I don’t want to deal with him.”

“I don’t believe this! Where’s your spine?!” Winona shouts back. Their argument fades into the background as I take this moment to focus on calming down. For a few seconds, at least, until Rose pokes my shoulder.

“Intrepid, take the deal,” She whispers.

“What?” I turn to look at her. Clearly, I misheard her. No sane pony would ever say that. But she doesn’t look like she is joking. “You can’t be serious.”

She looks me straight in the eyes. “Smarty’s in your bag,” She whispers. “Just take the deal and get those ghouls out of here.”

This doesn’t make any sense. Yet, one quick glance at my PipBuck confirms it: Smarty is in my saddlebags. “W-Why are you doing this?” My voice trembles as I look back to Rose. “You know they’ll kill you, right?”

Rose simply gives me a confident grin. “Come on, I’m the best bounty hunter there is. I’ll get out of this.”

Between her grin and the defiant stances that she is now taking, she is practically yelling at fate to bring it. In her eyes, however, is a glimmer of uncertainty. She knows the odds are against her surviving this.

And yet she’s asking me to take the offer in spite of that fear? Tossing herself to the wolves to give me the opportunity to get away safely? Does she not get who I am by now?! I’m the idiot that keeps screwing things up! I’m the idiot that keeps walking into obvious traps in spite of myself! Hay, I’m the reason we’re in this mess in the first place!

No, no this isn’t who I thought you were! You’re supposed to be like Silverwing! He wouldn’t risk his life when he could get away with risking mine! He wouldn’t offer to teach me a skill that he thought I was lacking in! He wouldn’t ask me if I was fine if he thought I wasn’t! He wouldn’t do any of this!

You’re not supposed to be doing any of this, you idiot!

“Buck that idea!” I tell her. “Like I’m going to let you die for me!”

For a brief moment, she looks stunned at my answer. That quickly gets replaced with irritation. “Intrepid, don’t be stupid! You’re in no condition to fight!” She says, her voice begins to get louder as she glares at me. “Hay, you’re still shaking right now!”

“I don’t care,” I return her glare with one of my own. “I’m not going to abandon you just to save my own hide!”

Honestly, how hard is it to grasp that this is a completely suicidal idea for her? And yet, Rose seems completely keen on continuing this stupid argument as she places one hoof on her forehead. “Intrepid, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but why can’t you be more like my other partners?! They’d would have taken the offer and abandoned me by now!”

“Well excuse me for not being like those idiots then!” I shout back angry.

“WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP!” Winona roars, nearly making me jump out of my skin. After a few short breaths, she points her gun at me. “Now. Are you taking the offer or not?”

No, I’d rather shoot myself than take that offer. But since you seem eager to grant me that particular wish….

With a deep breath, I force myself to calmly look Winona in the eye. “Just one questi-”

“No,” Winona begins to squeeze the trigger on her magical energy rifle.

“But why are you following Smarty when she’s obviously a pony?!” I spit out quickly and then wince in preparation of getting shot again.

Winona blinks and lowers her rifle slightly. “Smarty isn’t a pony.”

This really shouldn’t be working. At all. But no use stopping now that I’m onto something here.

“You sure?” I look up and tilt my head at Winona. “Because she looks like a pony to me. I mean, she has a mane, a tail, a little notebook and quill to… hooves, I-I meant to say four little hooves.”

“That doesn’t make her a pony!” Winona says more insistently.

“What the hay did you think she is then? A griffon?” Rose chimes, earning her a growl from Winona.

“The ponies might be onto something here,” Rover puts a paw over his chin. “I mean, Roxie thinks so. That makes three that think Smarty is a pony.”

“Shut up, Rover!” Winona roars. “Smarty is NOT a pony! She’s… well she’s…”

As Winona looks at the ground in frustration, Rose leans over to me. “Nice way to stall for time. Now quit being stubborn and take the deal.”

“I’m not being stubborn and we’re not taking the deal!” I whisper back. “Now help me think of a better idea-”

“GRR, JUST DIE ALREADY YOU STUPID PONIES!” Winona screams, whipping her rifle back up and firing off a shot. I activate S.A.T.S. and watch as the magical beam slows to a crawl as it almost touches my chest. It isn’t really as comforting as it should be: the amulet Floria gave me only keeps me from getting disintegrated by these weapons. It will not save me should this be enough to kill me. I think that’s how it works, and this really isn’t the time to push my luck.

As much as S.A.T.S. will allow without breaking, I manage to look around Winona just enough to make out a spot behind her. It isn’t much, and there really is no guarantee that I will be able to teleport there before getting hit, but it will draw the hellhound’s attention from Rose. With luck, she’ll take the opportunity and run for it. After that, well, improvisation will be the name of the game. Just like old times. Minus somepony to come save me once my luck runs out.

With what barely qualifies as a plan in place, I queue up a teleport and execute S.A.T.S.. My chest burns as I reappear, though hearing Rover's yelp of surprise is enough to tell me that I got away in time before taking the full brunt of the beam.

That doesn’t seem to give Winona much pause, her movements showing that she’s realizing what just happened a lot faster than I had hoped. As she turns around, I pull out my gauss rifle and re-activate S.A.T.S. to cue up a few shots to the chest. With a prayer that they won’t miss, I execute the spell. Time quickly reasserts itself, the speed of which Winona brings her rifle to bear increases, and my eyes start to widen as it dawns on me.

None of the actions I had cued up are happening.

My shoulder burns intensely as Winona shoots me and I fire back blindly. Through the pain, I barely register my shot sinking into her arm and her rifle dropping to the ground. Although I definitely see Rose slashing Winona’s leg with her knife as she runs past the hellhound’s legs. The roar of pain is enough to get me to run down the hallway with Rose soon catching up with me.

She puts her knife away and looks over her shoulder. “Well, we sure ticked her off.”

“I think our arguing did that already,” I answer back while reloading my rifle. “So any ideas on how we can get them off our tail?”

She extends her wings and, with a small hop, starts flying next to me. She gracefully flips around in the air and fires off a quick shot behind us before righting herself again. “I’m only seeing Winona following us.”

“What?” I glance over my shoulder. Sure enough, Winona is the only one chasing us. And not really gaining on us, for that matter. But that doesn’t make any sense. Winona has already proven to be faster than me when we faced off last time. It’s almost as if she’s waiting for something….

Looking forward again, I scan my surroundings for red dots, silently praying that I spot Rover before he can spring whatever trap they’re trying to force us into.

“Intrepid! Turn Right!”

I skid across the ground and narrowly avoid running into a wall before practically jumping through the large hole on my right. I run for the open door on the other side and find Rose waiting for me on the other side. She tosses a mine into the room just as I get out and then starts running by my side. The mine doesn’t get to go off as Winona decides to take a shortcut through the walls instead of going the route we just did.

“This is what you’ve been dealing with for the last two weeks?!” I point my rifle behind me and fire another blind shot at Winona.

“No, I never had to do this before,” Rose answers back, rummaging through her saddlebag while keeping up with me.

“Ah, so it’s my fault then,” I reload and fire another blind shot behind me. Anything to keep Winona distracted while I try to find that stupid red dot that will tell me where Rover is.

“No, it isn’t,” Rose says before clicking her tongue. “Out of mines. Got any?”

An explosion goes off up ahead, collapsing the ceiling in and blocking our path forward. I skid to a stop while Rose manages to turn around and fire off a shot at Winona. I curse under my breath as I notice the red dot to my right.

Found him.

Claws tear down the wall and I teleport away just as Rover bursts through it. Then watch in horror as, with my sudden disappearance, he is now lunging at Rose instead of me. “ROSE!” Is all I can manage to scream she jumps to the side, claws barely grazing her cheek, before she pulls out her dagger. With a quick dash, she cuts into his leg and repositions herself behind him. She gives me an annoyed look before her eyes widen in fear. It quickly becomes obvious why when I catch a hint of movement from the corner of my eye.

Instincts kick in and I teleport away again. Not fast enough, though, as pain sears through my back the moment I reappear. The blood dripping from the tips of Winona’s claws confirming that I barely escaped death by seconds. However, Winona doesn’t turn to face me. Instead she moves towards Rose as she barely dodges another swipe from Rover.

Only one thing comes to mind to rectify this situation. And it will probably go down in history as one of the stupidest things I will ever do.

“OI! I’M OVER HERE, PRINCESS!!!” I yell before firing at Winona. The shot barely grazing the side of her body but it got her undivided attention all the same. Her head almost instantly turns to glare at me. And it doesn’t take her long to turn around and lunge at me after that. Though this time, I’m ready for it. Teleporting to the far end of a hallway, I stick my tongue out at her before running as fast as my hooves can carry me.

For a brief moment, I wonder if I should have stayed still and waited for her to give chase. The seconds it takes for Winona to catch up to me confirms that that idea would have been suicidal. I teleport again to both dodge her sweeping claws and regain whatever small lead I had on her. It doesn’t last long as she closes the gap and forces me to keep teleporting in short bursts to avoid getting torn apart. Every time she catches up, her claws create a new cut on my body. It’s getting harder to focus on escaping when it is this difficult to just keep ahead of her.

Dang it, Luna! Why?! Why do I keep doing this?! I just wanted to help! I wanted to save everypony here! But no, now Rose is going to die because I couldn’t sit still for one second! Why couldn’t that Mr. Tour Guide be trapped?! At least then, none of this would be happening right now!

Wait. Trap. Trap! That’s it!

Taking Rose’s advice from earlier, I scan my surroundings for anything out of place. And get a cut on my forehead for the trouble. But soon I start coming up to the chassis of an old protectron buried under some rubble. Teleporting next to it, I abruptly turn and aim my rifle at Winona. To my surprise, Winona doesn’t come after me and instead eyes me suspiciously from a distance.

Oh come on! You were eager to kill me before!

In desperation, I say the first thing that comes to mind. “L-Look, I know some ponies did terrible things to you. They’ve messed with your head until you couldn’t think clearly and used you as mindless killing machines. I understand that and I hate that that ever happened to you in the first place. But come on, the ghouls here aren’t like those ponies! They aren’t looking to enslave you or torture you or anything like that! They just want to go to the moon, for Luna’s sake! So why can’t you leave them alone! Why are you trying to kill them all?!”

Winona considers me as sweat starts pouring down my face, probably trying to figure out what my intentions are by saying all of that. Honestly, I’m not sure myself. Maybe it says something that my first instinct is to try to appeal to a being’s better nature. And it seems like I might have gotten through as she glances at the floor.

Only to hear her laugh in a low, sinister tone.

“Why? Why?! Isn’t it obvious?” She says, giving me a menacing look that sends a chill run down my spine. “All of you are the same! You keep talking, worming your way into our heads and trying to manipulate us with kind words or metal helmets. And the only way to make you stop is by killing every single last one of you!”

Winona digs her claws into the ground, giving me only seconds to ram the butt of my rifle into the chassis and teleport out of the way of her lunging attack. Pressing a hoof against the new gash on my chest armor, I look back and watch as electricity sparks from the chassis. Winona turns around to attack again, only for the chassis to explode and knock her off her feet. Dust, debris, and pieces of rebar fills the air and I end up covering my mouth to avoid choking on the air.

It takes a few seconds for the dust to settle, revealing a bleeding Winona with two short pieces of rebar sticking out of her back. It is hard to believe that anything could survive an explosion like that. Ponies couldn’t survive something like that, so it should be able to kill one hellhound, right?

That dark feeling, that siren’s song I felt when Max was dying, is now tugging at my mind, pulling me towards Winona as her bleeding body starts to move.

Panic quickly takes control as I teleport to the first cover I see. Which happens to be behind the remains of a wall nearest Winona that survived the chassis explosion. As the little pony in my head screams at me about picking the worst hiding spot possible, I hold my breath and try to ignore the insistent pulling on my mind and my body shaking in fear. Carefully, I peek over the edge and nearly regret it as Winona gets up and starts to look in my direction. I duck behind cover again as she lets out a blood-curling roar. From all of the new cuts and bruises on her body, she has every right to roar. That really doesn’t change the situation.

At this point, shooting isn’t going to work. Hay it barely worked before. What do I do? What do I do?

‘Isn’t it obvious?’ The dark pony whispers in my head. ‘You kill her. And you have exactly what you need all inside that little bottle in your saddlebag.’

Ignoring the obviously stupid idea proposed to me, I quickly scan my surroundings. There is a piece of rebar, a pile of ash, and not much else. That doesn’t help me at all.

‘Why are you wasting your time here?’ The dark pony asks. ‘The longer you waste here, the more likely it is that Rose will die.’

I shake my head. Rose has been hunting hellhounds longer than I have. Hay, I’ve seen her kill a hellhound before. She’ll be fine against Rover.

‘Are you sure about that?’ The dark pony counters. ‘Normally she just sets up traps and snipes them from the shadows. That is what she said, right? That they never could get her to fight in the open? It’s your fault that she’s doing that now. Are you fine with letting her die because of you?’

‘Or maybe you want her to die? Maybe you think that, despite her proving to be different, she’ll still backstab you. Just like a particular griffon you loathe. I guess letting her die would solve that little problem now, wouldn’t it?’

I shut my eyes tightly as the dark pony continues. ‘No, you are not that heartless. So go ahead, kill Winona. Make her pay for every pony she’s killed and save your friend. That is the right thing to do, isn’t it?’

With that thought lingering in the back of my mind, I sling my rifle over my shoulder and hover the rebar over to me. Using magic to pull out some blood from one of my wounds, I wrap it around the end to make a disturbingly sharp tip. Sensing that Winona is moving closer to me, I grab a chunk of ash with my telekinesis and slowly peek over the edge.

And see her staring right back at me.

Falling backwards, I throw the chunk of ash into her face. And, as Winona reels back and try to wipe the ash from her eyes, I plunge my blood-tipped rebar into her leg. It’s unnerving how easily it pierces through the lower part of her knee and into the concrete below. I wince as she cries out in pain, a chill running down my spine even as that dark feeling grows stronger. It pulls me towards her, almost compelling me to hurt her more. But I shove these feelings to the back of my mind and run for dear life.

“I’m sorry,” I mutter under my breath. “But it’s better than the alternative.”

One hallway after another, I keep running, desperate to put distance between Winona and me and to find Rose again before something bad happens to her. But everything just looks the same to me and I can’t remember which hallways I went down before. My haphazard search comes to an abrupt stop when I clip an open door and crash into the ground hard.

Slamming my hoof into the ground, I lift myself up; an attempt made difficult by how badly my body is shaking now. No red or green dots show up on E.F.S., no landmarks I can recognise, no sounds of battle to follow. I pull up my PipBuck’s map of the place, only to give up seconds later when I can’t make sense of the layout of this floor. With a mix of anger and frustration, I slam the stupid thing into the wall before leaning against it.

Come on, Intrepid, THINK! I need to get to her before it’s too late! There has to be a way to figure out where she is in this stupid maze!

As if things can’t get any worse, that familiar dark feeling starts to claw at my mind ever so faintly. Looking around doesn’t reveal Winona, though, and she doesn’t appear after a few seconds of waiting. Which doesn’t really make sense. Then again, nothing about this Blood Magic makes any sense to me. A consequence of my utter refusal to rely on it. Lately, that feeling has been kicking in whenever I am near somepony that’s heavily injured, like Max or , just barely, Winona. Neither of whom are here for obvious reasons. Which means… Rose is about to die, isn’t she?

Taking a deep breath, I shut my eyes tightly and focus in on that faint feeling, trying to figure out in what direction it is pulling me towards. It is difficult, I almost lose it a couple of times, but I do figure it out. Using that as my guide, I pull out my rifle and start galloping in the direction it is pointing me to. Hallway after hallway, corner after corner, the feeling growing stronger the closer I get to the source. And I find myself praying that I’m not too late.

I turn another corner to see Rose jump to the side as Rover demolishes the wall behind her. Thank Luna! With a quick flap of her wings, she lands on the hellhound’s back long enough to quickly stick her head into his knapsack and kick herself off of him. She’s barely in the air for a few seconds before Rover backclaws her into the ground.

Watching her get the air knocked out of her as he prepares to drive his claws right into her, my instincts kick in. In one swift movement, I teleport to her, hug her body tightly, and shut my eyes tightly as I prepare to teleport us away.

Luna, please let this work!

The sound of claws shredding the concrete greet my ears as we reappear. Opening my eyes, I’m happy to see that I’m not some horrible combination of unicorn and bat pony. Just me hugging a surprised looking Rose while laying on the other side of the wall.

It worked! Ha! Finally! Something finally worked as intended for once! And… umm, I-I should probably stop hugging her like this.

I let go and barely manage to stand up when Rose coughs to the side, spitting out a metal pin in the process. It takes a second of staring at the pin to realise where she got that from. Rover glares at us and prepares to lunge at us when he too notices the pin on the ground.

His eyes widen as I immediately shield Rose with my body.

The ground violently shakes as a bag full of grenades goes off. The explosion kicks up debris that hit my already wounded back, though, strangely, I feel an intense chill run down my spine that negates the pain that should be coming. Then, the dark feeling in my mind fades away as the hallway goes quiet. I wait to see if it is finally over before getting off of Rose. She seems rather calm about a stallion hugging her for this long as she sits up and brushes herself off.

“Now that is how you deal with hellhounds,” She says, giving me a sly smile. “I thought you said you couldn’t teleport two ponies? Something about us fusing into stuff if you tried.”

“It was either that or watch you die,” I shrug. “So I decided to risk it.”

I then turn to look at Rover. Or rather what remains of him. Whatever combination of explosives he had in his knapsack vaporized most of his body with the rest resembling shredded meat. Like the other dead hellhounds, there are wires and metal sticking out of him, though it could have been just the contents of his bag embedding themselves into him. Regardless, considering the expression of shock and pain on his face, he did not go peacefully. It isn’t how I’d wish anyone to die, even if it is to save somepony.

“Well I’m glad you did,” Rose says. “But just so we’re clear, I had everything under...”

I look back to see her staring at my back in shock. Right, it probably looks like a mess right now. And with a quick glance, yeah, I got cut up pretty badly. I wince as I pick out pieces of debris inside the gashes across my back before using my blood magic to harden the blood coming out of them. It isn’t the prettiest thing in the world, but the hardened scabs should keep the wounds from getting infected. At least, until we can find some place to recover properly.

Rose, however, just continues to stare at my back. I give her a reassuring smile and say “I’m fine.”

She doesn’t react, though, and I decide to ignore the other wounds on my body to make sure she’s ok. Thankfully, she really only has shallow cuts across her body. There’s really only one painful exception: A particularly nasty cut on the side of her body, just a few inches below her left wing. Had it been any higher… though, I have to remind myself that I did make it in time to save her. No use cursing myself for not arriving earlier.

Again, I use my magic to clean up her wounds and harden her blood into scabs. A small part of me feels hopeful that there won’t be any scars left over once the wounds heal. Rose blinks and looks over herself as I walk over to Rover’s body and carefully shut his eyes.

“Is Winona dead?” She asks, sounding a little shaken.

I shake my head. “No, but I’ve made sure she won’t be following us for a while.” With that, she nods and starts walking down the hallway. With one last look over Rover’s broken body, I turn around and start following Rose. As much as I don’t like how he died, Winona made it absolutely clear that it was either us or them.

And I’ve already made my decision a long time ago on whom I prefer.

Author's Note

Congratulations! You have leveled up and gained a new perk.

New Perk: Intense Training

Through a rather… “unique” training course, you’ve managed to increase your Perception by one point.

Current Quest Objective:

Repair A Broken Intercom In Order To Contact Rocky Shores.
Escort Winter Rose Back To Safety.
Scavenge For Medical Supplies.
Don’t Die.

Chapter 7 - Testing Bonds

Putting our weight against it, Rose and I push the heavy metal door wide enough to slip through the gap. Considering how much pain I’m in and how quickly we ran, I’m tempted to just leave the door open. The howl of pure rage in the distance, however, convinces me to suck it up and close the door, with Rose quickly joining in the effort. Once it finally closes shut, I slump against the door while she turns the lever to lock it.

“I think Winona found Rover,” She says as she slumps down next to me.

“I wish she hadn’t,” I say in between a few deep breaths. Nopony should stumble upon their friend’s dead body like that. No matter how heartless they may be to others.

Not that that matters now. What matters is finding an intercom box to fix up so we can contact the ghouls and let them know what is going on. To that end, I check the map and try to figure out where we are currently. A task made difficult when my location marker doesn’t show up. Though a swift smack against the wall manages to fix that little problem. Now, let’s see. As far as the map is concerned, we are currently at someplace called the ‘Rocket Propulsion Testing Chamber’.

“How’s your back?” Rose asks.

“Sore. Like every inch of my body is,” I say while looking up from my PipBuck. “My spine is still in one piece, so I can live with that,” I glance down at the wound on her side. “How’s your wing?”

She extends her wing out slightly. “Sore, but still in one piece. I’m just happy to be alive after all of that,” She says before pressing her head against the door. “Guess we’re camping out here until they move on.”

“Guess so,” I say before taking a good look around the place. Unlike the rest of the facility, this place feels like it was tacked on from someplace else. Exposed pipes and wires line the upper part of the concrete walls, running straight into the darkness in front of us. Two dim lights casting enough light to show part of a catwalk at the end of the short hallway we are in. Though, there is a row of switches that promise more light for this room. Provided they still work.

It hurts, but eventually I force my sore legs to stand and drag them across the floor to the switches. The echoing of my hoofsteps giving the impression that this room is quite large. Leaning against the wall, I use my magic to flip all of the switches up at once.

Suddenly, the darkness disappears, showing me this isn't just large: it's massive! And my breath is taken away by the wondrous sight that is in front of me.

Well, wondrous to me. To some other pony, it’s just a rusty sprawl of catwalks, stairs, pipes, and wires stretching from floor to ceiling. Rusted metal doors covering a large tunnel to the left. A large metal harness with similar pipes and wire to the ones on the walls hanging a few feet off the floor to the right.

But it is the thing in between all of that that catches my eye: a giant rocket engine, currently hooked up to the harness itself.

The engine is obviously a prototype; what, with us being in a testing chamber and all that. Still, it is the fact that it looks so perfectly pieced together despite clearly being assembled by junk that has my attention. The lack of rust or dust on it only adds to its majesty.

Finding renewed strength within my legs, I walk to the end of the catwalk, rest my forelegs on the railing, and gaze upon the engine.

"How did they manage to put this rocket together?" I can't help but ask in awe. "Or rather, how did they find the parts to build this? Surely, some parts must have rusted away before they came back here, right? Wait, is this the kind of engines they have on their rocket right now? Did they use zebra alchemy in order to get this to work? How many tests must they have done before they figured it would get them to the moon? Months? Years? Why-”

“Having fun?” Rose asks as she rests her forelegs on the railing next to me.

“A-A little bit,” I sheepishly admit as I rub the back of my neck, flinching a little when I brush against burnt flesh. It is going to take a while for that to heal. And my mane is uneven now, isn’t it? Not to mention that my favorite duster is in tatters, my riot gear has gashes in it, my saddlebag holding together by a thread.

‘You’re priorities might be a little skewed for a pony that nearly died,’ The little pony in my head can only shake his head. ‘Thrice.’

Or more if my luck continues to be what it is. However, it is a coping mechanism to focus on frivolous things like my disheveled appearance rather than on the horrible situation at hoof.

Rose smirks for a moment, then looks more seriously at the rocket engine. “Think they can do it?”

I consider the engine for a moment. “It is a long shot. No pony has ever done this before. At least, not to my knowledge. But it has taken them a long time to get to this point. What, with the money problems and accidents they had. Practically selling their souls to the Ministries to keep going. The fact that they’re still going after the world ended is inspiring in a way.”

Then, resting my head on my forelegs, I mutter under my breath “And they’re letting an idiot like me get involved in all of this. All I’m going to do is get them killed. Like I nearly got you killed.”

She frowns. “Yeah, it would have been nice to know that memory orbs freak you out that badly.”

That catches me off guard. But then, maybe I wasn’t as quiet with that comment as I thought. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to react that way. It’s just… it’s complicated.”

Not that I even know how to explain something like that. It should have been obvious that there would be some memory orbs around this place. Past Rocky said as much in that recording.

Rose glances at my back for a few seconds, thinking. “You don’t really trust me, do you?” She says suddenly.

“What? No, I trust you,” I say, lifting my head off the railing to look at her. Where the hay is this coming from?

“Then why didn’t you listen to me back there?” She sounds slightly irritated as she pushes herself off the railing and faces me. “All you had to do was just accept the offer and walk away.”

“And let you die?” I shake my head. “No, not after I got you into that mess.”

“Treppy, I would have been fine,” She answers back then points at my back. “And you wouldn’t have been torn up like that.”

I push off the railing and look her in the eyes. “Better me than you.”

For a moment, she seems taken aback by this. Then she glares. “You don’t actually think that. You think I’m scum, don’t you?”

“No! I-”

“Then who’s Silverwing?” She asks.

“H-He’s,” I hesitate, not really wanting to tell her who Silverwing really is. But lying would only make the situation worse. “He’s a two-faced con-griffon. But you’re not-”

“Treppy, stop,” She again cuts me off. “I know you’ve been comparing me to him when you think I’m not paying attention. You’ve always kept me at leg’s length. You give me dirty looks when you think I’m not looking. It’s easy to see that you don’t want anything to do with me.”

That catches me off guard badly. She knew. All this time I was thinking ill of her and seeing her as just another Silverwing, she noticed. And I must not be hiding my shock all that well from the way she frowns at me.

“It’s ok, you’re not the first pony to treat me like that,” She chuckles mirthlessly, even though I wish she wouldn’t. “Honestly, I don’t know why I thought it would be any different this time. I didn’t get to where I’m at without making a few ponies hate me for being me.”

“Maybe I thought that before, but I don’t now,” I say, trying hard to fix this before it can get any worse. “You’re not him! You’re not some self-centered, backstabbing, murderer who cares more about caps than those he’s with!”

Something I just said makes her wince and her expression turns dark. “You really don’t know anything about me, do you?”

Again, I find myself caught off guard by her words. Just as I open my mouth to continue arguing, she quickly turns away and spreads out her wings. “I’m going to check around the place,” She says, then hesitates for a moment before adding “You don’t need to be my hero, Intrepid. Let’s just get this over with so we don’t have to deal with each other anymore.”

With that, she takes off. I move to stop her but my body immediately protests in pain as I try and that is long enough for her to disappear. I scan the place, trying to find some hint as to where she went, but nothing sticks out in the sea of equipment and spare rocket parts.

I stand there for a few more seconds before turning my attention towards the stairs leading down to the lower catwalks. My body aches as I make my way down them. Not a surprise, given the amount of cuts, gashes, and bruises covering my body. It really goes to show just how dangerous it is to be here.

And it doesn’t help that Rose thinks I hate her now. Which I don’t. But my own prejudices about her, not to mention my fear of letting anypony get close to me again, has made me look like a hypocrite to her. Maybe she thinks all of my attempts to save her is more out of some selfish attempt to play the hero rather than a genuine sense of not wanting to see her get hurt. Or something. This entire ordeal makes me want to pull my hair out.

‘Maybe you should have taken the deal,’ The little pony in my head says to me. ‘The hellhounds seem willing to let you go if you did.’

Except that would mean leaving Rose and the ghouls to their fate. And I don’t need another batch of ghosts to haunt me, thank you.

Walking across what seems to be a retractable part of the lower catwalk, right in between the test rocket engine and the tunnel, I find myself staring at a door labeled ‘Test Control Room’. It is similar to the one leading into this place, though it is thankfully not as hard to open by myself. The room itself is barely lit by the moonlight pouring in through the tinted windows on the back wall. Not enough light to make out anything in the room, though. So I cast my light spell and walk on in.

The first thing to catch my attention is a binder sitting on top of a control console. Hovering it closer to me, I notice the word ‘Manual’ on the cover and start flipping through the pages. There are various details about different rocket engines, flight stages, emergency detection, and procedures that fill the pages. But the one thing that really catches my attention is the diagram detailing all of the functions of the switches and buttons of the console in front of me.

Including the relatively big red button labelled ‘Start Engine Test’.

It isn’t hard to find that button once I look over the console itself. Along with all of the other buttons detailed on the diagram. The cover surrounding them is gone, but the wiring connecting them to the console is still intact. For now, I ignore the buttons and flip one of the switches instead. Above me, one of the monitors hanging off the wall flicker on, revealing a good view of the test rocket engine outside. Flipping another switch activates the displays and counters on the console, revealing that the engine itself is fueled and ready for testing.

Despite my little pony pointing out all the reasons why this idea is horrible, it is really to just press the button and watch the engine go off.When am I going to ever get another opportunity to do this? My eyes shift from the engine to the button and back again several times before I finally make my decision.

I yank out the yellow wiring connecting the red button to the console before tossing the button itself out of the room.

As the sound of the button hitting the ground echoes throughout the chamber, I give myself a metaphorical pat on the back while closing the door behind me. Just because I’m not stupid enough to press it doesn’t mean there isn’t a chance I could press it by accident. And that is one thing I would like to avoid at all costs.

Putting the binder aside, I scan the room for anything else that would be useful. But, outside of the leather office chairs and a broken box mounted on the wall, there really isn’t much in this room. Well, box is a bit of a strong word for something that is missing most of the covering. With torn wires hanging out of it and… wait. I pull out the intercom schematics and yes, this is exactly what I am looking for. Just with most of the inner workings spilled out on the floor. And a few other missing pieces besides the cover, if the schematics are anything to go by. With a deep breath, I set my saddlebags (what is left of it) on the ground and start making a mental list of everything I need to fix this thing.

‘Should you still be doing this?’ My little pony asks. ‘You barely kept Rose from getting killed because of your dumb actions. And nothing that has happened before that point is suggesting that things will get better here.’

Unfortunately, there isn’t another alternative. Everypony here is stuck with me, even if I desperately wish that isn’t the case. For now, it is better to just focus on touching base with the ghoul. Make sure they’re still alive and that the holotape offer still stands.

I pull out my screwdriver and stare at it.

Please, Luna, don’t let this be a repeat of Trian Mill. Don’t let anypony else die because of me.

With that silent hope in mind, I get to work sticking the guts back into the intercom box. Though, I can’t help but keep thinking about Rose as I re-attach wires and make a mental list of what I’m missing. Our argument keeps replaying in the back of my mind, but I can’t seem to find a way that I could have handled that better. Should I have been more forceful? Or maybe I should have done a better job at keeping my insecurities to myself? Should I have lied about who Silverwing was? The more I question what I should have done, the more irritated with myself I become. Until I finally, just pull out one of Hardwire’s holotapes and stick it into my PipBuck. I select one audiolog at random and slip on my earblooms before turning my attention to cannibalizing the console for spare parts.

It takes a second before the voice of an unfamiliar stallion comes out of the earblooms’ speakers. “This is a test to see if the recording functions of this terminal actually work And while I’m at it, Mr. Shawls, could you please stop-”

A door opens and my attention immediately goes to the entrance of the room. That door remains shut, though it is hard to tell if that is a good thing or not. What is not hard to tell is the voice of young Rocky Shores as he speaks. “Mr. Hardwire, how goes the operation?”

There’s a sigh from Hardwire. “If you are referring to the process of turning our terminals into listening devices for our Ministry Mares, then it is coming along smoothly.” It is pretty obvious in his tone that he really doesn’t care for what he is doing in the slightest. I wouldn’t either if I knew my conversations were being listened in on without my consent. Like I’m listening in on them right now….

Note to self: Apologise for listening in on the ghoul’s personal lives via holotape recordings. That I took from their rooms without permission. Among other things.

The door in the recording shuts as Rocky says “Look, if there was any other way to keep this facility running, I would have taken it.”

“Maybe you should have looked harder,” Hardwire answers back while I tear some wires out and head back to the intercom box. “You know what they think about zebras. I won’t be surprised if a few of my co-workers get carted away for ‘acting suspiciously’ or some bullcrap.”

“That’s why I made sure to limit what they can do while here,” Rocky says. “The Ministry of Morale isn’t allowed to start shipping employees to Shattered Hoof without passing their evidence by Raina, Mr. Charmer, and I. And the Ministry of Tech has already agreed to my terms.”

I shutter at the mention of the Shattered Hoof Re-Education Facility. Nothing good ever happened there. And no pony ever left that place with their mind intact, if they left at all. Memories aren’t something that should be toyed around with in order to ‘fix’ wrong think. Hay, even when it was done in the name of protecting Tenpony Tower, it still felt wrong.

Somepony knocks on the door in the recording, which is soon followed by the sound of a chair moving back and said door opening. “Ah, Floria! Welcome back!” Rocky says. “How was your vacation?”

It is a bit of a surprise to hear how clear and graceful Floria’s voice is as I look over the schematics again. “My vacation was wonderful, thank you for asking. Thundering Rain and foals had a great time visiting Rainbow Falls.”

“That’s good to hear!” Rocky says, a little too excitedly. Something is about to happen, isn’t it?

“Thank you. Unfortunately, what I heard when I got back wasn’t as good,” Floria says calmly. “Now, Mr. Shores, with all due respect, HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?!”

Suddenly I hear metal being torn apart and it isn’t coming from the recording. I pause my recording, grab my rifle, and immediately position myself opposite from the door. With my rifle aimed at the door and my back against the wall, I wait to see Winona limp into view on the monitor. Enraged beyond reason over the death of Rover

Lupa calmly comes into view instead.

The room feels colder as I watch her calmly scan the chamber until her eyes rest on the control room door. With a few sniffs of the air, a smile forms on her lips that shows off her razor sharp teeth.

“You can stop hiding now, unicorn. I know you’re in here,” She says kindly. It still sends a chill down my spine regardless. This is, after all, the hellhound that cowers other hellhounds into submission. The one that makes every flight instinct kick off with just a glance.

Glancing out the window, I don’t see any place to teleport to. Just steep slopes and jagged rocks that will cut me to ribbons in no time. There is no escape from here.

“Well then, unicorn. You’ve made quite a mess of things,” Lupa says with a tone a mother would take with her mischievous foal. “But I understand. You’re just scared, alone, with big scary monsters hunting you down until they get back what is theirs.”

I tighten my grip on my rifle as she slowly comes closer, metal shavings glimmering in the light as she skims across the top of a railing with one claw. “But you’re a good little unicorn, aren’t you? You haven’t killed any of my family and you even try to talk to us like we’re friends,” Her smile widens. “You even gave my daughter a new name that she loves. But then, then you had to go and help the little rat.”

With a flick of her wrist, Lupa slices through the railing with ease. “What did the rat promise you?” She asks calmly. “Fame? Fortune? Her body? What did she promise you that makes you so willing to violently harm my beloved daughter? To help her murder my beloved Rover in a cowardly manner?”

‘Like she actually cares about any of them,’ The dark pony in my head whispers. ‘She treated Max like he was dirt while he laid there bleeding to death in front of her. After nearly slicing his eye out, might I add.’

“But I am a forgiving hellhound,” Lupa continues, her smile disappearing. “And as much as you have hurt me personally, I’m willing to let you go if you give us both the rat and our beloved Smarty.”

‘Or you could just kill her,’ The dark pony says as I watch Lupa slowly stop and start tapping her claw on the railing. ‘No need to risk your life hoping she has a heart when you hold more power than her.’

As desperate as the situation is, it isn’t desperate enough to damn myself using that magic. Thankfully, she doesn’t realize that she just parked herself right in front of a working test engine. Just need to slowly move over to the console and we will see if she is resistant to fire when I push that button and… ah, right. That button is currently sitting outside of this room because of me.

Dear Luna, why am I such an idiot?

With my hoof firmly planted on my forehead, I barely notice Lupa looking up at one of the corners of the room. “And there scurries the rat,” She says, her voice dripping with disdain. “What’s the matter? Did he toss you out like all of your other partners?”

Lupa, it doesn’t take a genius to know you’re making this up.

“But what do I know? I’m just a stupid hellhound,” She shrugs. “A stupid hellhound that listens to rumors the caravans tell each other,” She looks down at her claws. “Like what ‘Lefty’ said? Some grey bat pony kept calling him that even though he hated it. Apparently she acted all nice to him before robbing him blind and leaving him to die. What was that bat’s name? ‘Winter Rose’? Does any of this ring a bell, rat?”

Silence.

“No? Hmm,” Lupa looks downward as she taps her chin. “How about ‘Blackbeak’? That griffon hated her too. Kept going on and on about how she cut him out of a deal and then shamed him in front of his employer when he tried to set the story straight. Sound familiar?”

Again, Rose doesn’t say anything. Honestly, why would she? Lupa is clearly making this stuff up. What is this hellhound trying to do here?

The silence doesn’t seem to bother Lupa as she shakes her head sadly. “Poor things, their honesty and trust getting taken advantage of? But I guess this Rose would thank me for cutting them down. It is hard to get work when everyone thinks you’re a liar and a thief.” She smiles slyly. “Which makes me wonder if you’re not doing the same thing to this poor unicorn? Stringing him along, pretending that you’re partners, abusing his good nature right up until you’re done using him, then throw him to me after you get all those shiny caps you crave.”

Her ears perk up and smile widens. “Oh? Did I hit a nerve? Don’t worry,” She says, extending her claws. “You won’t live long enough to-”

“Lupa!” A black and brown hellhound shouts as she comes into view.

The movement is instant, like a wound up spring being released, as Lupa snaps her body towards this new hellhound; her claws dig deeply into the test engine, leaving giant tears into it. With a low snarl and a glare that contains barely restrained anger, she stares at the now cowering hellhound.“What. Is. It. Roxie?”

“I-It’s Winona! S-She wants to talk to you,” Roxie whimpers, cowering before the terrifying aura of Lupa. The air is tense enough to make my fur stand on end as Lupa seethes in rage.

Then, almost unbelievably, she takes a deep breath and regains her composure. The anger from before all but vanishing in that instant. “Alright, I am coming,” She says with the kind of calmness that just feels wrong considering what just happened mere seconds ago.

As Roxie slinks off, Lupa looks back at the same corner as before. “No, I don’t think I’ll kill you here. You’ve had too much time to prepare. But don’t worry. Next time,” she taps the damage she inflicted on the engine. “I’ll pay you back for every slight against me.”

“Oh, and unicorn?” She looks over her shoulder in my direction. “I hope you take what I said to heart. Rats aren’t known for their loyalty and I would hate it if something bad were to happen to you.”

Slowly, calmly, Lupa walks out of view. Yet it takes longer before her presence finally fades from the air around me. With a long held sigh of relief, I slump down to the ground. What in Equestria was Lupa going on about? Divide and conquer is a good strategy, sure. But a hellhound like her, especially a hellhound like her, holding conversations with passing caravans? Please. Rose and I may only know each other for half a day at most, but that doesn’t mean I’m trusting a murderous psychopath over a talented bounty hunter. Even if everything she said sounds like something a bounty hunter would do from past experiences with them.

No, what am I thinking? I’m over that. Rose isn’t like Silverwing! She’s trustworthy. What Lupa said is complete hogwash. And if it isn’t, then there must be more to this that what was said. There has to be!

‘Are you really that worried that Lupa might be telling the truth?’ My little pony asks as I pick myself off the ground. ‘That, after everything that has happened, Rose is still going to betray you somehow?’

Of course not. I do trust Rose. This isn’t like last time, where I kept lying to myself despite all of the evidence saying that my trust was misplaced. She’s already proved she was willing to throw her life away to save mine in that stupid deal. That’s more than anypony else would have done.

‘Except, you forced her into that situation with your stupid actions,’ My little pony points out. ‘What loyalty will she have to somepony that keeps risking her life like that? And It’s not like there was another option open for her. It was either take the deal and have a chance to get out alive or die right there and then. Even escaping the way you did nearly ended with her dying. What have you competently done to make her trust you at all?’

I shake my head and move for the door. There is really no point in entertaining these thoughts. Going through the door, I softly ask “Rose?” My question is repeated by the monitor (a little too loudly for comfort) and I turn it off before taking a few steps into the chamber. “Hey Rose, are you still here?”

My question echoes around the chamber before disappearing into an uncomfortable silence. It is not that I am expecting a quick reply after that nasty visit from Lupa. Or any response outside of a curt one after the short argument we had. But all I hear is creaking metal.

‘Maybe Lupa was right,’ My little pony continues. ‘Maybe Rose decided this wasn’t worth it anymore and now you’re stuck with a doll and a group of ghouls to save. Not the first time you’ve been left holding the bag for a job gone south.’

That doesn’t feel like something Rose would do, though. She craves this kind of challenge, right? She wouldn’t run away from this just because she nearly got killed. Would she?

Again I shake my head and take a few steps towards the now damaged engine. The gashes run deep and it sends a chill down my spine running my hoof over it. Are the gashes on my back like this? If so, then I’m lucky to still be able to move my legs. And maybe... there’s another reason Rose acted the way she did.

Not that it does me any good to think about this now. Walking back to the control room, I pause long enough to look in the same corner as Lupa. “I found an intercom box. It’s salvageable, but I think I might need a new speaker for it,” I smile. “I’d appreciate it if you found a replacement for me. Regardless, I’ll be working on it in here, so feel free to come in when you want. I’m not going anywhere.”

Not like I’ll survive five seconds if I leave now.

Closing the door behind me, I take in a deep breath and let it out. Feelings of paranoia over Rose’s true motivations and guilt over being paranoid and distrustful of her both tug at the corners of my mind. It’s hard to ignore them as I make my way through the moonlit room and back in front of the intercom box. With the light of my horn once again illuminating my immediate surroundings, I put on my earblooms again and smack my PipBuck against the ground to get the recording unstuck and playing again.

“Look Floria, I can explain,” Rocky says in the recording as I once again get back to work.

“Explain what? You sold out our company!” Floria replies back with such obvious anger that I instinctively wince as a result. It makes one wonder what Rocky must be feeling right now.

“That is not what I did!” Rocky says firmly. If he is afraid, he isn’t showing it through his tone.

Hardwire suddenly raises his voice, reminding me that he is there when he says “I think I’m just going to go take a break right now.” I can’t really blame him for not wanting to risk being dragged into this.

There’s a brief pause, followed by Floria saying “I’m sorry Mr. Hardwire. I would appreciate it if you could give us a moment alone.”

“Alright, I’ll just go get a drink then. And work on this later,” Hardwire’s voice grows more distant towards the end of his sentence. A door opens, closes, and then someone breathes in deeply.

“I didn’t sell out to anypony,” Rocky says calmly, probably acting as professional as possible. “It is just that our mistakes are starting to threaten our dream. The Ministry of Technology-”

“Wartime Technology” Floria says sharply.

“The Ministry of Wartime Technology,” He corrects himself, some annoyance seeping into his tone. “Offered to pay off our debts in exchange for developing a new defense system for them.”

“But these are missiles, Rocky! Missiles!” She exclaims. “How am I supposed to tell my family that I’m not working for the military when we’re creating weapons for them?!”

“Would you rather we all be out on the street instead?” Rocky asks bluntly. He pauses for a moment, probably waiting for Floria to say something, before continuing. “Look, I don’t like it either. They’re being more heavy hoofed about security than I’d like. But Smooth Charmer is a family friend and he promised me that we can continue our research while we get the system going. Out of all the possible options, I picked the one that kept us all together.”

Floria seems to understand this given her tone seems less angry as she asks “Did this really have to happen while I was away on vacation? It almost feels like you don’t trust me anymore.”

Seems like I’m not the only pony that has issues with trust.

“That wasn’t my intention,” He explains while I stop and start paying closer attention to the recording. “It is just that the deal needed to happen soon or good ponies were going to get locked up.”

“Locked up?” Floria asks almost immediately. “What were you doing while I was gone?”

“Nothing you need to be worried about now,” He answers back quickly.

“Rocky,” She warns.

“It’s not a matter of trust, it’s just… complicated,” He says. His words echo what I said earlier to Rose.

And it sounds like it is going to work out just as well for him as it did for me. At least, based on Floria’s unamused tone as she says “Do remember that my glass eye lets me look into your soul and see if you’re lying or not. You're better off coming clean now.”

Ok, maybe I misread her tone there. She is obviously joking about her glass eye there. Right?

Maybe not, if Rocky’s sigh is anything to go by. “You know about the statue in town?”

“The one for their narcissistic mayor?” She asks. Sounds like she and this mayor know each other.

“One of our test rockets veered off course and destroyed it,” He continues.

“So her massive ego took another hit,” She says calmly. Yep, she definitely sounds like she knows the major. “We already told her that building a town near us was dangerous.”

Rocky’s voice takes on a chilling effect as he says “Yeah, well, she pulled some strings and nearly got the Ministry of Morale called down on us. She told them that we were secretly working for the enemy. They almost believed her too.”

“How do you know about this?” Floria asks. I’m curious about that too.

“Like I said, Smooth Charmer is a family friend,” Rocky explains. “Now we just need to avoid another accident or MoM will be convinced that there is a spy around here.”

There is a nervous chuckle from Rocky, but Floria remains quiet. Once the chuckle dies down, she says “I think I need to stick some needles into my mayor voodoo doll.”

“You don’t have a voodoo doll,” He points out.

“After hearing this, I think I need to make one. I’m sure my grandmother can lend me a book on the subject,” She says half jokingly. Then, in a more serious tone, she adds “Rocky, I can understand why you didn’t want to bring this up. But keeping this a secret from all of us in management isn’t going to do anypony any favors. It gives us the impression that you don’t trust us and makes us question your motive on things.”

Despite this being a recording from well over two hundred years ago, her words cut me deeply. The situations aren’t really the same, Rocky and Floria know each other for (assumedly) years while Rose and I barely met. And letting a total stranger know about the skeletons in your closet is not the sanest thing in the world. But, if I had been a bit more open about the smaller things, maybe things wouldn’t have gotten this bad. Or maybe it is a good thing I’m being stubborn in trusting Rose, assuming what Lupa said is true.

Ugh! This was supposed to be a simple rescue job! Why did it get this complicated on me?

“Raina knows already,” Rocky says, the conversation having moved on while I was lost in thought. “The others, well, I promise to set up a meeting and fill them in before the day is out. Is that enough to make up for ruining your morning?”

Floria hums. “It is a start. But you still need to be punished before I consider us even.”

He chuckles in a more lighthearted way this time. “And what punishment will you give me? Another paid vacation to Canterlot?”

The door opens in the recording and then Floria says “A lesson in being more open will be appropriate. Starting with me telling Silky how you feel about her.”

“Wait, no, you wouldn’t dare!” He says and then shouts “Wait, Floria! Get back here!” The door slams shut and recording ends there.

I calmly pull off my earblooms and stare at my PipBuck. Then the room lights up, blinding me for a few seconds. When I can see again, I turn around to see Rose standing next to the closed door. With a speaker in her mouth and a hoof on the light switch located behind the door. Because of course there would be a light switch behind the door! Honestly, who designed this stupid place?

“Figured you’d want some light,” Rose says before walking over and hooving me the speaker. “Will this work?”

“Thanks and yes. I think,” I take the speaker with my magic and proceed to exchange it with the old speaker already attached. “Thankfully, we had everything we needed right here. Just need to hook up this speaker and we should be able to make contact with the ghouls.”

“Right,” She doesn’t sound too enthusiastic about that as she glances out the window. “... Say, about what Lupa was saying. It was some pretty odd stuff, right?”

“Yeah, it was weird that she brought any of that up,” I finish hooking up the speaker and close what is left of the case shut. “Like she was trying to play mind games with us or something. Was anything she said true? I mean, have you ever heard of the people she brought up?”

She tenses up slightly. “Does it matter? It doesn’t change the fact that she’s trying to kill us.”

“I know,” I back up from the intercom and glace over at Rose. “But the whole thing feels off to me. Like, she doesn’t come across as anyone that would calmly sit around a campfire, listening to ponies talk to each other. Yet, why would she make all of that stuff up? Especially when all of it was about you?”

She turns back to me and dismissively waves away my concern with her hoof. “You worry too much, Treppy. Let’s just focus on the job and get that done, ok?”

Those words. Those words set off so many alarms in my head that I barely notice her moving over to the intercom box. Silverwing said something similar right before everything went straight to Tartarus. To have her utter those words here after I’ve convinced myself that she isn’t like that backstabbing griffon….

Rose pulls out a piece of paper and starts pressing a sequence of numbers on the pad. Then she clears her throat as she presses down on the silver button right below it. “Oi! Rocky? Bright Eyes? Salty? Anypony there?”

I blink and tilt my head slightly. “Salty?”

“That annoying bald stallion that thinks he’s a ghoul,” Rose explains.

Suddenly there’s a cough coming out of the speaker. “Hello? Who is this?” Floria says. It is jarring, to say the least, to hear her raspy voice after listening to the more natural sounding recording of her younger self.

“Winter Rose, the one and only,” Rose says confidently. It is a marked difference from how she was sounding a few seconds ago. “Intrepid is here too. Your unicorn courier managed to find me just fine.”

“Good!” Rocky joins in. Guess they were in the same room. “We were getting worried about you two over here.”

“Come on, Mr. Shores! You hired the best!” Rose smiles despite me being the only one that can see her right now. “And I’m definitely making progress on getting rid of those hellhounds for you all.”

“Right,” Salt Cube says skeptically. “Did you really call all of our rooms just to brag about that?”

Rooms?

Rose gives me a confused look, which means this isn’t intentional at all. As I look at the schematics again (I must have crossed a wire somewhere), Raina (or Bright Eyes. Might as well stick with Bright Eyes for now) speaks up. “I, for one, am glad to hear her voice again. And to hear that our two heroes are safe.”

Hero is stretching it a bit. I don’t deserve to be called one. Rose has done far more to earn that title than I ever have.

“I’m not saying that it isn’t a good thing to hear back from them,” Salt Cube says back. “I just want to know why she felt like calling all of us here. Actually, who else did you call?”

Almost at once, a chorus of voices chime in, each one overlapping with another and making it impossible to understand what they’re saying. Rose motions towards the intercom and I just shrug my shoulders. As far as I can tell, I followed the schematics exactly. Or, I thought I did.

“Alright! Quiet down everypony!” Rocky shouts with an authoritative tone that silences the discordian chorus. Once everypony has clearly settled down, he clears his throat. “Now then, Ms. Rose, Mr. Scholar, you called us to report?”

“Umm, yes,” I take in a deep breath. “Actually, if you don’t mind, I first need to apologise.”

Rose gives me an odd look as Rocky asks “Apologise? For what?”

“I, umm, how do I put this?” I scratch the back of my neck. “It’s just that, after being alone for a while, you tend to forget about common courtesy and get into bad habits like-”

“We’re not going to get mad at you,” Bright Eyes says. “Just relax and tell us what you did.”

“I found some of your holotapes and have been listening to them while looking through your terminals and rummaging through your things. I needed something to take my mind off of the hellhounds while looking for Rose! I’m sorry for violating your privacy like this and I have every intention of returning everything I took! I know there’s no excuse for what I did but I’ll take whatever punishment you have for me!” I blurt out while flinching in preparation for the ghouls' indignant cries that are no doubt coming to me. Rose facehoofs but, strangely, there are no cries for my head. Just silence.

Leaning in closer to the intercom, I tap the speaker to make sure it isn’t broken. It proves to be working as a random ghoul asks “Soo, where did you find the holotapes? Did you take anything else?”

“Umm,” I pause to gather my thoughts. “There was the holotape from Pastel Skies’ office. And three holotapes and some schematics from Copper Hardwire’s office. Oh! And a binder was sitting here in the testing chamber as well. That’s about it, actually.”

Another pause and then a voice (I barely recognise it as Hardwire’s) asks “Did you happen to take any of my books while you were in my office? There’s a couple I haven’t finished reading yet and I would mind if you could fetch them for me.”

The voice of another ghoul I don’t recognize quickly chimes in. “Could you also swing by my office too? There’s a few things I would like to have back before we leave.”

“And my lab as well,” Yet another ghoul speaks up. “I really would like my research notes and lucky lighter back too.”

As an unexpected torrent of requests suddenly pours out of the intercom, I find myself unable to do anything but stare blankly at this strange situation. This is not at all the reaction I was expecting to receive. It’s almost as if they don’t care that I’ve been going through their stuff. If anything, they seem relieved by it.

“Alright! Settle down now!” Rocky shouts once again. And again, the ghouls calm down and allow their leader to calmly continue. “Intrepid, I think it is safe to say that we accept your apology. Most of us thought our belongings were destroyed during the attack. But we won’t ask you to risk your lives getting a few trinkets back for us.”

“How about a holotape?” Rose cuts in. “Intrepid here told me you were willing to pay him to retrieve some kind of data from a fancy terminal?”

“Yes, but he was quite clear when he told us he wouldn’t do it,” Salt Cube says.

“Oh really?” She raises an eyebrow at me.

I clear my throat. “Let’s say I had a change of heart. Is the offer still good?”

“It is,” Bright Eyes says, obviously amused by all of this. It isn’t hard to imagine her smiling slyly right about now. “We are willing to give you five thousand caps if you manage to return to us the holotape with the data inside.”

“Yeah, about that,” Rose says, a sly smile creeping onto her face. “Here’s the deal. Intrepid is a rather skilled pony and all, but I think he’ll have an easier time if, say, another pony was watching his back?”

“That is true,” Bright Eyes says, sounding slightly amused for some reason. “Are you volunteering for the job?”

“You know it!” Rose answers back.

“That’s a good idea, actually,” Salt Cube says thoughtfully. “Ok, so five thousand caps in total for-”

“Oh no you don’t,” She interrupts quickly. “I want twelve thousand caps for this!”

“Twelve thousand?!” Both Salt Cube and I spit out at the same time.

“Agreed,” Rocky says just as quickly and in a calm manner that simply beggars belief.

“What?!” Again, both Salt Cube and I say at the same time. Then, with a brisk shake of my head, I stare at Rose. “What the hay are you doing?!”

“Bartering,” Rose says simply. “Didn’t expect Rocky to say yes so quickly, though. Honestly, I have no clue what you’re upset about; All I’m asking is that we get paid a measly twelve thousand caps for a rather dangerous job.”

“How is twelve thousand caps measly in any sense of that word?!” I ask honestly. “That’s more than double what they are offering! This is clearly extortion! You know how I feel about that!”

“Oh get off my back. You make it sound like I’m robbing them or something,” Rose says, looking rather irritated now. “They were going to pay us each five thousand caps. So add the two together makes ten thousand. Then add a couple thousand for service fees and such.”

“Service fees?” I scoff. “Service fees?!”

“Think about this for a minute. They’re leaving for the moon. Where exactly are they going to be spending caps on the moon?” She points out. “So does it really matter how much I ask for when caps are useless where they are going?”

“But they haven’t gotten there yet, now have they? What if they end up needing those caps for something at the last minute?” I narrow my eyes at her. “And even if that doesn’t happen, it’s the principle of the matter that I’m concerned with! It’s bad enough that they have their backs against the wall! Now their supposed saviors are taking full advantage of them for it!”

She glares at me. “We’re not-!”

“How can we really trust what she is saying anyway?” Salt Cube says, swiftly redirecting Rose’s attention back onto the intercom box. “For all we know, she’s been hiding in some corner of the complex and just waiting for the hellhounds to leave so she can claim she got rid of them all!”

“Excuse me Salty,” Rose says with a clearly unamused tone. “But are you saying that I’m being lazy over here?”

“Yes,” Salt Cube says in a matter of fact way that causes her eye to twitch. As well as inspiring the desire to back away from her slowly. “It’s been two weeks since we hired you to get rid of those hellhounds and they’re still there. I don’t think you’re as talented as you led us all to believe.”

“Oh really?” Rose asks, her tone dripping with animosity. “I’d like to see you come down here and face them yourself! Unlike you, Salty, I have a reputation as a bounty hunter who gets results!”

“Yes, about that reputation,” Salt Cube’s tone is now starting to carry an edge to it as well. “I talked to a few scavengers that visited last week; they didn’t have flattering things to say about you. They kept using words like shady, untrustworthy, backstabbing-”

Rose winces at each word before firing back. “Hey! Did any of those idiots offer to do a better job than me?! No, they didn’t! You can ask every boss I’ve had and they’ll tell you that I’ve done what they hired me to do without failing once!”

“That’s your word against theirs,” Salt Cube points out.

And suddenly the mare shaped powder keg goes off. I quietly watch as the two proceed to tear into each other, dealing with the realization that Salt Cube and Lupa are basically saying the same thing: That Rose has had a long, colored history with all of her past partners doing jobs like this. It is not hard to see how, given the similarities she shares with a certain griffon I used to know. All of the doubt I kept pushing off seem to slam right onto my shoulders, as if to crush me for being foalish enough to trust her. The little pony in my head shaking his head at me in a knowing fashion, feeling rather vindicated for having all of my worst fears seemingly confirmed before my very eyes.

The worst part about all of this is that I do not know what to do now.

“ENOUGH!” Bright Eyes bellows out, forcing the argument to come to an abrupt halt. “If you are having a hard time believing that Rose is trustworthy, then let us ask Intrepid? He has a better idea of what is going on down there than we do right now and I trust him more than the scavengers we keep getting around here.”

As if the situation couldn’t get any worse.

“Now hold on, is my word not good enough for you?” Rose asks.

“Are you worried that he’s going to agree with me?” Salt Cube sneers.

“Salt Cube,” Bright Eyes warns.

“Sorry,” Salt Cube pauses for a moment. “Alright Intrepid, what is your opinion of Rose? Is she everything she claims to be?”

Rose glares at the intercom for a few seconds and then she glances at me. There’s no anger directed at me, just a strange sense of resignation as she sighs and steps back away from the intercom box. “Go ahead and tell them the truth,” She says. And then, looking me straight in the eyes, she adds “And don’t you dare hold anything back. I can take it.”

And that is it. She looks towards the ground, mentally preparing herself for whatever punishment I met out, no doubt. Honestly, there hasn’t been a day that has gone by that I haven’t wished for an opportunity to hurt back ponies like Silverwing. To utterly destroy them and leave them a parriah to what can be considered civilization in the Equestrian Wastelands. There needs to be less ponies like Silverwing in this world, after all.

And so, I take in a deep breath and fix my gaze squarely on the box. “My opinion is that Rose tends to talk big and has a high opinion of herself. It feels like her reputation is all she cares about at times. She has a nasty tendency to disappear on me without warning and she can be a bit, well, unprincipled at times. So yes, there might be some truth to what the scavengers have told you.” From the corner of my eye, I can see Rose shutting her eyes tightly.

“I see,” Salt Cube says, surprisingly without any smugness in his tone.

“No you don’t,” I say firmly. “In fact, I don’t think you ponies quite understand just how much Rose has done to keep you all alive. Since I’ve been down here, she’s taken out two hellhounds with the kind of skill I wish I had. Despite being outnumbered, she’s been able to stay one step ahead of them. When she heard that they were planning on wiping you all out for good, she snuck in and stole something precious from them so they would focus on her instead.”

Rose opens her eyes and glances at me as I continue. “When I offered Rose an excuse to leave, she refused to take it as it meant putting you all in danger again. Hay, she’s even risked her life to save mine more times than I’m probably aware of. Honestly, she didn’t need any rescuing. If anything, I made life more difficult for her by coming down here after her.”

I find myself straightening myself up and looking seriously at the box, despite the ghouls on the other side not being able to see me. “So I’ll put it as bluntly as I can: if you fire her over some malicious rumors, then you can find somepony else to get your holotape too. Because she's done more than enough to earn my respect in my eyes.”

With a sigh, I finally relax and glance over at the dumbfounded mare staring back at me. Maybe my attempt to not come off as being biased was a bit harsh in the beginning. But she is not Silverwing. And I’ll tell myself that solemn truth until my doubt finally takes the hint and gives it a rest. She’s done more than enough to earn my trust. It’s long past time I started showing some trust towards her in return.

“So, Rose, are you sure you were only hunting hellhounds down there?” Floria asks playfully and- wait, what does she mean by that?

Rocky laughs. “Come on, Floria, quit teasing them. So then, I think Intrepid has passionately settled the matter. Wouldn’t you agree, Salt Cube?”

Salt Cube lets out a sigh. “Yes, I agree. I apologise for my apparently baseless accusations, Rose.”

Rose shakes her head and I move out of the way so she can speak into the intercom. “As you should. So, do we have a deal?”

“Intrepid? Can you do this?” Rocky asks.

“Yes, I can do this,” I say, nodding my head. And wishing that somepony else was doing this instead of me. “Top floor of this complex, right?”

“You remembered!” Rocky answers back. “The Data Center should already be marked on that map I gave you.”

“Right,” I mutter while looking down at my PipBuck. Marked down on the map that is nearly impossible to read. This is going to be fun. Like pulling teeth.

“Alright,” He continues. “So that’s twelve thousand caps-”

“Split between the two of us,” Rose interjects.

Rocky pauses for a moment while Floria chuckles in the background. Then he continues “-between the two of you upon receiving the data. And that both of you come back in one piece. Deal?”

Rose grins. “Deal! Don’t worry, we’ll be back before you know it!”

“Make sure you do,” Bright Eyes says, sounding rather amused by Rose's answer. “May Luna guide and protect the two of you.”

“Luna bless,” Rocky says and a few other voices wish us luck before long, harrowing call comes to a merciful end. The ghouls have been informed, the slightly less suicidal job has been accepted, and the price has been… negotiated. All that remains to be seen is if I can accomplish this without getting myself or my partner killed.

Suddenly, Rose pulls me into a hug and starts ruffling up my mane. "Haha! You little- You didn't have to exaggerate that much about me!” She practically laughs. It is honestly the happiest I've seen her yet.

“You asked me to tell the truth. So I told the truth,” I say, silently suffering the indignity of having my mane messed up so she can stay happy for a few seconds longer. “No exaggerations, no lies, no holding back.”

Slowly, she stops ruffling my mane. "You really mean that?" She asks solemnly.

I look up to meet her gaze. "Why wouldn't I mean it?"

She carefully considers me for a moment. "I don't get you," She admits. "Anypony else would have either ran me through the mud or put me in a bind with that opportunity the ghouls gave you. But you, being honest like that? After the way I treated you, after all the dirty looks you threw my way? I just don't get you."

"Because you did nothing wrong," I say simply and honestly. "If anything, I was being unfair to you. Sure, you share traits with someone I hate. But those traits are superficial at best. You are better than him in every way and I was wrong to treat you like I have. So, I'm sorry."

There's a moment of silence before Rose smiles. "If you forgive me for the way I acted earlier, then I'll forgive you for that. Restart on a clean slate and all that. Deal?"

I return her smile with one of my own. "Deal."

A small burst of static from the intercom speaker catches our attention and soon Salt Cube comes through. “Intrepid, are you still there?”

There has to be a rule about how quickly one is allowed to pile more things onto unsuspecting ponies. But then, the last minute request is a literary tradition, even if my life has yet to resemble a good story so far.

Rose let's go of me and I press down on the silver button while quickly fixing my mane. “Yeah, I’m here. What do you need?”

"There’s one more thing we need you to do while you’re in the Data Center,” Salt Cube explains. Rose pulls out a grenade and heads towards the door as he continues. “There is a satellite uplink and radio repeater we need you to turn on before heading back. I don’t know if you noticed, but these mountains tend to play havoc on signals in general. And we need them if we’re to track and stay in contact with the rocket after it launches.”

Huh, a reasonable request for once. And it would be nice to listen to the radio on my way out of here.

“Sure, we can do that,” I answer back, maybe a little bit too eagerly. “I don’t need to do anything to get it turned on right? Like assign a command on a console or divert power from someplace?”

“Oh no. It’s just a switch on the console that you flip on,” he says. “It’s labeled and the backup generator for that room should still be going. If not, then that’s that, I guess. It is not like we can get you anything with the hellhounds running around.”

There’s something strange about his tone. Though maybe he’s nervous about the idea of trying to launch a nuke filled rocket without any means to track it. I know I would be.

“Alright, so walk in, get the data, throw the switch, and walk back out,” I rattle off. “Sounds simple enough.”

“Good,” There is a pause before Salt Cube continues. “Intrepid, about that conversation we had. I’ve been thinking and, well, thanks again for the advice. I think I know now what I need to do for them.”

I can’t help but grin at that. “You’re welcome.”

“Take care and stay safe. Both of you,” And with Salt Cube’s parting words, the intercom goes silent again.

“Guess he can say some nice things sometimes,” Rose comments as she finishes tying a string to the door handle. Presumably the other end is tied to a pin of a grenade somewhere not in this room. Hopefully.

“You get what you give,” I say as I pull off what remains of my duster and stare at it. “Sometimes.”

She steps back and admires her work. “Hey Treppy-” She hesitates and frowns. “I mean, Intrepid?”

While it is nice that she seems willing to drop the nickname, it also doesn’t feel right. Like there’s a line she’s trying not to cross with me. And that will not do. Not after all of the hay we just went through.

Still, some part of me wonders if I’ll regret this. “Treppy is fine as long as it stays between us.”

Strangely, that doesn’t make her smile. Although she does look less tense now as she asks “So you still fine travelling with me after hearing all that? The rumors aren’t true, obviously, but I still don’t have that good of a reputation around these parts. I’d hate it if it somehow got stuck on you too.”

I shrug. “Eh, I was a member of the Twilight Society. I think I’ll manage.”

She smirks. “Yeah, I figured you would after-” She then stops and stares at me. “Wait, what did you just say?”

“That I’ll manage?” I ask as innocently as possible. There may or may not be a sly smile on my face right now.

“No, before that!” She says before walking up to me and staring me in the eyes. “Did you just say you were a member of the Twilight Society? Those secret ponies that called light beams from the sky?”

“The sanctimonious rulers of Tenpony Tower, hoarders of arcane technology, decadent heirs to the Ministry of Arcane Science, we even have a library,” The list goes on and on, but Rose’s completely shocked face is a pretty good indication that I’ve achieved my goal here.

Or maybe not as she shakes her head vigorously. “No, you’re pulling my leg here. No way you’re a member. You just… you’re… you’re actually being honest here.” She takes a few steps backwards and sits down, completely dumbstruck by my little revelation. “... Why are you telling me this?”

I point to my ruined duster. “You’ve earned it. And you are now the only pony outside of the tower to know this. I hope that proves once and for all that I trust you.”

“I’ll say,” She says, staring at me as if seeing me for the first time. “I’m not sure what to say.”

Ok, maybe this really was a bad idea. “Just don’t start treating me like I’m somepony special, ok? I’m not.”

“You kidding me? This is my big break!” She says with a gleam in her eye and a giant grin on her face. “I’m working with somepony from the Twilight Society! That’s going to skyrocket my rep through the roof! This is going to open so many doors for me! Ponies will start talking about me again! I-”

“Rose, stop,” I raise my hoof up and fight the urge to wince. “I’m not with them anymore. I, umm, snuck out of the tower without them knowing. They probably think I’m dead right now.”

It hurts to watch her deflate in front of me. Thankfully, rather than getting depressed, she goes straight to confused again as she tilts her head slightly at me. “Snuck out? Why?”

As much as I would like to answer that question, a yawn escaping from my lips reminds me how late it is. “I’ll tell you that story later. I promise,” I say before looking over at the leather chair in the room. “Right now, I just want to fix my duster and call it a night.”

She frowns but thankfully seems to accept the promise as she pulls out her knife and tosses it to me. “Alright, I’ll take first watch then,” She says before pointing her hoof at me. “And I’m holding you to it. You’re not going to talk your way out of this one.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t,” I chuckle and then slice some pieces of leather off of the chair. Having been sufficiently assured, Rose nods and walks over to the corner of the room opposite of the now trapped door. As she sets up her sniper rifle and goes prone, I start to repair my duster.

“Hey, thanks for sticking up for me,” She says out of the blue.

“What are friends for?” I answer back. It really was the first thing that came out of my mouth, but she truly is the closest thing I have to a friend right now.

She seems taken aback by this for a moment, then smiles and goes back to watching the door. “Friends,” she says softly. “I like the sound of that.”

So do I, Rose. So do I.

Author's Note

You have completed a quest objective and have improved your relationship with The Children of Luna faction.

Faction Update:

The Children of Luna - Current Status: Accepted

Quest Objective Completed:

Repair A Broken Intercom In Order To Contact Rocky Shores

Current Quest Objective:

Retrieve Data Needed For Rocket Launch.
Activate Satellite Uplink and Radio Repeater.
Escort Winter Rose Back To Safety.
Scavenge For Medical Supplies.
Don’t Die.
(Optional) Grab Everypony’s Things From Their Offices.

Chapter 9 - Paradigm Shift

It has been hours since I've curled up my body against the wall. How many, I… don’t know. The floor is cold and dusty, but the vision of Lupa’s bloodied and burnt form in my head keeps me from moving. That thing is barely a hellhound anymore. Assuming she was one to begin with. And she is hunting us. A creature that took multiple bullets without flinching, that was buried without slowing down, that was burning without even noticing. And by pure luck, we survived. No, it wasn’t just pure luck. It was Rose’s quick thinking that got us out of there.

All I did was freeze in the face of death.

In a sense, that is worse than being hunted by a monster. I’m supposed to be stronger than this. I was raised to be stronger than this. Yet, Rose is the one that has bailed me out time after time. I may have rescued her once or twice, but I’m the reason she was in those situations in the first place. I’m no better than a millstone around Rose’s neck right now.

To break down like that after nearly getting my head lopped off by Lupa; to force Rose to watch that pathetic display for who knows how long; to hide away in my book after calming down enough to follow Rose, instead of brushing this off and heading straight to the Data Center. It’s infuriating how unreliable and weak I must seem to her now. Some of that self-loathing, fear, and anxiety must have shown on my face when Rose suggested that we rest in this break room. Which only adds more fuel to the fire of resentment towards my own weakness.

It finally just gets too much to dwell on. Desperate for a distraction, I prop myself off the ground with my foreleg, wincing in pain as I do so, and examine the unfinished room.

It is rather clean compared to the other rooms here. The walls are simple sheets of plywood, with some construction supplies and tools lying next to the entrance. Rose rummages through the refrigerator next to a table and Sunrise Sarsaparilla machine.

Thinking back at the rooms we passed by on the way here, all of them seem to be like this. With each area being in various states of construction. Some were even used to house materials for the less complete rooms surrounding them. with some barely having plywood sheets for their floors and walls. It almost feels like everypony decided to take a break from work at the same time and never returned. Given how history played out, it wouldn't surprise me if that is exactly what happened.

As I shift into a more comfortable sitting position, a poster on the wall catches my attention: A Steel Ranger pressing down on the head of a zebra. His power armor cladded body shielding a foal from other zebras hiding in the shadows. The words ‘Have Courage, Make A Difference Today!’ feature prominently around the Steel Ranger in bold red and yellow letters.

Despite the helmet completely covering his face, there’s an unshakable feeling that the Steel Ranger is glaring down at me from his high position. As if he is upset and disappointed by my display of weakness and fear. Or rather, upset and disappointed that the pony looking up at him just doesn’t measure up to the ideals and standards that he stands for and embodies.

And for a brief moment, a familiar pair of green eyes become visible through the black visors on his helmet: one natural, the other cybernetic. Just like my father’s.

Suddenly a bottle of Sunrise Sarsaparilla swings back and forth in front of my eyes. “Oi, Treppy! I’m asking if you want one?”

“Hmm? Oh. Thanks,” I mutter, taking hold of the bottle offered with my magic. Even then it slightly shakes and I try hovering it away from Rose to hide that fact. Though, maybe that is pointless given that my body is probably still shaking right now.

“Yeesh, and here I thought you finally stopped zoning out on me,” She says playfully while sitting down next to me. “You know I’m sexier than a set of power armor, right?”

“Jealous?” I ask while pretending to nonchalantly inspect my new bottle. I was trying to jest with that question, but I still sound depressed despite myself.

A sly smile comes on her face. “You kidding me? Which would you have? Some dinky power armor?” She waves her hoof dismissively before wrapping a hoof around my shoulders. “Or an awesome mare like me?”

Her being this close to me should be uncomfortable. But I can’t seem to muster the energy to feel or react appropriately. My lack of response erases Rose’s smile as she turns her attention to the poster. “So, what’s so interesting about that jerk shoving a zebra’s face into the ground? It’s what Steel Rangers do all the time.”

“That’s one way of looking at it,” I pop off the lid of the bottle. “I used to think of them as these strong and brave ponies who were dependable and would do the right thing no matter what. But I was a colt then and I assumed every hero would be like my father. That assumption was corrected rather effectively once I saw their true colors, though.”

“Yeah, it takes a certain kind of pony to be a Steel Ranger,” Rose says. “Maybe that’s why so many went red once the Applejack Rangers came around. Not Diamond Shard, though. Or Star Paladin Diamond Shard,” She makes some mocking air quotes with her hooves.

I glance at her. “Former partner?”

“Ha! We’d kill each other if that happened,” She says before prying open her bottle. “No, she leads the Steel Rangers over in Green Bean for some reason. Hates bounty hunters and mercenaries too. Oh, and if you get nosy about her, she’ll slam your face into the ground before you know what’s going on. She isn’t there to make friends, that’s for sure.”

“I see,” I answer back. Definitely not a pony who would tolerate someone like Rose here.

“Not that the others are any better,” Rose gestures at the poster. “Sure, they’re nicer than most Steel Rangers I’ve bumped into. Threaten their town or anypony in it and they will beat you into a bloody pulp. But if you ask me, they’re still Steel Rangers, rods up their rears and all that,” She then leans in and whispers “They don’t like it when you take bets on when they’ll start putting red on their armor.”

“Heh, I bet I wouldn’t measure up to them either,” I mutter to myself before taking a swig.

“What are you-” Rose starts but the suddenly foul liquid entering my mouth triggers my gag reflex forces. Whatever is in this bottle is definitely not Sunset Sarsaparilla! And I immediately cover my mouth before it has a chance to come back out.

Forcing the liquid down my throat, I gasp and cough a few times before asking in all honesty “What the hay did I just drink?!”

Rose considers the bottle for a moment. “A health potion... I think.”

“You think?” I ask rather skeptically. “This thing tastes like rotten radishes and sarsaparilla mixed with whiskey!”

“Really now?” Almost as if I had dared her (and maybe my reaction did), she takes a couple of gulps from her bottle. Strangely, she doesn’t immediately vomit, though the expression on her face shows that she probably didn’t like it either. She takes one more look at the bottle before turning her attention back to me. “Eh, could use some more whiskey.”

“I don’t think adding more alcohol will fix this,” I say, jabbing the air with my bottle for emphasis. An odd, warm sensation washes over me as the pain begins to fade away. Huh, so maybe it is a healing potion. It still doesn’t explain one crucial question: “How can anypony think it’s a good idea to put whiskey in a healing potion?”

“What’s wrong with whiskey?” She asks before taking another shot.

“Nothing, really. It’s just that I can’t hold my liquor well,” I explain while scrutinizing the bottle more carefully. “Where did you get this anyway?”

“The fridge. Along with this,” She pulls out a very long note that, by now, is the standard calling card of the local doomsday prepper, Mahzun.

It is filled with various variations of doomsday scenarios ranging from Celestia turning evil to mutant cockroach infestation. At the bottom, though, is one very important sentence: “Despite the taste, the healing potions are drinkable and do not contain whiskey or anything else that would violate work regulations. Please drink responsibly.”

“No whiskey, my flank! Who do they take me for?” She scoffs as I put the note away. In one swift motion, she downs the rest of her bottle before letting out a sigh of satisfaction and tosses it behind her. “Now, about that comment you made.”

Dear Luna, I was hoping she didn’t catch that.

“It’s honestly nothing to worry about,” I say with a dismissive wave of my hoof. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Rose re-positions herself right in front of my face and quietly stares at me in response.

Recognizing that there is no getting away from this, I shut my eyes. “I… I’m feeling rather pathetic right now,” I say before forcing down what is left in my bottle, fighting back the urge to vomit as I do so. With a gasp, I open my eyes and continue. “I mean, can you really see a Twilight Society member spending who knows how long fearfully curled up in some corner? I just feel like a Steel Ranger would be of better use to you right now than somepony like me.”

I try to stand up but Rose places her hooves on my shoulders and I slide back down onto my haunches again. She looks at me with concern as she says “You know, I had a partner who kept claiming everything as his and thought I was after his cyberleg. I had a partner who forced me to do all the work and tried to take all the credit. I even had a partner who tried to turn me into a virgin sacrifice after she had gotten control over a dragon cult.

“But you?” She taps my chest. “You’re just strange and I don’t get you sometimes. So what if you were shaken after nearly dying? You held it together a lot better than any Tower pony I’ve ever met and that’s saying something. So I’ll gladly take you over a Steel Ranger any day.”

“Right, because a terrified idiot is more useful than-”

The room abruptly shakes back and forth as I hear Rose say “No! Stop that! You’re not allowed to be that way when I’m trying to encourage you here!”

“Ok! I’m sorry! I’ll stop! I’ll stop!” I manage to say, fighting back again the sudden feeling of nausea with my hoof over my mouth. Realising that she’ll be covered in vomit if this continues, Rose stops and takes a step back.

“Look, you’ll feel better once we get rich from this job,” She says reassuringly. “Just wait, you’ll see.”

I nod before slowly attempting to stand up again. When that task doesn’t end with the contents of my stomach on the floor, I ask, “Anyway, you think Lupa has someone following us or something?”

Rose shakes her head as she also stands. “I’ve already scouted out the area while you were lying down. We’re safe. And after the little stunt I pulled with Smarty?” She motions with her head to the knife on her shoulder “Lupa will think twice before attacking us again.”

“That only makes me more nervous. Not that we can do anything about it now,” I say before politely motioning towards the exit. “Lead the way.”

“Right,” She answers back and starts moving towards the door. It is clear by the expression on her face that she isn’t happy to have failed to shake me out of my depression. Not that I don’t appreciate the effort. But I know now, I really shouldn’t be here right now. And nothing she can say or do will ever change my mind on that. So, I simply hang my head and follow her out the door.

“Soo… was this here when you scouted out the area?” I ask while looking at the mountain of debris blocking the hallway. Given how well kept this floor feels, this sticks out rather badly.

“Don’t know, I didn’t want to wander too far out without you,” Rose says before walking up and tapping one of the pieces of debris in front of us. “Never did spend too much time on this floor either, so I’m not sure how recent this is.”

I look at the map on my PipBuck. “Well, this isn’t marked on the map. Maybe it might have happened when you tried to blow up Lupa?”

“Hey! That was your idea!” She says with a glare. “Don’t blame this on me!”

“I’m not!” I say quickly before considering the map more closely. “I’m just saying that we’ll need another route now. There’s a hallway on the other side of this floor that’ll get us to where we need to go. Assuming we don’t run into any more roadblocks.”

A familiar weight presses down on my shoulder as Rose leans in and taps a spot on the map. “Why not just cut through here? That should be quicker than going all the way around, right?”

Her hoof points to three interconnected rooms that, at first, doesn’t appear to have an exit to them. A closer inspection, however, reveals a small exit hidden among the other vague details of the last room. That would put us closer to the Data Center than navigating around to the other side of this floor. Again, assuming there aren’t any other obstructions along the way.

“HELLO FELLOW ROCKETEER!”

Instincts kicks in and I teleport a few feet down the hallway, my gauss rifle pointing at my former location. With my sudden disappearance, a rather shocked and confused Rose manages to keep herself from falling to the ground. The cause of this sudden commotion hovers near her: the Mr. Tour Guide robot.

“FOR THE LOVE OF LUNA! DON’T DO THAT!” I yell at the infernal machine while lowering my gauss rifle. My heart threatens to beat out of my chest even as I press my hoof against my chest. As if nearly dying didn’t fray my nerves enough!

“Ah! I see there’s another fellow Rocketeer with us today!” Mr. Tour Guide says, extending a claw to Rose while ignoring my glare. “I am Mr. Tour Guide! The humble custodian and curator of this fine establishment!”

Rose stares at the claw awkwardly. “Umm, hi. Nice to meet you.” She places a hoof on her chest, “I’m Winter Rose, the greatest bounty hunter around!”

“It’s a pleasure to meet your acquaintance, fellow Rocketeer!” Mr. Tour Guide says cheerfully as it grabs Rose’s hoof from her chest and shakes it vigorously.

In the blink of an eye, Rose pulls out and digs her knife into the robot’s arm. Or tries to. The blade barely scratches the arm’s metal covering. Mr. Tour Guide also seems unconcerned with Rose’s attack or her attempt to pry the offending claw open with her knife. When that doesn’t work, she glares at the bot. “So this is the Mr. Tour Guide you mentioned earlier. He’s a little too friendly, dontcha think?”

“Pot,” I point to Rose before pointing at Mr. Tour Guide. “Meet kettle.”

Regardless of how depressed and irritated I feel right now, that joke was uncalled for. And Rose’s rather unamused look only makes me feel worse. As if sensing this, Mr. Tour Guide decides to open its mouth. “You are mistaken, fellow Rocketeer! I am not a mere kettle, but a custom built tour guide robot! The first of my kind!” The robot says proudly as one of its eye stocks looks in my direction. “Regardless, would both of you like a tour of our museum? Since it is our grand opening weekend, every fellow Rocketeer will get a free Ministry approved souvenir at our new gift shop!”

Despite my irritation towards the inferno machine, its offer has piqued my curiosity. “A tour? You mean they actually got around to setting up a tour for the museum before the world ended?”

“Indeed, my fellow Rocketeer!” Mr. Tour Guide says, still oblivious to Rose’s further attempts to make it let go. “Allow me to mark the location on your… obviously Stable-Tec approved PipBuck!”

It hurts my pride that even robots have a hard time recognizing my PipBuck. Regardless, and with a small beep, a map marker appears on the three interconnected rooms Rose pointed out earlier. “It’s actually on the way!” I say with a big grin on my face. “So what kind of a tour is it? Will you cover how the rockets here are made? Or maybe tell us about where all of this talk about going to the moon came from? No, wait! I want to know about… umm...”

Rose stares at me, bringing me back down to reality. Right, we don’t have time to waste going through a museum, as interesting as that would be. Not with hellhounds roaming about. With that in mind, I clear my throat. “My apologies, Mr. Tour Guide, but we really don’t have time for-”

“Sure, we’ll take the tour. Won’t we, Treppy?” Rose says unexpectedly as she puts her knife away.

I immediately turn to look at her. “Wait, what?”

“Excellent! Follow me please,” Mr. Tour Guide practically sings before finally letting go of Rose’s hoof and begins to hover down the hall.

Now it was my turn to stare at Rose as she calmly walks behind Mr. Tour Guide. “Umm, hey, I didn’t say anything yet! I… Rose? You do understand that this will slow us down, right?”

“Yes, I do. But we’re not in any real hurry,” Rose says as I quickly catch up to her. “It’s not like Lupa knows what we’re up to here. And this tour thing sounds like it could be fun.”

“Oh really?” I ask, somewhat skeptical of her reasoning. “And what exactly did that overly friendly tin can over there say that made it sound like it would be fun?”

“Come on,” Rose playfully jabs at my side. “Would it really be that bad to see what this is all about? Plus, we get free stuff at the end of it. Win-win.”

Ah, free stuff. Should have known. I shake my head. “So this is just another scavenging run then.”

“Already did that,” She pats her saddlebag. “I grabbed some things while scouting around the place. It took me a while to figure out how I was going to fit it all in my bag. Oh! I hope you don’t mind, I ended up putting some stuff in your bag too.”

“Please don’t make me an accomplice to your kleptomania,” I say while unhooking my PipBuck from my leg and hovering it in front of me. “Not after I apologised for rummaging through the ghouls’ personal belongings.”

“If you’re saying that I have sticky hooves, just remember that they did ask us to find their stuff for them,” She points out, employing that sly smile of hers. “So there shouldn’t be any issues here, right?”

A sigh escapes my lips before I look through the new items in my inventory list. “Technical documents which might come in handy. Hoof-written notes that could contain some interesting information. Janitor keys…” I glance over at Rose.

“What’s with that look?” She asks. “Everypony knows the value of a good set of keys.”

“I’ll concede that having access to every room in a building has its value,” I say before returning to the list. “However, I fail to understand how a collection of snow globes could interest anypony.”

Rose shrugs. “I’m sure there’s a pony out there that would pay a pretty fortune for a snow globe collection.”

Without saying a word, I rummage through my saddlebag and pull out one of many bobbleheads that are now inside. Unfortunately, now that I think about it, there are a few ponies in Tenpony Tower that I can see being gullible enough to pay a fortune for these items.

“Yeah, I can see somepony wanting those too,” Rose says with a firm nod. As if confirming my thoughts that even junk has its collectors.

I put the bobblehead away and reattach my PipBuck just as Mr. Tour Guide comes to a stop in front of a set of double doors. “And here we are! Welcome to the Museum, Fellow Rocketeers!” It announces to us as one of its mechanical limbs points to an empty space above the doors. No doubt where a sign should be located.

We look at each other before Rose gives me an uneasy smile. This doesn’t bode well for the tour being all that interesting, does it? Knowing how our luck has been lately, Mr. Tour Guide’s spell matrix might be screwed up and the tour will consist of nothing but staring at empty spaces for a few hours.

Oblivious to our reaction over the missing sign, Mr. Tour Guide opens the double doors. Much to my relief, the room beyond is actually filled with items that are out on display. The walls are lined with various sized pictures, ranging from the Ministry of Wartime Technology’s gear symbol, to the different geographical parts of the world, to plans for a full-blown moon base. Which is honestly weird, truth be told. What would a group of ponies do with a moon base, anyway? Outside of obviously silly answer of taking over the world, of course. That only happens in spy novels.

Mr. Tour Guide hovers to the closest picture to us, making a mechanical sound suspiciously similar to somepony clearing their throat. “Since its creation, the Ministry of Wartime Technology has always strived to be innovative and creative in its dedication to keeping the wonderful ponies of Equestria safe from the evil Zebra Empire. From the lowly pistol to the mighty Power Armor, the goal of defending Equestria from its foes has never changed.

“With the fear that too much strain was being placed on the Ministry of Arcane Science to defend us from the threat of megaspell missiles, the Ministry of Wartime Technology created the ‘Equestrian Missile Defense’ project. A range of silos that any proud Equestrian, not just our noble unicorns, could staff in order to defend our great home. This facility, in particular, used to house a small project to get a pony on the moon before it was wisely repurposed to be one of the first silos for this project; the staff of Equestrian-loving ponies and zebras, who have renounced their evil ways, gladly setting aside their silly dream for the greater good!”

And like that, any excitement for the tour dies right there. Yes, it was weird when they said that they wanted to go to the moon at first, but that dream shouldn’t be disrespected either. Not after everything they went through to get as far as they did. If all this tour is is some long back-patting marathon for the Ministries, then no thanks. I got enough of that back when I was in the Twilight Society. I want to hear about the ghouls and their dream, not whatever dribble the Ministry of Image wants to force down my ear.

Tuning out Mr. Tour Guide’s metallic voice, I look around for anything that didn’t relate to demeaning the former workers here (as unlikely as that may be, given the tone set by our rather glorified tin can of a tour guide). One thing catches my eye: a rather large rectangular picture leaning next to one of the large boxes near the moon base painting; one that shows the front of the silo along with a whole host of ponies, zebras, and griffons posing for the picture.

The more I look at it, the more I begin to recognize a few of them: they were the ghouls that followed me around, back when I was going to meet Bright Eyes and Rocky Shores for the first time. Speaking of those two, there’s a familiar looking brown griffoness with white head feathers scuffing up the mane of one light blue unicorn stallion. The unicorn himself tries hard to fight off his attacker while a purple earth pony mare wearing an old silk scarf does her best to stifle a chuckle. Though, the mare doesn’t look familiar at all. Maybe a sibling or good friend?

Other ponies in this picture draw my interest. Floria, with her white mane in a ponytail, is hugging an unfamiliar purple pegasus. Maybe that is her husband, Thundering Rain? Then there is an identical looking mare next to him with the serious expression on her face. Probably Pastel Skies, if her serious tone matches her demeanor. Though, if that is the case, was she always that serious looking? And the suit wearing zebra that Floria is hugging as well, is that Mahzun? It doesn’t quite fit the image of a conspiracy pony, but that is the only conclusion I can draw here. Part of me wants to see if Hardwire and Hay Bale are in this picture too. But there is no way for me to know without somepony else pointing them out to me.

I wish I could just step inside and go back to that moment. To talk to those that aren’t around any more, figure out what originally sparked their dream to go to the moon, and what brought them all together so they could attempt to accomplish it.

A yawn escapes from Rose’s mouth, utterly betraying her boredom with the tour. Can’t really blame her, it isn’t living up to what I was hoping for either. And in the middle of rubbing her eyes, she notices me looking at her. As she attempts to look more attentive, I ask “Is the tour boring you?”

“No, it’s interesting,” She quickly says while scratching her scarf. The usual tell for when she isn’t being completely honest with me.

I give her a rather skeptical look. “Ok, what do you find most interesting about it so far?”

“I, umm,” She looks around the room. “I think some of the pictures are cool looking.”

“Well, that’s one thing we agree on,” I say while glancing back at the group picture. If nothing else, that picture is worth coming here for.

She frowns. “You don’t look like you’re having fun, though.”

With a shrug, I turn my attention back to her. “I’ve just heard all of this stuff before. It’s nothing really new or interesting to me.”

“Hmm,” She sounds disappointed while looking down at the floor. For whatever reason, she did want to take this tour and I feel guilty that it isn’t turning out as fun as she thought it would be. My own lack of enthusiasm for the tour is probably contributing to that in some way.

Suddenly, there is a gleam in Rose’s eye as she looks up and grins that mischievous grin of hers. “How about we have a friendly bet then?”

I furrow my brow at her. “A bet? On what exactly?”

“A bet to see who can guess what is in the next room,” She answers before rubbing the bottom of her jaw. “And the wager will be, hmm, how about we just say the loser does one thing for the winner?”

Nothing good can come from this. “Suddenly this bet seems less friendly to me.”

“Hey, I’m the one at risk here,” She points out. “You could win and finally be able to satisfy that secret desire of yours to ravish me,” She dramatically presses her foreleg to her forehead. “And I, with my vulnerable mare-ish side taking over, would have no choice but to let you have your way with me. Am I right?” She gives me a playful wink.

That is beyond ridiculous and I press my hoof against the bridge of my muzzle to signal as much. “First, literary tradition, reverse roles. Second, no. Just, no.”

Rose laughs. “Reverse roles? Really? The only thing I would ever do to you is force you to wear a maid outfit for an entire day.”

“And yet you seem to expect the worst from me,” I say flatly.

“Well I am a sexy goddess of death, after all,” She brushes part of her mane off to the side. “Come on, Treppy, you should know by now that I’m not being serious here.”

“I wonder sometimes,” I say while shaking my head. “Honestly, why do you keep teasing me like this?”

She places a hoof on my shoulder and grins. “Because it’s fun to see you react the way you do.”

Before I have the chance to point out how that isn’t a good reason to continuously annoy somepony, Rose takes a few steps forward and turns around to face me. “So, are you going to take the bet or are you going to walk away?”

There’s always saying no. Though that might result in her pestering me until that answer becomes a yes. Thus is the problem of having somepony who sees nothing wrong with being as horribly annoying as possible in order to get her way. Although, to be honest, what really is the harm with playing along? If she wanted to do something truly horrible to me, she could have done so long before we got to this point.

Glancing between Rose and Mr. Tour Guide, who is now messing with the double doors on the other side of the room, I let out a defeated sigh. “You’ve already told our tour guide that we would be taking the tour, so it would be rather rude to leave now. Not to mention that it would make your words seem less than sincere and thus tarnishing your image, which isn’t something I would like to do.”

“Glad to hear it,” She says, patting my shoulder before going back into her thinking pose. “Alright, so I’m thinking there’s going to be a picture of the moon in the next room.”

“There’s already a picture of the moon over there,” I motion my head towards the moon base picture.

She rolls her eyes. “I mean the whole moon. Not some small chunk with a couple of buildings on it. And it has to be a big one too. Now what's your guess?”

Whatever misgivings I have about this bet disappears with Rose’s rather silly guess. Deciding to put as much effort into this as she is, I press my hoof against my chin and think for a moment. “Hmm, I’ll go with some rocket models then. Decent sized ones, I’m not expecting full sized models to fit inside here.”

“A-hah!” Mr. Tour Guide triumphantly declares. “There’s the correct key! Now then, on to the exhibit!” Rose and I look at each other, then join Mr. Tour Guide as he throws open the double doors.

My eyes widen as the room is revealed to us. “This is… and that can’t be… is that really?” I say as different items catch my attention. Several displays line the walls of the room, with large framed plans to get to the moon hanging behind them. An old flag of Equestria hangs prominently in the midst of them all, an old spotlight slowly turning on to show it off in all of its glory. A small nudge from behind prompts me forward as I’m drawn from one display to the next.

Eventually the shock wears off and my mouth immediately engages. “Oh! This is an interesting variation on Flam’s original motorwagon design. Looks pretty stripped down, probably to keep its weight from being an issue for the rocket. Or maybe not, considering they have a Sentinel over there. And that picture behind it! Did they seriously think they’ll be fighting off space zebras on the moon? Oh hey! They’ve got spacesuits over here! They’re so cool looking! And I remember seeing that rocket from outside!”

I stop in front of a rather chubby looking green rocket model. In front of it stands a plaque with the words “GR34-B34” written on it. Something about the name feels oddly familiar.

“Hey, that looks like the metal statue in the middle of Green Bean,” Rose comments while walking up to me. “Well, they call it a statue, but it never did look like one to me. Now I know why.”

“Oh?” I ask, my curiosity piqued.

“Yeah, the town near here?” She explains as she leans on the display rocket. “They got a legend about some stone-hearted old mare that ruled the town and ate foals or something. Anyway, this thing came roaring from the heavens and killed her,” She pats the rocket. “Ponies living there decided to name the town after it. They even have a catchy song about it too.”

And suddenly, it clicks as I remember the “Green Bean” incident Pastel Skies and Bright Eyes talked about in that one recording. The one where the statue of the mayor was destroyed by a misguided rocket. Does Bright Eyes know that her rocket spawned a legend and inspired the naming of a town? Probably, considering it’s the only town in the area and Salt Cube gets rumors from them. It could always be worse, of course, and there are weirder things to name towns after. Like Broccoli, for instance.

“Please do not touch any of the displays in this room,” Mr. Tour Guide says, causing Rose to quickly retract her hoof as it hovers over to us. The robot’s eyes droop sadly when it adds “I also must apologize, fellow Rocketeers. It seems that the Ministry of Image approved script for this section of the exhibit is missing.”

“Really?” I ask, surprised by how disappointed I sound. Sure, the material presented so far is obviously whitewashed by the Ministry of Image. But there are so many interesting things present here that I want to hear more about! Like that light blue Sentinel over there! There has to be a reason why it has heavy armor, two magical energy cannons, and a missile launcher inside the chest compartment! Especially when even the motorwagon is stripped down because of weight! I mean, combating the evils of space zebras on the moon couldn’t have been that serious of a concern now, could it?

Noticing my disappointment, Mr. Tour Guide once again ‘clears its throat’ and cheerfully says “However, a replacement script should be arriving in ‘estimated time unknown’, so they should be here when you visit us again! See the receptionist for your complimentary tickets as our way of saying sorry. Please enjoy viewing the rest of the displays here as I prepare the next room.”

Rose watches as the robot leaves the room before leaning onto the display rocket again. “I guess you get to be our tour guide then.”

“Space travel isn’t my area of expertise,” I say before walking over to a large picture that practically covers the entire wall. The picture is quite detailed: our world near the bottom left and the moon on the top right, dotted lines with cartoon rockets running along them, and some pictures of the various different supplies for the trip with arrows pointing from them to different parts of the world.

However, the plaque explaining what is going on is missing. And the picture itself is missing anything kind of descriptors for the various symbols I’m seeing here. Still, it does convey just how large of an endeavor this trip to the moon actually is. Even though a step by step explanation on how this will work would have been nice. If only there was a backup to the script around here somewhere.

Wait, Hardwire was in charge of programming our tour guide. Maybe he kept a backup script in one of his tapes? Except I have to wait until the decryption tape is done before I can find that out. I wonder how that has been going?

Looking down at my PipBuck, I happily notice a flashing message notifying me that the decryption was successful. I quickly pull out the decryptor tape, keeping it hovering in the air as I finally get that mysterious file open. Again, a familiar weight presses down on my shoulder as Rose rests her head on it and asks “Oh? It worked?”

“Yeah, your tape worked,” I say before my excitement disappears at the simplistic emblem at the top of the message: a winged cloud with a single thunderbolt coming out of it.

The emblem of the Ministry of Awesome. The Secret Ops Ministry.

“This can’t be anything good,” I mutter before reading the message underneath it.

******

To: Gen. Onyx Hoof, Royal Equestrian Armed Forces

Sir,

In regards to the current situation following the success of Operation: Clipped Wing, a convoy of megaspell-tipped warheads were captured en route to the now destroyed zebra silos in that area. Since it was deemed too dangerous to dispose of them in the field, it is proposed that the warheads be discreetly moved and stored to a safe location. At least until the Ministry of Arcane Science can devise a way of safely dealing with them.

With this in mind, and after being informed of the situation of Equestrian Defense Silo #1, it is my recommendation that it be used to house the warheads for the time being. It is remote enough to avoid arousing suspicion until the warheads can be moved to a more secure location. However, a plausible cover story will have to be created to explain away the sudden influx of materials to a soon-to-be abandoned silo. Maps detailing possible routes to the silo, along with a detailed inventory of the recovered warheads, have been included with this message. Please review them and inform us of your decision as soon as possible.

Sincerely,
Col. Falling Star, MoA Special Forces Division

******

“What does that all mean?” Rose asks.

“It means that this entire museum is a sham,” I say before hovering the tape over to her. “Equestria got their hooves on some zebra warheads and needed a place to put them all. If reading this right, they decided to turn this place into a museum to make it easier to sneak those warheads in here.”

She slides off my shoulder and stares at the tape as she takes it. “I’m not sure I follow.”

Right, she wouldn’t have seen the other messages. “In one of the messages I read when I first came here, it suggested that the Ministries practically rebuild this place to turn it into a museum,” I explain. “If that message wasn’t exaggerating, then they must have shipped a lot of materials up here to get the job done. With all of those trucks coming here, it would be easy to slip another convoy of trucks carrying the bombs in here without raising suspicion.”

“Until somepony looks inside,” Rose points out as she slips the tape back into her saddlebag.

I point back to the row of display rockets lining the wall. “All they have to say is that they are for the museum. I doubt anypony back then knew the difference between what’s real and what’s just an elaborate display.”

She nervously looks at the ‘Green Bean’ rocket. “They can’t be that stupid, right? What if some foal accidentally set one off?”

“Assuming this place ever opened to the public,” I say, earning me a rather confused look from Rose. “Think about it: they only needed a temporary place to store the warheads. So, how would you sneak them out if this place got completed and had ponies regularly visiting it?”

She thinks about it for a moment, scratching her head, before finally shaking her head. “I don’t think I could. Maybe if I wait for everypony left for the day, but explaining away the trucks and ponies I need to move them would be hard. It would be better if I could do it before the place opened. But full trucks leaving a museum that hasn’t opened yet would look suspicious. Unless…” She frowns. “I don’t like what you’re suggesting here.”

“But it makes sense, doesn’t it?” I say, not really liking what I’m suggesting here either. “They sneak them in, pause construction for some made up reason, then cancel the whole project when they're ready to move the warheads out. All those trucks can be explained away as them clearing out the now abandoned museum.”

Rose shakes her head, looking more upset than she did before. “But this isn’t their place! Rocky and the others wouldn’t have let them do this.”

“Except the Ministries did own this place,” I say solemnly before pointing to the ‘Green Bean’. “Rocky entered a contract with them to survive the fallout that rocket caused them. The sabotaged rocket test, in a place that employed a lot of zebras, would be the excuse the Ministry of Morale needed to strip away whatever control he had left over this place. Really, given the company’s track record up until this point, the Ministries probably decided it was too much of a liability. They’d need to keep a couple of employees here for museum cover to work, of course. But the rest? They’d be out on the streets or… well, I’d rather not think about it.”

“Fellow Rocketeers!” Mr. Tour Guide proclaims as it chooses this moment to poke its metal frame through the door. “I’m happy to announce that the planetarium is ready for you now!”

Planetarium? My ears flicker at the news and I take one step in the robot’s direction before hesitating. If this museum is a sham, then isn’t enjoying this tour an insult to those whose dreams were ruined by all of this? Looking at the other displays along the wall, it’s hard not to feel guilty for gushing over them just moments ago.

“Treppy, you think too much,” Rose suddenly says as she grabs my duster’s collar and drags me through the door. My irritation at being marehandled soon evaporates with an audible gasp at the sight before my eyes.

A whole galaxy lies before us as we walk in. Worlds of various sizes and colors float majestically against an ocean of stars and nebulas; some orbiting around others while the whole display rotates around the bright sun above us. As a young colt, I would look up at the perpetually cloudy sky and imagine what was on the other side. When the day finally came, when the clouds parted and the night sky was displayed in all its majesty, it was breathtaking to behold.

This, this entire display right here, completely eclipses that day. Amazement, curiosity, excitement, wonder, all of these feelings rush through me with an intensity that forces me to sit down. This is what it is like to be amongst the stars. To finally draw back the curtain and take a closer look at what lies within our night sky. It is outright overwhelming.

Then something catches my eye. Curiously, our world also slowly turns around the sun, with the soft glowing moon quietly tagging along for the ride. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? The sun orbiting around us? Every history book, including the ones rewritten by the Ministry of Image, make a point of saying that Princess Celestia and Luna raised and lowered the sun and moon respectively. Even now, the prevailing idea among some is that the now Goddess Luna still keeps the two rising and lowering like her and her sister used to do when they were mortal. But, to suggest that our world circles around the sun like this, does this mean that Celestia and Luna were never responsible for controlling the sun and moon?

Or maybe, this lends even more credence to the idea that they are more powerful than we could ever comprehend? If so, then it is no wonder the zebras were absolutely terrified of us. Did they know about Luna’s fall and transformation into the demonic Nightmare Moon? Or why did it happen in the first place? Would they have cared?

Perhaps the backup script can shed more light on this. Well, obviously not on the zebra’s view of then Princess Luna. The answer to that mystery will likely stay buried with the dead. No, it is what this planetarium is suggesting that needs further clarification. I load up the last of Hardwire’s tapes, hoping to find the script buried within. But all that awaits me are shipping manifests and odd dry memo about the reconstruction efforts. I nearly eject the tape when one item catches my eye: a letter addressed to one ‘Silky Stars’ titled ‘Concerning The Museum’. The name sounds familiar and the contents within eerily so as I begin reading the letter itself:

******

Silky Stars,

First of all, welcome back. I hope you enjoyed your vacation. You may have heard some things that have happened while you were gone and I wanted to set the record straight.

There have been some changes since you left. First of all, the Ministry of Wartime Technology has decided to shut down our facility and turn it into a museum. As a result, they are downsizing us and anypony that isn’t needed has been shown the door. Raina and I were given the pink slip as well, but Pastel Skies will be taking over my position and you’ll be working under her now.

I know what you're thinking: it’s unfair. You’ve worked so hard and put so much of your soul into this project and this company. Now they’re spitting in our face and destroying everything we’ve accomplished here. If it’s any consolation, I feel the same way.

None of us went down without a fight. In fact, Raina and I are still fighting this. But there’s nothing we can do right now to keep them from taking this company away from us. I want to tell myself that the new suits will treat this place right. But we both know they won’t care. They’ll coldly tear out the heart of this place, replace it with their sham of a museum, and laugh as they talk about silly ponies that wanted “to walk where Luna once walked.”

I should have listened to you and never taken that deal. I was too blinded by my desire to save our dream that I didn’t recognise the trap I was dragging us into. But, as silly as it is to say this, please remember our motto: Always aim for the moon. We may have missed it this time, but if the other screw ups didn’t keep us down (and Celestia knows how bad our screw ups have been), neither will this one. As we have always done before, we will brush ourselves off and keep trying. Even if it takes us a hundred years to get it right, we have to keep trying.

Anyway, part of the arrangement is that you are now in charge of the new museum while the rest of the silo is blocked off. Just make sure those idiots at the Ministry keep the place pristine like it should be. Put on a good face, smile that wonderful smile of yours, and tell ponies what we do here. What we did here.

I haven’t given up on our dream, Silky. I’ll find some way to get this place back and we’ll go to the moon together. I promise.

Take Care,
-Rocky Shores

******

Aim for the moon, eh?

I look up at the small glowing moon as it slowly orbits Equus. With all of the wonders and marvels of our galaxy, that little orb happens to be the closest one to us. How many obstacles did Rocky and the others have to go through in order to even have a chance at getting there? Really, how many? The recordings, notes, letters, even the wall-sized picture of their plans in the other room. All of those things only show glimpses of the hardships they had to endure. Yet, despite all of these setbacks and tragedies, they still kept going; their eyes always firmly fixed on the moon.

Now they’re one tape away from getting there. If they can get this close to completing a goal after everything that has happened to them, then maybe, just maybe, I could try to be the pony I wanted to be once more? Is that even possible for me?

“This turned out to be pretty cool,” Rose says softly while staring in awe at the planetarium before glancing over at me. “You seem to be enjoying yourself too.”

“Is it really that obvious?” I ask.

“Well, you do have that big grin on your face,” She observes as she playfully nudges my shoulder. “So yeah, it’s obvious.”

“Huh, I hadn’t noticed,” I say before looking back at her. “So was this your plan all along? Dragging me into this tour so I’ll finally stop worrying about everything?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” She attempts to look innocent as she looks over at Mr. Tour Guide for a moment. “I’m just here for the free stuff.”

“Ah, yes, the free souvenirs! One moment please,” Mr. Tour Guide exclaims before ducking through yet another set of double doors to the left of the room.

“It better not be something you found in a trash bin, you hear me?” Rose shouts, making me chuckle as she focuses on me again. “See? You’re better when you’re not depressed about something.”

“I wonder if it’s worth it though,” I say, trying not to sound too depressed as I glance up at the glowing sun. “It must be tiring to constantly drag me out of this state of mind by now.”

“Well, your reaction to seeing all of this made it worth it,” She says before sitting down next to me. “Honestly, I wish you could stay like this all the time. You brightening up and getting so excited when you start obsessing over these things? I can’t help but feel the same myself when that happens. It’s a side of you that I don’t think I would ever get tired of seeing.”

Brighten up? Her comment reminds me of how different my reflection looked this morning. How it seemed more like my old self, along with that dim light of hope in my eyes. While it is comforting to know for certain that I wasn’t just seeing things back then, the idea that Rose can not only see that, but actually likes it? That creates an odd mix of happiness and embarrassment that ends up leaving me more confused than anything else.

“And, well, trying to cheer you up makes me feel like I’m back with my sisters again,” She continues, a sad smile creeping onto her face. “Kind of reminds me of the time Spring Lily and I got lost during a scavenging trip. She blamed herself for the whole thing while I kept telling her that it wasn’t her fault. Even though I was just a filly then, I was the one that kept trying to encourage her and believed that she could get us out of it.”

Rose then shrugs her shoulders. “I’m not sure what I said that made her realize that I was serious. But once that sunk in, Lily stomped the ground and went to go prove me right. I was so proud of my big sister when we got home that I didn’t realize I got my cutie mark until mom pointed it out to me.”

Before I can ask, Rose lifts up part of her armor, revealing a crescent moon on her haunch with a single white rose resting on it. “It’s awesome looking, but I don’t think it actually means anything.”

I stare at Rose’s cutie mark, mulling over her comment, before she taps her rear. “Enjoying the view? I knew I was good looking, but I didn’t think you'd stare for this long.”

I nod absentmindedly. Then, realizing the unfortunate implications of what I just did, I quickly clear my throat. “I-I remember reading somewhere that crescent comes from the ancient words ‘ceres’, meaning to ‘bring forth or create’, and ‘crescere’, meaning to ‘grow or thrive’. The single white rose could be a symbol of hope and new beginnings. So, umm, basically, I believe your cutie mark symbolizes the bringing forth hope and change in others,” I look up at Rose. “If you ask me, it fits you quite nicely.”

For a brief moment, we stare at each other for what feels like an eternity before we both look away. The room becomes uncomfortably warm as Rose chuckles. “That’s seriously the coolest thing I’ve ever heard about it, actually! So, umm, how about you? What’s yours look like?”

“Oh, it’s, uhh, just a front facing open book with a page in mid-turn,” I say, lifting up my duster to show my cutie mark off. “Though there isn’t really any special event tied to it or anything. When I was a colt, my first book, the one you’ve seen me read while walking, was given to me by my mother. We read it every night and that encouraged me to hunt down other books so I could share what I learned with her. It was during one of these hunts that I, umm, got it in my head to... go somewhere I wasn’t supposed to go.”

That last line instantly causes Rose’s ears to perk up as a sly smile appears on her face. “Oh really?”

“Anyway,” I give her an unamused look as I continue. “I found an old spellbook with the teleport spell in it. Spellbooks were a new thing for me and, after reading through it once, I decided to try a spell out. Scared my mother half to death when I appeared out of nowhere with my entire tail fused to the wall. But this act did earn me my cutie mark. Along with a missing tail and a long lecture on why ‘borrowing’ spell books from forbidden areas is bad.”

And now Rose looks amused like none other. “I’ll have to remember that the next time you get on my case for ‘borrowing’ things,” She says before sticking her tongue out at me. I roll my eyes and open my mouth to say something witty when she glances down at my tail; a look of concern briefly replacing the smile on her face as she asks “That doesn’t happen often, right? You’re not going to… you know?”

I give her a reassuring smile. “It has only happened twice in my life: back then and what happened earlier. I wouldn’t worry too much about it,” I then dramatically brush my mane back. “I’m too proud of my appearance to let it happen more than that.”

She laughs. “Yeah, you’re right. Yeesh, I better watch it or I’ll end up being the depressing one.”

“Yeah, that’s my schtick,” I lightly nudge her shoulder. When was the last time I’ve had this much fun? Messing around, wandering through a museum, talking with another pony about our respective pasts. Silverwing, Flare, and Zigs wouldn’t care about any of this even if they tried. If they even bothered to try. It really feels good to finally have a friend who actually cares about me and doesn’t see me as a tool. Or is terrified by my blood magic. But then, Rose doesn’t really understand the curse I’m under, does she? If I end up losing control again while near her…

Taking in a deep breath of air, I steel myself for what I’m about to do. “Rose, remember what I said about the treasure hunt Silverwing dragged me into?”

“Yeah, I remember,” Rose says. “You told me it was a bust.”

“Technically it was, but… ” I rub my neck, hesitant to actually delve back into that painful memory. But it has to be done. She needs to know. “Not for me. When we found the vampire pony’s lair, that’s when I got my blood magic.”

Suddenly Rose’s ears perk up and her full attention is on me as I continue. “At first, all we found were a bunch of skeletons littering the floor and some markings on the wall. Certainly nothing that would make us rich. We were just about to give up when I found it.”

My body begins to shake as I recount the memory. “It was an old memory orb. Chipped and cracked from the passage of time, but still very much intact. However, something was off about it that I couldn’t put my hoof on. Still, it was what Silverwing was looking for and he had me make sure that it was the real deal. So, I… I…”

She places a hoof on my shoulder. “Treppy, that’s enough. I know I bugged you about this before. But if it is this painful to bring up, then I don’t need to know.”

For a brief moment, I consider taking her up on that offer. Then I glance at the tear in Rose’s armor under her wing. “Except you do. We nearly died because I didn’t tell you about how I react around memory orbs. I’m not about to repeat the same mistake now.” When that doesn’t set her at ease, I add “Please trust me on this, I’m a lot stronger than I look.”

She hesitates for a moment before finally nodding her head. With that out of the way, I force myself to continue. “Delving into it was painful. Like something was trying to force its way into my head but there just wasn’t enough room to contain it all. Instead of memories, like a normal orb would have, there was only darkness waiting for me. And hate, sorrow, more pain…” I shut my eyes tightly and take another deep breath. “When, when I came to, Silverwing was choking me. Flare managed to get him off of me in time and Zigs talked him out of trying again. The orb laid shattered in front of me and… realised how close I was to being permanently locked in that nightmare forever, I… all I could think of doing was to curl up in a corner and cry.”

Tears start to run down my cheek. “That was supposed to be the end of it. The orb didn’t have anything inside of it. Just a horrible experience I could shove to the back of my mind and forget about. Or so I thought. Then Trian Mill happened and when I found out where Silverwing got his Holotape from… I snapped. Badly.“

I force myself to look up at Rose. “That orb did have something in it. As much as I would like to pretend otherwise, it taught me blood magic. Or rather, it forced that knowledge into my mind. And when I lost it, I instinctively used it to lash out at everypony nearby. By the time I... came to my senses, nearly everypony around me was dead. I thought if I stayed away from everypony, kept that power locked up and buried in the back of my mind, then it would never happen again.”

“But you didn’t stay away,” Rose points out, though it feels like she is saying that to herself rather than to me. “You came here instead. And decided to get involved in all of this instead of walking away.”

“I know, I was being stupid,” I say, looking back at the ground again. “Why can’t I just leave things alone? Now I’ve put you in danger just by being near me,” I shake my head. “If… if that ever happens again, if I use that magic and look like I’m going to kill everypony there? Please, run. Don’t try to snap me out of it, don’t even get near me, just run and-”

A hoof ruffles through my mane. “After all the times you’ve had my back, you think I’d abandon you? Screw that.”

I gently push Rose’s hoof away and look up at her. “You saw what I did to Winona!” I say firmly. “The same thing might- no, will happen to you if you stay near me while I’m in that state!”

“Look, I’ll admit, what you did to Winona was… creepy,” She says. “But if that magic makes you want to murder everypony around you, then why did you shield me from Winona? That doesn’t seem like something a blood-crazed pony would do to me.”

“Maybe not,” I admit. “I did jump in between you two because I didn’t want to lose you, so... you might be onto something there.”

“Of course I am!” She says before patting my shoulder. “Honestly, did you forget who I am? I am Winter Rose, the greatest bounty hunter around. I know what I’m doing,” She gives me a wink before adding “But if it’ll make you feel better, I promise not to do anything stupid if you do go berserk with those powers again. So quit worrying, alright?”

It isn’t the most reassuring promise ever. This is the mare that thought hunting hellhounds was a good idea. And she hasn’t seen the broken and bloodied remains of Flare and Zigs like I have. But she does have a point: I did defend her during that time I lapsed and I do want to keep her safe, unlike others in my past I could name. Yeah, maybe I am worrying too much about this. With a smile on my face, I finally decide to relent. “Alright, I’ll stop worrying then. Besides, you haven’t let me down yet.”

“Of course not. That’s just not my style,” She says before looking into my eyes. “And… thanks for telling me about this. I know it wasn’t something you wanted to share with me, but, well, it makes me happy knowing that you trust me enough to share it anyway.”

Those words catch my attention and I find myself looking back into Rose’s eyes. A reply comes to mind but that disappears as we hold each other’s gaze. Something about the way Rose looks at me that makes it difficult to look away. Maybe it is how the light catches her eyes. Or how she softly smiles at me. Or even how the stars around her seem to shine a little brighter. It is as if she is making me feel like-

“Ahem.”

Rose and I quickly back away from each other upon hearing Mr. Tour Guide’s voice. Quickly wiping away the tears from my eyes, I watch as the robot cheerfully hovers over to Rose and offers her what appears to be two moon-themed lunch boxes. “Here we are fellow Rocketeers!” It announces cheerfully. “Two limited-edition lunchboxes, courtesy of the Ministry of Morale!”

While my mind tries to wrap around the idea of the Ministry of Morale giving out lunchboxes, Rose fakes a smile and takes one of the lunchboxes. “Uhh, thanks. This is what I’ve always, umm, wanted.”

“My pleasure!” Mr. Tour Guide says before hoofing me my lunchbox. He then motions towards the double doors he left through earlier. “Sadly, the museum is now closed for the day, my fellow Rocketeers! Please make sure that you have all of your belongings before leaving the planetarium and we wish you a wonderful evening!”

With that, Mr. Tour Guide takes a bow and then disappears through the doors leading back into the exhibit. Rose and I quietly watch it leave before looking down at our respective lunchboxes.

“Well,” I say while trying to iron out a peeling corner of the label. “I heard somewhere that you can fill these up with bottle caps and turn them into land mines.”

For a brief moment, Rose gives me an odd look before letting out a chuckle. “Good one, Treppy. Like anypony would seriously do something stupid like blow up money,” She says before putting away her lunchbox. “Oh, that reminds me. After we get the ghouls out of here, I’m coming back for the mines I left back in the storage room. Those things aren’t cheap.”

“I can only imagine, given how many you’ve gone through already,” I say before opening my lunchbox up. Upon discovering that it is empty, I start filling it up with whatever I can fit inside of it. If only in a vain attempt to keep everything tidy inside my saddlebag.

Rose nudges my shoulder. “Hey, whatever gets the job done!” She then looks around the planetarium. “Anyway, this turned out to be awesome. I think I can get why somepony would like to go up there.”

“Yeah,” I put my lunchbox away before looking up at the model of the moon hovering above us. “And we get to help them get there.”

“Then let’s not keep them waiting,” She brushes herself off and then motions towards the exit. “Let’s go send some ghouls to the moon.”

The large metal door looms over us, almost as if trying to intimidate us. Small dents and scratches cover most of its surface like a badge of honor. A deadbolt lock has a jammed key part inside, detering all but the most determined master thief. The words on a small sign on it has been scratched out and replaced with two words: Data Center. It stands much like a silent guardian, posing as the last obstacle between us and our goal on the other side.

Naturally, Rose and I look at each other for a brief second and then nod in unison before walking around the door. After all, there’s no point in dealing with it when the walls around it have long since crumbled to dust.

It’s jarring to see the room after walking around the relatively clean museum. Terminals smashed, wires haphazardly strewn across the floor, and scratch marks across giant mainframes make it easy to tell who was here. The mixture of ash, dry blood splatters, and body parts clearly show who lost the battle here. With the extent of the damage being what it is, the fact that most of the walls are still standing is a miracle in and of itself.

A gust of cold air blows through the gaping hole in the wall, sending a chill down our spines. Rose tightens her scarf before surveying the damage while I look out beyond the hole and onto the moonlit plains. At least, until the clouds move in to block out the barely risen moon entirely, darkening the scene before me. An uncomfortable feeling sets in with the darkness before I cast my light spell.

Keep it together. This isn’t the time to lose my cool or fall apart again. Just dig my hooves into the ground and get to work. Everypony is counting on me to not screw this up.

And I won’t screw this up. I’ll make sure of that this time.

“Ok, what are we looking for here?” Rose says as she steps over a severed hind leg and pushes aside some scraps of metal.

“These things,” I walk over and tap one of the mainframes near me. It has a lot of dents and scratches on them, but they should still work. Hopefully.

She turns to watch as I pull out my screwdriver and scan the mainframe for any kind of entry points. “Umm, not to be mean or anything, but aren’t you forgetting your bobby pin?” She asks, tilting her head slightly. “Or do you have some kind of lock picking spell that makes it so you don’t need one?”

“No, these things shouldn’t be locked,” I inform her “And sadly, I don’t know how to pick locks with magic. Anyway, with the terminals busted, I need to get the cover off and hook my PipBuck to the mainframes directly.”

“Oh! Why didn’t you say so?” She says before digging into her saddlebag and producing a crowbar. “Here, this should work better than that screwdriver you’re hovering over there.”

Fighting back a sigh, I shake my head. “A crowbar is going to do more damage than good. And the last thing I want to do is damage a two hundred year old piece of pre-war technology.” At that moment, I finally find the screws holding the side panel up. Pausing just as my screwdriver presses against one of the screws, I glance back at Rose. “Do you always carry a crowbar around with you?”

“Never know when it’ll come in handy,” She says before putting it away. Which makes sense. As I get back to work, she asks “So how do you hook up your PipBuck to this thing anyway?”

“Well,” I say while carefully removing the cover. “Data is stored within a terminal’s hard drive. Or, really, anything that has the same spell matrix as a terminal. So, if I connect my PipBuck’s hard drive to the one inside this mainframe via wire, I can transfer the data over without needing to find a working terminal. Once I double check to make sure it didn’t get corrupted, we can hop out the door, circle around to the front entrance, and get the ghouls on their merry way. Hopefully before the hellhounds figure out what we are up to,” I pause as I take a look inside the mainframe. “It might take a bit to check all of the mainframes here. Think you can find that switch Salt Cube wanted us to flip on?”

Rose gives me a salute then goes forth to accomplish the task given her. Giving a small salute of my own, I go back to connecting my PipBuck to the mainframe in front of me. Hopefully the information we need isn’t spread out between the four mainframes here. Things would be simpler had this place gotten a Crusader Mainframe. And far more interesting to poke around inside. But getting one requires the Ministry to favor this place and it is pretty clear that they did not. Still, at least the mainframes are all in one place rather than scattered throughout the floor.

And surprisingly easy to get into once my PipBuck recognizes the mainframe’s hard drive. Now to start looking through the files for the data I need and… Huh, that’s strange. The hard drive is empty. Maybe the data is in a different one?

Disconnecting my PipBuck from this mainframe, I move on to the one next to it and begin the process again. Thankfully, the damage inflicted on them doesn’t seem to be affecting my ability to access them. Nor disrupting their spell matrixes which would make what I’m doing impossible. Fortunately, it is easier to hook up to this mainframe and get into its hard drive. Unfortunately, it is empty too.

A sinking feeling starts to set in just as Rose says “Hey, I flipped Salty’s switch on. There’s an intercom over here that isn’t trapped too. We can let the ghouls know we’re coming once we’re done. How are things on your end?”

“Still looking,” I say as I move to the third mainframe. “Mind the entrance, will you? I should be done soon.”

“Don’t think the door’s going anywhere,” She jokes but moves to watch it all the same.

The heavily dented panel almost needs a crowbar to pry off. Even after getting it off, the insides are a mess and show signs of tampering. Though whether this tempering is recent or not, I can’t say.

Did the ghouls send somepony else before Rose and I to look into this? No, they would have said so if they did. That just leaves Lupa and her pack then. But why would they care about this stuff?

Again, I hook my PipBuck up to the mainframe’s hard drive. And again, I find it devoid of any kind of data whatsoever.

The sinking feeling gets worse as I walk over to the final mainframe. What was going on here? With an attack like this, some data loss would be expected, sure. In fact, it would be more suspicious if everything was in one piece. But there isn’t anything in these mainframes so far: no data, no information, no backups. There isn’t even a login to deal with here. The systems are just wiped clean. Even as I hook up to this last mainframe, no explanation as to what is going on here comes to mind.

Then I access the final hard drive. Empty.

“It isn’t here,” I say, disconnecting my PipBuck from the mainframe before pulling up the map. Maybe we are in the wrong room? But it doesn’t look like there is another Data Center on this floor. So what gives?

“What do you mean it isn’t here?” Rose asks from her prone position across the door. Which happens to be near the intercom for this room.

“The mainframes are wiped. The data isn’t inside any of them,” I answer back as I walk over to the intercom. “We better let Rocky know about this.” And hopefully, he will have an explanation for all of this.

Raising my hoof to press the silver button, I stop as a burst of static comes out of the speaker. And a very calm and polite voice asks “Finding everything that you need in there, Intrepid?”

Lupa.

That sinking feeling turns into fear as I back away from the intercom. That fear keeps me in place as Rose gets up and presses the button. “Why?” She asks mockingly. “Hoping we found a bone for you, little puppy?”

“Funny, I thought I was addressing Intrepid,” Lupa says flatly. “Go scurry somewhere else, little rat. The wolves have a deal to make.” It sends a chill down my spine to hear her compare us to wolves. As if I’m anything like that monster.

“Sorry,” Rose answers back. “But if you got something to say to my partner, you can say it to me too.”

“And no,” I speak up. “I’m not accepting any deals that involve giving Rose up to you.” Rose offers me a hoof bump for that comment. To which I accept readily.

“Pity, but I did see that coming. You two have become quite the dynamic duo, haven’t you?” Lupa says. “Winona, you can come back now, I don’t need you to stalk them anymore.”

Both Rose and I turn towards the entrance. But nothing emerges from the shadows lurking in the hallway. “Now I should thank you for one thing, Intrepid,” Lupa continues as her voice adopts a much friendlier tone. “I was wondering why a unicorn like you would bother with a place like this. How very thoughtful of you to tell us that yourself.”

“I don’t recall ever doing anything of the sort,” I say, not really caring how little sense Lupa is making right now.

Rose smirks. “I think you’re losing it, you crazy old mutt.”

“Am I?” Lupa says thoughtfully. “Did you purposefully broadcast that meeting with your ghoul friends to every room in this facility?”

Broadcast? I didn’t make any broadcast. All we did was call the room number Rose had and...

Nausea hits me hard with that realisation and I start feeling very, very cold as Salt Cube’s question echoes in my head. ‘So who else did you call anyway?’

My rifle barrel tapping the ground sounds unusually loud while Rose quickly says “Get to the point, Lupa.”

“Here’s the deal. You remember Roxie, right Intrepid?” Lupa says playfully. “She found some rather interesting bits of information within these… mainframes, I think you call them? Information we put on a tape that I am holding.”

Rose grits her teeth. “Your price?”

Lupa’s chuckle can barely be heard over the static. “I want Smarty back. That’s all. I would have you meet us now, but I think poor Intrepid is still recovering from our last meeting. So I’ll give you until, hmm, this time tomorrow? Second Floor, Central Lobby. That should be long enough for him to get his wits back together again.”

There is a long pause before Lupa adds “Oh, and if you are not there when the time comes, I’ll start butchering your ghoul friends until you do show up. It is a fun way to pass the time and I think we’ve put it off long enough.” She lets out a dark laugh. “Have a good night, Intrepid.”

And with a click, the intercom goes quiet.

A few seconds pass in silence before the gears in my mind begin turning. I quickly pull out the intercom schematics, nearly ripping the paper as I do so, and lay it down on the ground. Scanning every inch of it in an attempt to figure out what went wrong, what mistake was made to allow all of this to happen.

Why? Why is this happening all over again? I was so careful! I followed the instructions exactly, didn’t I?

Yet, I can’t seem to remember the intercom I fixed well enough to recognise what I did wrong. And the body parts and blood smears decorating the room only adds to the sense of panic and dread running through my mind.

Rose leans against the wall. “This is bad,” She says to herself. “No, this is worse than bad. This is way worse than bad.”

“Is there any way out of this?” I ask.

“I don’t think so,” She answers before pulling Smarty out of her bag. “Stealing the tape won’t work, Lupa would notice right away and go straight into a killing spree.”

“Evacuating the facility and getting everypony to safety in a day is impossible,” I say. “Especially with Green Bean being a week away.”

“And honoring the deal will only get us killed in the end,” She says as she stares at the doll. “Smarty here is the only thing keeping Lupa in check. Once she gets her doll back…”

She didn’t need to finish that sentence. We both know what will happen to us once that happens. Then the hellhounds will go on to covering this place in ghoul blood before leaving. And that will be the end of the ghouls’ dream of reaching the moon.

All because I was here.

No, no this wasn’t supposed to happen again! I followed the plan exactly! I double checked everything! Things were supposed to go fine this time! This wasn’t supposed to be like Trian Mill! This… I need to get out of here!

I bolt through the gaping hole and into the outdoors. The cold air brushes against my face and mane as the moon once again shines through to illuminate the plains before me. Yet, I end up stopping after a short sprint, shaking from the cold night air. Panic urges me to keep running, but my legs refuse to move any further.

‘Why are you stopping?’ The little pony in my head asks. ‘It’s over. You screwed up again. You were careless. Just like in Trian Mill. There is nothing you can do to fix this now. Lupa can’t be reasoned with. And she’ll kill you if you give her a chance.’

I glance down at my saddlebags as the little pony continues. ‘You have enough supplies to get to Green Bean now. The only thing you can do now is go there and warn everypony about Lupa. Hopefully, the Steel Rangers there can deal with her pack and you can disappear into the wastelands again. Let those competent ponies come in here and clean up the mess you’ve caused.

‘You’re a dangerously incompetent little pony, Intrepid. It was foalish to think you could ever change that.’

And yet, those thoughts aren’t enough to compel myself forward. They are true, there is no doubt about that. This is a no win situation here. No pony would blame me for running away from all of this.

But this is different, isn’t it? At Trian Mill, things happened too fast to keep everypony from dying horribly. That isn’t the case here. If Lupa keeps to her word (as silly of a notion as that is), then there is one whole day’s worth of time to figure out a way to fix this. This is exactly the opportunity I had desperately wished for back at Trian Mill. Now I have it.

Am I really going to throw this opportunity away and abandon everypony to their death?

With a groan, I ruffle through my mane in frustration. If only there was a clear solution to this problem! No, there is a clear solution: Lupa and her pack have to die. There is no other way around it. But after everything Lupa has gone through and survived, the idea is completely suicidal! No sane pony would ever attempt it! But then, no sane pony would attempt to rescue a stranger from a den of hellhounds either.

I sit down and gaze up at the moon. It looks so far away right now. Just like my dream of being more like my father.

“Enjoying the view?” Rose asks as she sits down next to me.

“Just clearing my head,” I say without breaking my gaze with the moon. After a moment of silence, I ask “You’re not going to scold me for running away on you?”

“No,” She answers frankly. “I know you aren’t the type to just run away when ponies are in danger.”

That coaxes a smile from me. “Heh, Mom used to say the same thing about Dad. I guess I managed to be like him in that regard, eh?”

“Hmm, he was strong, brave, loyal, kind, willing to do what was right, and stubborn at times, right?” She asks, surprising me that she even remembered all of that, before shrugging. “If you ask me, I’d say you got all of that and more.”

I look at her, scanning her face to see if she really meant what she just said, and then at the moon again as her words sink into my mind. Am I really all of those things? Am I really like Dad? Rose seems to think so. She saw something in me that I can only see glimpses of. And she went through a lot of effort to convince me that I’m better than I think I am. So, maybe she’s right. Thinking back on everything that has happened, the things I’ve been doing are things he would probably do in my position. He would do them differently, obviously. And more competently too. But in the end, our motivations would still be the same.

Maybe I am closer to my dream than I originally thought. And if that’s the case…

With a deep breath and a grin, I brush myself off. “Alright, enough moping around. I’m from the Twilight Society, dang it, and back there is a place filled with pre-war tech. There has got to be a way to fix this.”

“There we go!” Rose says before slapping my back. “That’s the Treppy I was hoping to see here!”

I feel a little flustered at the compliment while she pulls out Smarty and tosses the doll up and down in the air. “Now then, how do we get back at Lupa for making a fool out of us?”

“That’s the question, isn’t it?” I say before glancing down at my Pipbuck, noticing for the first time how the moonlight gleams off it. And the StealthBuck still crudely attached to its side.

Huh, so that managed to survive this entire time, eh? If only we could just use you to sneak everypony out of here. Though, we would need a rather large motorwagon and enough power to get this thing to do that, won’t we? Not to mention that Lupa would smell us out the moment we tried to sneak past her.

Hmm. Smell...

I stare at the StealthBuck for a long time before an interesting idea forms in my head. From the corner of my eye, I notice Rose has stopped tossing Smarty up in the air and is staring at the doll. We both look at each other at the same time.

“You know, I’ve kind of gotten attached to Smarty these last few days,” She says with a sly grin on her face. “What do you say we give her a small going away party? One that’s sure to knock everypony off their hooves?”

“Well, I do have an excellent going away gift in mind for all of this,” I say with a sly grin of my own. “Mind if we go back through the museum one more time?”

“As long as we stop by my place afterwards,” She says. There’s a glint in her eye as she stands up and extends a hoof towards me. “Let’s get started, shall we?”

I nod as I take her hoof with mine. “Let’s.”

Author's Note

You have recovered from your depression enough to complete some quest objectives!

Quest Objectives Completed:

Activate Satellite and Radio Repeater.
(Optional) Grab Everypony’s Things From Their Offices.

Quest Objectives Gained:

Deal With Lupa.

Current Quest Objectives:

Retrieve Data Needed For Rocket Launch.
Escort Winter Rose Back To Safety.
Scavenge For Medical Supplies.
Don’t Die.

Chapter 11 - Moment Of Truth

I failed.

I tried. I tried so hard to fix things. To finally be the hero like my father.

But then I screwed up and got everypony killed as a result.

I’m sorry Storm Bolt. I couldn’t keep my promise to you. I couldn’t even save you when it mattered most. Dear Luna, what am I-

“Are you still thinking about that stupid base?”

I hover my book closer to my face, trying to ignore the question. Not that it matters, as an orange earth pony rips it out of my magical grasp. “Hey!”

“Look, ponies die, ok? Especially annoying colts we happen to like,” Flare says as she stuffs my book into my saddlebag. “So toughen up and quit hanging your head before you stab somepony with that horn of yours.”

“Leave him alone, Flare,” Zigs says with an edge of irritation in his tone. “He’s gone through enough without you making things worse.”

“Please don’t start arguing again,” I groan. “I’ll keep my head up, ok? Just-”

“Making things worse?!” Flare spits at the ground before marching up into the zebra’s face. “He nearly got us killed! He should be thankful I’m trying to be nice to him at all!”

“This is nice?” Zigs asks before shaking his head. “Storm Bolt practically worshipped him and you called him an ‘annoying colt’. That’s pretty heartless, even for you.”

I wince at the mention of Storm Bolt. “Can we please stop? I don’t really want to talk about-”

“Heartless? Heartless?!” Flare jabs a hoof into Zig’s chest. “That’s rich coming from you! How many bones did you rip out of their dead bodies while we weren’t looking?”

Zigs pushes Flare’s hoof to the side. “Better in my care than a raider like you. You’re just upset you couldn’t break their legs while they were bleeding to death.”

Flare pushes her head against Zigs’. “Oh, now you’re asking for it!”

“STOP IT!” I finally scream out. “I get it, alright?! I made a mistake! I didn’t want to make it! I studied and worked out all of the angles and still a lot of good ponies died pointlessly because I screwed up! How am I just supposed to ‘get over’ something like that?! What do you two want from me?!”

Flare and Zigs back off from each other and look away. Feeling rather awkward now, I shake my head. “S-Sorry, I didn’t mean to lose my cool. It’s not like we intentionally kill those ponies, right?” I look up and offer a weak smile. “I know this is just how the wasteland works, Flare. I, I just need some time, ok?”

Flare mutters something under her breath before looking up ahead. “Silverwing! Are we there yet?! We’re out of Buck and I need my fix soon!”

Silverwing slows to a stop but doesn’t seem to react to Flare’s question. Watching the silver-winged griffon stand there in the midst of this rocky landscape, scanning the surroundings with the same serious expression on his face that he adopts for negotiations, I realize that there is something off about him.

Trepidation? Anxiety? Guilt? It feels ridiculous to apply any of these to the Silverwing I know. Yet, since the vampire pony cave, he hasn’t been acting like the Silverwing I know. He mutters to himself and mostly ignores us, save to glare at me on occasion.

Once again, the little pony in my head points out that he was off at Trian Mill too. Like he was trying too hard to convince us he was ok even as he gave me the holotape I needed to fix the turret system. A tape that ended up nearly dooming us all. ‘Something isn’t right here,’ The little pony whispers. ‘He is up to something.’

Buck it all, I’m tired of all of this. I’m tired of dealing with these people. I’m tired of suspecting them of lying and deceit. And I’m tired of lying to myself. Change Equestria for the better? I haven’t done a single good thing since I left! Hay, I can’t even fix one stupid turret system without murdering everypony! Equestria would have been better off if I had never left in the first place!

Dear Luna, why am I even out here anymore?!

“Silverwing?” Zigs asks as he walks up to Silverwing and taps his back. “You expecting trouble?”

“Just keep your gun ready,” Silverwing says before something catches his eye. Then he brushes his shoulders off. “Alright everypony, look sharp. We have company.”

From behind a rocky outcrop a little distance away emerges two ponies: a green earth pony wearing what looks to be some kind of recon barding and a white unicorn wearing a Scribes robe with the markings and colors of the Steel Rangers. A sack, enveloped in an orange magical glow, hovers closely to the unicorn.

A lot of flags immediately go off in my head. From what Dad told me about the Steel Rangers, Scribes don’t travel unless it is absolutely important and, when they do, they’re usually surrounded by a small group of knights. E.F.S. doesn’t reveal anypony else outside of our two groups, so this already makes their presence here suspicious.

Maybe they don’t want to attract attention? Why? We’re in the middle of nowhere. And there isn’t any group of ponies around here that would care for miles. At least, not anymore.

As my mind tries to make sense of this, the earth pony spots me and points his gun at me. Ah, right, I look like an NCR Ranger. Of course they would be cautious around me.

“He’s with me,” Silverwing immediately shouts as he waves one claw at them. The Scribe looks between Silverwing and myself before glancing at her guard and nodding her head. Thankfully, this gets the earth pony to lower his weapon again.

“Silverwing, what’s going on here?” I ask. “Do you know these ponies?”

“Of course I do. We smuggled crates to them for the map,” Silverwing says without even looking down at me. “Now whatever happens, Don’t. Do. Anything. Got it?”

There it is again. That sharp edge that never seems to leave Silverwing’s voice whenever he talks to me. It is this kind of hostility that made me want to stay at Trian Mill once the turrets were back online but…. And to think that I was once his prized bookworm. Now I’m just a nuisance to him.

And an incompetent nuisance at that.

“Got it,” I mutter as the Scribe and her escort finally arrive.

The Scribe looks us all over, taking an extra moment to scrutinize me, before finally looking up at Silverwing. “So they’re the ones that helped you smuggle in those weapons for us?” She says in a tone that heavily suggests that she isn’t impressed with us.

“Weapons?” I say quietly, earning me a quick glare from Silverwing; those feelings from before still hiding behind his eyes along with something else I don’t quite recognise.

“Yes, this is my faithful crew,” Silverwing says before placing his claws on his chest. “No doubt you’ve seen the results of our excellent work for yourself.”

“That is more or less why I’m here,” the Scribe says flatly.

“So you’re here to hire us again?” Flare asks while moving to stand next to Silverwing.

That quickly earns Flare a confused look from the Scribe. “No, I’m here to congratulate you on a job well done.”

That line confuses me while Zigs furrows his brow at the Scribe. “Not to sound ungrateful or anything, but that smuggling job was done months ago.”

The Scribe turns her attention to Zigs. “I’m not here for that. I’m here for the extermination job you did for us,” She then tosses the sack at Silverwing. “Twelve thousand caps, just as promised.”

“W-What?” I ask as Silverwing opens up the sack and picks out a bottle cap to inspect. “What do you mean-”

“Intrepid,” Silverwing warns before looking back at the Scribe. “Yeah, this should make up for recent losses quite nicely.”

“To be honest, I had my doubts that a bunch of tribal like yourselves would have been able to load the virus into the turret system without screwing it up,” The Scribe says nonchalantly as my blood suddenly runs cold. “But you did just as you promised. And even made sure the system shut itself off after it was done clearing out the undesirables. The Steel Rangers are in your debt for giving us a new base of operations in this area.”

Virus? Turret system? No, she can’t be talking about Trian Mill, can she?

“This can’t be true,” I shake my head before looking up at Silverwing. “There’s some kind of mistake. She’s mistaking us for somepony else. She has to be. Otherwise… otherwise, that would mean that you lied to me and we just murdered all of those ponies for blood caps. You wouldn’t do that, right? Silverwing?”

The griffon simply averts his gaze from me.

Something snaps in my head, releasing a torrent of emotions as I rip the sack from Silverwing’s grasp and shove it into the Scribe’s chest. “Bring Them Back!”I say with tears in my eyes. “Take Your Caps And Bring Those Ponies Back!”

The sack drops to the ground as the earth pony shoves me back. The faces of all of the ponies we met in Trian Mill flashes before my eyes as I stare at the caps on the ground. Dead. Every single one of them. And I killed them. I helped those murderers kill them.

No, no they can't get away with this! I won’t let them get away with this!

With anger and grief burning inside of me, I charge forward and drive my horn into the chest of the Scribe. As a strange sensation rushes through my body, I feel myself drawn to the blood running down my face. Almost like a siren’s song is calling out to me.

Instinctively, I reach out and rip out the blood from the Scribe’s chest, forming it into a blade. My anger and hate focus my attention on her as a dark feeling overtakes my mind; all other feelings fade away as I coldly tear into her.

A shot grazes my shoulder pulls my attention towards the Scribe’s escort. My attempts to cut off his head only succeeds in cutting into his forehead as somepony else tackles me to the ground. My vision turns red as I lash out at everypony around me and-

I shut my eyes and desperately try to pull myself out of this memory. The pain, the anguish, the hate. I don’t want to go back there. I don’t want to relive this horrible experience again.

‘But this is who you are.’

As my eyes open again, the scenery changes to one I remember all too well: Zigs, Flare, the Steel Rangers, all lie broken and torn into several pieces on the ground as their blood covers the ground. Silverwing crawls on the ground in front of me, desperately trying to get away. And a darker reflection of myself standing right next to me.

“Alright, who are you really?” I ask the dark pony. “And why won’t you leave me alone?”

‘We both know who I am,’ The dark pony says as he walks over to Silverwing and forces his head into the ground. ‘I’m the part of you that you rejected. The part that understands just how vindictive, self-righteous, and powerful you are. After all, these thoughts can’t possibly be yours right?’

I glare at the dark pony. “They’re not! How could I possibly want to do any of this?!” I motion to the dead bodies all around me.

‘Because they deserved it,’ The dark pony says bluntly. ‘This is the wasteland, not Tenpony Tower. There isn’t anypony that would have punished them for what they did. For what they made us do.’

“That still doesn’t make it right!” I slam my hoof into the ground.

‘So? Might makes right here,’ The dark pony says before smashing Silverwing’s head into pieces. ‘And you finally have the means to make things right.’

As I shake my head, the dark pony walks over Silverwing’s now lifeless body and stands in front of me. ‘If you really want me to go away, all you have to do is accept that I’m who you really are.’

“No, I’m going to give in to that,” I say while taking a step back. “I’m nothing like you!”

The dark pony laughs. ‘Really? Really? And all of that hate you leveled towards Lupa and the other hellhounds? You lit Lupa on fire with rocket fuel, you turned Smarty into a bomb, not to mention all of the other horrible things you did to them! And just because they killed a bunch of ghouls you’ve never met before?’

My gaze drifts towards the ground. “Shut up.”

‘You even ripped apart Lupa because she was going to kill Winter Rose. A pony you only met a couple of days ago,’ The dark pony shakes his head. ‘Tell me, were you really afraid for her life? Or was it an excuse to feel the rush coursing through you every time a pony dies around you?’

“Shut. Up.”

‘Then again, you do like her,’ The dark pony continues. ‘So maybe you’re trying so hard to ignore this part of you because you know the truth. You can’t change that part of you. And deep down, you know she’ll turn her back on you once she finds out.’

“I Said Shut! Up!”

‘Not that it matters,’ The dark pony shrugs. ‘She’s dead now because of you. Just like Storm Bolt, just like Trian Mill. Maybe it would have been better had she never met you at all.’

“SHUT UP!” I scream as the blood around me forms into multiple blades. I immediately tear into the pony in front of me, pouring all of my self-loathing and hate into every strike. Until the bloodlust passes and the onslaught slows to a stop.

“I-It’s not like that,” I mutter as I take deep breaths. “I-I tried talking them down, I-I tried to avoid them, I-I didn’t want to kill any of them, I… I… “

My eyes widen as I look down at the body in front of me. Instead of the dark pony, there lies the broken body of Rose.

‘Admit it, Intrepid,’ The dark pony whispers in my eyes as I stare in horror at what I’ve done.

‘You.’

‘Are.’

‘A.’

‘Monster.’

Feeling my heart pounding in my chest, I open my eyes to the blurry vision of a grey room. Slowly, I sit myself up, only barely registering the sheet draped over my body, and take some deep breaths as sweat runs down my face.

There’s sound around me but that takes a back seat to the fact that, blurry or no, this doesn’t look like the corridor I was focusing on with my teleportation spell. As this realization settles on my mind, the image of Rose’s broken body comes to mind.

A pony in front of me places a hoof on my shoulder and, without thinking, I immediately bury my head into their shoulder and hug them tightly. “I killed her,” I say as tears stream down my face. “She was counting on me to save her and I killed her instead. Dear Luna, why couldn’t I save Rose? Why?”

There is a moment of silence as I continue to sob into the pony’s shoulder before I feel a hoof running through my mane. “No you didn’t, Intrepid. I’m still here.”

That voice. I know that voice.

Pushing myself back, I finally recognise the pony sitting in front of me. “Rose? You’re alive?!”

“Of course I’m alive! Who do you think I am?” Rose asks before lightly bopping the top of my head. “That’s for leaving me alone back there! And after everything I told you too!” She shakes her head and gives me a smile. “Yeesh, what am I going to do with you?”

“I’m sorry about that, I just- Well that doesn’t matter now! I’m so glad you’re alright! I honestly thought I had screwed up and didn’t get back to you in time!” I say while wiping the tears from my eyes. “You have no clue how happy this… makes… me… ”

My face starts burning up as the realization of what I just did and to whom I did it to suddenly sinks in. “I-I’m sorry, I-I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable! Just, just that I was, what I mean is, umm… “

An odd echoing laughter from some other pony in the room only makes the situation more awkward for me.

“Alright Rocky, how about we waive the medical fee for such a heartwarming display,” Bright Eyes suggests. “Before our friend here turns any redder and dies from embarrassment.”

I bury my face and let out a groan. Dear Luna, why is this happening?

A faint orange aura encompasses my foreleg and pulls it away from my face before the bandaged light blue unicorn ghoul calmly removes the I.V. attached to it. “Well we can’t have the hero of the hour die of embarrassment now can we?,” Rocky Shores asks. “Not after hearing about how you two saved the day.”

“Yep!” Rose says while beaming with pride. Her foreleg wraps around my shoulder and pulls me closer to her, causing my face to burn hotter than before. “We went in, kicked butt, got your tapes, and took care of your hellhound problem with style!” She flicks her mane back for emphasis. “It was a piece of cake for somepony as awesome as us!”

“I’ll admit, your story was a bit much to take in. Especially with your reputation for over exaggeration in these parts,” Bright eyes says as she leans over a lab table next to my bed. “But meeting that traumatized hellhound earlier and watching her frantically beg for sanctuary did help to make it go down easier."

“Hellhound?” I glance over at Bright Eyes. “You mean Roxie? She’s here?”

“Roxie was here,” Bright Eyes says with a nod. “Frantically asking a pony doll in her possession to explain to us that she was very sorry and to call off the ‘Blood Reaper’ we had apparently sent to punish her and her pack for what they did to us.”

“Ah,” I mutter softly before looking towards the ground.

“I’m still surprised you talked to her at all,” Rose says. “Ya know, since they’re bloodthirsty monsters and all of that.”

Bloodthirsty monsters. The words make me flinch as they conjure up the last few moments of my nightmare. Not that anypony seems to notice as Rocky pulls out a medkit. “The Goddess Luna asks that we forgive all who sincerely ask for it just as she was forgiven long ago,” Rocky says as he starts tending to the wound left behind by the I.V.. “But it was hard to convince her of that, but we did get her to go into detail on what happened to her and her pack.”

Rose thankfully lets go as she beams proudly at Rocky. “She probably talked about how a sly and beautiful huntress like myself kept eluding her time and time again until she and her handsome and talented partner bested Lupa and sent her running?”

Rocky stares at Rose unamusingly. “Along with some interesting details about the creative uses of explosives and museum pieces that nearly took down half of the R&D Complex.”

“Well that was mostly Lupa’s fault,” Rose says with a nervous smile while innocently scratching her neck. “Any damage we did was completely unintentional. Honest!”

“Still, I, for one, am impressed with what you did to that old Sentinel in the museum,” Bright Eyes says before patting my shoulder. “That thing was supposed to be completely gutted but you managed to get it working again. You even rigged a StealthBuck to it. I’d be terrified if one of those things appeared out of nowhere with guns pointed at me.”

“It wasn’t completely gutted.” I say before glancing towards the floor. The image of Lupa’s blood circling around me as I stood before Winona comes to mind as I add “And that wasn’t what terrified them in the end.”

“No, I agree that didn’t scare them. But I think I have an idea on who did,” Rocky says and I avoid his gaze as he looks up at me. “The moment Roxie heard that Rose had carried you here, she panicked and made a run for it. Thankfully she didn’t do too much damage on the way out.”

Then Rocky smiles at me. “I don’t know what you did to make her afraid of you, but I get the feeling that she won’t be causing trouble for anypony because of it. You did good, Intrepid. Thank you.”

No. I don’t deserve this praise. The dark pony is right about me. After what I just did…

“Hey, I helped out too!” Rose sticks her tongue out at Rocky before proceeding to ruffle my mane. “But yeah, Intrepid is definitely the hero here.”

I shake my head and push myself away from Rose. “No, no I’m not. I haven’t done anything that warrants me being called a hero!”

“Come on, don’t be modest,” Rose says. “Sure, it was a little dicey near the end there.”

“A little dicey?” I say while staring at her in disbelief. “Did you not see what I did to those hellhounds?! Did you not tell them what actually happened there?!”

“I didn’t think it was that important to tell them,” She says with a serious look on her face.

“Not important? Really?!” I nearly shout back, trying my hardest to keep my voice calm. “Rose, I ripped their blood out! I tore them apart with it! Monsters do that, not heroes! Hay, good ponies don’t even do that!”

“But it was obvious you didn’t like doing any of that stuff to them!” She says, her voice carrying an edge to it as it grows louder.

It takes all of my self-control not to laugh at that. “I didn’t like it?! I clearly gave in to bloodlust and murdered everypony I could get my hooves on! Just like I did to Zigs and Flare and-”

“Intrepid, stop!” She shouts. “This wasn’t like last time! I was there, remember? Lupa forced your hoof! If you hadn’t done what you did, Lupa would have killed me!”

“Instead I nearly killed you!” I snap back. “Or did you forget about all of the blades I had hovering over you?! Dear Luna, why did you try to snap me out of it?! Didn’t I tell you not to do that?! Why didn’t you just let me go after Roxie and get away while I was distracted with her?!”

She shakes her head. “Because that wasn’t you! That was that stupid magic messing with your head! I had to snap you out of it before-”

“YOU SHOULD HAVE BLOWN MY HEAD OFF!”

Rose slaps my cheek hard. Her body quivering in anger as tears run down her cheeks. A great deal of pain and frustration shows from behind her eyes as she glares at me.

“Don’t. Say. That.” Rose says, her voice threatening to break as she speaks. “Don’t You Ever Say That To Me Again.”

Shock keeps my tongue at bay and I simply stare as she rips off her scarf, revealing a hideous scar running across her neck. “See This?! This is what monsters do!” She says while pointing at her scar. “They hurt and kill others for their own sick amusement!”

She then looks straight into my eyes. “But you’re not like that! You’re nothing like that! You’re just this stupidly kind and loyal pony who’s stuck with some power you never wanted in the first place! Don’t you dare tell me that I should have killed you! If I did that, I… I… GAH!”

In a fit of frustration, Rose throws her scarf at my face and quickly marches out of the room before slamming the door shut behind her. An awkward silence settles in the room as I pull her scarf off of my face and stare at it; the image of that horrible scar still fresh in my mind as I remember how she got it. How raiders came in and sadistically took everything away from her.

And I, possibly the closest thing she has to a friend, had the audacity to get mad at her for not killing me when she had the chance.

I let out a sigh and lie back down on the bed while hugging the scarf. “I really am an idiot, aren’t I?”

“You are,” Rocky says bluntly, earning him a glare from Bright Eyes before I press a pillow against my face and groan loudly.

Another awkward moment passes before Bright Eyes speaks up. “It might not be my place to say this, but I do not think you are the monster you believe yourself to be.”

Moving the pillow to the side, I take a deep breath and look over at Bright Eyes. “You didn’t see what happened. If you had, you wouldn’t be saying that.”

“Maybe,” Bright Eyes says, leaning forward on the table before motioning towards the door. “But Rose was. You should have seen the look on her face when she dragged your unconscious body here. Or how worried she sounded when she explained how you nearly bled to death trying to save her life. Or how terrified she was when we explained that we might not have enough blood to replace what you lost. She could barely stand herself and yet she refused to leave your side until she was sure that you would be ok.”

Every word stabs itself into my heart and makes me feel progressively ashamed of myself. Before I can bury my head back into my pillow again, Rocky asks “Intrepid, do monsters inspire loyalty?”

I think for a moment then shake my head.

“You were unconscious for almost two days,” He says. “And Rose stayed in that spot almost the entire time. When I finally asked why she was doing this, she said it was the same reason why she couldn’t bring herself to just leave you behind and go for help: Apparently you were the only pony in her life that wouldn’t abandon her and she wasn’t going to do that to you. Especially not with a hellhound still wandering around the place.”

He then looks up at Bright Eyes and smiles. “Like Bright Eyes has my back, Rose seems to think you have her back and has decided to have yours. I don’t think a monster could inspire as much from her.”

My eyes glances between Bright Eyes and Rocky Shores before looking back at the scarf I’m holding. “She shouldn’t trust me that much, though.” I say weakly. “I screwed up so many times and I nearly got her killed because of them. And after what I just did to her? I’m sorry, but I shouldn’t be forgiven this easily for something like this.”

“And that’s your problem right there,” Bright Eyes says kindly. “I believe Goddess Luna had the same thoughts concerning her rebellion against her sister, Celestia. There were times when she felt like she could never fully forgive herself for that. And her actions were, to some extent, her way of trying to make up for that and every mistake she made since then.”

Rocky then quietly adds “No matter how many times it was made apparent that that wasn’t needed.”

“So if Rose thinks that you’re good, then we think so too,” Bright Eyes says before tapping my forehead with her fist. “So don’t fall into the same trap our Goddess did while she was mortal. Forgive yourself of your past mistakes and move on to higher ground.”

“There’s a difference between a Goddess and somepony like me,” I immediately point out. “After all, Luna never went back to being Nightmare Moon while I’ve easily turned into this… ‘Blood Reaper’ twice now. I honestly don’t know if I’ll be able to keep it from happening a third or fourth time,” I let out a frustrated groan and press my hoof against my forehead. “Why she would even want to be around me after what I almost did to her...”

I jump off the bed and toss Rose’s red scarf around my neck. “Regardless, I have to make it up to her somehow. I wait until Rose cools off before I beg for her forgiveness. Maybe have a chat with Floria while I wait, there is a question I need to ask her anyway.”

Just as I begin to walk towards the door, I turn around and rub the back of my neck. “So, about that potion I stole from your office, and the display case I destroyed, and-”

Bright Eyes chuckles as she shakes her head while Rocky says “Considering the situation, I think I can forgive you for destroying some worthless trinkets I was planning on leaving behind anyway. I’m just glad that the experimental “restorative healing” potion found some use. Though, I’m actually surprised it still had some potency after all these years.”

“And you do have the data you need, right?” I continue. “Did we manage to at least get that much done?”

He nods. “Don’t worry, we got everything we needed thanks to you two. We’ll be able to launch in the next couple of days and you’re welcome to stay until we finally take off for the moon.”

“Finally, some good news,” I say as relief washes over me. “I assume you have a plan for the ferals and Salt Cube already worked out, eh?”

The two ghouls exchange uncomfortable glances before Rocky says “If it isn’t too much to ask, we were hoping that you might be able to escort Salt Cube to the town of Green Bean and maybe help him start a new life there?”

A nagging feeling tugs at the corner of my mind as I nod my head. “That’s within my ability to accomplish. But what about the ferals?”

Bright Eyes scratches the back of her head while letting out a sigh. “After some discussion… we’ve decided to keep them locked up in their cages and leave them behind.”

Her answer really shouldn’t mean much to me. After all, they’re a bunch of feral ghouls who had lost their minds a long time ago. In fact, Bright Eyes said as much during her argument with Salt Cube before I left.

Yet, after going through the tour, seeing the group picture of everypony who spent their lives working towards this one goal, I find myself saying “Is that seriously how you’re going to treat your colleagues? Your friends? Your family? I’ve been through the testing grounds, listened to some of the tapes, and even took the tour and saw a glimpse of your dream! I’ve seen the results of all of the hard work and sweat they put into this! And after everything they sacrificed to get you here, they-”

“Are not themselves anymore,” Rocky Shores says firmly. “Do you know how hard it is to look at them and not see the pony that they used to be? And you want us to take them so we can keep being reminded of that fact every single day?”

“So it’s better to just leave them behind then? Rotting away in filthy cages until they escape again and start attacking wandering ponies like me?” I ask while leveling my gaze at Rocky. “Unless you plan on taking them with you, to the one place where they can’t possibly hurt anypony any more, then put a bullet in their heads and give them the decency of a proper burial before you leave. They’ve earned that much from you.”

Rocky visibly bites his tongue before looking towards the ground. It must be hard to be told that you have to put down a pony that looks like somepony you knew once. Hay, I doubt I’d be able to pull the trigger if Silver Bolt came back as a feral ghoul. And if they pick that option, I can’t imagine how they would be able to explain that to Salt Cube, given his unique outlook on their condition.

But that doesn’t change the fact that this needs to be resolved in a way that won’t cause more deaths down the line.

I look over at Bright Eyes. “So here’s my deal: I’ll help Salt Cube out once you leave. But only if you either kill all of the ferals or take them to the moon with you. Those are my terms. And I’m not changing my mind on this.”

Bright Eyes stares at me, searching behind my eyes with those glowing orbs of hers, before she nods her head. “We’ll let you know what we have decided before we leave.”

Returning her nod with one of my own, I once again begin to leave the room. Then I stop at the door, nervously clear my throat, and look over my shoulder.

“Umm, before I leave, could either of you tell me how to get to Floria’s room from here?”

It feels like an eternity since I last stood in front of this door. So many things have happened in such a short amount of time, it’s hard to imagine that I would once again find myself back at this room again; Seeking information about the one thing I had been so desperate to ignore days earlier.

If nothing else, this means that I’ve changed a lot since then. Whether or not it’s for the better remains to be seen.

“Hello? Floria?” I ask as I move to knock on the door. The moment my hoof hit the wood, I nearly jump out of my skin and teleport a foot away from the door as an assortment of loud sounds comes from the other side. From the sounds of it, a bookcase or two full of random objects was knocked over and maybe one pony was sent crashing to the ground along with them.

And today started off so wonderfully too.

“S-Sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you!” I say loudly, taking a step back. “I’ll just come back later and-”

“Stay right there, Intrepid!” Floria immediately shouts back.

Clearly hearing movement from behind the door, I nervously walk back to the door and pull out my book. I barely manage to get to the third page before the door opens up again and a surprisingly calm zebra ghoul ushers me into an equally surprisingly clean room.

“I’m sorry to intrude upon you right now,” I say while scanning the room. No toppled over bookcase, no broken trinkets scattered about, just a red scarf similar to the one around my neck on the floor next to the wardrobe. “I just wanted to talk to you and, if you don’t mind me asking, what was all of that sound from earlier about?”

“It was nothing,” Floria says as she picks the scarf off the floor. At the sound of the wardrobe slightly opening, Floria quickly slams it shut before adding “Just this old thing finally falling apart on me.”

“If that door is giving you issues, I have a spell that could fix that.” I offer.

“You don’t need to do that for me, I’ll be leaving it behind soon enough,” She says while tying the wardrobe shut with the scarf. She then glances back before adding “I see we have the same taste in scarves.”

I glance down at the scarf around my neck. “This is actually Rose’s scarf. She, umm, threw it at me after I said some truly horrible things to her.”

“That would explain her behavior earlier,” Floria muses while she pulls up a chair. “Kept going on about how stupid you were among other things.”

“Ah,” I say quietly as I rub the back of my neck. “Well, I am a rather stupid pony for angering a mare like that.”

She smiles. “My husband would have called it ‘bravery without thinking’.”

That earns a small chuckle from me. “No, what I did was crass and stupid and a whole host of other things I don’t feel like saying right now,” I say before glancing at the wardrobe again. “Umm, Rose isn’t hiding somewhere around here, is she?”

“Don’t worry, you are safe here,” She says before motioning for me to sit down. That is not really an answer, but I get the feeling that I’m not getting anything better than that. So, I sit in the chair next to me. As I do so, she pulls up another chair right across from me and sits down herself. “So what can this old mare help you with?”

A few seconds pass as the words struggle to come to mind. How do I approach something like this? What do I say without making Floria panic? Then I notice her glass eye. She did make that one comment to Rocky in that one holotape about being able to see the souls of ponies. Was Floria being honest when she said it back then?

Only one way to find out.

I take a deep breath. “Back when I first got here, you kept staring at me as if I had something in my mane. Then you eventually asked me what I knew about the spirits and if I honestly hadn’t found anything in that vampire pony lair I mentioned to you. And I lied about that. There was a broken memory orb and it did something to my head that I haven’t been able to understand or control.”

Floria looks over at the open book on her desk as I add “Please, I want to know, or rather need to know, what you saw back then. I need to know exactly what is wrong with me so I can finally get rid of it!”

Silence. I bite my tongue to keep myself from pleading any further as Floria continues to look thoughtfully at her book.

After some time, Floria looks back at me and presses a hoof on my forehead. “Right there,” she says before retracting her hoof. “I wasn’t sure before but a part of your soul has been blackened, almost like something burned it there. It’s similar to the kind of mark that vengeful spirits leave behind when they curse those that have angered them.”

“A scorch mark on my soul, eh?” I say, unsure of how to feel about the revelation. “That might explain that wrongness I’ve been feeling lately. But that doesn’t explain…”

I swallow hard before looking at Floria. “The orb gave me Blood Magic. Or rather, it forced the knowledge into my head. And when I… lose it, basically, a kind of bloodlust takes over my mind. During that time, I feel energy leaking out of open wounds. Especially… especially when they are dying. And, in that state, I need it. Otherwise, I feel… I don’t know, like there’s something wrong with me if I don’t get it. That need overrides everything else, to the point where I don’t recognise anypony as anything but another source for this energy.”

Floria stays surprisingly calm when I finish. Instead of shock or horror, she calmly thinks about what I said before saying “From what you are describing here, it sounds like you’ve been turned into a life drinker.”

I blink. “A-A life drinker?”

“Mahzun talked about them once,” Floria explains. “Zebras that attempted to avoid death and lengthen their lives by making a deal with the stars for that power. Power gained from drinking the souls of their victims. I thought it was just another story to explain away his next preparation kit but-”

“T-That can’t be right,” I slowly sink into my chair and press a hoof up against my forehead. “I-I was just looking for vampire ponies. Blood drinking, ritualistic vampire ponies! I should be craving blood right now! Not ripping out the souls of others! Why in Luna’s good name would vampire ponies even have a cursed memory orb like this in the first place?!”

“Intrepid, calm down,” She says with an extended hoof. She waits as I take in a few deep breaths before asking “Do you remember what was contained in that orb?”

“Just… just a lot of darkness, sorrow, pain, and hate,” I say while shaking my head. “Nothing that would explain how it turned me into this life drinking monster. Or why I instinctively know this magic. Or why it didn’t teach me how to even drink souls.”

Then I glance up at her before adding “Please tell me you know of a way to get rid of this.”

As she quietly ponders, I feel a bit of hope rising inside of me. That bit of hope dies when she shakes her head. “I’m sorry Intrepid, but I’m just a rocket scientist. This is beyond my understanding to fix.”

“But what about your grandmother’s book?” I ask before pointing to the book on the desk. “Doesn’t it have anything that can help here?”

“It doesn’t have anything on curses or life drinkers,” She says. “The only reason I know this much is because of what Mahzun said decades ago and that won’t help here,” She then places a hoof on my shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“Then I’ll speak with Mahzun,” I move to get up but hesitate when Floria frowns. “He is still around, isn’t he?”

“No, he left decades ago,” She glances over at a small picture of her standing next to a messy-maned zebra wearing a suit. The same one she was hugging in the large group picture back at the museum. “Mahzun didn’t share our dream of traveling to the moon, even if he did help us as best he could. And once the world finally ended, he decided it was time to finally live and accomplish those things he had been putting off due to fear."

She then shakes her head. "I don’t know where he could possibly be now or if he is still alive. And even if you found him, I doubt he would know more about your curse than what he has told me over the years."

So this is it then. Floria can’t help me and Mahzun is long gone, assuming he could even help me in the first place. Maybe it was silly to hope that they would know how to help me. After all, it took me years to find the vampire pony lair using scraps and that one map. It’s just… I slowly nod my head. “That’s ok,” I say with a weak smile on my face. “I had a feeling this was a long shot anyway, but I had to try. Guess there is little I can do now to keep this power from consuming my soul.”

“I never said that it would consume your soul,” Floria says firmly. “I simply said that it was there and what I think it was. I also remember telling you that you were stronger than you give yourself credit for. You did break free of its influence when it took over, did you not?”

“Not without some help,” I say. “If Rose hadn’t called me by that silly nickname she gave me, I don’t know if I ever would have gotten out of it.”

“What about that name helped you overcome it?” She asks.

“The fact that she was the only one to call me by it,” I answer quietly before clearing my throat and talking more normally. “That was enough to help me remember that she was bleeding somewhere. Then the fear of losing her motivated me to finally push the influence out of my head.”

She smiles softly. “A bit grim, perhaps. But if it helps you keep control, then I suggest remembering that the next time you use that power. Just be mindful that it is there,” She then taps my forehead. “It hasn’t gotten worse since the last time I saw it. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t still dangerous.”

“Really?” I ask, rubbing my forehead. “I figured it would have gotten worse after everything that happened.”

“As I said, the soul drinkers gain their power from drinking souls,” She says. “Since you can’t drink souls, the curse can’t corrupt you any more than it has,” She pauses for a moment, looking slightly hesitant before smiling again. “It may even wane and disappear if you starve it long enough.”

That isn’t the most reassuring answer ever. After all, I instinctively learned how to forge blades and casts using blood. There is nothing to say that I won’t eventually learn how to drink souls in the same way. Although, my instinctive learning seems to only kick in at times when I need them. And that hasn’t happened yet with soul drinking despite the opportunities for that to happen. So maybe there is hope for me after all.

Hope. It is strange to legitimately feel hope again, after having abandoned it for so long. Of course, it would be disingenuous to say that this is the first time I’ve felt it since coming here. Rose has put a lot of effort into rekindling that for me. Telling me that I’m like my father, the one pony I had given up ever being like. Believing in me when I didn’t. Staying by my side when it would have been better to have abandoned me.

And I repaid her for all of this by uttering a horrible phrase to her while in a fit of self-loathing. Rose went through a lot to save me, even though I must have terrified her when I gave in and turned into that monster. And instead of thanking her, I carelessly hurt her instead and probably drove her away for good.

I really am a pathetic pony, aren’t I?

“That is reassuring, thank you.” I say while smiling, despite feeling rather awkward doing so. Especially after that last thought.

“You are welcome,” Floria says, smiling back. “I will say, you are the most peculiar wastelander I’ve ever met. After obtaining it, most would not seek to give up the power over life like you are.”

My smile disappears as a more serious expression takes hold. “Power that can’t be bent towards good ends isn’t worth having. With power like this that feeds off of hate and fear, that I can lose control rather easily,” I shake my head. “I don’t want it. Not after everything it cost me. And what it almost cost me.”

She nods. “I wish I had more comforting words to say to you. But this is the best I can do for you,” She then opens one of the drawers of her desk. “Now, how was the talisman I gave you?”

I blink. “Oh! It definitely helped a couple of times! But, umm, it broke after that. I have the pieces right-” I reach for my saddlebags before realising that it isn’t there. And none of my gear is on me right now either. Just Rose’s scarf hanging around my neck. Which makes sense, my equipment and armor must be in tatters right now (or completely destroyed like my gauss rifle). I will have to remember to pick them up and fix them after I patch things up with Rose. Not that I have any clue how to show Rose how sorry I am for what I’ve done.

“Don’t worry about it,” Floria says while pulling out random objects from her drawer. “I have an extra one somewhere that you can have. It is the least I can do after everything you’ve done for us.”

“I just did what I felt was right,” I say, watching as more and more items end up on her desk. However, seeing her set aside a small bag of different colored gemstones piques my interest. “What are those for?”

“Talisman making,” She answers before pulling out a talisman with a jade gemstone embedded into it. “Ah, I knew it was in here!” She then hoofs it over to me. “Now, is there anything else that you need?”

Taking the talisman from her, I consider it for a bit then glance over at the bag of gemstones. “Actually, if you don’t mind, there is one more thing I would like to ask for.”

Nothing is coming to mind.

It’s been hours since my visit with Floria. Hours devoted towards putting together some kind of apology that would fix everything between Rose and I. Maybe I should have spent more time on this. But Floria did point out how unwise it would be to make a mare wait too long for an apology. Especially after hurting her as badly as I did.

So here I am, standing in front of the room where Rose is supposedly staying in. And yet words continue to elude me.

It doesn’t help that it is oddly quiet around here. Given the ghouls’ lack of need for sleep, there should be some noise considering the amount of work that will be needed to get everything ready. It also doesn’t help that there isn’t any noise on the other side of the oak door. Though maybe this silence is actually a blessing; I don’t think I would have the nerve to stand here if I could hear her crying. Assuming she is even in here.

With Rose’s scarf folded and hovering next to me, I raise a hoof to the door before hesitating.

Dear Luna, what am I going to say to her? What can be said to her to make this right? Sorry, a nightmare terrified me enough to thoughtlessly ask for death without considering your feelings on the matter? Just because I’d rather die than risk turning into a mindless killing machine again? Fearing that I would never be able to snap out of it again?

I let out a sigh, stare at the scarf for a moment, then knock on the door.

No answer.

“Rose?” I ask before knocking again. “It’s… it’s me, Treppy. I brought your scarf back. Umm, can we talk, please?”

More silence. I take a deep breath. “You don’t have to come to the door or anything. Just hear me out, ok?”

My mind continues to draw blanks as I stand there, rubbing my right foreleg while the awkwardness of the situation gnaws at me.

Why am I bothering with this? Rose is probably going to ignore me anyway. I’m just wasting my time here.

No, I didn’t come this far to give up now. “I’m sorry,” I begin, not really sure what to say next. “I’m just… I’m not really sure why… no, I know why I said those horrible things to you. I was scared. Scared of my past repeating itself here. And a little upset with myself that I had somehow let everything happen again. So much so that I didn’t want to… keep living after that.”

The words are starting to come more naturally to me now as I continue. “I know better now. It’s just that, well, everything was going so well with Trian Mill too. I remember this little silver colt, Storm Bolt, that honestly thought I was the coolest pony ever. Hearing about my misadventures from Flare and Zigs only made him idolise me further. Storm Bolt saw something in me that I was losing sight of. So much so that I felt compelled to promise him that I would make everypony there safe.”

I glance down at my PipBuck. “And we both know how that story turned out.”

Sitting down next to the door, I press my back against the wall. “Then I came here and got roped into all of this madness. After what happened with Trian Mill, I didn’t want anything to do with the rocket or trying to get any data or anything like that. Then I found this amazing mare who saw something in me that I had completely lost sight of at that point. Better yet, that mare eventually helped me see that part of me too. There was a lot of arguing and stumbling around the place, to be sure. But near the end, things were finally going well for me.”

I glance up at the ceiling and shut my eyes. “And the story almost repeated itself then. Seeing your wounded body then, laid out in much the same way Storm Bolt’s broken body was so long ago, and knowing that I was so close to causing your death…”

Shaking my head, I look back at the door. “But it didn’t repeat, did it? You’re still here and everything worked out in the end. I should have focused on that instead of panicking over what could have happened.”

There’s a moment’s hesitation before I finally set Rose’s scarf in front of the door. “So I’m going to leave the past behind me now. No more dwelling on Trian Mill and what I should have done. No more worrying about repeating the past and not doing anything about it.”

Regardless of how silly I must seem to an onlooker, I stand back up, brush myself off, and give the door the most confident smile I can muster. “I’m Intrepid Scholar, Twilight Society member and one-time partner of the amazing Winter Rose, greatest bounty hunter in all of Equestria! And I’m going to change this miserable wasteland for the better! Regardless of how many times I might screw up along the way!”

Right. No matter how many times it will take, I will keep picking myself off the ground and keep trying until I finally get there. It really is the only way to make sure her efforts aren’t wasted on a pony like me.

“I’m sorry for saying what I said,” I say as my smile falters. “I know better now. And thank you for helping me see the kind of pony I can be and giving me hope that I can one day be that pony,” I then turn around and start walking away from the door. “Goodbye, Rose. I’ll never forget what you did for me. Or the advice that you gave me back when I didn’t believe in myself.”

“Wait.”

I stop in my tracks as I hear Rose’s voice. Looking behind me, I watch as the door opens up a crack and Rose quietly stares through it at the scarf on the ground. Seeing her hoof trying to cover the horrible scar running across her neck rekindles my anger towards the raiders that did that to her. And also reminds me that I almost did far worse to her myself.

She pushes the door open even further and reaches out towards her scarf. There is a brief moment of hesitation before she drags it back toward her and picks it up. In the middle of unfurling the scarf in her hooves, she stops and picks out the mane ornament hidden within its folds: A simple pin made out of wires with a few thin white gemstones arranged in the shape of a flower at the end.

For a few minutes, she stares at it. Then I finally gather the courage to say “It’s a white rose. Or, at least, it’s supposed to be. It was hard getting the gemstones to look just right. But I figured it would go nicely with that white dress once you got it.”

The dim light of the hallway reflects off of the tears in her eyes as Rose stares straight into mine. She opens her mouth but then closes it and looks down as she carefully folds the ornament into the scarf again. Placing the scarf behind her, she takes a deep breath. “Treppy, I… thank you. Good night, Intrepid.”

“Good night, Rose.” I answer back.

She nods her head before quietly closing the door.

Minutes pass as I stare at the door. I guess it was pretty foalish of me to expect that some kind words and a small trinket would make Rose her usual self again. Still, this is the best outcome I could have reasonably hoped for, right? I should be relieved that this worked out as well as it did.

So then, why do I feel dejected instead?

With no answers coming to mind, I slowly make my way back to my room.

It still doesn’t feel like four days has passed.

With the data Rose and I retrieved, the ghouls have been utterly busy finishing up their preparations for launch. And with the hellhounds gone, some have been taking trips into the R&D complex, gathering what remains of their belongings before they leave Equestria for good. For my part, I spent my time dragging Salt Cube to the control center. Just so he could answer my questions as I pour over the schematics and the launch procedures binder from the complex. At least, until he yelled that he had enough. He gave me a very curt explanation about only needing to know when to push the red button. Afterwards, he kicked me out and locked the door.

Honestly, all I wanted to do was open up the console to see if the schematics were actually correct, not rip it apart like some kind of uncouth barbarian. Although, I probably could have found a less annoying way of conducting myself around him.

Being locked out gave me very little to do. Outside of fixing my gear up and working on my PipBuck in the comfort of my room, that is. Though, to be honest, this is more of an excuse to avoid bumping into Rose again than anything. She did decide to stick around and clear out the leftover traps in the R&D complex. While it is good to hear that she is doing much better, it wouldn’t be a good idea to run into her again. With what happened between us and how the apology ended that night (especially after saying goodbye to her), it would feel more awkward and embarrassed to keep seeing her moving around the place..

Thus, on the eve of the launch and with nothing better to do, I find myself going through my copy of the data on my PipBuck. Waiting for somepony to drop by and let me know that I’m allowed to enter the control center again. And progress towards understanding all of this data has been slow. Really slow, actually.

So much so that I practically jump out of my chair at the sound of somepony knocking on the door. “One minute!” I yell as I throw my gear on and hurry towards the door.

About time they came for me! I was beginning to wonder if they had forgotten that I was still here! Though, it would be the first time that happened. But whatever! It’s finally time to get this show started and-

Opening the door, I am taken aback to see Rose sitting on the other side. My heart races as I notice the white rose ornament in her mane while she looks at me with a nervous smile on her face. “Intrepid.”

“Rose,” I say, trying my hardest to hide my surprise at seeing her here.

For the next few moments, we stand around awkwardly as my mind races to try and figure out what to say. And coming up with nothing. Eventually, Rose clear her throat. “So Treppy, I have a deal I want to run by you.”

“Oh?” I ask.

“See, normally I only work with somepony for one job and then we part ways,” She says while straightening her scarf, much like a business pony would with a tie. “But having worked with you, I got to thinking: we work well together. Like, really well. And two awesome ponies are always better than one awesome pony.”

There’s a pause as she starts to fidget with the scarf more. “So I’m wondering if, after we’re done seeing the ghouls off, you would, you know, like to keep being my partner?”

I give her a long hard look as the little pony in my head immediately starts shaking his head. ‘This is a horrible idea. As long as that curse hangs over your head, you’re a threat to everypony around you. You don’t know when you’re going to snap and completely lose control again. And when that happens again, will you be able to keep yourself from killing Rose a second time?

‘It would be better for everypony if you just traveled alone.’

Right. Because there’s no telling what will happen if I decide to travel with Rose or anypony else… But then, I’ve tried that already, haven’t I? Drifting from one place to another, avoiding as much contact with other ponies as possible, and look at how well that turned out in preventing another bloodbath.

Looking into Rose’s eyes as she looks into mine, seeing the hints of loneliness behind them. It makes me realise just how lonely I’ve been since I stopped traveling with anypony. And… I don’t want to go back to being alone again. Not really.

I sit down and rub the back of my neck. “So, even though I’ve said some truly horrible things to you, you actually want me to be your partner, eh? It’s as simple as that?”

“Yeah, it’s as simple as that,” Rose answers before tapping her hairpin. “You went out of your way to show that you were sorry. So I’m willing to forgive you as long as you promise never to say that again.”

“You have my word,” I place a hoof over my heart and then raise an eyebrow. “But are you really sure you don’t mind teaming up with a pony who nearly killed you with blood magic?”

She waves her hoof dismissively. “You know how many times my partners have nearly killed me? It’s kind of a rite of passage at this point. Plus, that was the curse doing all of that, not you,” When I give her a more inquisitive stare, she scratches her scarf. “I was venting at Floria and may have, sort of, kind of, panicked when I heard your voice. Then she shoved me into the wardrobe before letting you in.”

I let out a sigh. “I figured as much.”

“Hey,” She lightly nudges my shoulder. “We’ll find out a way to cure you in a week, tops! Trust me!”

That is enough to bring a smile to my face. “So we’ll be equal partners in all of this?”

A large grin forms on her face. “Of course! We’re a team here, Treppy!” She then wraps a foreleg around my neck and pulls me in while extending the other one out. “I can see it now! Intrepid Scholar and Winter Rose! Greatest Bounty Hunters Ever! We either get famous together or not at all!”

Slipping out of her grasp, I give her a faux skeptical look. “So I assume we'll both get the same pay then?”

Rose gives me an irritated look. “What did I just say about us being a team?”

“Just wanted to make sure,” I say before extending my hoof out to her. “Well Rose, you got me. I’m in.”

Instead of taking my hoof, Rose opts to rush in and hug me instead. Deciding to just let her have her way, I awkwardly pat her back while trying to keep my cool. After a second or two, Rose lets go and ruffles my mane with possibly the biggest smile I’ve seen on her face yet. “And that, my dear Treppy, is how you ask a pony out.”

“Very funny, Rose,” I say while playfully swatting her hoof away. “But we were definitely talking about being business partners, not romantic ones.”

That immediately comes into question when she simply gives me a very seductive wink before gingerly walking away. “Hmm, I think we’ll need to wear something that matches so everypony knows we’re together now.”

“As Business Partners!” I shout at her as she turns around the corner and disappears from sight. Letting out a very long drawn out sigh, I press my hoof against my forehead before muttering the words “Honestly, why do you have to do this to me?”

Yet, despite knowing that Rose will use this misunderstanding to make my life even more awkward, I can’t help but smile. It’s nice to finally have somepony I can trust at my side. Even if that same pony is doing everything she can to drive me into an early grave.

“Thank you for being on time,” Salt Cube says flatly as he stands between me and the control center. “Do you promise to stop trying to take everything apart?”

Fighting the urge to roll my eyes, I place a hoof over my heart. Or rather, where the heart would normally be located in a typical pony. “You have my word that I will not take apart every console in that room to satisfy my thirst for knowledge.”

Salt Cube gives me a very skeptical look before finally stepping aside and escorting me to the main controls. Through the large observation windows, the L33-742A Eclipse Missile turned rocket gleams in the morning sun as ghouls run around on the launch pad below. Crates of supplies and equipment are carried up the loading ramp in preparation for the journey to the moon.

“So where’s your marefriend?” Salt Cube asks as he settles down in one of the chairs near the row of control consoles in front of the windows. “I figured she would have come with you for this.”

“Rose is not my marefriend,” I point out while taking a seat myself. “We’re just partners in crime. Nothing more.”

Salt Cube considers me for a second before beginning to work on the console. “Sorry for assuming then. I figured, with the way you defended Rose that one time, the way she acted after you woke up a few days ago, and how she was practically skipping down the halls earlier today, that something happened between the two of you.”

“Nothing happened between us, I swear,” I say before rubbing the back of my neck. “Rose saved my life a few times so of course I was going to defend her. And she was justified in being angry a few days back because I did say something horribly stupid to her. But I apologized for that and, today, we finally put all of that behind us. That’s it.”

For a brief moment, Salt Cube looks away from the monitor to give me another skeptical look, prompting me to add, “Look, there is seriously nothing going on between us, honest!”

“Oh, there you are Intrepid!” Rose says, as if on cue, and Salt Cube and I both look to see her head poking through the doorway. “Having fun yet?”

“Not yet,” I answer back. “Just barely got here myself.”

She nods and walks in with an extra red scarf draped around her neck. Before I can ask about it, Rose quickly moves to my side, tying said scarf around my neck. “I’m so glad Floria decided to let me keep this!” She says before wrapping her foreleg around me and pulls me in. “Don’t you think we look good with matching scarves, Salty?”

Dear Luna, why are you doing this to me?

Salt Cube looks between Rose and I before his eyes drift up to Rose’s mane. “You like it?” She asks before brushing a part of her mane back to show off her mane ornament. “Intrepid gave it to me. Don’t you think it goes well with my stunning good looks?”

And my embarrassment shoots through the roof as Salt Cube gives me a deadpan stare. “Not your marefriend, huh?”

“Marefriend?” Rose asks in genuine surprise before a sly smile forms on her face. “Why Intrepid, have you been telling ponies we’re an item now?"

“No I haven’t!” I say before pushing her off of me. “Although with the way you’ve been acting, I wouldn’t be surprised if everypony now assumes we were making out in your room. And no!” My attention immediately snaps to Salt Cube. “We did not kiss at all!”

From the corner of my eye, I see Rose scratching her scarf while looking away from me. “Well, that’s technically not true.”

Slowly, I turn my attention back to Rose, who risks a glance back at me before finally turning to face me. “Look, you were barely conscious and bleeding to death!” She quickly explains. “I had to get some of the potion down your throat somehow!”

My mind is having a hard time trying to figure out how to respond to this revelation. First, there’s gratitude that I was conscious enough to swallow, though obviously not coherent enough to remember any of this. Rose would no doubt have lost it if her attempt to save me ended up drowning me instead.

Then there’s the matter of Rose actually kissing me! All of her germs and saliva that I must have swallowed, the diseases that I could have contracted from it, the idea that her tongue was in my mouth, that her soft lips were pressed against mine, that her warm body was actually that close to me…

Slowly, I turn around, rest my head against the console, and bury my face into my forehooves. The room becomes so horribly uncomfortably warm right now. But, surprisingly, I am less upset over this than I really should be. Why that is is beyond my ability to comprehend at the moment.

I feel a hoof on my shoulder. “Come on! Don’t be like that!” Rose says nervously. “It’s not like it was a real kiss or anything like that! Besides, you should be happy that a beautiful mare like me was willing to do that for you!” When I don’t offer a reply, she asks “I went too far again, didn’t I?”

“It’s fine,” I answer back, trying desperately to not let my obvious discomfort seep into my voice. “I just need a moment.”

After a brief yet extremely awkward moment of silence, I finally work up the nerve to get off my chair. “I almost forgot, I need to talk to Bright Eyes and Rocky Shores about something important, so if you will excuse me.”

“Oh yeah! I ran into Bright Eyes on my way over here!” Rose immediately says, looking relieved for the change in subject. “She said you don’t need to worry about finding her and that she’ll give you your answer on the launch pad. Or something like that.”

Thank you for completely destroying my only excuse for escaping this awkward situation, Bright Eyes. I really appreciate it.

Before I can ask for more clarification, Salt Cube immediately stands up and shouts “What is Hay Bale doing down there?”

Rose and I both look back through the observation window to see a large group of other ghouls being herded up the loading ramp; A few of which I recognise from the group of feral ghouls that tried to eat me my first day here.

“So that’s what Bright Eyes meant,” I say as a smile forms on my face. “They decided to take them after all.”

“I-I don’t understand. What are you talking about?!” Salt Cube asks while his attention is still fixed on a faded yellow ghoul in the group. “What the hay is going on here?!”

“I made a deal with Rocky Shores and Bright Eyes,” I explain while glancing over at Salt Cube. “In exchange for helping you get on your hooves in Green Bean, I managed to get them to take the feral- I mean, sick ghouls with them to the moon.”

Salt Cube looks conflicted, his gaze shifting from the loading ramp to the control console and back again. It is hard watching everypony you’ve grown close to leave you behind. Knowing that you can not go with them and that you will never see them again. But he must be happy to see that Hay Bale is not going to be left behind, right? Or am I just being hopelessly naive again?

Static blares from the speakers in the room before Bright Eyes’ echoey voice replaces it. “Children of Luna, if I may have your attention.”

Down on the launch platform, surrounded by a large mixed group of ghouls, stands Bright Eyes and Rocky Shores with a small metal box next to him. Bright Eyes looks around before smiling and passing the microphone attached to the metal box down to Rocky, who clears his throat before taking it. “Over two hundred years ago, I looked up at the moon and decided that I wanted to go there. In what Equestria would consider one of the most foalish moves ever, I gathered a group of like minded ponies and created a place specifically aimed at finding a way to get to the moon. Very few of us had any idea as to how we were going to do it and even fewer knew how to handle the price tag that we would accrue along the way.”

He looks over the group in front of him with a somber smile. “And we’ve been through our fair share of hardships, haven’t we? So many mistakes were made. So many accidents and mishaps that kept setting us back. Not to mention our deal with the Ministry of Wartime Technology. A deal that was supposed to save us from bankruptcy but instead robbed us of our dream in the long run. A deal I will never forgive myself for making.”

Bright Eyes places a claw on Rocky’s shoulder as he continues. “But then the world ended. And even though we lost a lot of good ponies and zebras, Luna saw fit to give us another chance at obtaining our goal. First,” He glances up at Bright Eyes. “By making sure this facility survived the bombing intact and by reuniting all of us here. And Second,” He then glances up at us. “By sending us help when we needed it the most.”

Rocky offers the microphone to Bright Eyes, who takes it and, along with the rest of the ghouls present, turns to look up at us. “Salt Cube, we want to let you know that we wouldn’t have gotten to this point without you. Your knowledge and fresh perspective was essential in helping us overcome many of the flaws that we, and by we, I mostly mean me, were too stubborn or blind to see. I’m sorry for all of the arguments we had and all of us here honestly wish we could take you with us.”

Salt Cube just stares at Bright Eyes as her expression becomes more serious. “But it’s time to face the truth: you are not a ghoul like us. We’ve long since lived our lives and there is nothing left for us here. However, you still have a life left to live and a world that desperately needs a pony like you if it is going to change for the better. We’ve asked Intrepid to help you get started. And it is our hope that you’ll soon forget about us and find some noble goal to aim for. Know that you will always be a part of our family and we wish you success in whatever goal you choose for yourself.”

Salt Cube slowly slumps into his chair as Bright Eyes looks over at Rose and I. “As for our two heroes, you have our sincerest thanks and our deepest gratitude. Without you, we would have, at best, been set behind by years and, at worst, slaughtered outright by the hellhounds who decided to attack us. Know that we will always remember you and that your names will be held in highest regard among us.”

Rose noticeably swells with pride over the praise while I simply smile in response. My attention is quickly dragged back to Bright Eyes when she says “And Intrepid, there is one more thing we want to say to you. About your curse.”

Every ghoul is looking at me as Bright Eyes continues. "Don’t be mad at Floria, she tried her best to keep it a secret. But we are a small community. Naturally, when a hellhound that was killing us weeks ago suddenly wants a doll to help her make peace with us? Well, we all wanted to know what you did to terrify her.”

As understandable as that might be, it still does little to keep me from trying to shrink at the metaphorical spotlight on me. Naturally, Bright Eyes can’t see this and smiles warmly. “I want you to know that, while we may not understand what you are going through, we do know what it is like to be gifted with something we never asked for nor wanted. Finding this out about you hasn’t changed our opinion of you. If anything, it makes us more grateful for aiding us despite your original reluctance towards our plight. While we are leaving for good, know that we believe in you and will be praying for you. May Luna’s moon always guide you in your darkest times as it has with all of us.”

I tear up and Rose pats my back as the crowd of ghouls cheer our names and wish us luck. After a few moments, Rocky Shores takes the microphone back and announces with pride “Everypony, board the rocket and take your seats! The day has finally arrived! Our journey to the promised land awaits! Off to the moon we go!”

“So,” I say softly while wiping the tears from my eyes. “This is what it feels like to finally do something without screwing it up. It took me long enough to finally get it right.”

“Yeah it did,” Rose says with a nod as we watch the ghouls board the rocket. “Though I get the feeling we’re forgetting something here.”

Oddly enough, I have that same feeling as well. But before I can really put much thought into it, I notice Salt Cube start to shake his head and mutter something under his breath. That has me worried. “Umm, Salt Cube? Are you ok?”

He ignores me and instead stares down at his hooves. Rose gives me a worried look and I place a hoof on his shoulder, causing him to nearly jump out of his skin. “Salt Cube, is everything fine?”

“I’m fine, I’m just…” He says before looking up at me. “They really wished that I could go with them. But they knew that I couldn’t. All this time I thought they were lying to me about not being able to take me and Hay Bale with them. That they couldn’t admit that Hay Bale was the only one that wanted me around. But I was the one that didn’t want to admit that they were right all along. I’m not really a ghoul, am I?”

I sadly shake my head. “But it’s like I said before, you are a part of their family. And no matter how badly it hurts both you and them, they had to make the choice that would ultimately make you happy in the long run. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have made sure that somepony would be here to help you out once they were gone.”

“Right. What Intrepid said,” Rose chips in while giving Salt Cube a pat on the shoulder. “Sometimes you need somepony who really cares about you to give you a swift kick in the head when you’re acting like an idiot.”

Not the most elegant way of putting it, Rose. But I appreciate the extra reinforcement all the same.

“Yes, yes, I got that part. I just thought… ” Salt Cube looks back and watches as the last ghoul enters the rocket and closes the hatch behind them. His expression turns thoughtful for a moment before he frantically works the consoles in front of him. “Dear Luna, why didn’t they tell me that they changed their mind on Hay Bale sooner?” He asks while the clamps and umbilical cords detach and the rocket prepares to blast off.

Suddenly, I hear the sound of marching echoing throughout the halls outside. Rose turns around to aim her rifle at the door while Salt Cube swears before typing in a command into a nearby terminal. Watching all of the screens display a ‘locked by administrator’ message, I turn to him and ask the obvious question: “Salt Cube, what the hay is going on?!”

My answer soon arrives as two power armored ponies kick open the door and level their rifles at Rose and I; Both wearing the emblem and colors of the Steel Rangers. I glare at Salt Cube. “You. Didn’t.”

A third Steel Ranger soon enters the control center, takes one look around, and levels their gaze at Salt Cube. “I take it you were the one that radioed in about the balefire missile?” A mare’s voice asks from within the helmet of the third ranger’s power armor.

Salt Cube sweats bullets as he nods his head in affirmation. “That was me. However, I over-exaggerated how badly things were and I don’t really need help any more!”

The ranger glances out the window before glancing back at Salt Cube. “The way I see it, things are a lot worse than what you had let on,” She says before walking straight up to me and sizes me up. “NCR. Finally found a quick way to get rid of an enemy and some nutcases willing to help you do it, didn’t you? So who were you about to nuke anyway? The Enclave? Some big shot Red Eye warlord that got too big for you to handle? Or maybe you finally had it with Tenpony Tower?”

“The moon,” I say flatly.

While the helmet does a good job of hiding facial expressions, the swift kick to the gut is enough to tell me that the mare wearing it didn’t appreciate my comment any. I quickly collapse into a coughing fit on the ground as the wind is knocked out of me.

“Hey! Leave Him Alone!” Rose shouts and points her rifle at the third ranger, causing the other two to point their weapons at her.

“Hold your fire!” The third ranger barks before looking straight are Rose. “It’s odd to see you engaging in an act of terrorism here, Winter Rose. Or maybe not, considering your willingness to throw your lot with anyone for a bag of caps.”

“I thought you knew me better than that, Diamond,” Rose growls. “And he didn’t deserve to get hit like that! We’re not threatening anypony here! We’re just helping some ghouls get to the moon! So back off already!”

“We will see about that,” Diamond says as I struggle to get back onto my hooves. “And remember who you’re addressing, mercenary. We’re not friends. And I’ll remind you that acting as such is a quick way to get on my bad side.” She then glances down at me. “Now, let me properly introduce myself. Star Paladin Diamond Shard. Green Bean Contingent.”

With a flick of her tail, Diamond motions towards the other two rangers. “Detain them for questioning and-” She glances over at one of the monitors. “Salt Cube, did you lock these?”

“No, I didn’t!” Salt Cube says quickly. “Some kind of failsafe activated just before you arrived and completely locked us out. I don’t know how to get back into it.”

Diamond stares at Salt Cube for a moment, then at me, before glancing out the observation window. “The missile looks like it could launch at any moment,” She says before turning to the two rangers in the room. “Get Scribe Silver Circuit in here to hack the console. With Salt Cube’s help, maybe we can prevent it from launching off to Celestia knows where.”

“Because only the Steel Rangers can be trusted with something like this, right?” I say while struggling to get on my hooves. “Please, quit acting like you’re being noble here. We all know you want this just so other ponies will think twice while you keep butchering innocent ponies for their stuff.”

Diamond and I glare at each other with an intensity that makes everypony around us noticeably nervous. “You have quite a mouth on you, unicorn,” Diamond says coldly. “Knights, get them out of my sight. Now.”

One of the rangers nods before motioning the other ranger over to us. I lift my hoof towards Rose but slowly lower it again as a rifle is pointed at my head. “Hooves to yourselves,” The ranger at the door orders as the other one motions with his rifle for us to walk out.

Rose gives me a brief, reassuring smile before assuming a more serious expression as she is escorted out of the control center. I briefly glare at Salt Cube, who turns away in shame, before the ranger escorts me out as well.

From frying pan to fire to the 'loving' care of the Steel Rangers. Things just keep getting better and better.

Author's Note

You have completed some quest objectives and have improved your relationship with The Children of Luna faction.

Faction Update:

The Children of Luna - Current Status: Idolized
Green Bean Steel Rangers - Current Status: Hated

Quest Objectives Completed:

Escort Winter Rose Back To Safety.
Help The Ghouls Prepare For Launch.

Quest Objective Gained:

Figure Out What The Steel Rangers Want.
Beat The Ever Living Hay Out Of Salt Cube For Involving The Steel Rangers.
Launch The Rocket To The Moon.

Current Quest Objectives:

Don’t Die.

Chapter 12 - The Other Side Of The Coin

Out of all the worst things that could possibly happen, this is, sadly, not the worst possible thing.

Sure, earning a swift kick to the gut by a Steel Ranger, having everything I own confiscated, and getting an armed escort to this office are all bad. Oh, and let’s not forget the shiny set of cuffs and an anti-magic ring around my horn (How they managed to get their hooves on something that rare, I will never know). But even with all of that, it can always get worse. Lupa could come back to life. And nothing can possibly be worse than Lupa.

I rest my head on the cold table and level a glare at the two guards. Getting roughed up and forced to wait for a ridiculously long time must be what these thugs consider hospitality. Although, what in Luna’s name do they want with me? Haven’t they already dragged the ghouls out of the rocket and lined them up by now? I guess I would have heard the gunshots if that is the case. Does this mean that the lock on the terminals is still in place? But they must know that Salt Cube issued that, right? Unless that idiot finally realised exactly what will happen once they get their hooves on the controls. Which means…

The little pony in my head groans as it dawns on me that I’m about to be interrogated for the password of a lockdown that I didn’t issue. Of all of the things to be interrogated for! And knowing that they think I’m from the NCR, this is going to be a fun experience, isn’t it? Is Rose getting the same treatment? Diamond Shard didn’t seem to have that high of an opinion of her. Meaning she might be going through something worse than what I’ve gotten so far.

I swear, Luna, if they so much as harmed one hair on her head I will-

The door slams open and a new Steel Ranger takes a seat on the other side of the table. She then removes her helmet, revealing a white mare with a short silver mane. Her purple eyes sizes me up before she calmly places her helmet on the table. “I see my knights took some liberties with my orders,” The mare (whose voice I now recognise as Diamond Shard’s) says with a cold glance at one of her guards. “Did they hurt you in any way, Intrepid?”

“Just my pride, thank you for asking,” I say curtly. “And I would prefer Mr. Scholar if that is fine with you. We’re not exactly on friendly terms, after all.”

She turns her attention back to me. “I admit, I did act rashly when we first met. You have every right to not like me right now. I want to apologise for that and hope that we can become friends, if you will let me.”

Sorry, but I’d rather hang myself than be friends with a group of murdering thugs like you.

But that will not be smart to say aloud, so instead I ask, “Do you really want to be friends with an NCR Ranger?”

“No, I don’t,” She says bluntly. “But you’re not an NCR Ranger now, are you?”

“Guilty as charged,” I lean back in my chair. “Though I am curious as to what gave it away: was it my good looks or my rather sunny disposition?”

She crosses her forelegs on the table. “As much as they like to claim otherwise, the NCR doesn’t have a lot of resources to draw upon. They’re already stretched thin trying to protect everything they’ve arrogantly claimed as theirs. They can’t afford to send out a ranger to some remote location like this.”

“Unless they knew about this silo and wanted it for themselves,” I calmly point out.

She shrugs. “Then they would have sent a lot more than just you to secure this place. Not that it matters: I already know that you’re from Tenpony Tower.”

Two for two. That would be impressive if Salt Cube didn’t tell you that already. Of course, it is not like you can use that information against me. I have nothing to hide. Nothing that you would care about anyway. I just need to draw this out and give Rose time to escape. If hellhounds can’t pin her down, I doubt you will.

Shifting my position, I place a hoof under my chin and put on an amused smile. “Surprised that a Tower pony managed to survive long enough to wander onto this place?”

“Normally I would say yes,” Diamond Shard says before leaning in close and looking me in the eyes. “But I think there’s more to you than you let on.”

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” I say, my smile fading away as I glance off to the side. There is no possible way she knows that I was part of the Twilight Society, is there? Or that I know blood magic?

“There aren’t too many ponies outside of our scribes that know how to extract data from a broken terminal,” She says casually. “And it’s unheard of to find a pony that knows how to create a functional PipBuck from scratch.”

“Functional might be stretching it a tad,” I mutter while I rub the back of my neck. At least, as much as the cuffs tethering my legs together will allow.

“All I’m trying to say is that you’re an intelligent pony, Intrepid,” She continues. “And we could use an intelligent pony like you, if you’re interested.”

“And help you slaughter more innocent ponies for some pointless trinket?” I ask. The pony in my head pony quickly curses my tongue for acting quicker than my brain. As much as it boils my blood, at least I could have entertained the idea a little bit.

Yet, strangely, she winces at that accusation before quickly regaining her composure. “I don’t know what you’ve heard about us, but I promise you that we are not thieves or murderers. Pre-War Technology can be very dangerous in the wrong hooves. And we’ll remain vigilant on our mission to make sure they stay out of those hooves.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that excuse more times than I care to swallow,” I say while glaring at her. “It’s a nice way of saying ‘we’ll take what we want because we’re superior to everypony else.’ Personally, I hate it.”

“Ironic considering who you choose to work with,” She says with a furrowed brow. “Tell me, do you know the reputation Winter Rose has? A mercenary who brags about being the best even as she builds her entire career around backstabbing her partners for personal gain?”

“So I keep hearing,” I say, feeling a little irritated at her accusation towards Rose. “But she has done more than enough to earn my trust. While all you’ve done so far is give me a few empty words of flattery and this nice ring here,” I tap the anti-magic ring around my horn.

“Really now?” Diamond asks, placing a hoof on her helmet. “You trust somepony who has outed you as an NCR imposter? Who is currently backed into a corner and knows that she isn’t getting out of this one? Not without selling somepony out?”

“Yes,” I say bluntly. It actually saves me the trouble of explaining things to them if Rose already told them everything.

Diamond frowns. “Then it is misplaced,” She says before placing a hoof on her helmet. “She is not going to break you out, if that is what you are hoping for. And I’ve known her for too long to allow her to talk her way out of this one. But you? I’m offering you a way out of this mess that she dragged you into. And much more than she could ever offer.”

“To be fair, I’m the one that convinced her to help me get the data needed to help the ghouls launch their rocket,” I say before rubbing my neck again. “It was, umm, either that or help her hunt down a pack of super hellhounds.”

Diamond Shard blinks in surprise while the two guards behind her look at each other. And suddenly panic sets in as it becomes clear that they don’t know what I am talking about. Then instincts kick in as I start waving my forelegs in front of me. “W-Well you see, the ghouls had hired Rose to get rid of a whole pack of hellhounds! B-But it had been two weeks since they last heard from her and I volunteered to find her and bring her back safely! It was the right thing to do and I didn’t have any intentions of helping them out with their rocket! But then I found out about Smarty and what the hellhounds were planning and…. Look, I found myself in a situation where simply going back wasn’t an option! And I hope you agree that I picked the lesser of the two equally insane options here! Not that it matters, since we ended up doing both anyway but, umm… y-you don’t believe me, do you?”

All three Rangers quietly stare at me for what feels like an eternity before Diamond Shard stands up. “I believe that you had no ill intent when you placed the entire launch pad on lockdown. So here is my offer: unlock the terminals, help us stop this ‘rocket’ before it can cause any harm, and we’ll give you whatever you want.”

You can start by bringing back all of the ponies whose lives you tricked me into taking back at Trian Mill.

Again, saying that out loud will not do me any good right now. So I push my hatred for them back down down with a deep breath. “Alright, say I do help you out. What’s going to happen to the ghouls once you get a hold of them?”

“What they were trying to accomplish here was dangerous. Too dangerous to simply let them go without punishment,” She answers in a matter of fact way. “They’ll be dealt with according to the magnitude of their crime.”

“Which means you plan on killing them all,” I say curtly, my anger still trying to boil back up. “For the good of the wasteland, eh?”

“That’s not what I said,” She says back, keeping her annoying professional tone.

“But that is what you mean,” I scoff at her. “Unless you were planning on just slapping them on the hoof and telling them not to do it again,” Recognizing that I am not getting anywhere with my biting sarcasm, I adopt a more serious tone. “No, I’m not going to be the Steel Rangers’ little puppet again. Those ghouls aren’t dangerous. Eccentric, sure. But they’re not dangerous and they certainly didn’t do anything wrong here.”

“I find that hard to believe when they found a way to load a hundred warheads into one rocket.” She calmly counters.

Salt Cube, Rose, I don’t know which one of you told this mare about that tiny little detail. All I know is that I will find out who and I will make them regret that horrendously stupid decision for the rest of their life.

“Except that rocket is aimed at the moon,” I point out, once again shoving my anger down before I say something stupid. Or rather, more stupid than what I have already said. “You can confirm that for yourself, just look at the copy of the flight trajectory in my PipBuck. In fact, the rest of the data inside should confirm that there isn’t any malicious intent here. They just want to achieve their lifelong dream of going to the moon. After two hundred years of hard work and suffering, is it really right to deny them their chance to try?”

We both stare at each other, my pleading eyes desperately trying to pierce through Diamond’s stoic expression. Then she shakes her head. “Even if I was naive enough to believe that, I can’t ignore the risk of something going wrong and causing that rocket to come crashing back down to Equestria. Do you understand just how much damage that would cause? How many lives that would be lost?”

“Of course I do!” I say before standing up. “That’s one of the reasons why I was so hesitant towards helping out in the first place. But since then, I’ve seen the precautions and preparations they’ve done. Not to mention what they had to go through in order to get this far! So I’m sorry, but I’m siding with them on this one: they’ve more than earned their right to go to the moon.”

“It’s not a matter of if they’ve earned the right to do anything,” She says. “They can earn the right to kill everypony here, but that doesn’t mean I will allow them to do so. Besides, you are new to these parts; you barely know the ghouls or their history. Are you really going to throw everything away for them just because you think their dream sounds nice?”

“Because I think it’s the right thing to do,” I answer firmly. “Plus, I don’t make it a habit to turn my back on ponies in need.”

For a brief moment, Diamond looks like she has seen a ghost before turning away from me. “Funny, Knight Flint Striker used to say the same thing. You remind me of him, in a way.”

Flint Striker? That name alone instantly wins her my undivided attention as she continues. “He was an excellent Steel Ranger: Strong, brave, unyielding in his devotion towards the cause. He would have made Star Paladin before too long. At least, until we met her.”

Her voice gains an edge to it. “It was at an old Ministry of Arcane Science facility. We were sent to secure it, but some tribals were already there. One mare in particular claimed it was theirs and we had no right to it,” She shakes her head. “That mare wouldn’t let it go, even at gunpoint, and she kept yelling long after the argument was over. Flint volunteered to calm her down while we did our job, but the raiders still heard her and attacked.”

Then she glances back towards me. “You know what Taint is, correct?”

“It’s an unpredictable mutagen agent,” I answer. “Leftovers from failed attempts to create the Impelled Metamorphosis Potion.”

She nods and turns around. “Then you know how deadly it is and why a facility storing the stuff shouldn’t be left in the hoofs of tribals like her.” She pauses, no doubt waiting for me to argue. But this is one thing that we are in agreement over (as much as I loathe agreeing with her on anything), so she continues. “It is also a bad place to have a fire fight. A stray bullet hit a container above Flint, but that mare pushed him out of the way and got a healthy dose of that rainbow sludge.” She takes in a deep breath. “Everypony knew she was a dead mare at that point, including her. She volunteered to stay behind and cover our escape. But Flint wouldn’t leave her behind and nothing I said could convince him to come with us. In the end, he threw his life away for a stupid bi-”

“Her name is Violet Sage,” I growl. “Not whatever ugly insult you were about to say.”

Now that catches Diamond off guard. “And how do you do that?”

“I’m familiar with the story,” I answer back, my little pony desperately trying to hold back my anger as it flares up again. “And with the ponies in it.”

“Then you should know the moral of that story,” She says bluntly. “Those ghouls are as reckless as she was. They are going to get good ponies killed with their rocket. And there’s nothing honorable or ‘right’ about siding with them over those protecting the innocent.”

She extends her hoof towards me and her expression and tone soften. “Please, help us. You know just as well as I do what is at stake here! This madness has to end now while there’s still a chance! If you won’t do it for me or for yourself, then do it for all of the innocent lives that are in danger right now!”

I bite my tongue hard while glaring at the hoof being offered. Many things rush to my mind on how to respond to her plea. None of it being particularly useful in delaying the death of ghouls, buying time for Rose to free herself, or in keeping my head as bullet-free as possible. But really, her? Wanting to save innocent lives by murdering harmless ghouls? Does she not recognise the irony in all of this? Does she honestly think that she’s the white knight in all of this? Riding in to save everypony from a dangerous artifact from before the war?

However, as much as I hate to admit this, Diamond Shard is right. I’ve been so swept up by the grandeur of their dream that I’ve forgotten how outright insane this entire thing is! No matter how skilled the ghouls are at making rockets, they are dealing with material and salvage that is at least two hundred years old! That stuff just isn’t in peak condition anymore and no amount of magic and duct tape can change that. Not to mention the accidents that happened before; serious enough that they eventually lost everything because of them. Hay, there is even a town named after one of their failed prototype rockets. There are so many other things that could go wrong. So much death and destruction that can happen should anything go wrong.

So on the one hoof, I can help them out and allow them to do Luna knows what to an entire group of harmless ghouls. Not to mention hoofing over a powerful nuke to them. On the other hoof, I can find some way to escape and launch the rocket, thereby risking the lives of thousands more on the slim hope that the ghouls make it safely to the moon.

The phrase ‘between a rock and a hard place’ seems rather fitting for a moment like this. I wonder if Diamond Shard appreciates the impossible position she is putting me in.

Apparently not, as she frowns and moves her hoof over to her helmet. “I see,” She says simply before placing her helmet back and turns to leave the room. “If this is how you’re going to be…” She looks at one of the guards. “Bring the mercenary back in here. If she resists, break her wings.”

DON’T YOU DARE!

I lunge at Diamond Shard, bottled up anger finally bursting forth and coloring my vision. One of the guards immediately rams me into the ground before I can reach her. He plants a solid metal hoof into my stomach, forcing a very painful gasp out of me, before slamming another hoof into the side of my face.

“STOP!” Diamond commands just as the guard prepares for another strike. She walks over and motions the guard to get off me. I cough a couple of times as she crouches down and looks at me through the tinted visors of her helmet. “You really do care about her,” She says thoughtfully. “Then maybe you’ll help us for her sake? I was thinking about having her shot for her part in all of this, but I could be convinced to let her live if you accept my deal. I’ll leave that decision in your hooves.”

A short laugh escapes my lips as I give her one final glare. “Is this how an honorable Steel Ranger acts? If so, then Flint Striker is more of a Steel Ranger than you will ever be.”

Diamond meets my glare for a moment, then gets back up and looks at her guard. “Change of plans, I’ll deal with the mercenary later. Throw this one back into his room,” She says before walking out the door. “Gently.”

The Steel Ranger throws me hard and I tumble towards the back end of the room.

“You’re lucky to still be alive after what you just pulled,” he says. “Try something like that again and I won’t be gentle next time.” With that, he slams the door shut. The lock then clicks into place, leaving me alone in my now dark and empty room.

Slowly, I pick myself off the floor. “Right, because I’m going to be stupid enough to try to strangle a Star Paladin again.”

‘To be fair, you are that stupid,’ The pony in my head points out. ‘If only you had kept your tongue in check and didn’t completely lose your cool near the end, you might have found an opportunity to take advantage of.’

Not that that realization helps any. At least now I know just how badly they think they need me. They are probably too afraid to force their way into the rocket and accidentally blow up the area in the process. Of course, once it becomes clear that I don’t know how to end the lockdown, I can kiss my neck goodbye. Diamond Shard doesn’t seem to be the kind of pony to be lenient, even if I remind her of a Steel Ranger she highly regarded. Actually, she’ll probably do worse to me because I remind her of Flint Striker. Even if being compared to him is possibly the highest praise she could possibly give me.

No, focus. Right now, I need to get out of here and find Rose before they do anything to her. Let’s see if this stupid anti-magic ring on my horn is the real deal or not.

Pressing my hooves against the sides of the ring, I pull at it a few times but it is not budging at all. Given how long and slim my horn is, there must be some kind of size adjusting enchantment on the ring. Which is sharing space with an anti-magic inhibitor spell. And given how difficult it is to weave multiple spells together without them interfering with each other (not to mention that this thing is at least two hundred years old), I wonder if- AGH!!

A jolt of pain sears through my horn as I attempt to use my magic to manipulate the ring. Through tightly clenched teeth, I take some deep breaths while suppressing the urge to scream bloody murder; my forelegs wrapped around my head as I wait for the pain to finally die down.

Right, with the ring actively blocking my magic, of course it would surge back to the source. But honestly, why does it have to hurt this badly?! Sure, it’s not as painful as the feedback I got when I first attempted to funnel my magic into my gauss rifle. But Still!

Oh what I would give to have my rifle back now. Too bad it fell apart after I forced too much magic into that final shot against Lupa… I wonder.

Closing my eyes, I once again press my hooves against the ring. There might be a chance, albeit a slim one, that I might be able to overload the ring and disrupt the size enchantment long enough to slide this thing off. Assuming I don’t pass out from the pain first.

But it needs to be done. So I focus on the ring and channel all of my magic into it. Only for a torrent of pain to stab through my horn and into my head as some of my magic surges back into me. Fighting past the pain, I keep forcing more magic into the ring while pulling at it with my hooves. The ring stubbornly refuses to slide off, sending more waves of magic and pain back, causing the room to light up from all of the magic being sent back and forth.

It becomes too much as the last surge of magic overwhelms me, drowning my mind in pain and overwhelming my other senses. I bite down on one of my forelegs to muffle my scream of agony, blood enters my mouth while tears run down my face until finally I run out of air to scream. Eventually, the pain dies down and I let go of my foreleg as a numbing headache takes over. Calling that a painful experience is an understatement and I glance up at my horn to see if I did anything to the ring.

It moved a half inch. All that pain and suffering. For a stupid half inch!

I slam my hoof into the ground in frustration, wincing in pain before glancing down at the blood seeping out of the bite wound on my foreleg.

Why? After everything was going well for once, why did the Steel Rangers have to appear now of all times? Isn’t it enough to have screwed me over the last time around? No, of course not! Because they don’t care about anypony but themselves! Well, they are not winning this time. Once I’m free, I will make them regret ever coming here. I’ll tear them apart like I did Lupa. If her metal plating couldn’t save her from me, then power armor won’t be that difficult to break apart. Right, the only weapon I ever need is coursing through my veins. Once I take care of the Ranger guarding me, I’ll use his blood to go after the other rangers here. They deserve it, after all. They’re going to kill everypony here for no reason. Just like they made me kill everypony in Trian Mill for no reason. I’ll make them pay for all of this. I’ll rend them asunder before I let that happen again! I’ll-

The image of Rose’s broken body flashes before my eyes and I soon shake my head, half expecting to hear the dark pony gloat about how he was right about me all along. But all I hear is silence. As well I should. Because these thoughts are mine. Like they always have been. There is no point in pretending anymore that they are from some sort of evil spirit haunting me. No, these thoughts are from an ugly part of me that I’ve been ignoring for far too long. A part of me that acts more like a feral wolf than an actual thinking pony. Regardless of if it was always like that or if this curse twisted it to be this way, I need to control this feral wolf before it destroys me completely.

Except I have no clue how to control something like this. Or if it is even possible to control it once the bloodlust takes over. It might have been a fluke that Rose managed to pull me out of it last time. What happens if that doesn’t work the next time? Or if she isn’t around to pull me out of it?

I take a deep breath and lie back against the wall. There isn’t a point in getting worked up on this now. Not while I am stuck here, anyway. And from the looks of it, I’m not getting out for quite a while. Unless Luna decides to be merciful and provide an opportunity to escape. My heart stops as a very subtle click comes from the door. Bracing myself for whatever the Steel Rangers have planned for me now, I quietly watch as the door slowly opens.

Strangely, instead of a Steel Ranger, a familiar looking bat pony quietly slips into the room, slowly shutting the door behind her. I have to rub my eyes just to make sure I’m not seeing things. Sure enough, that is Rose standing there, much like a majestic knight of old. Roughed up, to be sure, and without her red scarf or any of her gear on her, but that doesn’t diminish her appearance in the slightest.

She looks anxious as she scans the room before relaxing when she spots me in the dark. Taking a few steps towards me, her expression darkens as she gets closer, no doubt noticing the bruises all over my body. She quickly hides it behind a confident smile the moment she sees that I have noticed. “I bet you weren’t expecting me to come through that door now, did you?”

“Well, the hero usually rescues her companion in distress in most stories,” I quietly answer with a shrug. “So I figured you would come for me eventually.”

Her smile becomes more genuine upon hearing that. “You know it! Now let’s get you out of that fancy jewelry before they figure out I escaped,” She says as she walks over and begins to inspect my cuffs. When she notices my bleeding wound, her smile disappears and anger flashes in her eyes. “And we had a deal, that arrogant lying little bi-”

“Not to interrupt or anything,” I say, shrinking back when she quickly glares at me, before meekly pointing to my horn. “B-But can you get rid of this ring first? I’d like to be able to use my magic again.”

She glances at my horn for a moment before quietly mutters under her breath what I assume are more insults towards the focus of her ire. As she inspects the ring, I clear my throat and ask “So… what kind of deal did you make with them?”

“Her,” Rose says sharply. She stops and takes in a deep breath before continuing in a softer tone. “I told Diamond Shard what she wanted to hear in exchange for her promising not to hurt you at all,” She then takes a step back and inspects my face while adding “Doesn’t look like she kept her end of the deal, though.”

“Technically speaking, she didn’t hurt me. Her guards did. And, to be fair, I did deserve it,” I glance off to the side. “I mean, I did try to attack her for threatening to break your wings in front of me. It was only natural for one of her guards to beat me up for that.”

Rose places a hoof on her chest. “Treppy, while I’m flattered that you would defend me like that, I don’t think I’m really worth ruining your perfect image over. How are we supposed to look good together when you look like a mess?”

I can’t help but chuckle as I look back at her. “Please, you look just as bad as I do!”

“Impossible, I’m too awesome to look bad,” She says proudly, even as her hoof subtly moves to cover the scar on her neck. A move that reignites my anger towards the Steel Rangers.

Would it have killed you to allow Rose to have some dignity by letting her keep her scarf, Diamond? Or is that too much to ask for a Steel Ranger? Of course it is. ‘Tribals’ don’t matter when technology is involved. So why treat them with any kind of respect? Honestly Luna, this is why I hate them so, umm…

Rose sheepishly looks to the side as it dawns on me that I’ve been staring at her neck. “S-Sorry, I-I didn’t mean to stare!” I stammer in an attempt to rectify my mistake while also trying to keep my voice low. “I-I don’t care about your scar, errr, I-I mean, even without your scarf, you look beautiful and I, umm, no I-I didn’t mean it like- please stop looking at me like that! I’m trying to apologise for my uncouth behavior here!”

I feel my face burn in embarrassment as she giggles. “Ok, ok, as long as you agree with me, I’ll accept your apology,” She says with a wink before retrieving a plain bobby pin hidden in her tail. “Now about that ring.”

“This is Pre-War tech we’re dealing with. Not some kind of rusty padlock,” I try to explain while she fiddles around with the ring. “It is designed to keep just any old pony from being able to get rid of it. I mean, I couldn’t even try to get it off without hurting myself and I’m kind of an expert on this sort of stuff! You’ll need a special key to get rid of it-”

“Is that why your foreleg is bleeding?” She asks thoughtfully.

“They were threatening to break your wings, Rose! I had to get out of here before that happened,” I answer back while rubbing my neck. “I just, well, I wasn’t prepared for how badly the magical backlash would hurt. But I had to try something.”

Suddenly, I feel the ring loosen its grip and slip off my horn as Rose nonchalantly tosses it behind her. “Well I can’t really get mad at you for doing something I’d do,” She says calmly while getting to work on one of the cuffs. “I just wish you wouldn’t get hurt for my sake.”

“If it’s any consolation, I feel the same way about you sometimes. Especially with the amount of times you got hurt bailing me out,” I say before leaning back against the wall. “But I guess there’s no avoiding it: we’re partners after all. Unless you want to swap me out with a cooler stallion.”

The cuff unlocks with a satisfying click before Rose jabs her hoof into my chest. “Nice try, but you agreed to be my partner and I sealed the deal by giving you a matching scarf; you’re not worming your way out of this one,” She then moves on to the other cuff. “Besides, you’re Intrepid Scholar, the only likable Twilight Society member in Equestria. My reputation can only go up with somepony as awesome as you by my side.”

“I doubt I’m the only likable member,” I say, silently hoping she doesn’t notice how red my face must be after hearing her compliment. “And I must remind you that I’m a nopony now. Even back home, I was rarely noticed by anypony that wasn’t my parents. I doubt anypony missed me when I left.”

With another satisfying click, Rose unlocks the other cuff and nonchalantly tosses the pair behind her as well. “Well that’s all going to change once word gets out that we got rid of a pack of super hellhounds. Everypony will know our names after that.”

Yeah, that will definitely get out at some point. What with Roxie out in the wastelands now. And I guess everypony will start talking once they see a giant rocket soaring through the sky too. Although, Whether or not that’s a good thing is still up in the air.

“Hey,” I manage to say before noticing her ears perk up. We both look to the door as it slowly swings open.

Oh buck it all, why did they have to come in to check on us now?

I glance at the cuffs and then back at Rose, or rather, where Rose was before disappearing on me. While this isn’t a surprise to me anymore, I still make a mental note to ask her how she keeps doing that. Even while the pony in my head panics on what to do now.

Grabbing the cuffs, I quickly turn my back towards the door and try my best to hide the fact that I got out of my bindings. With a silent prayer that the guard doesn’t find me suspicious, I wait a minute before risking a peek over my shoulder.

To my surprise, Salt Cube walks into the room, his gaze fixed on the ground, and turns to close the door behind him. Just Salt Cube. By himself. With no guards to make sure I don’t try to kill him somehow. Again, I rub my eyes to make sure I’m not seeing things.

As Salt Cube turns to face me, I quickly look back at the wall. He lets out a big sigh. “Yeah, I know, I’m the last pony you want to see.”

“More like the last pony I was expecting to see,” I admit. “After what you just did, I figured you would have stayed as far away from me as possible. I mean, I did eviscerate Lupa after all. Who knows what I could do to you?”

“And I would deserve it,” He says, forcing me to fight the urge to look back at him to see if he actually means it. His voice then lowers as I hear him get closer. “But we can talk about this later. Right now I need to get you out of here.”

“Sorry, but your distressed stallion is in another room,” I deadpan.

“I’m being serious here!” He says with obvious irritation. “Now turn around so I can-Mrph!”

Yeah, that doesn’t sound good.

I turn around to see what just happened and my little pony nearly loses it as Rose has Salt Cube’s mouth covered with one hoof. While the other rest in a way that would allow her to snap his neck rather quickly. “You know Salty,” She whispers into his ear, causing the poor stallion to sweat bullets as he looks at me with pleading eyes. “I remember you were trying to get me fired by saying I wasn’t trustworthy. Isn’t it funny how you turned out to be a backstabber all along? Because I don’t find that very funny myself.”

“Rose, stop!” I wince and glance at the door, wondering if the guard heard that. “Look, he did try to free me just now. So maybe we could give him a chance to explain himself before we do something we might regret later?” I press my hooves together pleadingly. “Please?”

She stares at me, clearly not amused with what I am asking of her, before letting out a sigh. “Call out for help and that’ll be the last thing you do,” she warns before letting Salt Cube go.

Thankfully, he doesn’t immediately start yelling for help. Though a part of me wonders if that’s only because he is too shaken by the fact that a bat pony appeared out of nowhere and nearly killed him. Instead, he steps away from Rose and quietly sits down while rubbing his neck.

After a moment of silence, he quietly whispers “I don’t blame you for being angry with me. But I didn’t mean for things to get out of hoof like this. I just wanted what was best for Hay Bale. If you heard all of the stories she used to tell about her time with this project, you would know how badly she wanted to see a pony on the moon. So to hear everypony talk about leaving her behind, like she wasn’t even there anymore,” He shakes his head. “It just wasn’t fair!”

“And you thought calling in the Steel Rangers was going to fix that?” Rose asks sarcastically. “I know Green Bean’s contingent is a little different, but they’re still Steel Rangers! You do know what they’re famous for, right?”

“Please keep it down. There’s still a guard outside,” I urge while stealing another glance at the door.

“Oh give me a break, I never had to deal with them until now,” Salt Cube says with a surprising amount of fire behind his eyes. “If I knew they were going to act this way, I would have never had called them in the first place!”

“Well then, that just makes it all better, doesn’t it?” Rose rolls her eyes. “Dear Luna, what were you thinking?”

“That I had to hurt my family so they can be happy in the long run,” He says. “After Intrepid gave me some advice, I started thinking and I decided that, if Hay Bale and the other… feral ghouls couldn’t go to the moon, then it would be better if nopony could go. So I got you two to turn on the radio towers and used the contact information from a passing caravan. I thought if I could get them to take the rocket away, then everypony could stay together and things would go back to normal.”

I bury my face into my hooves and let out a groan. So all of this is inadvertently my fault. Of course it would be my fault. Who else could screw up the simple task of offering some kind advice so badly that a pony would take it to this extreme?

“I’ll give you points for meaning well,” She whispers with less anger than before. Which surprises me enough to look up as she presses the tip of her hoof against her forehead and shakes her head. “But your entire idea is just stupid and petty.”

“P-Petty?” Salt Cube spits out.

“Honestly you sound like a rotten colt who got every foal grounded because you weren’t allowed outside,” She continues before motioning towards me with her head. “And don’t you dare blame Intrepid for this. You’re lucky he even thought about convincing Rocky and the others to take the ghouls onboard,” She pauses for a moment and then looks at me. “By the way, how did you convince them to take the ferals with them?”

“Through means I’m not proud of using,” I answer back before turning my attention to Salt Cube. “Now I have to ask: why are you trying to break me out?”

Salt Cube grits his teeth as he glares at Rose for a few moments longer before looking back at me. “I need your help in getting everypony out of here. Diamond Shard thinks you have the access code to end the lockdown, not me. So I can slip onto a network terminal somewhere and once the doors to the launch pad open up-”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Rose immediately waves her hooves in front of her. “You want us to sneak more than a hundred ghouls out of a place that’s swarming with Steel Rangers that will shoot on sight?”

“You were the one that told us that he had a teleportation spell and was amazing with it!” Salt Cube fires back at Rose. “Teleporting a few at a time outside shouldn’t be that hard for him.”

“I think you’re overestimating my ability to do just that,” I say. “I only just started teleporting one other pony around and the last time I did that I nearly got killed for the effort,” I briefly glance down at my tail. “I’m sorry, but I’m not confident enough to try that with more than just one pony, let alone a hundred plus.”

“But you have to!” Salt Cube hastily walks over and places both of his hooves on my shoulders. “I screwed up! I know I screwed up! But you have to help me here! If you don’t, then I... I-I can’t! I can’t let them die because of me! Please!”

His pleading eyes stir up a few old memories I don’t want to remember right now. The smell of blood in the air, the pile of bullet-ridden bodies in cold hallways, the sound of my own desperate pleas for help as I cradle a dead colt in my forelegs. I look away in a vain attempt to stop the swelling emotions already rising inside of me.

“Salt Cube, keep it down! The guard’s going to hear us!” Rose whispers while she pulls him off of me. “I get that you really want to save them all. I want to do that too. But at this point, unless we can get rid of the Steel Rangers somehow, I don’t see how that is possible.”

It’s painful to watch Salt Cube struggle to find some kind of answer before he buries his face into his hooves. Rose shakes her head sadly before quietly staring at the door. It doesn’t seem like she has a suggestion on how to fix this situation either.

I wince from the pain coursing through my horn as I use my blood magic to mend the wound on my foreleg. For all that he’s done, for putting everypony here in danger for selfish reasons, I can’t seem to muster up any kind of anger or hate towards Salt Cube. Probably because it feels hypocritical to criticize his actions as horribly stupid and poorly thought out, given my own past with Silverwing. In fact, seeing him act right now reminds me a little of how I was when the massacre of Trian Mill was happening. Honestly, I don’t wish this on him. He shouldn’t have to go through what I went through: dealing with the blood of his friends and family on his hooves for trying to do what he thought was right.

This will not be a repeat of Trian Mill. Not if I can help it.

Though, it is rather odd. There is a perfectly obvious solution to this problem that nopony has brought up yet. Maybe I’m missing something here? Well, it would be silly not to ask.

“So, Salt Cube? What exactly happens when you end the lockdown?”

He gives me a confused look. “Ending the lockdown would only give us back control over the terminals in the control area. From there, I can abort the launch to get the launch bay doors to unlock and-”

I raise up one hoof. “If that’s all it does, then what’s keeping us from just launching the rocket?”

Rose turns her attention back towards us as Salt Cube opens his mouth to respond before closing it again and thinks for a moment. “Nothing really,” He mutters. “All that needs to happen now is to have somepony push the launch button and monitor the flight from one of the terminals in case something goes wrong.”

“Huh, I thought it was going to be more complicated than that,” Rose says.

“It probably will be,” I say to Rose before turning my attention back to Salt Cube. “Are you certain you can end the lockdown without getting caught?”

“Of course I can,” He answers back, now looking more worried than before. “But it’s been hours since we were supposed to launch. If we don’t get ideal weather, there’s no telling what will happen when that rocket takes off. I don’t want to risk it.”

“Unfortunately, we don’t have a choice in the matter. Not if we want to avoid bloodshed,” I place a hoof on his shoulder and give him a reassuring smile. “Besides, I remember what you and those manuals taught me about launching a rocket. You worry about getting us in there and we’ll take care of the rest.”

“Right! Just leave it to us,” Rose pats his back. “We’ll get those ghouls to the moon before you know it!”

Salt Cube looks at Rose, then at me, before finally nodding his head. “Alright. If this is the only way to fix things… I’ll go distract the guard outside, you two get out of here and make your way to the control center. If everything goes well, you can call me at Room Two Six Three on the intercom. I’ll walk you through the process from there.”

I nod my head. “Two Six Three. Got it.”

With that, he turns around and walks out the door. The moment he leaves, I bury my face in my hooves and let out a frustrated sigh. “This is completely insane. What the hay am I even doing right now?”

“Relax, we’ve been through worse stuff than this,” Rose reassures me. “What happened to that confidence you were showing just a moment ago?”

“I’m not sure if it was there in the first place,” I say before shaking my head and picking myself off the ground. “We’re gambling with the lives of other ponies here. And the only option where everypony lives also happens to be the one where failure could equal even more death. But it’s not like we have a choice in the matter, do we?”

“We could always run and abandon this whole thing,” She suggests, which quickly earns a head shake from me. She smiles and pats my shoulder. “Didn’t think you would accept that. So, let’s go show those Rangers who they’re messing with!”

“Assuming we can escape without getting noticed first,” I mutter as I follow Rose to the door. “It’s a miracle that the guard didn’t come in here given the amount of noise we were making at times.”

It actually wouldn’t surprise me if the room was secretly bugged somehow and they sent Salt Cube in in hopes that I would trust him enough to tell him how to end the lockdown. Though I hope that isn’t the case for Salt Cube’s sake. The Steel Rangers will not be happy once they find out that he was lying to them about who issued the lockdown for the rocket.

Wait a minute. Ah buck it all, I forgot to ask Salt Cube if he told them about the payload on that stupid rocket!

As my little pony facehoofs over this… admittedly minor oversight, all things considered, Rose cracks the door open and pokes her head through. Almost immediately, the voices of Salt Cube and the guard outside come pouring into the room.

“What do you mean you weren’t worried about me?!”

“Look, the Star Paladin gave me orders not to disturb you while you were in there with him. Besides, that pansy looking unicorn doesn’t look like he could fight his way out of a wet paper bag. How dangerous can he actually be?”

Ah, so the real reason the guard didn’t check up on us is because he thinks I’m pathetic. At least his low opinion of me is working to my advantage.

Motioning for me to follow, Rose slips into the hallway while I quietly take her spot and look around. The guard is thankfully too busy talking to Salt Cube to look in my direction.

“I’ll have you know that he can be very dangerous,” Salt Cube answers back while I quickly duck into the hallway. “How do you think your Star Paladin would react if he had snapped my neck?! She told you to keep me safe, didn’t she?!”

The guard lets out a frustrated sigh. “Maybe she’ll get mad if I let you die, sure. You’re lucky she went soft once she got promoted. If she was still the same mare that I heard about, you would be chained up along with that wimp in there.”

Wait, is he actually suggesting that Diamond Shard, to some small extent, actually cares about the ponies living in the wasteland? Is he suggesting that she was actually being sincere in her pleas with me to do the right thing and help her out? But then, a promotion doesn’t change a pony to that extent, does it? Or did something else happen that gave him that impression?

Before my mind can follow this train of thought further, Rose turns around a corner and motions for me to hurry up. I tune out the rest of their conversation and quietly catch up. Once I’m finally out of sight of the guard, she takes one last look behind us. “Looks like the tin can didn’t notice us,” She whispers. Keeping close to the wall, she starts to move down the hallway. “And given his attitude, I don’t think he was listening in on our conversation either.”

“It might be better to assume that he did,” I answer back while following her. “Which means we should retrieve my PipBuck before we do anything else. I’ll need it if I’m going to try to hack into the system without Salt Cube’s help.”

“That might be a tall order,” She says as she checks an adjoining corridor. “I can’t think of a likely place where they would have stashed it.”

“Probably someplace that’s close by,” I glance down at where my PipBuck used to be. “I doubt they would want to spread out too much in a place like this.”

“Here’s hoping,” She says. “I want to get this done before they find out that we’ve escaped,” She then takes one last glance behind us before quickly moving past the corridor. As soon as she makes it across, I take a deep breath and-

“Sir, wait.”

I press myself against the wall and peek around the corner. Two Steel Rangers come into view on the other end of the corridor as the smaller of the two (a mare, from the sounds of it) says “I think my helmet is on the fritz again.”

“Again?” The other ranger says, obviously a stallion from his voice. “Did the Scribes not fix it last time?”

“I thought they did, sir,” The mare says, removing her helmet to reveal a pink pony with a cropped purple mane underneath. I notice a jackpoint for a PipBuck on her helmet as she examines it closely. “But E.F.S. doesn’t seem to be working.”

That’s right, power armor uses the same spell matrixes as PipBucks do. Which will make sneaking around them really difficult. Thank Luna that E.F.S. just enhances the perception of a pony and not make them omniscient or we would be in trouble. At least, my E.F.S. doesn’t make me omniscient. Theirs might be more advanced than what I am familiar with.

The mare freezes suddenly and looks straight at her companion. “Sorry, sir! I shouldn’t have removed my helmet without permission, sir!”

She tries to put the helmet back on only for the other Ranger to stop her and say “Check your helmet, Knight. If your E.F.S. isn’t working, then I will have some words with the scribes. Especially after they swore we were ready to hunt down those hellhounds.”

Hellhounds? That means they were hunting Lupa and her pack down when Salt Cube told them about the rocket. Which does explain how they got here so fast, given that Green Bean is a week away from here.

“Permission to speak freely, sir?” The mare asks while Rose motions for me to lower myself to the ground more and checks our surroundings as I do so.

“Granted,” The other Steel Ranger responds.

The mare begins to look over her helmet. “Do you think the reports about the hellhound attacks were made up by the NCR? I mean, the Children of Luna have always been a weird bunch of ghouls, but I can’t see them making a balefire missile on their own. That Ranger must have threatened them to get them to do all of this.”

Obviously, you don’t know the ghouls as well as I do if you can’t see them making a rocket. Especially in a facility that is built specifically to make such things.

The Ranger sits down and looks at the mare. “And you think he came up with the rumor to keep anypony from finding out what is going on?”

The mare points her hoof at the Ranger. “Exactly, sir! Only idiots would come looking for hellhounds. And Winter Rose. Although, I’m surprised that she is here. I figured she would just lie about it like usual,” She chuckles. “Have you heard some of the tall tales she spins?”

If looks could kill, Rose would have killed the mare right now. Thankfully, she keeps herself hidden rather than risk giving the mare a death glare.

“That doesn’t explain the mutilated corpses we found in the area,” The Ranger responds. “Or why the ghouls are in the missile right now.”

The mare thinks for a moment before shaking her head. “No, it doesn’t. But what is really going on here then?”

A bunch of ghouls wanting to accomplish a lifelong dream while also getting rid of some harmful weapons in the process.

“If what the unicorn said during his… interrogation is true, that missile is a rocket and they plan on taking it to the moon,” The Ranger explains. When his partner gives him a rather confused look, he adds “That is what he claims they are doing.”

The mare rolls her eyes. “Yeah and I'm Princess Celestia in disguise. They're more likely to blow up the moon with that thing than land on it.”

Well, that… is a possibility I hadn't considered before. There are enough warheads on that rocket to crack the surface of the moon so… now I get to worry about chunks of the moon raining down on us too. This really is a horrible idea, isn’t it?

The mare turns her helmet around and stares at it. “I grew up guiding caravans to this place, sir. I never thought that there was a balefire missile sitting right under my hooves.”

“That doesn’t matter now,” The Ranger points out. “What matters is that we found it before they could use it. Now our job is to secure this place until reinforcements arrive.”

The mare nods and works on her helmet for a few more seconds before a troubled look crosses her face. “Sir, if I may, what will Star Paladin Shard do with them and their ‘rocket’ after we get what we need from the unicorn?”

The Ranger stares at the mare for a moment before sighing. “I guess we can take a break here,” He mutters before removing his helmet, revealing a dark blue pony with a black mane and an eyepatch over his left eye. “It’s likely that she’ll call in one of the larger chapters to take them off our hooves. We don’t have the numbers to secure this location and keep Green Bean under control. Especially if the NCR is involved.”

“With all due respect, I think that’s a mistake,” She says, now giving him her undivided attention. “I’ve heard the rumors surrounding Star Paladin Shard’s promotion. About how-” She pauses, looking disturbed by whatever is on her mind. “-committed her and her old chapter are to our order. That kind of pony doesn’t come out to some backwater like Green Bean for no reason. Especially right after the Elder died.”

That catches my attention and I inch closer to the edge while the Ranger says “You’re starting to sound seditious, Knight Star Berry.”

Star Berry immediately tenses up. “I don’t mean to, Paladin Grim Dawn, sir!” She quickly explains while saluting the Ranger. “But I have concerns and you’re the only one I can trust to not take them the wrong way.”

Grim Dawn studies her for a moment before he sighs. “So what are you suggesting? That she’ll use the missile as some bargaining chip to get herself instated as Elder of our chapter?”

Strangely, Star Berry looks rather conflicted by the question. “I just can’t shake the feeling that she knew this was going to happen somehow. I mean, why else would she come here?” She then points at him. “Otherwise you would be Elder now, right? You were the remaining senior officer before she showed up.”

“If that is what she truly wants, then she doesn’t need to bribe anypony to get it,” He states calmly, ignoring her pointing hoof. “We’re a backwater chapter consisting of two squads and a few scribes. The higher ups wouldn’t object if she declared herself Elder of our chapter. In fact, even fewer ponies would care if she decided to disband us after this instead.”

That seems to hurt Star Berry more than anything as she is briefly taken aback by that last sentence. Then she puts on a more defiant look. “Well, they would have to care if we kept the missile here! We’re supposed to keep this kind of tech away from those ponies that are going to misuse it! This thing will wipe out more than just my hometown! If her chapter is really that corrupt, then I don’t want to think about what they’ll do once they get their hooves on it! It’s better off with us!”

“Except it isn’t,” He says rather coldly. “Once word gets out that we have a balefire missile, we’re going to have a lot more than power hungry chapters to worry about. We won’t survive a battle against a force like the NCR, or a Red Eye warband, or even one of our own chapters when they decide to take it from us.”

“What about the Applejack Rangers then?” She asks. “They’d rush here to help us if they knew what was going on!”

“Most of us would rather die than work with those traitors,” Anger flashes in Dawn’s eye before he takes a deep breath. “And even if they wanted to help, they’re too far away for it to matter.”

Star Berry opens her mouth but he lifts his hoof up to stop her. “That’s enough, Knight. I know you mean well, but I’ve humored you long enough. We can’t let our personal feelings get in the way of our duty. Not while the rocket is armed and ready to launch.”

“Yes sir,” She says quietly, her defiance giving way to a more solemn disposition.

She moves to put her helmet on when Grim Dawn stands up and looks straight in her eyes. “And as the senior most ranking officer, it is my duty to make sure our leader doesn’t do anything that might threaten the security of our chapter or our town,” He says firmly. “Is that understood?”

A smile flashes across her face as she promptly salutes him. “Yes sir!”

He returns the salute before looking at her helmet. “Well?”

“I can’t figure out what is wrong with it,” She says, slipping the helmet back on. “The scribes are going to have to check it out again.”

“Of course,” He answers, sounding clearly annoyed by this as he puts his own helmet on. “Alright, let’s get going then.”

Star Berry salutes yet again and the two walk away from Rose and I. I wait until they are out of sight before letting out a sigh of relief. That was a close one. Had they just been more aware of their surroundings, we would have been caught. Then again, that is still a risk, if Rose not relaxing at all is any indication. So I quickly walk towards her-

“Hold it right there!”

And immediately stop dead in my tracks as the two Steel Rangers point rifles at me as they walk back into view. Because of course they would come back for some stupid reason.

“I had a feeling we were being watched,” Grim Dawn growls.

“Hey, isn’t that the unicorn that Knight Goldshire is supposed to be guarding?” Star Berry asks, earning a brief look from the larger one. Though what kind of a look that is I can only guess, power armor helmets being what they are.

“A-Ah, yes ma’am. Intrepid Scholar, at your service,” I say, offering a curt salute towards her. “It’s a pleasure to meet your acquaintance, miss?”

Wait, what am I doing? I already know her name. And besides, I hate Steel Rangers. Why am I being polite to one?

Strangely, Star Berry seems taken aback by my request. “Oh! Umm, Knight Star Berry! Green Bean Contingent!” She answers while giving me a proper salute.

Grim Dawn just shakes his head (I get the feeling this is something he has witnessed more times than he can count) before leveling his rifle at my head. “Alright, introductions are over. Just put your hooves where I can see them and don’t make any sudden moves.”

Ok, time to buy time yet again. “But I didn’t get your-”

“Now,” He orders.

Or maybe not. Slowly, I raise my hooves into the air while noticing Rose’s frustrated look from the corner of my eye. As she crouches down and prepares to move towards me, I quickly shake my head.

“Hey! Paladin Grim Dawn didn’t give you permission to move!” Star Berry pipes up while also pointing her rifle at me.

“That’s enough, Knight, I can handle this.” Grim Dawn orders. “And don’t use my full name and rank for situations like this.”

That last comment causes the mare to shrink a little. While I do feel for Star Berry, I am sadly going to be making her life more difficult. But then, they’re Steel Rangers. They brought this on themselves.

“M-My apologies ma’am, it is just that I feel stupid for getting caught this easily,” I explain. “But then, I’m not talented or amazing enough to sneak around without getting caught. I usually get stuck running for my life and complaining to my friends that they get all of the cool stuff when we meet up at the end of the day. Not the funnest life to live, I suppose. But hey, as long as it works.”

“I didn’t ask for your life’s story,” Grim Dawn says flatly. I then see him motioning for Star Berry to go towards me. Probably suspecting that there is somepony else with me that needs to be captured too. Meanwhile Rose goes from frustrated to sudden understanding to conflicted, obviously understanding what I’m trying to convey to her but not really wanting to leave either. Not that I blame her, but this is the situation we are stuck in. Thankfully, she nods her head and begins to back off.

As Rose walks back into the shadows, I wait for Star Berry to get close to me. It is clear that she is on guard for any kind of suspicious activity. But I decide it is time to test her mental dexterity anyway as I give Grim an innocent smile. “No, you didn’t ask, did you?”

I immediately teleport behind him, clenching my teeth as pain shoots through my horn and head, before picking another spot and teleporting again. A bullet barely grazes my shoulder before I start running away.

The sound of heavy galloping behind me signals that my impromptu plan is working. Which is good as long as my luck doesn’t run out. Not that there is any point in worrying about that now. As long as they stay focused on me and not on Rose and Salt Cube, then this will work. And given how inexperienced one of my chasers is, there is a good chance that I can lose them and find my way to the control center. Hopefully without getting caught again.

This will work. I will make this work. This plan will not fall apart at the last moment. Not this time.

Holding on to that small bit of bravado, I quicken my pace and take a sharp turn around a corner as another bullet barely misses my leg. A sign that they are not going to give up easily, even if I caught them flathoofed.

Alright, the game’s afoot. Let’s make this happen.

Author's Note

You have gained some quest objectives.

Quest Objectives Completed:

Figure Out What The Steel Rangers Want.

Current Quest Objectives:

Reunite With Rose and Salt Cube
Retrieve Your PipBuck
Launch The Rocket To The Moon
Don’t Die
Figure Out How Rose Keeps Vanishing Like She Does

Chapter 13 - By A Wolf’s Ears

Running away from ponies with guns isn’t supposed to be a recurring pattern in my life. The need to get into these kinds of situations should have died along with my partnership with Silverwing. Yet, here I am, once again putting my life on the line. For something that even the Steel Rangersagree is horribly reckless and insane.

‘Because nopony else can do it,’ the little pony in my head adds out while I take a sharp turn around a corner, my hooves skidding across the floor at the sudden change of direction. ‘And yes, it is too late to back out now.’

Of course it is. At least I’m doing a good job of not giving them a clean shot on me. This would end rather quickly if-

A bullet flies past one of my hind legs. One of many constant reminders that I still haven’t shaken them off yet. If it didn’t hurt so much to teleport, I would have lost them ages ago. It doesn’t help that it feels like I’m running around in circles right now. What, with the next corridor I turn into looking like the last one.

I can’t keep this up; I’m barely keeping ahead of them as is. Sooner or later, I’ll end up running into another patrol and once they have the numbers to box me in, it’s game over.There has to be something around here that can help me out. Like that fire extinguisher hanging on the wall up ahead. Yeah, that might help.

Another bullet grazes my left hind leg and nearly sends me tumbling to the ground. I stagger forward, grabbing onto the fire extinguisher on the wall. Ignoring the pain coursing through my horn, I pull it off the wall with my magic just as the Steel Ranger chasing me charges. I attempt to teleport out of the way, only for the spell to fizzle out instead. And the Ranger tackles me hard, sending us both tumbling down the corridor. Despite the pain, I manage to keep my magical hold on the extinguisher and muster all of my strength into one mighty blow against my opponent’s head. Only to watch it harmlessly bounce off her power armor helmet.

This obviously doesn’t amuse the Steel Ranger, if planting a solid hit on the side of my face is any indication. I spit some blood on the floor and pull the pin on the fire extinguisher. As the Ranger prepares to land another punch on me, I aim the nozzle towards their face and release a small torrent of chemical foam that completely covers their helmet.

Star Berry’s voice comes out of the helmet as she cries out in confusion. She backs away and attempts to clear her visor while the other ranger (obviously Grim) lines up another shot. Not wanting to get shot again, I scramble to my hooves and keep Star Berry between me and him.

As he tries to get a clear shot, I quickly glance at my surroundings. Two open doors are near me, hopefully leading to rooms that I can hide in. Hopefully, my teleport spell doesn’t fizzle out again and the fire extinguisher provides enough of a distraction to allow me to hide.

With a curt bow, I teleport into one of the rooms and swing the fire extinguisher towards the other room before teleporting it there. Pain and lightheadedness assault my mind as I collapse onto the floor, thanking Luna as I hear a rising crescendo of sounds as the fire extinguisher crashes into something in the other room. As much as I want to curl up in a ball right now, I am still not safe.

Forcing myself onto my hooves, I cast my eyes around the dark room. From what I can make out, the only hiding place is a line of lockers across the wall. Opening one at random, I push aside the lab coats and squeeze my body inside before closing the door. Then I peer through the slits and wait. As long as I stay quiet and calm, the E.F.S. on their power armor shouldn’t pick me up. Maybe. That is more or less how it works on my PipBuck, so it should be the same, right? Unless their power armor has a more advanced spell matrix for E.F.S. in their helmets-

The door slams open with earth-shattering force as Star Berry barges in, foam still dripping from her helmet. She flips on the lights and slowly scans the room as I place a hoof over my racing heart and hold my breath. She then begins her search, poking her rifle around every place that could contain a pony.

Then the rifle points in my direction. Cautiously, the ranger advances towards my hiding spot and reaches for the door. With no way to escape, I simply shut my eyes and resign myself to my fate.

The door rattles quite a bit then something bangs against it before I hear Star Berry mutters “Locked.”

Locked? What do you mean locked?

I open up my eyes, confused and relieved by the turn of events. Only for panic to quickly set in as she turns around and readies her hind leg to kick the locker door in.

“Knight! Report!”

Star Berry hesitates before stepping away from the lockers and turns to salute the other ranger walking into the room. “The fugitive doesn’t seem to be here, sir!”

“He wasn’t in the other room either,” Grim Dawn says glancing back into the hallway. “And with his teleport spell, he could be anywhere right now.”

I wish that was the case. But no, I’m just marinating in a locker I apparently locked myself into. Hoping you won’t notice that I’m here.

“With all due respect, sir, I don’t think so,” She says while lowering her hoof. “He didn’t teleport too far when we were chasing after him. His spell seemed to fizzle out on him when I tackled him to the ground, too. I think he might be at his limit, so he shouldn’t be able to go too far.”

That’s surprisingly observant of you, Star Berry. I hope none of the other rangers share that quality or life will get more complicated for me.

Grim Dawn looks back at her. “Any idea on where he might be hiding then?”

Star Berry thinks for a moment then shakes her head. “No sir, I’m not familiar enough with this place to guess where he might have gone. But again, I don’t think he can go too far in the state he is in.”

“Maybe,” He says before moving towards the lockers. I shrink back as much as I can and pray that he doesn’t see me as I hear him rummaging through the locker next to me. “Even if he can’t teleport anymore, it is best to assume he knows the layout better than we do,” He then tosses an old lab coat to Star Berry. “That knowledge alone will give him an edge over us, regardless of his current state. We’re going to need more rangers if we want to effectively box him in.”

I think you’re overestimating my ability to navigate this discordian maze just a tad there. Otherwise, I probably wouldn’t have been spotted by you two in the first place. Let alone get stuck in this predicament.

Star Berry snorts angrily before using the lab coat to clean her helmet off. “But we were so close! If I had noticed him getting ready to teleport when we first saw him, we wouldn’t have lost him!”

“That is what happens when you underestimate your opponent,” Grim Dawn points out rather dryly. As Star Berry tosses the lab coat to the ground, he adds “I’ll update the Star Paladin about our situation. Head over to the Scribes and get your helmet fixed.”

“But sir!” She immediately objects. “I can still help out! It is just E.F.S. that isn’t working!”

“We’re not going to underestimate him again,” He says firmly. “And we’ll need every advantage if we’re going to catch a teleporting unicorn. Now, you have your order. Radio me once you get it done. I need you back out here ASAP, Knight.”

“Yes, sir!” She salutes him again, though her tone, while being professional, makes it clear that she still isn’t happy about any of this.

For his part, though, Grim Dawn just returns the salute and watches her leave the room. He stares at it for a few seconds. For what reason, I can only guess at.

“Intrepid,” I tense up the moment he says my name. Though, he doesn’t move from his spot as he continues. “I wish I could believe that you are being sincere about what you’re up to. Given our options, I think I’d rather have this rocket on the moon than stay down here with us.”

With that, he taps his helmet and then starts talking as he calmly walks out of the room. “Star-1? This is Red-2. I have something urgent to report.”

He closes the door behind him and I wait for the sound of hoofsteps outside to fade before finally letting out a giant sigh of relief. That. Was. Too. Close. And really, Grim Dawn should have felt my presence considering how close he got to my locker. Nevermind that he has E.F.S. on him. Does this mean that he let me go? That seems doubtful, given the views he expressed to his subordinate earlier. I definitely live in a strange time when a staunch Steel Ranger like him agrees that the ghoul’s rocket shouldn’t stay down here. Even stranger, considering that I am still going along with this insane plan despite being reminded about how recklessly dangerous it is. Not that it changes anything. For now, I’m on the clock and really need to get out of here before more Steel Rangers show up.

With what little room there is in this cramp locker, I put my hoof and shoulder to the door and push against it. And it. Just. Won’t. BUDGE! Ugh, ok, so I really did trap myself in here. Somehow. No problem, I still have my magic. Even if it has been a little unreliable right now, I’m not being chased anymore and the pain in my head has died down a little. So if I just focus on casting the spell, I can teleport out of this locker without too much issue.

I ignore the pain as magic courses through my horn again and focus on the center of the room. With a silent prayer, I manage to teleport out of the locker, only to be overwhelmed by pain and lightheadedness the moment I reappear. Nearly losing all sense of balance, I stumble forward and ram my head into a wall. I shut my eyes tightly and rub my head in a vain attempt to get rid of the nauseating pain.

Ok, not doing that again. Except that isn’t really an option, is it? Not with every Steel Ranger after my hide now. Just need to be smart about when I use my magic so I don’t burn myself out from overuse.

Taking some deep breaths, I slowly back away from the wall before looking myself over. There are some wounds from the chase that, while not that bad, are still bleeding. And the last thing I need is me accidentally leaving a trail behind me. So, now knowing what to expect, I place my foreleg into my mouth and start tapping into my blood magic to mend my wounds. Except, the expected spike of pain and lightheadedness doesn’t come. And after a few seconds of using my magic, I let go of my foreleg. No use biting down on it if there is no pain to ignore.

But why doesn’t it hurt when I use blood magic? Does it suppress (or maybe feed off of) pain when I use it? But then, the throbbing pain in my head is still there. Then maybe it is because it doesn’t require that much magic to heal my wounds? A byproduct of how unnaturally attuned I seem to be with its use? Never in my life have I found myself with the paradoxical feeling of learning more about a power I don’t want to learn more about.

There will be time to worry about all of that later. What matters now is that my injuries aren’t impeding my ability to move. A result of the Steel Rangers trying to bring me in alive, no doubt. This still doesn’t make them any less deadly than the hellhounds. Or any less amoral, for that matter.

With my wounds healed up, I rub my forehead, trying to make the pain die down quicker, while the little pony in my head says ‘You know, as far as being amoral goes, those two that chased you didn’t really sound like the jackbooted dictators that the Steel Rangers are usually known for.’

Shaking my head at the idea, I open the door and cautiously poke my head out into the hallway. It doesn’t matter how they act, they’re still Steel Rangers. And if I don’t hurry to the control center and get this stupid rocket launched, they’re going to do something desperate.

‘Then maybe you’re going about this the wrong way,’ the little pony suggests as I enter the hallway and start walking back the way I came. ‘Think about it, they don’t seem to want the rocket themselves and they’re certainly not keen on giving it away either. Maybe you can work something out with them?’

The problem with that is that I’m an escaped prisoner now. That guns down any willingness they would have to listen to me now. Not that they did back when we were talking to each other. Plus, what kind of a deal could I make with them anyway? It’s like Grim Dawn said: once word gets out that there’s a balefire rocket here, every major power in Equestria will be coming here in force to take it. Really, the only sane option we could both agree on is to dismantle the thing. And even that would mean a hundred warheads that need to be disposed of.

Of course, that’s assuming Diamond Shard would go along with that. This rocket, along with all the warheads inside of it, is the biggest trump card in all of Equestria. Big enough to make the Twilight Society think twice before using Celestia One against whoever has it. That alone would end the unofficial cold war between the Steel Rangers and the NCR in the Rangers’ favor.

If she is as committed to the Steel Rangers cause as Star Berry suggests, then there is no way she would simply throw this advantage away. It’s like tossing away a loaded revolver in the middle of a gunfight.

Which means there is no way she’ll let the ghouls go. Why leave all of those warheads in one rocket when the knowledge to make more is within your grasp? I wonder if she knows exactly what will happen to them once she turns them over. Then again, I doubt she’ll care about adding more bodies to the pile the Rangers have already made from the innocent lives they’ve cut short.

‘Are you sure about that?’ The little pony in my head asks. ‘Think about it, your prison guard thought she went soft after her promotion. She winced when you suggested that she just wants help to kill innocent ponies. Not to mention how concerned she was about the rocket causing even more loss of life. She doesn’t seem like the kind of pony Star Berry heard about in those rumors.’

That doesn’t mean much. Silverwing didn’t seem like a murderer either and look what happened with Trian Mill.

‘This isn’t Trian Mill,’ the little pony annoyingly points out. ‘And Diamond Shard isn’t Silverwing anymore than she is that scribe who hired him. They’re not the same.’

Aren’t they?! I heard what Star Berry said! I know exactly the lengths the Steel Rangers will go to to get what they want! If she is anything like them, then I’m the only one that can prevent her from getting what she wants and starting another massacre!

‘Are you really doing this to prevent another massacre?’ The little pony asks bluntly. ‘Or are you just looking for an excuse to spite her and the rest of the Steel Rangers for everything they’ve done to you?’

I stop dead in my tracks and stare down at the floor, the lights flicker momentarily as that thought lingers in my mind. I then shake my head and continue walking forward.

I’m not being vindictive here.

I’m not.

I just… need to keep moving.

Hearing the sound of hoofsteps coming towards me, I duck into a room and hide until the sound disappears. Another close call, of what has been three so far since my escape. While it is lucky that none of the Steel Rangers hunting me have noticed me (and thus tag me on their E.F.S.), it is only a matter of time before they catch a glimpse of my tail or hear my breathing. A small part of me wonders if Rose has been found out and captured by now. But this is a bat pony that kept a group of super hellhounds from catching her for two weeks. There is no real need to worry about her.

I poke my head out of the room and, after making certain that they are truly gone, leave my hiding spot to look at the directory sign hanging on the wall. While it doesn’t list every ghouls’ office as it should, it still points out where the major rooms in this place are. A blessing to be sure, given my luck finding out where everything is in this place. And getting lost is the last thing I want when there are Steel Rangers hunting me down.

Spotting the Control Center listing right above the Electrical Room, I note that the arrow points in the same direction where I heard the hoofsteps come from. Maybe that means that those Rangers were guarding the control center? If so, then it means sneaking into the room should be easy now. Of course, there is only one way to find out.

As I make my way towards the Control Center, I soon find myself in familiar territory. The very same hallway that Salt Cube led me down when I first arrived here, in fact. Back before I knew exactly what kind of madness was brewing down here. And now here I am, going down the same path again, with full intention of going through with the same plan I called insane nearly a week ago.

Calling this ironic feels like an understatement considering everything that has happened up to this point. If anypony back home knew what I am trying to pull off right now…

And there’s the large room where I met Bright Eyes and Rocky Shores up ahead. I quicken my pace, praying that Rose is waiting for me inside and not a gathering of fully armed Steel Rangers.

Fortunately, there doesn’t appear to be any Steel Rangers waiting for me here.

Unfortunately, Rose isn’t here either.

Worse, the terminal next to the large vault door leading to the control center is missing. Because of course it would be. And if that isn’t bad enough, a close examination of the new hole in the wall shows that they even ripped out the wiring as well. Which means there is nothing to hook my PipBuck up to in order to force the door open.

“Smart move, Diamond,” I mutter to myself. “No need to waste ponies guarding a door when you can just prevent anypony from getting inside.”

Alright, there is a solution to this: I’ll just teleport into the room myself and open the door on that side. Sure, I still haven’t fully recovered yet and the only other time I teleported to a place I couldn’t see I ended up passing out. But I was bleeding to death back then and Rose was on a completely different floor. This is literally just teleporting onto the other side of a door to a room I’ve been to. The worst that could happen now is that I collapse again and spend some time recovering.

Or faint for a few hours. Or days.

No. Stop worrying about that. I just need to close my eyes and visualise the room in its entirety. With all of the terminals, the consoles, the chairs. Actually, did any of them get knocked over when the Steel Rangers barged into the room? I don’t really want to splice into one of them when I reappear on the other side. In fact, how do I know that the room hasn’t been littered with traps to keep me out? Or that there’s some Rangers still trying to break into the console inside?

Ok, blindly teleporting into this room is probably a bad idea. Maybe I should contact Salt Cube now and make sure there aren't any traps waiting for me on the other side. Assuming he’s not going to backstab us again. Or that he’s actually where he said he would be and not tied up in another room somewhere. Or worse.

Spying an intercom box nearby, I quickly walk over and dial the room number Salt Cube gave me before pressing the talk button. “Hello? Anypony there?”

Static.

“Come on, please tell me somepony is there! The door is locked and I’ve got Rangers hunting for me right now!”

More static.

“I swear, Salt Cube, if you gave me the wrong room number,” I press my head against the intercom. “I’ll… I’ll…”

“Salt Cube is busy at the moment. But I’m more than willing to deal with you right now.”

Instincts kick in and I teleport a few feet away before my brain has the chance to remind my body why it shouldn’t do that. The world feels like it is spinning as I lean heavily against a nearby wall. With one hoof pressing against my aching head, I look over to see the one thing I didn’t want to see: A lone Ranger stands near a now dented intercom, their metal hoof firmly planted into it.

“A teleporting unicorn that is nearing his limit. Just like they said,” Diamond Shard says thoughtfully as she lowers her hoof to the ground and turns to face me. “Though, you seem to be handling yourself better than I was led to believe. For a Tower pony, that is.”

“Thanks for the compliment,” I say while forcing myself to my hooves before glancing at the empty space around her. “Aren’t you supposed to have a few thugs with you?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be with Winter Rose?” She gestures behind her with her head. “After everything you said about trusting her, I didn’t expect you to abandon her like all of the other scum she keeps coercing into her schemes.”

“Like you’re one to talk about trust,” I say while anger flares up inside me. There is something condescending about her tone that just ticks me off. “When your own Rangers question your motives behind your back. Not really surprising, given the reputation you and your old chapter seem to have garnered among them.”

Even with her power armor obscuring her features, it’s clear from the animosity suddenly radiating from her that my comment struck a nerve. “Oh?” She says coldly, taking a few steps towards me.

I level a glare at her. “You talk about saving lives, but let’s be honest here: you really don’t care how many bodies pile up as long as you get what you want in the end: Fame, Prestige, a shiny new promotion as Elder. Just as soon as you deliver the most destructive weapon in Equestria to a bunch of amoral fanatics who-”

In an instant, Diamond closes the distance between us. And in one quick motion, she lifts my body off the ground and slams me into the ground hard. W-What just happened? H-How did she- “GAH!”

“Let me make one thing clear to you,” Diamond calmly says while slamming one hoof into my shoulder and bends my foreleg in an unnatural direction with the other. “I am not in the mood right now. The only reason why I humored you before was because of a deal I made with your mercenary partner.”

“That deal also means you shouldn’t be hurting me right now!” I point out through clenched teeth. “Rose did tell you everything, didn’t she?”

“Did she?” Diamond Shard tilts her head slightly. “She apparently lied about coercing you into hunting hellhounds with her. Just like she lied about not knowing about what the ghouls were planning on doing here. So between your outlandish story and her suspiciously tame one, I don’t know who to believe,” She leans in closer to me. “But I am curious: what did you do to her that she would actually go through all of this effort to spare you any blame? If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were blackmailing her somehow.”

It is hard to do in this position, but I try to glare up at her regardless. “Or maybe I actually treated her with some respect, you self-righteous little- AGH!”

“The only one being self-righteous is you,” Diamond mutters as she bends my foreleg even further back. My eyes shut tightly from the pain while her tone becomes much darker as she adds “Now, tell me how to end the lockdown or-”

“Or what?” I snap at her. “You’ll break my foreleg off? Go ahead! I’m not helping you kill anypony here!”

I wait for her to snap my foreleg into two. But she doesn’t. And the heavily tinted visor makes it impossible to read her emotions.

Is she hesitating? Why? I am the big bad pony here in her eyes! Just because you still haven’t figured out that I don’t know how to end the lockdown doesn’t mean you should be holding back!

‘Why are you thinking about any of this right now?!’ asks the little pony in my head, desperately trying to calm me down. ‘In fact, why are you even arguing with her?! You need to get out of here before things get any worse!’

“You keep reminding me of that traitor,” Diamond Shard mutters, causing me to blink in surprise as she raises her hoof from my shoulder in a threatening manner. “And I don’t like that one bit.”

In that instant, I look to the other side of the room and teleport before her hoof could connect with my face. The pain and lightheadedness hit me yet again and I sway back and forth when reappearing. Fighting back against gravity, I manage to steady myself again before looking back at my opponent.

Just in time to see the bottom of her steel hoof right in front of my face.

The combined force of being bucked in the face, chest, and stomach sends me flying out of the room and tumbling down the hall. I cough out blood as I slide to a stop, clutching my stomach in pain. To my infinite misery, that simultaneous attack on three parts of my body confirms it: she has S.A.T.S. built into her armor. Can’t really say that I care for being on the receiving end of that spell for once.

“Do you feel like cooperating now?” She asks calmly, cracking her neck while walking towards me. “Or are you going to force me to keep breaking bones until you talk?”

‘Just give up already,’ My little pony says as I struggle to stand. ‘At this rate, no pony will be able to recognise your corpse once she’s done with you. So stop being stubborn and just tell her the truth already! Admit that Salt Cube activated the lockdown and promise to stay out of her way if she lets you and Rose leave here alive.’

And condemn the ghouls to whatever fate Diamond Shard has planned for them? No, I’m not going to do that. Nor am I going to let her or any other Steel Ranger take this stupid rocket from here. Not if I can help it.

I glance over to the vault door behind the approaching Steel Ranger. Buck it all! Why didn’t I ignore my worries and teleport straight there when I had the chance? At least then I would have been safely inside, waiting for Salt Cube to answer me or for Rose to give me my PipBuck. With Diamond Shard standing right outside, patiently waiting for whoever comes to get me. Nevermind. It seems that, for once, my worrying actually kept me out of a worst situation.

Alright, new plan, find Rose before she walks into this mess.

As magic courses through my horn, Diamond suddenly charges into a tackle, her body pushing against mine just as my teleport spell goes off. Whatever momentum was transferred between us pushes me into a wall as I reappear further down the hall. Another wave of pain and dizziness assaults my mind, worse than the last one. And rubbing my forehead doesn’t seem to be helping anymore.

The wall immediately shakes with Diamond practically ramming into it. Wood cracks and splinters as the wall buckles from the impact. An effective reminder of just how much the user’s strength is enhanced by power armor.

Taking a few steps back, I watch as the imposing Ranger removes herself from the wall and turns to face me. Without a word, she shifts into a defensive pose and looks me over. Probably waiting for me to make the next move.

If only I knew what to do next. Running, obviously. But teleporting away is starting to get dicey and the idea of it failing on me again isn’t enticing, to say the least. But can I outrun her without relying on my teleport spell? Not if she gets close enough to use S.A.T.S. again. She’ll tear me to pieces for sure if that happens.

There must be a way to recognise when she is about to use S.A.T.S.. But her power armor doesn’t give off any signs to go off on. Or maybe I’m missing something. What was it that Rose was trying to teach me about noticing things? Look for something that doesn’t look right? But all she’s doing is standing there defensively. No wait, is her armor slightly trembling right no-OH DEAR LUNA!

Diamond’s body moves like a blur, going from standing afar off one second to rearing right in front of me in the next, startling me into teleporting away. Which only makes things worse for me as I stumble backward upon reappearing, desperately holding onto my dwindling sense of balance until I fall onto my haunches. Diamond continues to slam her hooves into the ground like a jackhammer for a few more seconds before she finally stops.

Just. How? How?! You should be locked in place when using S.A.T.S.! This isn’t how the manual said the spell is supposed to work! There’s no way a pony should be able to move like that, right? Right?!

Turning her head in my direction, she quickly digs her hooves into the ground and charges forward. Having no other choice left, I try to teleport away again only for the spell to fizzle out on me. I try to dodge out of the way but she knocks me off my hooves and almost slams her hoof into me when my second attempt to teleport works.

Although, with my head spinning and aching in pain, it might have been better to take the hit. I don’t bother getting my bearings and scramble into a nearby room. However, I can’t stand the dizziness anymore and I slump against a nearby wall, hugging my head in an attempt to make the pain go away.

I can’t keep going like this anymore. Not if I keep feeling like this every time I teleport.

Forcing myself back onto my hooves, I barely recognize the room I am in. It is the one that I woke up in after my fight with Lupa. Which means there has to be some medication in here somewhere, right? With the grace of a drunk, I move past the bed and lab table to the row of cabinets at the back of the room. Hopefully there’s some medication in them or something to take away this pain. Except the first cabinet only has lab equipment in it. The next one after that has even more lab equipment inside. And the last one is just empty. Figures. Just as I back away from the last cabinet, I spot a small refrigerator in the corner. With luck, there might be a healing potion in there. Please let there be a healing potion in there. Opening it up, my heart stops once I see what is inside.

Blood packs. Several of them neatly arranged on the shelf.

R-Right, the ghouls would need a few here in case something happened to Salt Cube, wouldn’t they? They probably used a couple on me when they were treating me too. Now that they’re leaving the planet forever, it wouldn’t make any sense for them to take the blood with them.

Nothing good will come from using those blood packs here.

Except this is an opportunity to end it right here, isn’t it? There wouldn’t be a need to launch the rocket if Diamond Shard and her Rangers weren’t around anymore. And there’s enough blood here that it won’t be suicidal to go all out like when I fought Lupa. I did take down Lupa, so it shouldn’t be that hard to get rid of a few Steel Rangers. Everypony here would be safer if they weren’t around.

The image of Rose lying on the ground bleeding, with blades of blood hovering over her body, flashes through my mind as my little pony asks ‘Would everypony be safer? If you go all out like last time, will you be able to rein yourself in before you go too far?’

I stare at the blood packs for what feels like an eternity before shaking my head. No, probably not. Honestly, why am I even considering this at all?! I need to get out of here before Diamond finds me again.

Backing away from the fridge, I move to leave when my hooves are swept out from under me, knocking my body onto the ground hard.

“Do realise that you only have yourself to blame for this,” Diamond Shard says as she steps over my body. “I tried reasoning with you and you spat on that. I let Salt Cube try to convince you to help us and that failed. And now,” She slams her hoof into my foreleg. I scream out in pain, tears forming in my eyes, as she leans in close. “Now, I’m seeing that you're too stubborn to beat into submission.”

Several fiery remarks come to mind as my eyes glance over to the blood packs. But I bite my tongue and try to keep my now rising anger from spilling out. Stay calm. Stay in control. Don’t make the same mistake you made with Lupa. Get out of this mess without making things worse.

Another jolt of pain shoots through my foreleg as she grinds her hoof into it. “Fine then, if you won’t talk then maybe Rose will.”

“Good luck trying to find her,” I say through clenched teeth while trying to push her hoof off. “She kept hellhounds guessing for two weeks. You have no chance.”

Diamond gives a short, mirthless chuckle. “Winter Rose has been in my town for two years. You don’t think I would have figured her out by now?”

She lifts her head back up. “I know she keeps a bobby pin in her tail for when she needs to escape from captivity. I know she overheard me when I told my Rangers where I want to keep you. And I know she’s heading straight for the control center right now, probably with your PipBuck in hoof. And we both know there is only one way out of there now.”

I stop struggling and look up with widening eyes as she continues. “It’s just a matter of time before my Rangers drag her over here, really. And if showing off your bloody body doesn’t get her to talk, then I’ll let you watch as I break her in front of you. Maybe that will finally loosen your tongue.”

“You Leave Her Out Of This!” I shout out. “She doesn’t know how to end any of this! You know she doesn’t!”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Diamond answers back. “But I’m tired of playing this game with you. So for the last time,” She picks me up and slams me into the wall. “If you actually care about that bat pony as much as you let on, you will end the lockdown. Now!”

My heart threatens to beat out of my chest as I tremble in the Steel Ranger’s grasp. The idea of teleporting away again comes to mind and is immediately tossed aside; She will use E.F.S. to find me before I can recover from the spell. And even if I do get away, if what Diamond is implying is true and Rose gets caught in her trap…

Once again the blood packs tempt me, the familiar siren call tugging at my mind, offering power in exchange for giving in. No, I don’t need it. Rose will be fine. Even if she is captured, she has gotten out of worse situations than this. But… what if they tell her the same thing and she doesn’t bother to escape? She was willing to lie to keep me safe after all. And if I’m forced to tell the truth, what are they going to do to Salt Cube? Or the ghouls if Salt Cube refuses to talk?

Buck it all, what am I supposed to do here?! Why is it that everytime I try to do something right somepony gets hurt in the end?! Isn’t it enough to just let me suffer for my own stupidity, Luna?! Is that too much to ask?!

Of course it is. It is always too much. Like asking for the Steel Rangers to live up to the noble ideals they had before the war. The same ideals I nearly gave up on thanks to their betrayal. It’s ironic that they would show up just when things were finally looking up for me. Like they didn’t break me enough the first time around! Now they’re here to piss on me a second time?!

“Why do you keep doing this to me?!” I finally answer with a mixture of pent up anger and frustration. “Wasn’t it enough to trick me into turning Trian Mill into a death trap?! They didn’t deserve to die in their own home like that! But that didn’t matter to you as long as you got a shiny new bunker out of it! And Now You’re Asking Me To Give You The Chance To Do It All Over Again, But On A Bigger Scale?! WHY IN LUNA’S NAME WOULD I EVER DO THAT?!”

Diamond strikes my face before throwing me into the ground hard. “Enough Already!” She growls. “I am not asking about that bunker! And if I was, why would we involve you at all? The two Rangers I sent there were more than capable of-”

Suddenly my blood runs cold. “You,” I cut her off as I shakily lift myself off the ground. “You sent them there? You’re the reason that Scribe and her bodyguard were interested in Trian Mill in the first place?”

She pauses for a moment, then asks “You met them?” I stay silent and I can feel her glare piercing through her helmet as she looks at me. “Scribe Prism and Knight Jade. What happened to them?”

I hang my head, my eyes widening as the realisation sinks in: That everything that happened, the blood caps, the virus, all of those deaths, is all because of the pony standing in front of me.

She takes a threatening step forward. “I am beyond tired of this,” She continues, her tone gaining a harsh edge to it. “So explain to me how my two best Rangers, who were on a scouting mission, ended up dead with a couple of tribals?”

“Am I really supposed to believe that you sent a Scribe out on a scouting mission?” I snarl as my anger starts slipping out of my control in the face of her lies. “Next, you’ll tell me that the twelve thousand caps she had on her at the time was just for supplies. Or that you didn’t know about the infected holotape she gave us to fix the turret system she just happened to know was not working in Trian Mill.”

“You’re clearly making that up,” She says. “When I found their bodies, they were nowhere near that massacre. For all I know, you were the one that killed them all and are using my Rangers as a scapegoat for your murdering spree.”

The blood bags burst open and their content fly past Diamond Shard to encircle around me. The mare steps back as I glare at her with unbridled rage.

“How Dare You.” I growl darkly. “I just wanted to keep them safe. It was your Rangers that set everything in motion. Your Rangers that wanted the base so badly. Your Rangers that took advantage of my good intentions to kill them all. And since they were under your orders, Their Blood Is Just As Much On Your Hooves As It Is On Theirs!”Two blades form from the torrent of blood circling me. “SO HOW DARE YOU PRETEND YOU’RE INNOCENT!”

With one step forward, I strike at Diamond, both of my blades scrape against her power armor as she dodges away from them. Another strike to her forelegs forces her to the ground. But her armor prevents me from cutting straight through, my blades barely biting into the metal itself. Not that it matters, it can’t hold up forever.

You’re not innocent, Diamond. And I will make you pay for what you’ve done!

In one blurry motion, Diamond slams her head into my stomach and knocks the wind out of me. My blood blades splatter on the ground as she wraps her hooves around me and throws me out of the room.

Fire burns in my lungs as I try to catch my breath, my legs protesting while I force myself onto my hooves. But the pain dims in comparison to the searing hatred raging inside of me.

Diamond charges, getting close enough to me that she lifts her hoof to strike right as I call the blood back to me. A single long blade slams into her, knocking her off balance enough to lessen her blow to my foreleg. She staggers to the side while I fall to my knee. My blade lashes out at her but she knocks it away with her foreleg before striking against my shoulder.

The blow connects, shoving me to the ground and forcing me to teleport away when she rears up to stomp on my head. I barely recognise the ground shaking as I press up against a wall, using it as a support in my attempt to stand up even as the world feels like it is spinning.

From the corner of my eye, I see the glint of metal and try to teleport away again. Only for the spell to fail and a metal hoof slams into my face, knocking me to the ground. Another attack comes but I roll away in time and slam my blade into her head repeatedly, forcing her to back off. Even after cutting deep grooves into her armor, my attacks still can’t get through that metal plating. And it is infuriating.

I stagger to my hooves while Diamond gets into a defensive position. Some part of me feels like it is trying to get me to stop, to run away from this fight. But no. Not this time. Not while she is still alive. She needs to pay. Now. I shove that part to the back of my mind and focus on the Ranger in front of me as we catch our breaths. There has to be some kind of weakness to exploit here. Some way for me to tear through that armor and make her answer for all the blood that was spilt that day.

That day. Did you know, Star Paladin Shard, just how many ponies were living in that base? Or how hard it was for them to eke out a living in that barren wasteland they called home? Did you stop to think about what you were about to do?

No, when things should have gotten better for them, you decided to cut them down instead. They were only a bunch of dirty tribals, after all, and your chapter needed their home more than they did. Needed it badly enough to turn it against them.

And you have the nerve to plead ignorance while shifting all of the blame on me! The only one that actually wanted to help them! The only one that still has nightmares about what happened!

Her body blurs as she races forward, landing an uppercut on my chin before putting me in a headlock.

You knew what was going on there!

I split my blood blades into four and start hammering them down on her even as she squeezes harder around my neck.

Why else would they have the cap?! Or the virus?!

Choking under her grip, I teleport behind her and manage to keep my balance even as I stab my blades into the joints of her rear legs.

But you just didn’t care!

She tries to buck my head, her hind hooves barely graze my chin as I stagger backwards. I recall my blades just as she turns to face me.

Their lives didn’t matter to you as long as your Chapter got what it wanted in the end!

Before she can attack, I lunge forward with my blades, striking at her with increasingly more violent and powerful blows. Forcing her backwards as I pour all of my ire into my magic.

You Call Yourself A Steel Ranger?!

One of my blades slices off the hose on her helmet.

The Rangers I Looked Up To Wouldn’t Have Acted Like Bloodthirsty Raiders!

Reverting my blades into a liquid, I channel it through the exposed hose right into her helmet.

They Wouldn’t Have Abandoned Everything They Stood For!

Diamond claws at her helmet before finally ripping it off of her and throwing it on the ground.

You’re A Mockery Of What They Were!

Ripping the blood out of her helmet, I reform my blade and immediately go for her exposed throat.

AND YOU SHOULD DIE FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!

‘Like how Rose should have blown your head off?’

My blade stops just inches away from Diamond’s neck as Rose’s scar flashes before my eyes.

‘Quit rushing to mete out justice and think this through! The little pony in my head continues even as he struggles to be heard among the feelings of rage and bloodlust trying to drown it out. ‘All you know for certain is that she ordered those two Rangers on a scouting mission and that she came across their bodies some time after you killed them.’

I clench my teeth, desperately trying to keep my feelings in check even as my blood magic threatens to break out of my control. That doesn’t mean she wasn’t hoping that they would do what they did! For all I know, she probably used this mess to get herself promoted to Star Paladin!

‘But that doesn’t match up with what you actually know about her!’ My little pony shouts. ‘Remember what Rose said about her and her Rangers in Green Bean? They protect everypony in that town. And remember that interrogation? The entire reason she’s here, the reason she’s going to such extremes to get you to end the lockdown, is because the ghoul’s rocket poses a serious risk to everypony around here!’

I KNOW THAT! But that still doesn’t mean that she could be giving me half truths and keeping others things hidden from me! In her mind, I’m the mass murderer here! There isn’t any reason for her to be honest with me about any of this!

‘But there’s no reason to say that she’s lying to you about this either,’ My little pony points out. ‘If anything, she’s proven to be an honorable pony just by honoring her agreement with Rose until it looked like she was lied to herself. And even if she did get her promotion because of what those two Rangers did, that guard from outside your room said that she had grown soft after becoming Star Paladin. Doesn’t that mean that she’s changed just as much as you did from that experience?’

That… that is certainly a possibility…

The little pony shakes his head. ‘Are you really so vindictive that you’re willing to murder a pony regardless of she’s innocent or not?’

But how could she be innocent?! She sent those Rangers there! Even if she didn’t specifically order her Rangers to do what they did, she is still responsible for everything that happened at Trian Mill! It’s not like she didn’t…

Doubt. Doubt finally digs itself into my mind, compelling me to look Diamond straight in the eyes and ask “You really didn’t know what they were doing over there, did you?”

She gives me a very confused look, glances down at the blade at her throat, then adopts a more serious expression as she locks her eyes with mine. “No,” She says firmly. “I had more important things to worry at the time.”

“DON’T LIE-!” My sudden outburst causes the blade to make a small cut to her neck before I can stop it. Seeing that small bit of life bleeding out of her wound, feeling that warm energy radiating from it as it sends a chill down my spine, nearly makes me lose it. My body tenses up as I desperately try to maintain control over myself with the wolf claws at my mind.

Stay calm! Stay focused! I can’t lose it now. Not until she fully explains herself.

“That seems unlikely,” I say as calmly as I can manage. “What in Luna’s name could have been more important that you wouldn’t keep tabs on what your scouts were doing?”

Diamond carefully considers me for a moment before saying “Holding together what remained of my contingent. The Enclave found a way into our systems and attacked while we were getting gunned down by our own defenses. We managed to repel them, but not before taking heavy casualties and losing most of our equipment and supplies in the process.”

Regret shows in her eyes as her voice gains an edge to it. “That was the situation I had to take charge of when Scribe Prism suggested an area we might be able to relocate to. So tell me, how was I supposed to know that ordering her there would lead to a worse massacre than the one I was dealing with? How would I know if she had taken caps from our treasury or made a copy of the same virus that turned our defenses against us when our base was literally falling apart at the seams?!”

A thick tension settles in the air as she finishes. I study her face, scrutinizing every feature and detail to try and figure out if she is lying or not. But the more I search, the more convinced I become that she’s telling the truth.

My rage slowly fades but that urge to rip her soul from her body renews its assault on my mind, desperately trying to compel me to kill her. Like a wolf that has tasted blood. I clutch my head, fighting push back against it. This isn’t right anymore! What happened at Trian Mill was not her fault! Not intentionally. She doesn’t deserve to die for that! She couldn’t have known how much death that one order would have caused in the end. Just like I couldn’t have known how much death that one holotape would cause back then.

What have I been doing to myself for all these years?

My blood blade reverts back into its liquid form and erratically circles around me as I fight against the curse’s influence, struggling to banish what remains of my anger and bloodlust from my mind.

Enough! I’m better than this! I may have been cursed with this blood magic a long time ago. It may have caused me to do horrible things in the past. It may even be a permanent part of me forever. But it isn’t stronger than me! This power is mine now! And I’m not going to allow it to manipulate my emotions and influence my mind towards wanton murder! Not without a fight!

No, I Am Not Going To Kill Her In Cold Blood! I REFUSE!

Suddenly, blood splatters on the ground as the influence finally disappears to the back of my mind. Every fiber of my being shakes with every deep breath of air I take while my hooves slide down my tear stained face. Wait, tears? When did I start crying?

It doesn’t matter now. For once I didn’t give in! Thank Luna, I didn’t give in!

Suddenly Diamond plows right into me, shoving me onto my back. The intent to kill clearly shows in her eyes as she raises her hoof to strike my head. I quickly splatter her face with some nearby blood, causing her to gag and try to wipe it from her eyes. Again I try to teleport and it takes longer than normal for it to finally go off and send me somewhere down the hall.

A long list of curses comes to me as I reappear and I clutch my head as all too familiar pain and lightheadedness hits me with a vengeance.

Buck it all, why can’t Diamond give me a break like any other character in a story would when their opponent backs down?! Nevermind, I need to figure a way to stop her before she snaps my neck! If only my head would stop hurting! And this stupid flickering light above me isn’t helping matters!

W-Wait a minute! Lights! Of course! This place still has power! Maybe I can pull off the same thing I did with the anti-magic ring?

Forcing myself back onto my hooves, I quickly glance at the nearby sign before running in the direction of the Electrical Room. Swaying back and forth all the while, but somehow keeping myself from completely falling over.

If I can just get there before Diamond kills me, then maybe I can disable that power armor!

My pace quickens when I hear the heavy stomping of Diamond’s hooves closing in on me. A quick glance reveals that she has her helmet on again. Maybe assuming that I won’t try the same trick again since I left all that blood behind. Or more likely, she knows she’ll survive longer holding her breath than exposing her neck for a quick decapitation.

It does make what I’m planning on doing a bit easier, though.

The constant need to teleport and run and fight seems to be catching up with me, however. Every part of me aches by the time I make it to the ajar Electrical Room door. Just as I move to go through it, my hind legs are knocked out from under me, forcing me to teleport straight into the room.

My muzzle smashes into some equipment as I reappear and collapse onto the floor. Blood runs down my nose and I hold a hoof against it, trying to ignore the pain coursing through my head. Glancing at my surroundings, I spot what appears to be a big generator with a few large cables coming out of it. Jackpot! Scrambling over to it, I manage to press my back against it just as Diamond runs into the room.

I form a small blade from the blood coming out of my nose when she charges straight at me. Her hoof grazing my cheek as I push myself away at the last moment and hear it slam into the generator. And at that moment, I slice one of the cables coming from the generator and ram the electrified end into the jackpoint on her helmet.

Sparks fly from her power armor while magical lightning arches over its surface. When one of those lightning arches threatens to jump over to me, I quickly back away, pulling the cable out in the process. The power armor falls over with a loud thud and I keep the cable pointed at her as it sparks and smokes.

No movement.

I mend the cable back together again and then stumble to a nearby wall before I promptly vomit everything in my stomach onto the floor. Between the cold sweat running down my face and the gasps of stale air I draw in, I idly wonder why I keep pushing myself past the limits my body can handle before pushing that thought to the side. The more important question I should be asking is if I actually killed Diamond Shard or not?

Wiping my face off, I cautiously approach the still smoking power armor. That did a lot more damage than I expected. But power armor is insulated against this kind of thing. I think. Honestly, I would have felt her dying just like I felt Lupa and the others die. Maybe.

Reaching out to pull off her helmet, I nearly jump back when the jackpoint on her helmet sparks briefly.

Ok, maybe I overestimated how much punishment power armor can take. Oh dear Luna, I killed her.

Tugging at her helmet a bit, I finally get it off to find the unconscious looking mare underneath. She lets out a groan as she stirs herself awake before looking up at me. To which, I let out a big sigh and say “Thank Luna I didn’t kill you!”

“What?” Diamond lets out before struggling to get off the ground. However, her power armor barely moves. Apparently, that shock knocked out all of the strength enhancements needed for a pony to freely move in it. Which effectively means she is stuck in a straight-jacket made out of tank armor.

“Don’t get me wrong, I still don’t like you,” I put her helmet off to the side and slump down against the generator. “Not after everything you’ve put Rose and I through. But even then, it wasn’t right to jump to conclusions like I did. Neither was letting that cursed power get out of control like that. And if I had killed you for something you weren’t responsible for while under its influence, I don’t think I could forgive myself for doing that. So, umm, sorry about that.”

Unsurprisingly, Diamond gives me an incredulous look before shaking her head. “You can’t be serious.”

“I don’t expect you to believe me. Or forgive me for what I’ve done, really,” I say while rubbing the back of my neck. “But I truly try to avoid killing ponies when I can help it and after what just happened, well, again, I’m sorry for that. And that I’ll make it up to you once this entire mess is over. Somehow.”

Diamond studies my face in disbelief, probably trying to figure out how sincere I am with everything I’m saying. Or maybe trying to figure out if I’m insane. To be fair, even Ihaven’t figured that one out yet.

“You have to think I’m some kind of idiot, don’t you?” She finally says. “Am I really supposed to swallow that bull when you’re trying to launch a nuke to Celestia knows where?!”

I raise an eyebrow. “Am I supposed to believe that you’re not interested in using it for your own ends?”

“Yes!” She says emphatically.

“Why?” I ask. “Why would somepony like you, a Star Paladin, come to such a remote area such as Green Bean if you weren’t looking for something as powerful as this stupid rocket?”

Diamond glares at me for a few seconds, then she glances at her helmet, before finally looking back at her damaged power armor. “It’s because this place was so remote that I came here in the first place.”

Ok, that wasn’t what I was expecting to hear from her and I find myself tilting my head to show as much.

“That massacre you blamed me for? My superiors thought I did it,” She continues as she turns her attention back at me. “And they were impressed by how efficiently it was cleaned out. More so than me fixing that hopeless situation I was in. I tried to set the record straight, turn down the promotion to Star Paladin. But they were more interested in making me a hero and showing that we weren’t dying out than telling the truth.

“Officially, I’m here to determine if the Chapter is really needed. In reality, I needed to get away from it all and rethink my beliefs,” She shakes her head. “The Chapter was a mess when I arrived. Between the lack of leadership, Green Bean having no strategic value whatsoever, and the Chapter acting more like town guards than actual Steel Rangers, I almost ordered them to pack up and leave right there and then.”

Fire ignites in her eyes as she fiercely says “But I remembered how I felt when I was dragging bodies into the mass grave at Trian Mill. Wondering what I would have done if I had arrived there just a day or two earlier. I decided then I wasn’t going to let that happen again. Until that miserable town can stand on its own four hooves, I will work to turn it and its Chapter into what they should be while keeping them safe from threats like you!”

We stare at each other in silence, her piercing glare leaving no room for doubt that she is completely serious in her claim. That glare intensifies when I finally break the silence by chuckling to myself.

“Ok, I take back what I said about you,” I say while picking myself off the ground. “You’re close to being a Steel Ranger like Flint Striker was. Still doesn’t mean that I like you or how you do things around here.”

“I don’t need your approval to do what’s right,” She snarls at me. I simply shrug and begin to walk away when she says in a softer tone “Wait. How do you know about Flint Striker anyway?”

I stop and look back at her. “Because Flint Striker and Violet Sage told me their stories while raising me. Their example actually made me the kind of pony I am today. But that’s kind of a given, considering they are my parents and all that,” Diamond looks utterly dumbfounded as I salute her. “Now if you will excuse me, I have a rocket to send to the moon.”

“You really think that rocket will make it to the moon?!” She snaps.

“To be honest, it’s more of a hope now than anything,” I say as I start to walk away. “But having considered all of the options available, that thing is better off up there than it is down here.”

“You’re going to risk the lives of hundreds, no thousands, of ponies because you hope it will make it to the moon?!” She asks derisively. “You can’t do that! That thing will crash back down before it even makes it past the cloud line! It won’t work! You can’t make it work!”

I can’t make it work.

I can’t make a difference.

I can’t teleport another pony with me.

I can’t travel with somepony anymore.

I can’t control my blood magic.

I can’t do anything right.

I look back at Diamond and smile. “Watch me.”

“Stop!” Diamond shouts as she struggles onto her hooves, her power armor still acting like a millstone around her neck. But I ignore her and walk out of the room. Honestly, I think Rose is rubbing off on me more than I thought. Especially if I can say something as arrogant as that and actually mean it. Now then, to find Rose and hope that my bravado doesn’t end up destroying the world.

“HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!”

Oh, for the love of Luna!

Two Steel Rangers start running down the hall towards me, one firing a shot at my hooves. It misses, ricocheting off the floor and hitting the wall instead, but that’s enough to remind me that I really don’t want to go through another fight with these ponies. I quickly dash in the opposite direction and teleport around a corner to throw them off while more shots are fired at me.

Struggling to keep myself from collapsing upon reappearing, I try to keep moving when Diamond shouts, “FORGET ABOUT HIM!”

“Star Paladin?” One of the Rangers asks as I stop and listen. “What happened to your-”

“Forget about that! Is the mercenary in custody yet?” Diamond immediately barks out.

“Umm, no sir. She just barely managed to slip past us,” The Ranger answers.

“Then forget about her and call everypony back!” Diamond shouts. “And tell Scribe Circuit to get the blowtorches ready! I don’t care how dangerous it is, we’re cutting those ghouls out of the rocket!”

Oh, this is bad! This is very bad!

I unsteadily gallop away from there. Curse this place for having an abundance of construction equipment lying around! Now I’m stuck with a ticking clock with absolutely no clue when it will hit zero! But this is what I get for ticking off somepony who thinks I’m trying to end the world!

Alright, enough of this. I need to find Rose and Salt Cube, get my PipBuck, and get into the control center now! If only we had set up a backup meeting spot before this point somehow.

Nearly losing my balance running around a corner, I push off against a wall to keep myself from falling over before continuing my gallop down the hall.

Come on, think! Where would I be if I was a super sneaky bat pon- “Eep!”

Instantly I cover my mouth as something yanks on my tail hard before something grabs hold of me and pulls me into a dark room. The door slams shut, leaving me and the pony hugging me lying on the ground in utter darkness and silence.

I struggle against the grip of my assailant, trying to free myself and escape when I recognise the familiar feeling of soft fur rubbing against me. Realizing that I’m not in any danger, I stop and wait to see if any of the Rangers come to inspect the area. Thankfully, it does seem like they have given up the chase.

Eventually, the pony behind me lets go and I wince while casting a light spell and move away from her. As the green hue brightens up my surroundings, I find myself in a storage closet, judging by all the spare parts and boxed up office supplies lining the shelves.

Turning around, my heart nearly jumps upon seeing Rose sitting on the other side! Her eyes seem to glow in the dark while her face is scrunched up as she tries hard not to…

I let out an exasperated sigh. “Go ahead. Let it out.”

At my prompting, Rose bursts out laughing, holding her sides with one hoof while pointing to me with the other. “Haha, that, that was the most adorable little squeak I’ve heard in my life!”

“I don’t squeak,” I say adamantly while rubbing my dock. “And anyone would yelp like that when you yank their tail that hard!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” She says, wiping a tear from her eye while trying to hold back another fit of giggles. “It was all I could think of doing to catch up to you before you got away from me again. But you have to admit, that squeak was cute.”

“Yelp,” I correct her. All the tension and worry from the last few hours disappear as I lay back against the wall and smile at her. “I am glad to see you in one piece.”

“Yeah, same here,” Rose returns my smile before looking me over. “Though you definitely look like you got in a fight with somepony.”

“With our esteemed Star Paladin, to be specific,” I say before rubbing my temples again. “And things have gotten a lot worse.”

“Yeah, I heard all about that,” She motions towards the door with her head. “Just barely managed to get away from those two Rangers too before they spotted you. Sorry about that.”

“It’s not your fault that I’m not all that good at hiding my presence as well as you,” I stop rubbing my temples and give her a serious look. “How did you learn to sneak around like that anyway? It’s almost like you turn into a shadow or something.”

“Ancient bat pony secret,” She gives me a wink while sticking her tongue out.

I roll my eyes. Of course it would be.

“To be honest, I probably would have been caught by now if I didn’t find this!” She proudly lifts up her hoof to reveal my PipBuck on her foreleg. She then takes it off and tosses it over to me. “Came in handy when they tried to trap me a few times. You should make me one of these things sometime.”

“As soon as you teach me the ancient bat pony secret of stealth,” I say with a slight smile on my face.

She chuckles and shakes her head. “I’ll think about it then.”

“In all seriousness, I’m glad this helped you out,” I say while I look my PipBuck over. It doesn’t look like it was tampered with too much. If anything, it actually looks better now than it has in years; almost like somepony decided to refurbish the entire thing. “I bet the Scribe working on it was loath to give it up, eh?” I ask rhetorically.

Rose scratches at her neck. “Well, she was working on it. That part is true.”

Ok, what are you not telling me, Rose?

My raised eyebrow is enough to get her to reluctantly say “And Salt Cube was helping her out too. She apparently dragged him in when she found out that he was a Stable Dweller and had some experience with PipBucks.”

Ok, that explains why Salt Cube wasn’t around earlier.

“And, umm,” Rose averts her eyes. “She kept muttering something about yours being an unholy abomination and an insult to PipBucks everywhere.”

H-Hey! I like to see her put together something as complicated as a PipBuck with scrap metal and wires!

“But Salt Cube helped me out by distracting her so I could take it!” Rose quickly says before nervously rubbing the back of her neck and quietly adding “By pointing out that you probably pulled apart multiple models of PipBucks to make yours. That really upset her.”

W-Well, that’s technically true. But I only used parts from broken PipBucks!

“So much that she started crying.”

Hey! My PipBuck is not that much of a piece of junk!

“Like really, really hard.”

Seriously, it’s not!

“She even made me feel bad for her when she ran out of the room bawling.”

“Alright! I get the point!” I say curtly while holding out one hoof in front of me and pressing the other against my forehead. It’s one thing to know that my PipBuck isn’t the most professionally built device around. It’s entirely different to find out that my methods of building it would bring ponies to tears. My pride didn’t need to be skewered that badly.

She probably enjoyed it too. I swear I saw a hint of a smile on her face while she was going on about the crying.

“Anyway,” Rose says quickly before motioning towards my PipBuck. “Salt Cube left you a message in there. Said something about things working better this way. I couldn’t get more than that from him before the Rangers spotted me.”

Nodding my head, I put on my PipBuck and go through the list of data and messages on it before spotting one addressed to me.

******

Intrepid,

Rose should have told you why I’m unable to unlock the console for you, so here:

Account: SCube12
Pass: 0n3D@ym0r3

Good luck and sorry for everything. Get them to the moon.

Luna Bless,
Salt Cube

******

“Well that solves one problem, at least,” I say before closing the message. “But without the terminal, we can’t get the door to the control center open.”

“Pfft, is that all?” Rose pulls out her bobby pin from her tail and grins slyly.

“No offense, but I doubt a bobby pin will get us through that vault door in time. I guess it can’t be helped,” I shake my head and move to stand up. “I’ll just teleport us in and-”

Suddenly my legs give out from under me and Rose barely catches me before I completely collapse onto the floor. “Woah there!” She exclaims. “Yeah, you’re definitely not doing so hot.”

“I’m fine,” I politely remove myself from her grasp and try standing up this time, swaying a bit in the process but still managing to keep my sense of balance this time. “See? Completely fine.”

“Fine, huh?” She gently nudges me and watches as I nearly collapse onto the floor again. “Treppy, how are you supposed to teleport us anywhere when you can barely keep yourself standing?”

“But we don’t have time to wait for me to recover!” I snap back. “Teleporting is the fastest way in there and it’s not like I need to stay standing once I get access to the console!”

Rose looks me straight in the eyes. “And what happens if you pass out after teleporting? I have no clue how to work any of this tech stuff if that happened! So can you really promise me that that won’t happen with the way you are right now?”

Yes. That is the answer I so desperately want to say right now. But the word gets stuck in my throat and I finally have to look away. “No, I can’t make that promise.”

“Then we’ll leave that as our final resort,” Rose says before placing a hoof on my shoulder and giving me a big grin. “Besides, if the terminal is gone and lockpicking is out, then we’ll just have to blow it up!”

I stare at her. “You know, I’m starting to worry about our overreliance on explosives to solve our problems.”

“If it ain’t broke,” She pats my shoulder before starting to search the room. “Now, I don’t know where our stuff is at, so the quickest way to get some explosives is probably to take it from some Rangers.”

“That’s the quickest way?” I tilt my head to the side. “Wouldn’t getting our equipment back be the better option here? I mean, didn’t you find some more grenades when you were disarming traps a few days ago?”

“If I knew where they stashed our equipment then yes,” She tosses a few tin cans and a dead spark battery over her shoulder. “But I do know where a few Steel Rangers will be. So we’ll just take some from them instead.”

“You’re sure they’re going to have explosives on them?” I ask while looking over the shelves around me. “I mean, I know ponies have that odd misconception that every Steel Ranger carries around a rocket launcher and a machine grenade launcher, but considering that none of them have been using those explosives against us yet-”

“Yet,” Rose points out before pulling a dirty duffel bag from some dark corner of the room. “Treppy, there has been rumors of hellhounds roaming this region for months. You don’t think they wouldn’t be packing some kind of serious heat with them to deal with those guys?”

“If they have any then it would probably be inside a hidden compartment somewhere in their armor,” I explain as she opens the duffel bag up and digs around inside. “So unless we disable their power armor somehow, it’s going to be nearly impossible to get into it.”

She pulls out a piece of paper, looks it over, then smiles. “Would an EMP grenade do the trick?” She asks while hoofing over the paper to me.

Hovering it close to the light with my magic, I squint to make out the hoof written note. “In case of a robot uprising, UFO invasion, brainwashed Steel Rangers… please don’t use EMP grenades near lab equipment! Mahzun, I could kiss you right now!”

I set the paper to the side and start digging into the duffel bag. Moving aside the wires, the magical fusion cells, and other random assortment of junk, I find… nothing. Retrieving the paper again, I look over the list of items that should be in the bag. Sure enough, EMP grenades are listed on there.

Except, there aren’t any EMP grenades whatsoever.

Then again, a few other items don’t seem to be in the bag either. Not that a magical energy rifle would be useful in a situation like this. Somepony must have looted this bag long before the ghouls moved back in here.

Rose practically tears through the duffel bag as she searches it again to no avail. “Gah! Just when I thought we got lucky!” She throws her hooves up before rubbing her temples. “What are we going to do with all of this stuff?”

What are we going to do with all of this stuff, indeed. I hover one of the MFCs in front of me and casually inspect it while Rose glares at the paper still hovering near me. Then her stare becomes more thoughtful as she asks “Treppy, what does an EMP grenade do anyway?”

I shrug. “I’m not sure on the specifics, but my educated guess is that it releases a large amount of magical energy that disrupts the spell matrix of anything within a certain radius. A grenade filled with magic instead of… whatever is inside a normal one.”

“Soo,” She points to the MFC currently in my magical grasp. “Could we turn that into one?”

Remembering the MFCs that I fried when trying out my newfound ability to transfer magic into them, I take a closer look at the one in front of me. “Maybe. At the very least, I’m willing to try.”

“Great!” Rose says before turning her attention to the shelves around us. “What do you need?”

“Wonderglue, maybe some aluminum,” I pull out some of the wiring from the bag before looking back at Rose. “Won’t be completely sure until I start working on this.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Rose gives me a salute before going to work on retrieving those items for me.

“Yeah, sounds like a plan,” I say before focusing on the MFC, wincing a little as I pour some magic into it.

Now here’s hope that nothing else happens while we try to pull this off.

Author's Note

You have gained some quest objectives.

Quest Objectives Completed:

Reunite With Rose and Salt Cube
Retrieve Your PipBuck
Figure Out How Rose Keeps Vanishing Like She Does (?)

Current Quest Objectives:

Get To The Control Center
Launch The Rocket To The Moon
Don’t Die

Chapter 14 - Flight Of The Valkyries

Two yellow dots show up on my E.F.S. as Rose and I approach the intersection. Pressing myself against the wall, I inch closer to the edge before setting down the duffel bag with whatever supplies we could salvage to my side. Which includes a broken mirror shard that I pull out and hover around the corner. In its reflection are two Rangers guarding one of the vault doors leading to the silo. After an hour of sneaking around the place, this is, by far, the most lightly guarded entrance we’ve come across.

Still doesn’t make what we have to do any less risky.

Placing the shard on top of the duffle bag, I pull out my makeshift EMP grenade and take one long look at it. Really, it is just three mangled MFCs duct taped together, with a mess of wires feeding into each of the extremely overcharged cells. With a big red wire acting as the pin for the entire thing. It looks rather intimidating for something that I whipped up in a moment’s notice.

Though, with it being something that I made, there isn’t any guarantee that it’ll work as intended. Or at all. And if it doesn’t knock out those two guards, we’re probably not going to get another shot at this.

“I really hope this works,” I mutter to myself.

“Relax, we got this,” Rose reassures me before picking up the mirror shard and looks into it. “So how many are there?”

“Two,” I answer back before checking the two other EMP grenades inside of the duffle bag. “And I’m not sure if I can hit both of them with this.”

“We know you’re over there,” one of the guards shouts. “Come out nice and slow now. We promise not to gun you down if you do.”

Of course, that was assuming they hadn’t noticed us already.

“Leave them to me,” Rose whispers as she fixes her mane up before blowing a kiss to her reflection. She then tosses the mirror shard away and gets up before looking back at me. “Don’t read too much into this. When you get the chance,” She points to my grenade. “Use it.”

“Ok?” I raise my eyebrow at her before checking my PipBuck. “I mean, S.A.T.S. is fully charged now, so we don’t need to-” I look up to see nopony next to me. “Rose? Rose??”

Dear Luna, what is she doing now?

Once again hovering the mirror shard around the edge, my heart beats faster as Rose moves towards the two Rangers in a very, very sultry way. I tilt my head at the way her hips and tail sway seductively before slapping myself across the face.

Gah! Stop that! What the hay am I doing?! No, scratch that! What the hay is she doing?!

“Don’t shoot, you caught me,” She says. “I guess it isn’t surprising that two strong and commanding stallions would notice a pretty little mare like me walking around.”

She stops moving when the Rangers point their rifles at her, with the one to the left saying “That’s far enough.”

“Alright, alright. So how is this going to go down, colts?” Rose asks as she brushes her mane back and I swear I can barely see her bat her eyes at the Rangers as she does so. “Are you going to drag me over to some room, hold me down, and interrogate me?”

An incredibly uncomfortable feeling washes over me as the tone of her voice makes my ears and cheeks burn in embarrassment. She isn’t.

“U-Uhh, umm,” The Ranger to the right stammers before the other, more experienced sounding, Ranger cuts in with “Just stay right there. The Star Paladin will be here soon and she’ll decide what to do with you.”

“Well, I’d rather just mess around with you two,” Rose says in the same sultry tone as before while tilting her head slightly. “But if you really want to watch while another mare handles me…”

She is.

The experienced Ranger motions to the other one towards my direction before walking up straight up to Rose. His power armor along with the size difference between the two gives him an air of intimidation as he looks down at her. “That’s enough out of you.”

“Ooo, tough stallion aren’t ya?” Rose rubs her hoof on the chest of the Ranger. “I just love it when a strong stallion plays rough with me.”

Ok, we’re done here!

Ripping the red wire out, I teleport the sparking and whining EMP grenade right in between the two Rangers before pressing my hoof against my forehead to deal with the severe headache it causes. The loud electrical explosion that rings in my ears afterwards only makes it worse.

Oww, ok, that grenade went off quicker than expected. This plan better have worked.

Slinging the duffle bag onto my bag, I cautiously lean around the corner to see the burnt remains of my grenade on the floor, still cackling with leftover magical energy. Some bits of it managed to stick onto the power armor of the two Rangers collapsed on the floor nearby, with Rose cautiously peeking over the one she apparently took cover behind.

“Well, that happened,” She says while touching a cut on her cheek before looking at the blood staining her hoof.

I rush to her side. “Are you alright? You didn’t get caught in the blast, did you? I-I didn’t expect there to be shrapnel when it exploded and-!”

She presses her hoof against my lips. “I’m fine, just a few scratches, that’s all,” she says before motioning towards the two Rangers with her head. “Now let’s take care of them first before more show up.”

“G-Go ahead! Do your worst!” The stammering Ranger, no, definitely not going to keep calling him that. Junior, the junior Ranger declares. “The others will make sure you’ll pay for what you’ve done here!”

“Oh really?” Rose teases with that uncomfortably sultry tone from before. “And what are you hoping that I’ll do to you?”

“Did you really have to say it like that?” I ask irritably while removing the rifle from the experienced Ranger’s battle saddle. Just in case his power armor starts working again somehow.

“Sorry,” She gives me a sheepish smile. “But he did leave himself open for that one.”

“W-Wait, you mean, all that stuff you were doing before? Y-You were acting?” The junior Ranger asks in surprise… and is that a hint of disappointment in his tone too?

“Afraid so, colt,” Rose answers in a matter of fact tone. “No offense, but you and your buddy here never had a chance with me to begin with.” Then a sly smile appears on her face as she glances over at me. “I bet you’re relieved to hear that, Intrepid.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say while pouring all of my focus on searching for some kind of explosives holding compartment.

“Come on, a hot mare like me throwing herself onto a couple of other stallions in a very seductive way,” She leans on me, making me feel uncomfortable yet again. “Don’t tell me you didn’t feel just a little bit jealous that you weren’t the one I was throwing myself at.”

“Sweet Celestia, kill me now!” The experienced Ranger says suddenly.

My thoughts exactly.

“Hmph, I wasn’t talking to you now, was I?” Rose thankfully gets off of me and walks over to the other Ranger before messing around with his power armor. “So what are we looking for?”

I give her a shrug. “Not sure. Just something that looks like it will carry a few explosives in it.”

“And why are you looking for explosives?” The experienced Ranger asks.

“Home improvement,” I say dryly before looking over at Rose. “Any luck over there?”

“Nope,” Rose says before prying the junior Ranger’s rifle from his power armor. She then pulls off the junior Ranger’s helmet, revealing a yellow stallion underneath, and points the rifle to his head. “Alright, spill it: where are you ponies keeping the explosives.”

The junior Ranger pupils shrink as he stares at the rifle. “W-We don’t have any!”

“That’s bull and you know it,” Rose places the muzzle of the rifle right in between the Ranger’s eyes. “Everypony knew there were hellhounds here. You don’t come to this place knowing that without packing some serious heat.”

The junior Ranger glances between the experienced Ranger and myself with a pleading look in his eyes as sweat starts running down his face. It’s enough to decide to end this now. “Umm, Rose-?”

“He’s telling the truth,” The experienced Ranger speaks up, catching me off guard and causing Rose to pull the rifle away slightly. “We were ordered to lock them up once we understood what was going on here.”

“Then where did you put them?” She asks. When the experienced Ranger doesn’t answer, she presses the rifle’s muzzle harder onto the junior Ranger’s forehead. “You do care about what happens to him, right?”

“I-I knew the risks when I joined,” The junior Ranger hesitantly mutters as bullets of sweat run down his face. “S-So go ahead! Shoot me! Y-You won’t get anything from us!”

They both glare at each other, the Ranger in defiance and Rose in annoyance. The air grows tense with every passing second before she glances over at me. Our eyes meet and, for once, I’m not sure what to do here. We need to get inside that control center. But… I slightly shake my head. We can figure out another way to get in there, we don’t need to kill anypony to do it.

She doesn’t immediately respond to that, though, and instead returns to glaring at the Ranger with the same intensity as before. Doubt starts to worm its way into my mind and I open my mouth to tell her to stop when she tosses the rifle to the side.

“I don’t even know why I bothered,” she says before looking over at me. “Let’s go, Intrepid. We’re wasting our time here.”

“Right,” I say, relieved that she didn’t go through with her threat, as we begin to leave the room. We both stop when an odd rumbling sound starts coming from the hallway ahead. Almost like something with tracks is heading our way. A red dot then shows up on my EFS, though the fact that the junior Ranger looks more confused than relieved tells me that that dot isn’t on their side either.

Rose jumps back and grabs the discarded rifle again as I take cover behind one of the Rangers. The air becomes incredibly tense as the sound gets louder and closer with every passing second.

Then, for the second time today, I rub my eyes to make sure I’m not seeing things as an armless light blue Sentinel enters the room. The exact same one I used against Lupa.

“What the hay is that thing doing here?!” I blurt out. “No, better yet, how did it get here?! Lupa smashed its head in! It shouldn’t be operating at all!”

“Oh, yeah, I guess I forgot to tell you,” Rose says while rubbing the back of her neck. “Some of the ghouls brought that thing back with them. They said they wanted to fix it up while they waited for everypony else to get ready for the launch. Hardwire told them to knock it off, though. I guess they didn’t listen?”

“Apparently. But why is it showing up as red on my E.F.S.?” I ask, cautiously moving out of my cover to get a better look at the Sentinel. “It’s not like it is a threat with its arms gone. Those were the only weapons it had.”

“Intruders detected!” It screeches at us through its damaged speakers before its chest compartment opens up, revealing the missile launcher nestled inside of it. “Prepare to be eliminated, zebra scum!”

I immediately stop dead in my tracks. “Oh right, forgot about the missile launcher.”

Seeing the Sentinel turn towards me, I press a hoof on the Ranger I was hiding behind and quickly teleport us to the other side of the room just as it launches a missile. The explosion reverberates through the air as I collapse onto the ground, clutching my forehead from the stabbing pain going through my head while trying to keep myself from vomiting.

Buck it all! As if things weren’t bad enough already! Why do I keep doing this to myself?

Struggling to pull the duffel bag off of my back, I pull out another EMP grenade before stealing a glance at Rose to see her lying prone on the floor with her hooves covering her head. As the Sentinel slowly turns to face me again, she takes one look at me before glancing between the new crater on the floor and the vault door. She spreads her wings and jumps into the air, positioning herself in front of the door before firing a few shots at the Sentinel, drawing its attention to her.

Desperately digging into the bag, I pull my second grenade out and yank the red wire off before tossing it at the Sentinel. The grenade bounces on the ground and rolls to the treads of the Sentinel. But it doesn’t go off right away and my heart stops as I watch the Sentinel launch a missile towards Rose.

With a cocky smile on her face, she skillfully dodges out of the way of the missile, causing it to fly past her and ram right into the vault door. Another explosion shakes the room and almost drowns out the EMP grenade going off at the same time.

Barely hearing the Sentinel slur some kind of gibberish in the background, I force myself onto my hooves just as Rose lands right in front of me. “And that is why I’m awesome,” She proclaims while brushing herself off. She reassuringly pats me on the shoulder and then has to catch me when I nearly collapse because of the gesture. “Woah there! Don’t pass out on me now!”

“Easier said than done,” I mutter before turning my head to see the results of Rose’s rather reckless move.

Sadly, the door still stands, now sporting a new black mark on it where the missile had hit it. Which is to be expected, in all honesty. It does lead to the silo after all. And given the similarities between this door and the one to the control center, this proves that our plan of blowing up the door might not work.

Though, seeing how hard Rose is glaring at the door, it’s probably best not to voice that particular observation to her.

Speaking of, Rose’s ears suddenly perk up and soon I hear faint shouts coming from outside of the room. Along with a few red dots appearing on the edges of my E.F.S..

Great, the cavalry's coming. And they’re cutting off our exits too. Well, not all of our exits.

I motion towards the door and, with Rose’s help, we move over there. She then points her rifle to the only other exit out of this room while I look the door over. “Can you get it open?” She asks.

“Umm,” I glance down at the handle labeled ‘emergency override’ near the connection seam at the bottom of the door but quickly shake my head. The locks are probably still engaged, so pulling on it would be a waste of time. Even with Rose’s knack for opening doors, it’ll still take too much time to rip off the panels of the hatch to access the locks manually. So there has to be another way to disengage the locks.

Maybe faking an unlock signal will work? But the lights on the power box are out, which means there’s no power and where there’s no power, there’s no magical current to hotwire a signal through to unlock the door. Then again, it’s a miracle the missile didn’t do more than rip the box off the wall. Even more so considering that it’s still attached to the wall and door. Though, with the wires being exposed like that…

Touching my horn against the box, I try to funnel some magic into it only to immediately stop when my head starts spinning and the stabbing pain comes back in force. Ok, this isn’t going to work.

Going back for my duffel bag, I drag it over to the door and take out my last EMP grenade along with some tools. Pulling some of the wires out causes my improvised grenade to spark a small bit before it settles down again, letting me know that this is an incredibly stupid idea. But given the alternatives…

Please don’t blow up, please don’t blow up, please don’t blow up.

Hearing the shouting outside doesn’t help calm my nerves. Not when I am guessing which wires to connect from the box into my rather volatile grenade. It takes all my willpower not to toss the thing away every time magical energy sparks from the thing. Thankfully, the light turns on with a green hue once the last wire is taped in place. Good, now to figure out which one of these wires controls the locking mechanism and-

“Sentinel’s disabled! Get in here before-” The junior Ranger manages to shout before a gunshot fires off near me. I turn to see smoke rising from the rifle’s muzzle as Rose glares at the now silent and, thankfully, still unharmed Ranger. Though hearing all of that might motivate the calvary to get here faster.

I place a hoof over my beating heart and take a deep breath. Alright, don’t worry about that. Focus on finding the right wires. Which are definitely not these ones. Nor those ones. Or even those two. Honestly, how many wires are in this thing?!

Hearing metal hooves stomping against the floor, along with Rose’s rifle discharging next to me, gets my attention. Two Rangers are trying to push the Sentinel out of the way, only backing off when one of Rose’s shots flies past their visor or strikes their helmet. But the rounds are too weak to puncture their thick armor and they seem to know this, if their unwillingness to back off is anything to go by.

That’s it then, our luck finally ran out. Dang it, Luna! After everything you put me through this last week, was it really too much for you to give me a few more seconds with this?!

Rose and I drop to the ground when a third Ranger pokes around the corner and fires off a few shots at us. I cover my head, desperately trying to not get hit by the shots flying over me, while Rose immediately goes prone and blindly shoots at the Ranger. She ends up hitting the Sentinel’s head instead. Quickly lining up another shot, she pulls the trigger only for the rifle to not fire anything.

Just as she starts to swear again, the Sentinel blares out more gibberish and the sound of screeching metal pierces the air as it turns. The Rangers nearby immediately bolt out of the way as it fires a missile in their direction.

Umm, thank you Luna?

As if in response to my thanks, a hail of bullets starts tearing into the Sentinel. Seeing that my few extra seconds are almost up, I immediately push myself off the ground, grab two more wires at random, and utter a silent prayer as I connect them. A beautiful, magnificent sound of the door unlocking reaches my ears and a big grin forms on my face as it slowly moves upward. It gets a few feet off the ground before stuttering to a stop and magical sparks start to fly out of my EMP grenade.

Almost instinctively, I tear the grenade away from the box and throw it towards the entrance. Which scares away the one Ranger that pokes his head around the corner, no doubt trying to shoot at us again, before violently exploding like all the others.

I grab the duffel bag and shove it through the small gap between the door hatch and the floor before attempting to squeeze under it myself. It’s a tight fit, but I manage to force myself to the other side just in time to see Rose slips effortlessly under the door. That smug look on her face as she swiftly moves to my side just rubs me the wrong way. Until the metal hoof swiping after her from behind the door clues me in on whom that look is actually for.

Pulling the bag away from the Steel Ranger’s reach, I throw it over my shoulder before we run deeper into the silo itself. The sound of our hoofs striking against the metal catwalk echo throughout the massive chamber as we approach the guardrails. As we look out over the launch pad, I marvel at the giant makeshift rocket before us, softly humming and vibrating with unseen power.

“Woo, it got real dicey back there,” Rose wipes her forehead before looking back at the door. Our ears stand to attention and we quickly turn our attention to my PipBuck as it clicks and crackles. “Umm, what’s going on?” She asks.

“That would be my Rad Counter,” I tap the PipBuck, a fleeting thought about how that Scribe managed to fix it crossing my mind, before looking at the rocket. “Apparently, this rocket is leaking some magical radiation.”

She looks it over with some uneasiness. “That’s not a sign that this thing is going to fall apart on us, is it?”

“It better not,” I mutter before looking around the chamber for some idea of what to do next. Still, my worries about what will happen if this rocket doesn’t make it to the moon creep back into my mind. The damage it could cause, the lives that could be lost, the permanent scar that it could leave behind on a recovering world.

This rocket could do all those things. But the funny thing about ‘could’ is, well, it could also make it to the moon. And I have a good feeling that it’ll get there in one piece. I just wish that good feeling would drown out all the anxiety from my mind right now.

Rose taps my shoulder before pointing to a set of windows almost directly across from us. It takes a few seconds before I fully recognise the interior of the control center. Alright, enough pointless worrying.

“Hold on,” I press my hoof against her side and start to channel my magic. Pushing past the pain, I focus in on one spot in that room and try to teleport the both of us there. Only to feel the spell fizzle out.

A hatch door opens somewhere below us and Steel Rangers run onto the deck. One of them shouts something at us but I push all of that out of my head and focus on trying to cast the spell again.

But again, the spell fizzles out halfway through.

“Hurry up, Treppy,” Rose says as now the sound of the door behind us being forced open reaches my ears. Pouring as much magic into the spell as possible, I clench my teeth tightly from the pain as I try one last time to cast the spell.

And this time I can feel the spell finally working as it envelopes Rose and I and-

Something slams into me as the spell finally goes off, the momentum of which sends me flying into a wall upon reappearing. My head is swimming as I struggle to stand back up, barely recognizing my surroundings as that of the control center, before I start dry heaving from the overwhelming pain and dizziness that sets in.

Ok Luna, I get the hint: no more magic until I fully recover. Now please make my body stop hurting so much so I can figure out who or what just joined us for that trip!

A very loud scuffle catches my attention and, wiping the tears from my eyes, I turn to see Rose standing off against a white mare wearing Steel Ranger fatigues. Wait, that’s Diamond Shard! Ugh, of course it would be Diamond Shard! Who else could it possibly be?!

“Rose,” Diamond says curtly, giving her a cold glare.

“Miss Snooty,” Rose says just as curtly.

“That’s Star Paladin Shard to you,” Diamond growls.

“I don’t care,” Rose cracks her neck. “I got a bone to pick with you.”

“I imagine,” Diamond deadpans before motioning towards me with her head. “Hoof over the unicorn and I’ll double whatever he’s offering you. Plus compensation for how we treated you and an acquittal for your role in all of this.”

Rose taps her chin. “Hmm, let me think about this, yeah no,” She slams her hooves together. “We had a deal. You don’t beat up my only friend and think that I’ll just let you get away with that.”

“Ignoring all the details you neglected to mention during your part of that deal,” Diamond says coldly as her glare intensifies. “Your friend here lashed out at me with some kind of blood magic and nearly beheaded me over something I didn’t do. He’s dangerous.”

“Does it look like I care?” Rose asks with some annoyance in her tone. “Look, Intrepid happens to be the only pony I like in this stupid place, so just take your deal and shove it up your-”

Diamond tackles Rose to the ground, pushing the two into a nearby console, and lifts a hoof to strike before Rose bucks her off. As Diamond reels back from the blow, Rose gives me one look then motions towards the controls at the front of the room. “I’ll take care of Miss Snooty, just get this thing out of here already!”

I barely nod my head before Diamond lunges forward, hitting Rose square in the face before getting uppercutted herself. As the two brawl, I grab my duffle bag and drag it over to the main controls.

Looking through the large observation windows, I bite my tongue when I notice that the launch pad is devoid of any Steel Rangers. Figures they would have realized what just happened. So I have however long it takes them to get here and figure out how to hook the terminal to the door back up again. No pressure. I got this.

It doesn’t take long to type in the admin user and password into the main console. It beeps before the ‘locked by administrator’ message is replaced by familiar sets of data on all of the screens. See? Simple. Now to remember what to do next.

Well, that silo hatch needs to be opened first if we’re getting this rocket out of here. Scanning the console, I find a switch labelled ‘hatch control’ and move my hoof to flick it up when I get yanked away and thrown to the ground. Fire rages in Diamond’s eyes as she stands above me. Her hoof poised to smash my head in until Rose tackles her into the console. Scrambling to get back onto my hooves, I watch as Rose wails into Diamond before getting her head slammed into the keyboard a few times.

The fight soon becomes a deadlock, the two rolling around on the console as they struggle to get the upper hoof on each other. The intensity in which the two fight feels like that of two tigresses trying to murder each other for the last scrap of meat. I slowly back away before Rose finally gets under Diamond and uses her hindlegs to throw the Star Paladin off of her. Diamond lands on the ground hard and, seeing Rose quickly coming after her, throws a chair at my partner before backing off to a better position.

As Rose ducks and adopts a more defensive stance towards her opponent, I move back to the console and flip the switch. The hatch groans to life as it opens, revealing the clear night sky and a bright full moon that illuminates the launch pad in its light.

With that out of the way, I look over at the screens to double check that everything is still alright. I feel the blood drain from my face when certain fields that had data displayed in them are completely blank. Because Of Course It Would Be!

I shoot a dirty look over at the two fighting mares before some shouting from outside, what little can be heard through the thick door and over the fighting taking place, reminds me that time isn’t on my side.

Ok, think. How do I get this data back quickly? Obviously, there has to be some kind of backup, right? So just replace what’s missing with that.

A few taps on the dented keyboard, however, reveals that this system is a lot more complicated and less straightforward than I expected. The banging on the door adds to my anxiety as I try to figure out how to search for a backup on this terminal. But even with my educated guesses, nothing shows up. I slam my head into the keyboard while the little pony in my head screams bloody murder over the situation.

“Intrepid, don’t do that!” Rose calls out. “Please, don’t do that now!”

“Well if somepony didn’t decide to roll across the keyboard and delete half the data from this thing!” I answer before looking back to see Rose in a headlock.

“Not my fault!” She snaps before biting into Diamond’s foreleg, freeing her from the headlock and allowing her to throw Diamond off of her.

“Is it too much to ask that you keep her off of me while I work?” I ask and instantly regret doing so.

Rose shoots me a very nasty look. “Do you want to fight her instead?”

Before I can answer, Diamond rams into Rose and the two tumble across the floor before they start beating into each other again. As much as my instincts are telling me to go help Rose, my little pony reminds me that I’m not in any shape to fight and that I really need to get that missing data restored.

But if I can’t find a copy of the data on this system then where…. Wait a minute, does my PipBuck still have that copy of the data I made days ago? Going through all the files on it, I confirm that, yes, my PipBuck still does. Another cursory glance over the console doesn’t reveal any obvious place to jack in at, so I pull out a screwdriver from my duffle bag and remove one of the forward facing panels to the console itself. The wirework inside is a complete mess and it takes most of my concentration just to avoid accidentally yanking an important wire out as I try to directly connect my PipBuck to it.

Carefully pulling myself out of the guts of the console, I get back onto the terminal and manage to find the option to upload new data into it. Alright, let’s get this started and, umm, huh, that’s a lot of options. Ok, I want to upload from an external source. Type in the account and password again. Thank Luna, it recognises my PipBuck. Now please upload this and- no, no, no, we don’t want to replace anything that’s already there! It’s bad enough that I have to resort to this backup instead of a more recent one! Ok, and… done! Finally!

“Enough!” Diamond shouts and I turn just in time to see her throw Rose away from her. I barely manage to move out of the way as Rose tumbles across the floor and her upper half goes right into the exposed inners of the console. Bloodied and bruised, Diamond looks outright intimidating as glares at me with the kind of heat that could melt steel. “Step away from the console, Intrepid. Now.”

“No,” I answer back irritably with a glare of my own. That glare quickly vanishes when she starts walking towards me and I then say in as much of a firm tone as I can muster “I-I’m sending this rocket to the moon, Diamond. Where it can’t hurt anypony. That is what we both want in the end, right?”

Diamond charges forward with righteous fury in her eyes. A jolt of pain courses through my head as I instinctively try, and fail, to teleport away and instead raise my hooves up to defend myself. Then, out of seemingly nowhere, Rose swiftly tackles her to the ground and sends the two rolling away. They both get in a few hits before scrambling to get off each other. Rose places herself between Diamond and I before brushing off a few hanging wires from her mane. Wait. Wires?!

Dread washes over me as I hesitantly look back at the console. With most of its inner wires ripped out of it and all the screens currently turned off.

“For the love of Luna, WILL YOU TWO QUIT MAKING MY LIFE MORE DIFFICULT!” I snap. “IS IT REALLY THAT HARD TO-”

My blood instantly goes cold as Rose gives the kind of irritated and unamused look that every stallion instinctively knows not to cross. I shrink back and clear my throat. “Umm, sorry, I’ll just stay quiet now.”

A hissing sound soon captures my attention along with some sparks when a hot blue flame cuts its way through the vault door. As the flame begins to slowly move along its edge, I duck into the inner guts of the console and try to recall the schematics I studied for this thing. Thankfully, most of the important looking wires are either intact or easy to hook back up. I think. Still doesn’t remove the feeling of uneasiness while I try to put everything back together again. That feeling grows when I’m forced to resort to using whatever wires are still in the duffle bag to make certain connections.

‘Why are you still trying to do this?’ The little pony in my head frantically asks. ‘You’re nearly spent, half the data that rocket needs to fly got replaced with an old copy that probably isn’t correct, and now you're guessing where to stick wires based on your memory of a schematic that you barely studied for fun!’

I ignore the little pony and hook up the last wire before pulling myself out of the console. With some of the screens flickering to life, I decide that’s good enough and slam the big red launch button on the console.

Nothing happens.

Biting my tongue, I look back to see Diamond pinning Rose to the ground and the Steel Rangers are almost done cutting through the door. Ducking my head back into the console, I frantically try to figure out what I did wrong here. Did I stick a wire in the wrong place? Obviously! But I followed the schematic to the best of my memory, so which wire is it?

Looking through all of the different colored wires, including the red one that I connected to the launch button, I… wait, back at the propulsion test facility, the wire connecting to that launch button was yellow! I immediately switch the red and yellow wires around and pull myself out just in time to see the door fall to the ground.

In that split second, as Rangers begin to pour into the room, I mutter “Luna, please let this work,” to myself before slamming the launch button for a second time.

The room shakes violently, causing everypony to hit the ground as the rocket roars to life. Shielding my eyes from the intense light, I watch in pure amazement as it blasts off the launch pad and soars into the sky, leaving a trail of smoke behind. As the smoke clears and the room stops rumbling, Salt Cube and a Steel Ranger Scribe join me in looking out the window, both with astonished looks on their faces. The room remains silent as the three of us intently search for the rocket. After a few minutes, Salt Cube exclaims “There it is!” with a smile on his face and a hoof pointing to a tiny rocket silhouetted against the bright night sky.

“Track it,” Diamond orders in a half dazed tone. I am then ripped away from the console as Diamond forcefully takes my place and more sternly orders “Track it!”

Salt Cube and the Scribe both salute and Salt Cube points the Scribe to a set of terminals on the other side of the room. He starts typing something into the console, then pauses and looks inside the console. He grumbles something under his breath before going in there and rearranges some of the wiring inside.

While my pride takes hit after hit with each wire pulled, Rose quietly sits down next to me. Her mane is a mess, her face has bruises and cuts all over, but her eyes seem to sparkle with a sense of awe and wonder as she looks out the window. Those same feelings wash over me when I join her in watching the tiny rocket slowly shrink into a glowing dot before it finally disappears.

And even after it disappears, my eyes linger on that spot while ponies shout numbers, degrees, and other things all around me. The feeling is only dispelled and my senses brought back to reality when Salt Cube says “If this is correct then that settles it: They’ve successfully escaped orbit. They are finally going to the moon.”

“T-Then we did it?” I ask softly, my voice gradually growing louder as I continue. “W-We actually did it? No sudden explosions? No chance it’s going to crash back down to Equestria? No ponies are going to die? We, we actually managed to get it to the moon? Hehe, hahaha, WE DID IT ROSE!” I hug Rose tightly, shaking us back and forth, unable to contain my excitement. “WE DID IT! FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE, I ACTUALLY DID SOMETHING RIGHT! A-AND I COULDN’T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOU! WE’VE LITERALLY DONE THE IMPOSSIBLE HERE! WE… we…umm, Rose?”

I stop and let go while Rose stares at the sky in quiet horror. Confused, I watch as she gets up and slowly makes her way up to the front of the room. Salt Cube quickly backs off to make room for her while Rose fixes her gaze straight at the moon. Then, suddenly, it finally dawns on me what she’s horrified about as she takes a deep breath and screams:

“OH FOR THE LOVE OF LUNA, THEY FORGOT TO PAY US!!!”

Author's Note

Quest Completed: Aim For The Moon.

Epilogue

“But that doesn’t make any sense!”

To say that Rose is livid right now is an understatement, given the fire in her eye as she glares at Diamond Shard. In fact, the cool weather outside is probably the only thing keeping her from bursting into indignant flames as we stand outside the main entrance of the Lunar Institute.

Diamond, for her part, either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care as she looks back at Rose with what can best be described as ‘professional disinterest’. The reason might be because she’s already proven that she can win a fight against Rose. Or, more likely, because there are four Steel Rangers behind her pointing guns at us.

“Of course it does,” She says in a very matter of fact way that causes Rose’s eye to twitch. “You attacked my Knights, some of whom will need medical attention that will cost us caps to provide. You fired off one of our rifles, using ourammunition in the process which costs caps to replace. Not to mention the damage your partner did to my power armor,” she gives me with a very unamused look. “You’re lucky your ghoul friends left behind a generous sum of caps that will cover the damages both of you have caused. On top of the few items we had to confiscate from you, of course.”

Rose bares her fangs while snarling “We bled and nearly died for all of that, you slimy little-”

I immediately grab onto Rose and hold her back, a feat I barely manage to pull off given how physically worn-out we both are. Getting into a fight is the last thing we should be doing. Especially with four Steel Rangers point their guns at us. With that in mind, I smile nervously at Diamond. “I’m glad we were able to settle things in a civil matter.”

“I should have you both shot for the stunt you pulled,” Diamond answers back.

And given that we spent the night with armed guards pointing guns at our heads, it is surprising that we weren’t executed on the spot. But I’m not going to argue with having us and our stuff unceremoniously dumped outside. Well, some of our stuff, anyway; my saddlebags appears to have been one of the items they ‘confiscated’ along with my PipBuck.

Diamond lets out a sigh. “But you were telling us the truth. As hard as it was to believe it at the time. And as reckless and dangerous as it was, you did dispose of one of the most destructive weapons the Pre-War world ever created.”

“It wouldn’t have been reckless if you didn’t get in our way,” Rose mutters. A statement I full-heartedly agree with.

“Please don’t push it,” Diamond threatens calmly before clearing her throat. “Now, Intrepid Scholar. Winter Rose. By the power invested in me, you are hereby banished from Green Bean and the surrounding area. Unless told otherwise, you will be shot if we find you trespassing on these lands again.”

“What?!” Rose shouts before struggling to break free from my grasp. “You can’t do that to us!”

“I am the law in these parts,” Diamond states dryly. “I can do whatever I need to in order to keep the peace around here.”

“But Green Bean is the only town for miles!” Rose says vehemently, though she thankfully stops trying to murder Diamond at this point. “You know we can’t survive out there without the supplies you stole from us!”

Almost as if on cue, the double doors burst open and Salt Cube, now wearing a Steel Ranger Scribe robe, walks out with my saddlebags on his back. “Sorry, I just finished going through this bag,” He says to Diamond before walking around Rose and I to the pile of stuff behind us and places my saddlebags on top of it. Rose gives him a dirty look when he nervously smiles at us and, as he walks back to Diamond’s side, he gives me a subtle wink.

Well, subtle to him maybe. It’s obvious that Diamond sees it too, though it seems like she’s pretending that she didn’t as she motions towards my saddlebags. “Are the supplies I ordered for them in there?”

“Yes sir, err, ma’am,” Salt Cube gives her a salute and quietly leaves when she nods and motions for him to go back inside.

“There. That should be enough to get you back onto your hooves again,” She says to us. “Now we’re having issues with the radio, so it may be a few weeks before the Rangers in Green Bean learn about what happened here and about my verdict. It will take some time to thoroughly search this place and I don’t plan on leaving until it’s completely cleaned out of every last bit of Pre-War Tech. If you catch my drift.”

A smile creeps onto my face. “Thank you,” I say sincerely. “And I’m sorry for everything that happened between us.”

“I’m not,” Rose mutters to herself.

Diamond stares at me in disbelief for a few moments before shaking her head. “That is what you say to me? After everything I’ve put you through?” She then turns around and says softly, “You really are too much like him. Just get out of here before I change my mind.”

With a gesture of Diamond’s hoof, two of the Steel Rangers present enter the facility while two flank the entrance, their guns still trained on us. She then walks to the doors and stops. “Send my regards to Flint Striker and Violet Sage.”

“I will,” I say. It will be interesting to see if Dad or Mom will remember her and how they will feel about how I met her. Assuming that detail isn’t lost among the mountain of other past events I will have to write to them about. “Take care, Star Paladin.”

Diamond glances back and briefly considers me for a moment before quietly disappearing into the facility. Her two remaining guards follow close behind, shutting the doors behind them and locking them with a faint click. Thus ends our incarceration by the Green Bean Chapter of the Steel Rangers: A life-threatening series of events that was painful, infuriating, and, oddly enough, enlightening at times. All to launch one simple rocket to the moon.

And Luna be willing, we will never have to do anything like that ever again.

Rose tilts her head at me. “Treppy, I don’t get you,” She says while I let go of her and back off. “Did you really mean any of that stuff you just said?”

“Well, considering the alternatives, we did get off with a rather light sentence in the end,” I move over to the pile of stuff and start putting on my riot gear. “The least I can do is show some gratitude for that and make peace with them as best as I can. Not that I’m excusing what they did to us, mind you. We did get a very raw deal in the end,” I glance at my duster. “But there’s enough hatred in Equestria already without me adding to it.”

Right, it’s long past time that I finally buried the past and let go of my anger towards them. No good ever came from holding on to it, anyway. To continue to hold onto that hatred, after being subject to how those feelings feed into my blood magic and warps my mind, is just asking for a disaster to happen.

“Sure, I get that. Kind of,” She says. “But they still kicked us out after taking our caps,” She then sits down next to me and, taking a quick glance at our equipment pile, her face sours. “They probably took that hairpin you gave me too. Jerks.”

“I heavily doubt they’re that petty,” I point out, though that doesn’t get rid of the growing anxiety that my book isn’t with my belongings. Pulling my saddlebags to me, I note that they’re pretty heavy and begin to wonder exactly what Salt Cube actually put in here. A quick glance reveals my PipBuck inside along with some foodstuff. Is this why Salt Cube winked at me? If so, then Diamond probably knew he was smuggling my PipBuck back to me. Which also means that they decided it wasn’t worth keeping in the end. I’m not sure if I should be insulted by that or not.

Putting that thought off to the side, I look inside the other saddlebag and, to my surprise, find a set of books tied together by Rose’s red scarf. With a white rose hairpin holding a dirty looking piece of paper to the scarf itself. Well, holding isn’t really the right term here, the hairpin looks more like it’s skewering the paper to the scarf. Still, I remove both items and the scarf and watch as Rose’s face light up when I give her back her stuff. The way she grins as she carefully slides her hairpin into her mane brings a smile to my face.

While she wraps her scarf around her neck, I open up the paper and read the hastily written note on it:

******

I know I can’t make up for what I put you two through, but this is the best I can do. Hardwire wanted you to have his books and I trust them with you more than with my new ‘employers’. And sorry, I had to use Intrepid’s scarf to bribe a Scribe to look the other way while I got all of this together. At least you got all the important stuff back, right?

Luna Bless,
-Salt Cube

******

Looking back in my saddlebags, I recognise the book with the gold emblem of the Ministry of Wartime Technology, along with nearly all of the other books in the pile, from Hardwire’s office. However, I move all of them aside as I search for my book, the only book in the world that matters, and find it buried at the very bottom of the bag. Relief washes over me as I quickly pull it out and hug it tightly.

Dear Luna, thank you for making sure this didn’t get lost somehow. I don’t want to think about what I would have had to do to get it back.

Rose glances over at me and lets out a sigh. “Ok, so maybe they’re not as petty as I thought,” She says then starts putting the rest of her gear on. “They’re still a bunch of jerks, though.”

“I won’t argue that point,” I put my book and note back in my saddlebag and throw my duster on. “At least, they’re willing to let us come back here one day.”

“Pfft, yeah, after we’ve grown all old and wrinkly maybe,” Rose rolls her eyes and gets her leather armor on. Then a frown creeps onto her face. “Would have rather left on a better note. You know, after I got my reputation fixed. Not like Ms. Snooty there will tell anypony about what we did here.”

“Still doesn’t change what we managed to pull off,” I point out while putting on my PipBuck.

“Yeah,” She sighs. “But it still sucks, having my reputation dragged through the mud, spending two years trying to fix it, and all I have to show for it is getting banished by stuck up tin cans. It is going to be even harder to recover from that.”

I shrug. “Only to those that actually like the Steel Rangers. And let me say, the jerks that do are a minority out in the Equestrian Wastelands. I think the rest will be impressed once they find out. If they actually believe us when we explain how we did it, I mean.”

That managed to bring a smirk to Rose’s face. “Yeah, that makes sense,” She says before slipping on her legguards. “So what did the note say?”

“It was Salt Cube’s apology for being a dastard,” I answer while double checking the contents of my saddlebag. Just to make sure I didn’t miss anything. “And explaining that he had to trade my scarf in order to get a few things passed a Scribe.”

“What?” She asks, catching my attention enough for me to look up at her as she adds “Lemme see that note.”

As requested, I hover over the note and silently pray that she won’t overreact as she takes it and looks it over. That prayer gets cut short when she crumples the note in her hooves. “Those dirty rotten little-”

“Oh no you don’t!” I grab onto her to keep her from going back inside.

“Treppy, let me go!” She says while trying to push my forelegs away. “All the other crap I can deal with! But this! I am not letting them get away with this!”

“Like hay you are!” I answer back. “It’s just a scarf!”

“No it isn’t!” She yells then breaks free from my grasp. The intensity and passion behind her glare when she turns to face me almost makes me back away from her that instant. “It’s more than that! It showed that we’re partners and without it, you… you might…”

“I might, what? Leave?” I say calmly while holding my ground and meeting her glare with a more level-headed stare. “Do you really think a scarf is the only thing keeping us together?”

“No! That’s not what I mean!” Rose answers before looking away from me in frustration. “Look, it’s like I was saying before. I’m just sick and tired of working so hard only to have stuff taken away from me everytime, ok? Especially with everything we went through with this job! Can you blame me for wanting to punch their smug little faces in?”

It feels like there is more to this than she is letting on, but I set that feeling aside for now. Implying that she isn’t being forthcoming when she’s obviously in need of comfort just isn’t right.

“Well, sure, I understand that,” I say before rubbing the back of my neck. “But it is not like anypony can take away our friendship, right? And if that’s the only reward we’re going to get for this job, then I think it was worth it.”

That statement causes her ears to perk up and she quickly looks back at me as I continue. “Not that I’m saying this isn’t a frustrating turn of events. I mean, I’m certainly not happy with being banished from a town I’ve never been to yet,” I stop rubbing my neck and give her a more serious look. “But let me make one thing clear: When I said I was going to be your partner, I meant it! Losing out on a reward, having a tarnished reputation, missing a scarf. None of that will change what we have in the slightest. So until you decide to end it, I’ll stick with you regardless of what happens.”

Rose’s eyes widen as she quietly stares at me. This isn’t really the response I was expecting and I clear my throat before things get too awkward. “What I, umm, I’m saying is that we should be content with what we did get out of this and look forward to the next adventure.”

It takes another second before Rose chuckles, breaking the tension in the air. “Yeah, you’re right, Treppy. I’ve wasted enough time in this boring old dust bowl as is. Time to go somewhere exciting like… New Pegas!”

“The holy city for bounty hunting?” I ask before shaking my head. “No thanks, I don’t want to go there and find out there’s a price on my head because of one of the stunts Silverwing pulled in the past.”

She playfully jabs at my side. “Come on, think about it! The lights, the casinos,” She gives me a sly look. “The mares.”

“Proper stallions don’t fool around with mares they’re not married to,” I say flatly before raising an eyebrow at her. “And casinos? Losing one game of poker got you into this mess. You don’t think there’s a high chance of another poker game getting us dragged into a similar situation in a city famous for these kinds of things?”

“Ok, ok, we won’t go to New Pegas. Yet,” She teases. My only response to that is to roll my eyes and go back to putting on the rest of my gear. She appears to be doing the same thing when she asks “How about Hoofington? There’s always high paying jobs to deliver stuff to that place.”

I give her a very unamused look. “It’ll be faster to go back inside and ask to be put in front of a firing squad.”

“Fine, where do you want to go then?” She says while sticking her tongue out at me. Thankfully, she doesn’t sound annoyed with me for shooting down all of her suggestions so far.

Turning my attention towards my saddlebags, I begin to redistribute the weight while giving the question some serious thought. “First off, I want to go to the nearest post office. I have an apology letter to write to my parents after all these years.”

“We could just go there, you know,” Rose points out. “See them in person. Sure, the Twilight Society might not be happy with you disappearing on you. But we could just meet your parents somewhere nearby instead. I wouldn’t mind meeting them.”

“Maybe once I get a response back to my letter and I know they are still there,” I say before a thought comes to mind. “Think there is a chance we’ll run into your father while we’re out here?”

“Who knows,” She says rather curtly before pointing a hoof at me. “Now don’t you change the subject on me, I asked you where you wanted to go.”

Right. Of course. Although, to be honest, there really isn’t all that many places that I want to go to that I haven’t gone to already with Silverwing and the others. Well, except for one particular place: “Canterlot.”

Rose gives me a confused look. “Canterlot? Didn’t the Enclave blow that place up?”

“Yes, but there’s always a chance that something of value survived its destruction,” I throw on my saddlebags and instantly regret the decision when my back aches from the extra weight I’m putting on it. Sleeping on a hard floor really didn’t do me any favors after I ran myself ragged these past few days. Still, I hide my discomfort behind a smile. “That and I’ve always wanted to go there when I was a colt. No better time to do that than now, right?”

She considers me for a moment then shrugs. “Ok, I guess it wouldn’t be any different from a normal scavenge run anyway. Now that the pink cloud stuff is gone, anyway. You think we’ll find anything to cure that curse of yours?”

“Only one way to find out,” I take in a deep breath and start walking forward. “Now let’s get to Green Bean and stock up on what we need before word gets around that we’re no longer welcome there.”

“Right behind you,” She says back.

I nod and pull one of Hardwire’s books out of my saddlebag as I follow the broken path leading away from this place. With danger now firmly behind us, it is about time I got back to the time honored tradition of reading. Assuming Rose doesn’t have any issues with me doing that. With a quick glance behind me, I notice her watching me walk away for a moment. Then she slings her rifle onto her back and follows after me with a thoughtful expression on her face.

Wincing a little from the pain shooting through my horn, I levitate the ‘The Science Behind Advanced Rocketry’ book in front of me and start reading. Though a part of me can’t help but wonder what Rose is thinking about as we pass by the rocket models and ruined motorwagons on our way out. As we approach the granite sign for the Lunar Institute, Rose asks “Soo Treppy, out of curiosity, how would have our little adventure ended if it was in one of your stories?”

That is an odd question. I glance over my book at Rose as she walks by my side. “Well, for starters, everypony would have been a lot more grateful about us getting rid of that rocket. And we definitely would have kept all those caps we were promised by Rocky and the others. Instead of having to give them over for entirely stupid reasons.”

“Is that it?” She asks, her eyes looking intently into mine. Though, why that is is beyond me.

“Well, it depends on what kind of a story this would fall under,” I say before looking back to my book. “For example, in the Literary Tradition of a typical hero’s journey, the hero, usually a mare, would sometimes be rewarded with a kiss from a love interest. On top of getting fame and fortune for completing the quest and thwarting the bad ponies, of course. But honestly, that’s not going to happen here-”

Suddenly, Rose presses her lips against my cheek. My mind goes blank, my cheeks burn, and my heart beats out of my chest as she backs off and gives me a playful smile. “There. Can’t have you go unrewarded for everything you’ve done now, can we hero?”

W-Wait, what just happened?! D-Did Rose just kiss me?! N-No, no, no, this isn’t happening! W-Why did she kiss me?! W-Well it was just on the cheek. So this has to be her teasing me again, right? Maybe. I don’t know. I mean, I’ve never actually been kissed like this before and, wait, where did Rose go? And where’s my book?

Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I look around for both Rose and the ‘Advanced Rocketry’ book before a whistle catches my attention. Further down the path, way past the granite sign and with the sun shining brightly behind her, Rose playfully waves the book at me and shouts “So how long are you planning on standing there like that for?” She then holds the book in her mouth and winks at me, practically challenging me to come take it from her.

A challenge I’m all too eager to accept as I begin running towards her. However, as I pass by the granite sign, I stop and look back on last time at the Lunar Institute and everything I am leaving behind.

I really have come a long way, haven’t I?

With a smile, I turn back to the path ahead and start running forward again. Towards Rose and the sunlit horizon in the distance.

And this time, I’m not going to let anything distract me from achieving my dreams again.

Author's Note

Level Up!

Gained Perk: Just Lucky I’m Alive

You’ve had a lot of close calls. And somehow, despite everything that has happened, you’re still alive. Somehow. This insane amount of luck has given you a near immunity to critical hits and has made your own critical hit harder. Somehow. Also, should you end combat with just under a fraction of your health (which is likely), your luck will increase by four (as if you need any more, you lucky son of a gun!) for a few minutes. Just don’t go tempting fate too much, ok?

Chapter 1 - For Want Of A Nail

“This doesn’t make any sense.”

I glance down at the mess of wires and metal that is my PipBuck before looking back down at the scene before me: a small valley nestled between a few mountains that stick out against the cloudy sky. And built into one of those mountains is a building complex. As far as the map on the screen is concerned, that complex over there is ‘Equestrian Defense Silo One’.

However, the granite sign next to me, the one I nearly rammed into because I was too busy reading, proudly proclaims this place as ‘The Lunar Institute of Rocket Research and Development’.

“I swear, this thing better not be broken again,” I mutter while banging my PipBuck against the granite sign, hoping that the map will correct itself. But It doesn’t. Because of course it doesn’t. Which still leaves the question: what is this place exactly?

Well, only one way to find out. I tighten the leather strap keeping my PipBuck to my foreleg, put away the old leatherbound book hovering in front of me, and begin walking down the broken road towards the complex itself.

My PipBuck has to be acting up again, there is no way this place can be a silo: Equestria never had any silos at any point in its history. There was no need for them. Not when megaspell chambers were more powerful, more precise, and nigh impossible for the zebras to counter.

Besides, if it’s true that this is a silo, then there would be hundreds or thousands of missiles stored just over there. With safety features that have probably rusted away after two hundred years of neglect and disuse. All armed to the teeth with warheads that could go off with the slightest nudge and send this entire place straight to Tartarus…

But this place is definitely not a silo, so I’m clearly worrying over nothing. I hope…

Though why anypony would build anything this close to dragon lands is beyond me. Dragons had a rather hostile attitude towards ponies, with a sizable majority allying with the zebras during the war. It just feels like they’re asking for some giant dragon to burn this place to the ground.

Or maybe not. This is about as out in the middle of nowhere as one can get and the whole complex does blend into the mountain from afar. If it wasn’t for the sign, I probably would have walked past and never noticed it.

Walking past the open gate, I make my way down the road, casually looking at the few rusted out motorwagons along the way. Nothing stands out as interesting until the symbol on a nearby truck catches my eye: a set of gears inside an apple-shaped box bisected by a sword. The symbol of the old Ministry of Wartime Technology.

Suddenly this place feels a lot more ominous than before.

Granted, they were the development and research branch of the Equestrian government, so their presence at a research facility isn’t all that out of place. It just doesn’t help that nearly every place where one of the Ministry’s presence is felt tends to be a death trap. Or worse.

I glance back at the gauss rifle on my back, held together by the power of duct tape and hope. Lots and lots of hope… Maybe it’s best to just turn around and forget that this place ever existed. Satisfying my curiosity isn’t worth the risk of accidentally running into whatever evil might still be lurking inside. And it’s not like I can’t find any answers once I finally make it into town.

‘If you make it to town,’ the little pony in my head says just as I turn around to leave. ‘It’s been, what, three days since you parted ways with that caravan? And the town is supposed to be four more days away? Do you even have enough supplies to make it there now?’

With some reluctance, I look over my inventory on my PipBuck. There’s still enough supplies to get me to town but not enough to keep going after that. However, with no caps and nothing to sell…

‘You should have stayed with the caravan,’ the little pony points out as I let out a frustrated sigh and look back at the truck. ‘They seemed like nice enough ponies. You could have worked for them for more supplies or caps until you got to the next town.’

Even if that would have worked, it’s too dangerous for me to stay around others for too long. No, it was good that I left when I did. Even if it puts me into bad situations like this.

Making my way to the front of the truck, my attention is drawn to the pony in the broken side-view mirror. At first, I don’t recognise the dark grey unicorn in a brown duster and old riot gear staring back at me. Then I notice the messy and unkempt dark green mane, the light green highlight going down his left side of his mane and tail, the light green eyes. And how dull and lifeless his colors look to me.

How did I turn from a bright and hopeful pony, convinced that he could fix the wasteland Equestria had become, into this broken and depressed pony?

A burning hatred stirs in my chest as the memory of a silver-winged griffon comes to mind. Along with an orange earth pony and a zebra and- I shove the memory back into its box before it can continue on.

Don’t think about them! There’s no need to think about them. Just, just forget about what happened back then and focus on the situation at hoof.

With a deep breath, I open the truck’s door and poke my head inside. To my disappointment, the cabin looks barren and, after a few minutes of searching, I give up and make my way to the back of the truck. The variously sized crates I find as I open up the tailgate certainly look promising. The fact that all of them look like somepony looked through them, less so.

The feeling that this place isn’t as well hidden as I originally thought grows with every empty crate I go through. Until I open up the last one and groan in frustration at finding it empty as well. Because of course all the crates would be empty! Even the large crates labelled “exhibits” are empty! Honestly, Luna, aren’t you supposed to be a benevolent goddess now? Couldn’t you give me a break for once and let me find something useful? Like more magical fusion cells to power my rifle with? Just a thought.

Though, why was the Ministry of Tech shipping exhibits to this place? What does a research facility need exhibits for?

Getting out of the back of the truck, I turn my attention towards the still ominous-feeling facility up ahead. Guess it can’t be helped. I straighten out my mane in the mirror (because Luna forbid I get shot for looking like an insane lunatic) before continuing down the road.

As I get closer to the entrance, I note the different display missiles along the path. Maybe these are the “exhibits” that were in some of those crates? The missiles look like they could be taken apart and stored inside of them, so it is possible. It’s also surprising how detailed each one is considering how long these display models must have been out here for. Almost like somepony has been taking care of them after all these years…

Unfortunately, the plaques that proudly stand in front of each model weren’t given the same care and attention: two hundred years’ worth of wear and tear has made nearly all of them unreadable. A shame, really, since most of them don’t look like the balefire missiles sometimes seen in old newspapers and such. What is the story behind all of these missiles? Why was this place researching so many different models? Hay, why was the Ministry of Tech involved in all of this in the first place?

And looking at the only readable plaque left standing — the one in front of the largest and most imposing model missile, reading the words ‘L33-742A Eclipse Missile’ on it — the question once again pops into my mind: are there hundreds of these Eclipse Missiles sitting under my hooves, all waiting to explode at the slightest nudge?

“Quit being silly, this place isn’t a silo,” I mutter to myself before moving towards the double doors leading inside. “This is just some abandoned facility out in the middle of nowhere. All I need to do is walk in, grab whatever valuable stuff I can find, pick up a book or three about this place, hopefully find more MFCs for my rifle, and then leave before something bad happens. I can do this.”

Pulling my rifle out, I hesitantly open the door a crack before poking my head inside.

It’s hard to decide how to feel about what I’m seeing. On the one hoof, there isn’t an unexpected scene of pure gore in here. No corpses hanging from the ceiling, no pools of blood on the floor, and no sadistic ponies around with a vested interest in shoving sharp objects into my body.

On the other hoof, there’s nothing really here at all.

Well, that’s not entirely true. The large lobby definitely has a few things in it, like the granite statue of the moon behind the U-shaped receptionist’s desk being the main feature. But there doesn’t appear to be anything worth scavenging in the room. With the lack of dust around the place, I wonder if this is a sign that all of the good salvage is gone and I’m just wasting my time.

No sense giving up here, though. I cautiously enter the room, taking in the musty air while carefully scanning the place for any hidden dangers. Two set of stairs flank the receptionist desk on each wall leading up to a balcony overhead. Up ahead are three doors, one on each base of the stairs, and a double set behind the statue.

The one to my left is wide open.

I slowly walk over to the receptionist’s desk and take cover while pointing my rifle at the open door. The hallway beyond looks empty, save for the broken remains of a side door on the floor. Maybe another scavenger decided they’d had enough and decided that using a shotgun round to open the door was worth the potential salvage on the other side. While I can appreciate why somepony would destroy a door like this (locks being the bane of my existence as well), it does mean that somepony was here. And they might still be wandering around this place.

Activating the Eyes Forward Sparkle spell on my PipBuck, I scan around the place, but no green or red dots appear in my vision. Which should mean there isn’t anypony around, friend or foe. But this is my PipBuck after all. Weaving together spells from different pieces of a PipBuck’s technical manual doesn’t create the most stable spell matrix for any PipBuck to run on. Let alone mine.

The Stable-Tec Arcane Targeting Spell was annoying enough to figure out. Who knew it actually speeds up the user’s perceptions instead of slowing down time? And getting it to cue up actions and properly execute them once the spell releases was a nightmare. At least both it and E.F.S. work properly now… Most of the time.

Nevermind, let’s make sure that there isn’t anypony over there.

As I start moving away from cover, I notice the nearby terminal on the desk. The monitor has a giant crack in it, but, for the most part, it still looks usable. It would be easy to jack in my PipBuck and download whatever files might still be in there, which might include some information about what was going on in this place, and maybe even a useful map pointing out where the storage rooms are. I can spare a few seconds to hack into it, right?

‘Sure, if you want to let the other scavenger get the drop on you while you’re distracted,’ the little pony says while shaking his head.

Assuming there is a scavenger here. Outside of one destroyed door and the unusual cleanliness of the place, there isn’t anything to suggest that there’s another pony here. And it will save me a lot of time in the long run if this terminal has the information I need. Especially if it contains an admin password to a room full of pre-war books, trinkets to sell, maybe a new magical energy weapon, among other things.

Alright, it’s decided then. Let’s crack this terminal open.

Hooking my PipBuck up to the broken terminal, I try to access the system when the lights above me flicker off and on. Huh, guess this place has a working generator somethere. Which probably means there are turrets here that are still operational.

‘Oh, your turret system isn’t working? Well lucky for you, Intrepid here is amazing with Pre-War Tech,’ the voice of the silver-winged gryphon echoes in my head. ‘Aren’t you, Intrepid?’

I shake my head and focus on my PipBuck, which, confusingly, doesn’t show that it’s connected to the terminal at all. Pulling out my screwdriver, I remove the terminal’s cover before opening up my PipBuck and directly connecting the two together. It takes a few tries, but I eventually get a solid connection and manage to download everything on it. With a triumphant smile on my face, I quickly unhook my PipBuck and… then frown again when it becomes apparent that all I’ve retrieved is a list of corrupted files and data.

Teaches me for prioritising curiosity over common sense. Again.

Hold on, what’s this? Mixed in with all of the nonsense is a message labeled ‘New Job Details’. Selecting it brings up a garbled mess on my screen, but there are some bits of actual Ponish that I can make out:

******

Silky Stars,

First of all, welcome back. I hope you enjoyed your vacation. 596f75206d61792068617665206 865617264 some things 32f5 have happened while you were gone 07365742074 6865207265636 f7264207374726 1696768742e

652073696e636520796f75207765726520676f6e652e First of all, the Ministry of Wartime Technology 420646f776e our facility 616e64207475726e20697420696e746f a museum. As a result, 74686579206116e64206c657420 0626520 taking over 6d7926f6e20616e6420 you’ll be working 756e6465722

I know what you're thinking, 69746e66169722e You’ve worked so hard and put so much of your soul into the project 746863206 c696b652726 20e6720 everything we’ve accomplished here. If it’s any consolation, I feel the same way.

4e6f6e6207 4686572659273206e6f746 8696e672652063616e20646f20 right now 746f20 6b6696c6c treat this place right. 4776520626f 76f6e9274 care about 7468697320706 656206f7574 the heart of this place, 7265706c6 72207368616d206f66 a museum, and 6c6175676 talk about 8652073 696c6c7920 ponies that wanted “to walk where Luna once walked.”

492073686f7 6d65656d20612 06c69746 remember our motto: Always aim for the moon. 206d69 572652028616e 6421206292e As we have always done before, a75737426f6666 20616e64 keep trying. 56e206966206974207461 6b65756e647265640746f2067 6542c

e7977 92c20 part of the arrangement is that you are now in charge of the new museum 4206f66 20746865207 3696c6f2e Just 6d616b65 4686f73 f747320 4d696e6973747279 keep the place pristine like it should be. Put on a good face, smile that wonderful smile of yours, and tell ponies what we do here. 5768617420776520 652e204920686 c6f73742066 96e206f757 26c6

4920686176656e e280997420676976656e20757020 6f6e206f7572 2064726 5616d2c205369 6c6b7 92e2049e28 09 96c6c20

5746865722e204920 70726f6d6973652e
-R3472y23453es

******

“This doesn’t make any sense.” I find myself uttering for the second time today.

Ok, from what I can gather, the sign outside was correct in that this place was a research facility at some point. But the Ministry of Wartime Technology took over? Or maybe they’ve always owned this place and I’m reading this wrong? Then, at one point, somepony decided that this facility needed to be converted into a museum for some reason? And what is this about ponies that wanted to walk where Luna once walked anyway?

What the hay was going on with this place?!

With a groan of frustration, I close the message and glare at the broken terminal. Well, if it isn’t going to provide any useful information, then it better have some good parts left in it that I can pawn off when I get to town. It’s not like anypony is going to mind if I vent my frustration by stripping this stupid thing for parts, right?

After ripping out whatever useful components I can from the stupid terminal, I return my attention towards the open door and walk into the hallway beyond. Maybe there’s another terminal somewhere that will help me make sense out of what I just read.

More signs of the supposed scavenger’s search become apparent when I look inside of the room: junk items lie discarded on the floors of each room along with toppled bookcases, tables, broken chairs, and the shattered remains of yet another door on the other side. From the look of things, they didn’t find whatever they were looking for. I would probably feel a sense of kinship towards this mysterious pony, and their skilled use of shotgun lock picking, if this didn’t also mean that my chances of finding valuable supplies just decreased sharply.

Still, there might be a chance that said scavenger might have missed something.

As I start to sort through what is here, I uncover a blood trail on the ground, going from where I’m standing all the way through the now mostly doorless frame.

Keeping my rifle close, I cautiously poke my head through the frame before going inside and following the blood trail into the next room.

I bite my tongue to keep myself from swearing.

Blood splatters and deep gashes decorate the floor and walls of… whatever this room was originally. Terminals, chairs, cubicle walls, all lie scattered on the floor or smashed against the walls of this place.

Along with the mutilated bodies of a few dead ponies lying in their own blood.

Oddly enough, despite the bodies looking like they’ve been rotting for a while now, the blood they are lying in seems fresh. Like the battle that took place here was recent, though how recent is anypony’s guess at this point. It honestly looks like a bunch of feral ghouls were in the wrong place at the wrong time when something decided to tear through this place.

At least with those cuts on their bodies, they’re most certainly dead now. And definitely not just playing dead at the moment, waiting for me to drop my guard before rushing me, tearing me into tiny shreds…

Taking a deep breath, I cautiously approach one of the bodies, poking it with my muzzle of my rifle and quickly teleporting back a few feet when its leg twitches. Thankfully, that’s all the movement it does and the other body doesn’t respond when I prod it. Proving once and for all that they are, indeed, dead.

Hopefully this doesn’t mean there are feral ghouls roaming around this place. After all, they do love gathering in Pre-War places like this. And the last thing I need right now is a repeat of what happened back in that abandoned maintenance tunnel back home. If I bump into a pack of feral ghouls here before finding more MFCs for my rifle...

“Alright, focus,” I mutter to myself before walking towards one of the open doors. “There are no signs of feral ghouls running around this place. Just long-dead bodies that won’t hurt me. And whoever, or whatever, tore through this place is probably long gone by now.”

‘Or maybe it’s hiding somewhere,’ the little pony in my head suggests. ‘Just waiting for some stupid pony to bump into it and become its next meal.’

“But E.F.S. will pick that up before that happens… maybe,” I mutter while cautiously poking my head and rifle through the open door. “Not like I have the option of leaving. I’m going to need a lot more than what I currently have if I’m going to make it safely to that town nearby. Assuming the town even exists.”

After making sure nothing is waiting for me on the other side, I head down the long corridor, stopping every few feet or so to check out each room I come across.

While each one turns out to be devoid of ponies, ghouls, and, to my eternal annoyance, anything worth salvaging, I can’t shake the feeling that I’m being watched.

It doesn’t help that I keep catching glimpses of red on my E.F.S., suggesting that I’m being stalked by some monster or-

*Crunch*

The gooey insides of a crushed radroach drips from my hoof as I lift it up and wince in disgust. “Or it could have been a radroach. Figures,” I say with resignation while taking out an old rag to wipe my hoof off with. “Just watch, a whole swarm of radroaches will come out of the woodwork and kill me while I’m trying to scrape this stuff off. All because I wasn’t paying close attention to my surroundings and stepped on their friend by accident. That would make for an interesting story to tell at the bar for sure.”

I guess I should be grateful that the worst thing I’ve bumped into so far is a radroach. But why didn’t it move out of the way when I was about to step on it? Actually, why does it look half eaten? And why is there a damp breeze hitting the back of my neck all of a sudden?

Against my better judgement, I look up to see a rather large, bipedal, dog-like beast hovering over me. A hellhound. Hovering over me. With blood dripping from its mouth.

“Umm, H-Hello there,” I manage to say as my eyes drift along its grey fur down to its razor sharp claws that are also covered in blood. “M-My apologies, I think I just stepped on your, umm, pet?”

“Lunch,” The hellhound says with a toothy grin that makes my blood run cold. “But that’s ok, I just found something better.”

“Ah, I see.” I reply back before teleporting away, his claws slicing through the air as I reappear further down the corridor. While the hellhound looks shocked at my sudden disappearance, I start running as fast as my legs can carry me.

The last thing I want is to fight off the living incarnation of death with only three shots for a rifle that is falling apart at the seams.

Behind me, the hellhound chuckles rather loudly as his voice carries through the corridor. “Oh, this is going to be fun!”

“For whom exactly?!” I shout back before turning the corner, passing through some double doors, and barely catching myself before running off the catwalk on the other side.

Below me lies some kind of underground loading bay, with a truck half buried under the rubble of the access tunnel, a lot of catwalks, and—

I hear claws tearing into the ground behind me, and I turn around in time to see the hellhound racing towards me. Immediately, I activate S.A.T.S. and-

… S.A.T.S., I need you to turn on now!

The hellhound’s sharp claws tear into my shoulder just as I barely teleport away. Reappearing next to the half-buried truck, I glance at the new gash that is now bleeding on my duster; the little pony shakes his head at my annoyance with the damage and points out that I could have just lost a leg right now.

Three shots. That’s all I have to take down a monster that can easily rip me apart like a wet tissue. How in Luna’s good name am I supposed to do that?

Yet, my eyes feel drawn to the blood seeping out of my wound. As if to remind me that there is another way to deal with this hellhound.

N-No! I can’t resort to that! I won’t! After what happened last time, I—

My opponent jumps off the catwalk and lands right on the front of the truck, grabbing my attention again as his weight crushes the hood like paper. Were hellhounds always this strong?!

In a fit of panic, I teleport back a few feet before blindly firing at him, cursing my bad luck when the shot only grazes his side.

One.

“That was a warning shot!” I yell, using my teleport spell to swap the spent MFC with a fresh one from my saddlebags. “Now, how about you stop trying to kill me, I give you a sweet roll, and we go our separate ways?… Please?”

The hellhound gives me a rather incredulous look as he tilts his head at me. “Are you stupid or something?”

“I prefer foalishly idealistic myself.” I point my rifle at his head. “And I prefer not to spill blood if I don’t have to.”

A chuckle escapes the hellhound’s lips. “But I like it when ponies bleed!” He yells before lunging at me, his claws digging into the cement just as I teleport away. I fire another round at his back, the bullet biting into his shoulder as he whips around to glare at me.

Two.

Spying two doors near me, I dash towards one of them, hoping to get through in time to escape. I barely move a few feet before the hellhound cuts me off. There’s barely enough time to teleport back before his claws swipe towards me.

Blood trickles from the new cut on my forehead. Wiping it from my eyes, I once again teleport away as my opponent lunges towards the ground.

Now on all fours, the hellhound scrapes his claws on the cement as he turns to face me. My rifle shakes as I take a few steps back, only to press my back against a wall.

For a brief moment, we stand there, his eyes fixated on my rifle while I desperately try to calm down enough to properly aim it at his head.

Then he charges with reckless abandon and, taking a deep breath, I fire off my rifle.

Three.

Three shots. And that last one only grazes his scalp. Too late, I try to teleport away only to watch in terror as the hellhound is now on top of me, wincing as his claws reach in for the killing blow and…

Why isn’t there any pain? Why hasn’t he reduced me to bloody ribbons yet? I blink and look to see his claws a good few inches from my head, frozen in mid-strike. Letting out a deep sigh, it dawns on me that S.A.T.S. has finally activated. About time it did!

Not that it does me any good right now. I’m out of MFCs for my rifle. And considering how the hellhound is blocking my view of the rest of the room, teleporting away is pretty much impossible at this point.

So now the only option left is to wait for the spell to fail and to die a horrible death. Out of all the worst things that could happen, this is definitely the Worst. Possible. Thing.

O-Ok, ok, calm down, I’m not dead yet. Just running on borrowed time.

My rifle is still pointed at his head, so if I can manage one more shot from my rifle, the knockback might give me enough room to escape. Unfortunately, I’ll need something else to power the rifle. But MFCs are just concentrated bursts of magic that— OH DON’T YOU DARE INCH ANY CLOSER!

Alright, this spell isn’t going to hold for much longer. Let’s condense my thinking here. Gauss rifle need MFCs. MFCs equals magic. What else has magic, though? Well, I’m practically a well of magical energy. Maybe I can link my magic into the MFC chamber for the rifle and use my reserves to power it?

Not like I have much choice here.

Queuing up some headshots, I funnel as much magic as I can into my rifle. With a deep breath and a quiet prayer for a miracle, I execute the spell.

Indescribable pain sears through my horn as my ears ring from the shot of my rifle. With my eyes shut tightly and my forelegs clutching my head, I slump towards the ground screaming in pain.

Note to self: use a magical surge protector next time.

When the pain finally dies down, I open my eyes. The first thing that catches my attention is the now-headless hellhound on the ground. And partly chestless as well. The throbbing pain in my head keeps me from feeling disgusted with the kind of overkill I managed to inflict on him.

Although, the odd thing is all of the wires and pieces of metal that are scattered with the… bits of his head still remaining. Did this hellhound have cybernetics implanted in his head?

My blood runs cold as my ears pick up the one sound I had hoped never to hear again in my entire life: the roaring sound of hungry ghouls.

And that last shot woke them up, didn’t it? Dear Luna, what the hay did I do to tick you off today?!

Bodies slam against the two doors on the main floor while a few rotting ponies pour in from the double door above. They look down at me with hunger in their eyes. Not good. Not good at all.

Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any other way to get out of this room. There is a makeshift cage in between the two doors with some kind of box attached to it, but being trapped in a cage while the room fills with hungry ghouls looking to eat me isn’t all that appealing to me.

The doors on the main floor give way and more ghouls start pouring into the room. Quickly grabbing my rifle, I wait for most of them to come close to me before teleporting over to the entrance of the cage; a sharp pain sears through my horn as I do so.

Before it subsides, a ghoul tackles me into the cage, causing its door to swing shut as we slam into the wall on the other side. The ghoul bites into my right foreleg, causing me to yelp in pain before I bash its head into the cage wall to force it to let go. I repeatedly slam the butt of my rifle into the ghoul’s head as it slumps to the ground, reducing its rotting head into bloody pulp.

Sweat runs down my face and I take deep breaths as my body shakes from the experience. It takes all of my self-control not to teleport myself back out of the cage when a ghoul slams itself into the door. Ignoring the ghoul’s attempts to claw its way in, I quickly lock the door before noticing the box from before, with a row of three buttons next to an old speaker. I try every button on there, hoping that something, anything would happen.

Nothing happens.

“What I wouldn’t give for a 9mm right now.” I slump down against the wall, pain still pulsing through my head as more ghouls ram the cage to no effect. Then again, a 9mm didn’t do much against the feral ghouls in that abandoned maintenance tunnel back home. At least I’m not on the wrong side of the locked door this time around. For what little good that does me now. With literally nowhere else to go, I pull out my book and turn on the radio, before letting out a bitter laugh when static comes out of it.

Of course there wouldn’t be a radio signal here. I’m stuck in the middle of a mountain range. Which means there’s no chance of anypony receiving any call for help. No chance of listening to one of Velvet Remedy’s songs to calm my nerves.

No chance of some stupid griffon and his hired companions to save me from these ghouls like back at the maintenance tunnel.

“Alright, who’s out there at this time of the day?”

Startled, I look around before realizing that the raspy voice is coming from the speaker next to me. Clearing my throat, I press a button at random and silently pray that this box still works. “Umm, hello, my name’s Intrepid Scholar! I’m in a bit of trouble at the—”

“Who?” the raspy voice asks.

“Intrepid Scholar,” I repeat while another ghoul slams into the gate, “Not to be rude, but there are feral ghouls here and—”

A heavy sigh crackles through the speaker. “Let me guess, you woke up the sick and they are making a mess of the place up there. Honestly, this is why we… nevermind. You didn’t kill any of them, did you?”

I blink at the comment before looking at the bloody remains of the ghoul. “Umm?” I flinch in pain while teleporting the remains outside of the cage. As some of the ghouls leave to investigate it, I turn my attention back to the raspy voice. “D-Does it really matter?! They’re trying to break through this cage and kill me here!”

“Kill you? Why would they...” There’s a moment’s silence before the raspy voice asks “You’re not a ghoul, are you?”

Today just keeps getting weirder and weirder. “Umm, no? No I’m not. Is that going to be a problem?”

A groan crackles through the speaker, punctuated by another slam that causes part of the cage to bend slightly. “N-Nevermind,” I said quickly. “Look, can we have this discussion face to face? I can’t really concentrate when there are feral ghouls bashing against the cage here!”

The cage jolts to life and suddenly it dawns on me that I’m in an elevator as it moves down the elevator shaft. The ghouls instinctively back off and watch me descend with their eerily dead gaze.

“When you hit the bottom, go to the door, page the box next to it, and wait. There.” The raspy voice orders before a faint click signals the end of our conversation.

Slumping back down against the wall, I watch as my view of the room is slowly replaced by cold concrete. Well, this day took a rather sharp turn for the absurd there, didn’t it? At least I’m still alive and breathing. For all that that’s worth, anyway.

Sick. That’s what my raspy sounding savior called those feral ghouls. Maybe he’s a ghoul himself? Probably. And not a friendly one from the sounds of it. But then, if I survived the amount of magical radiation that would kill other ponies and come out looking like a zombie, I’d have a hard time being nice either. Especially considering how most ponies tend to treat ghouls.

Maybe the reason he didn’t want me to kill them was because they were his friends before they went feral. Calling them sick might be his way of holding out hope that they might snap out of it, that things will go back to the way they were before. If only that were possible. Ghoulification isn’t kind to the pony mind, assuming they didn’t completely lose it right after the end happened. Once they go feral, no amount of cybernetics or magic will bring them back. It’s foalish to think otherwise.

Not like I’m one to talk about ponies being foalish, though. Given my own reasons for being out here in the first place.

Regardless, I should be thankful that he was kind enough to let me in. Maybe he’ll have some supplies I can work for or some knowledge on how to get to the next town? Hay, maybe he knows the history behind this place and the model rockets outside. That would be nice.

Opening my book, I calmly turn the pages while enjoying the really slow elevator ride down. Right, if Luna’s willing, I’ll get my answers, trade for some useful things my savior is willing to part with, and then leave before anything else happens.

Lights along the elevator shaft flicker to life and the elevator shakes briefly as a layer of metal slides into place, cutting off my view of the room above.

The little pony in my head sighs. ‘Don’t get your hopes up.’

Author's Note

Congratulations! You’ve survived long enough to level up! Lucky you!

New Perk: Magical Energy Transfer

Through a combination of quick thinking and sheer dumb luck, you have discovered a way to use yourself as a power supply for magical-powered devices. However, since most magical technology isn’t designed with this kind of interaction, there’s a chance for the device to overload and painfully surge back towards the source, among other dangers that may result from careless use of this ability.

Chapter 8 - Fire Where Once Were Ashes

Light assaults my weary eyes and drags me away from my rather peaceful slumber. With one foreleg raised up to hide my eyes from the light, I lift myself off the ground to a now sunlit control room. The gears in my mind slowly begin to turn as a few choice curses are placed upon the sun itself.

Yeesh, can’t I get five more minutes of sleep? Stupid sun shining right on me.

Dragging myself across the room, I manage to make it to the one thing that can shield myself from this onslaught. While the curtains don’t do much to darken the room, they do keep the sun rays outside where they belong and spare my poor eyes from going blind. With that taken care of, I can finally take a good look around the room. And as expected, everything is where they were last night. The de-leathered chairs sit next to the remains of the test consoles, my fully repaired duster is nicely folded on my likewise repaired saddlebags, and Rose is curled up and sound asleep in her corner.

Which is somewhat of a bad thing, considering she was supposed to wake me up for my shift. Or maybe she tried but I was too tired to get up. With the only way in and out of this room trapped, it’s probably not that big of a deal. And after everything we’ve been through, we both deserve a good night’s rest.

I pick up my duster and drape it over her (as any proper stallion should). The little pony in my head warns that we should be going, but it is also important that neither one of us is tired when we set out of here. Plus, I have no clue how to safely disarm the door and losing a leg is not something any sane pony should do twice.

Thus, with nothing better to do, I eject last night’s holotape and replace it with another one. Hardwire did not raise any objection to me listening to his tapes when I apologized for listening to them. So I should be fine listening to another entry while waiting for Rose to wake up, right? Right. Just as long as it isn't too personal. There's glimpsing into the past to learn more about this place and then there's being a stalker. So with my earblooms clipped on, I look through the list of recordings and pick the one at random.

“Let’s see here,” The younger and healthier sounding Hardwire mutters as his voice pipes in through the earblooms. “There we go, these PipBucks really can do anything, can’t they? I wonder what I should say to test this out?”

The sound of wings flapping enters the recording. “Ah, so you won the StableTec lottery!” A cheerful sounding stallion says.

“Depends on how you look at it, Thunder,” Hardwire says as I hear him start walking. “Personally, it feels like I have a glorified tracker on my foreleg that I can’t easily take off. Anyway, how’s Floria doing these days?”

“She’s doing fine,” Thunder says. Though, given that he knows Floria, it's probably safe to assume his full name is Thundering Lane. “Her and Wheat Bale are testing the new design out right now.”

“Wheat Bale,” Hardwire thinks out loud. “Hay Bale’s grandson?”

Oh right, Rocky did mention that Hay Bale had a grandson, didn't he?

“Yep,” Thunder answered back, confirming what I just thought. “The rocket engine already checks out, but Floria thought it would be a good idea to let the newbie conduct a dry run before it gets shipped to the launch pad,” He then lowers his voice. “Anyway, I heard from Pastel that there was a meeting between Rocky and one of those MoM agents. Hear anything about that?”

Hardwire lets out an exasperated sigh. “Look, just because I keep tabs on everypony’s conversations doesn’t mean I know what is going on.”

“Hey, everypony knows you didn’t want the job,” Thunder says reassuringly, though he still keeps his voice low. “But you never know, you know?”

“I know,” Hardwire says. “But no, I haven’t heard anything about that. You?”

“Just that my Sis is ticked off about them giving Rocky some kind of special potion,” Thunder answers back. “According to them, it was a little ‘thank you’ gift for all the hard work we’ve been doing. According to Sis, it was a bribe. For what, she couldn’t figure out. She can’t even get Rocky to explain why he didn’t turn it down or throw it back into their face.”

“Maybe he didn’t want to offend them?” Hardwire offers. “It does sound kind of suspicious, though. We haven’t really done anything so far for him to start getting gifts from the Ministries.”

“Right? That’s why I came to you,” Thunder asks as I hear somepony pat a shoulder. “You know what they are planning here?”

“No, they don’t trust me that much,” Hardwire says. “Which is a good thing. I don’t want them breathing down my neck. I came here to get away from all of that.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Thunder pauses. “But you’ll let me know if they’re coming after Mahzun, won’t you? He may be a crazy conspiracy theorist, but he’s family now. Floria would be upset if MoM took him-”

My ears perk up at the explosion in the background. Static starts seeping into the recording as Hardwire shouts "What was that?"

"It came from Rocket Testing," Thunder shouts back. "Come on!"

Their galloping hoofsteps slowly disappear as static soon engulfs the recording. A quick check reveals that this isn't the end of the recording, so I quickly pop open the casing of my PipBuck and mess with the wiring. Because I refuse that the rest of this recording is corrupt! Not with what just happened!

"Wheat Bale!" Some mare's shout manages to cut through the static. "Where Are You?!"

"I Found Him!" Hardwire shouts back. "I… Dear Celestia…."

Dear Luna. She was there. Hay Bale was there when her grandson-

The recording devolves in static once again and I smack my PipBuck against the floor.

Don't you dare cut out on me now! What happened to him? Was this an accident? What is going on here?

"Floria!" Thundering Lane's voice cuts through the static. "Floria!"

"I'm Ok!" Floria shouts, her coughing barely coming through as the static threatens to take over again. "I Was Standing Next To Amber When… WHERE THE HAY IS SHE?!"

And once again, static. In frustration, I rip out some wires from the nearby console and use them to replace a couple in my PipBuck. That did nothing to solve the situation. With no other solution coming to mind, I move to eject the tape when the static finally dies down.

"There," Hardwire says in a tired and somber tone. "Her card's been blacklisted and security notified. That should keep her from getting too far."

"Good," Bright Eyes says and then chuckles mirthlessly. "The one day I needed nothing to happen, everything goes to Tartarus."

"Should we call Rocky back in?" Floria asks.

There's a pause. "No, let him enjoy his date with Silky,” Bright Eyes answers. “I can deal with MoM until he gets back."

"But I don't get it," Thunder says. "We’re still testing the difference between using hydrogen and kerosene as rocket propellants. The test fuel shouldn’t have been up here yet."

“Amber Blossom somehow got her hooves on it,” Floria explains with an edge in her tone. “She told Wheat Bale you wanted it tested today and was waiting in the control room when I confronted her. She must have started the rocket while he was removing the fuel.”

“But she’s an accountant that the Ministry of Tech sent us,” Bright Eyes says thoughtfully. “Hardwire, can you see if she was using someone else’s card to get in here?”

Hardwire doesn’t say anything, but the tapping noises suggest that he is on it. Thunder, however, does speak up. “My team and I were in our lab the entire day. We would have seen her if she got in somehow.”

Unless she was using one of the StealthBucks I found yesterday.

“Yet she still managed to get her hooves on your test fuel and get into a restricted area,” Bright Eyes counters. “I want to know who is helping her.”

“Umm, Floria?” Hardwire asks nervously. “Do you still have your key card on you?”

There's a moment of silence, then some muttering followed by some shuffling of clothing. "Its right here," Floria finally says. "But how-!"

"Blacklist her card too," Bright Eyes orders. Hoof tapping follows while she continues in a serious tone. "Floria, did you have contact with Amber before today?"

"You're not suggesting she's in on this, are you?!" Thunder cuts in.

"Honey, please," Floria says softly before answering in an equally serious tone. "No, I saw her in passing but that was it. I never gave her my card, I swear."

There's another moment of silence and then Bright Eye sighs. "MoM is going to have a field day here."

"They can check through the logs," Floria says. "There is no proof that I did anything wrong here."

"They won't care," Bright Eyes says bluntly. "You are a zebra and your card was used to let Amber get in here. That alone will make you a collaborator in their eyes."

Thunder snorts. "You can't let them take her! She's an Equestrian! She has her rights!"

"Don't be naive!" Bright Eyes says sharply. "After that fiasco we had with that misplaced crate from the Ministry of Arcane Science, the Ministry of Morale have been paranoid about us. Amber probably hoped that MoM's prejudice against zebras would keep them from going after her until it was too late."

"But we caught her!" Thunder says, sounding angry and almost desperate. "Even if they're paranoid, they would know Amber was trying to frame Floria," he pauses, likely looking for some pony to agree with him. "... Right?"

"Thundering," Floria says tenderly.

"Don’t do that! I know exactly what they do to sympathizers," He answers back. “I won’t let them take you to Shattered Hoof! I'm not losing you like that!”

"And you won't," Bright Eyes says calmly. "I'm not the kind of griffon to let some thugs take away my friends for no reason. Not without a fight, at least."

"Raina, this isn't an angry mayor we're dealing with here," Floria points out. "This is an entire Ministry that will be after us."

"Which means we'll have to get another ministry on our side," Bright Eyes says. I can practically see her with a sly smile in my mind's eye. "Come on, we need to talk to Rocky about this. I hear he has a family friend that might help us out."

"And if that doesn't work?" Floria asks.

"Then we'll play dirty," Bright Eyes answers. “How do you two feel about going on another vacation?”

Static kicks back up again, unceremoniously marking the ending of the recording there. It is a lot to take in, actually. Amber Blossom was a spy, just like I thought back when I first read her name. Smart move on her part, using Floria as a scapegoat like that. Given the Striped Scare that was going on back then, MoM would have arrested her without trial and her family would never see her again. At least, not until after she had gone through the ‘re-education’ process at Shattered Hoof. Assuming she survived the process. Though, given that Floria isn’t an emotionless husk, it’s safe to assume they found a way to keep her from getting sent there.

However, none of this actually explains why the Balefire Warheads ended up here in the first place. If anything, this would be the last place to send them, right? Maybe another recording or message can shed some light on my question. Looking over the list, one particular message catches my attention.

******

From: Copper Hardwire
To: Ms. Raina

Raina,

First of all, I agree with what Rocky said last time, that meeting was not your fault. I don’t think anypony would have guessed that Smooth Charmer would cave in at the last moment. Or that MoM representative would go so far as to threaten another Ministry employee. Guess the Ministries aren’t all as united in one cause as we were led to believe.

At least the recordings were enough to convince them that Floria and the other zebras weren’t involved in this fiasco. Don’t forget that. Even if we lose the company, none of us are in jail or worse because of you and Rocky. That’s more than we can ask for at this point.

I know, this isn’t all that comforting. But I do have good news. Apparently, Amber didn’t just steal StealthBucks from the Ministries. There was also a holotape in her terminal with a very interesting encrypted file inside. I can’t make any sense out of it, but it might help convince them to give us all another chance.

I’ve attached the fire to this message. Please do what you can with it.

Sincerely,
Hardwire

******

I let out a sigh of relief. No zebra was sent to Shattered Hoof. Good. Though Hardwire suggesting that they're getting fired does damper my mood somewhat. Seeing the long list of pink slips and resignations after this message doesn't help either. Guess whatever good will the company had with the Ministries was gone once that meeting happened. But none of this explains why the Ministries decided to turn this place into a museum? Was it to punish them? An attempt to earn some bits to recoup what was invested into this place? The more I think about it, the more my head hurts. And the remaining messages on this holotape are corrupt too. Maybe this is a mystery that won't be solved until I get back to Rocky and Bright Eyes.

However, there is that file Hardwire mentioned. I wonder what is inside of it. It is easy enough to transfer the file onto my PipBuck. Opening it, however, instantly produces a whole spool of random nonsense. Studying it does reveal some patterns within the garbled mess (A perk of having read some books that describe the spellweave methods the Ministries used to encode their messages). This looks to be a Spitfire Cipher, which definitely confirms that this was stolen from one of the Ministries.

Unfortunately, and to my annoyance, knowing the cipher used and having the key to decode it are two different things. Ugh, it’ll take me years to decrypt this without the key! And that's assuming my scant knowledge on cryptography will be enough to break through this. Why Luna? Why do you toy around with my curiosity like this?

“So what's got you so worked up?” Rose asks while resting her head on my shoulder, my duster still draped over her shoulders like a cloak.

“J-Just some PipBuck issues,” I admit, trying to ignore how close my bat pony companion is to me. “There’s an encrypted file that I discovered. But without the key, it’s just a garbled mess.”

“Well, that's easy for you, ain’t it?” She pokes my chest with her hoof. “You are one of those Twilight Society ponies and you did say you were an expert in Pre-War Tech.”

It might have been a mistake telling her that. “That doesn’t make me an expert in everything. My ‘expertise’ is mostly centered around spell matrixes and how to manipulate them inside arcanotech.”

She gives me a confused look. “I thought you only knew magical maid spells?”

I give her an unamused look. “I said most of my spell list is akin to a maid’s. There are spells that really only function within a device like a PipBuck.”

She nods, inadvertently rubbing her head against my neck and prompting me to ask “C-Could you give me some personal space, please?”

“Oh, umm, sorry about that,” She quickly lifts her head off my shoulder and backs off a little. It actually makes me feel like I scolded her. But before I can rectify that, she taps my PipBuck. “That’s the file, right? Looks like something the Enclave would have.”

That catches me off guard. “Enclave? What do you mean Enclave?” I ask just as Rose digs through her saddlebag and pulls out a holotape.

“Here, try using this,” She holds the tape out to me. I hesitate to take it, causing her to playfully add “Come on, it’s just a tape. It’s not going to bite.”

“I know,” I say, taking the tape and swapping it with the one in my PipBuck. “I was hoping for an explanation about what-” I pause and stare at my screen. “This… is this a cipher key?”

She shrugs. “Don’t know. I won it off of a pegasus in a game of Blackjack. Kept telling me that it was a decryptor or something. It got me into a few old Enclave terminals I stuck it into. So, I figure it might work for your thing too.”

“Can’t hurt to try,” I say and then run the decryptor tape. I tap my hoof as I wait for the file to get encrypted. Rose sits down next to me, seemingly making a conscious effort to not touch me as we watch the number of attempts increase on my PipBuck screen.

After a few minutes, she suddenly speaks up. “Soo, you wanna tell me why you ran away from home?”

That isn’t an easy question to answer. The little pony in my head winces and looks back at all of the memories related to that time. All of the naive hopes and dreams that not only shattered into a million pieces, but which shards ended up stabbing my soul repeatedly until now. But I promised her I would tell her that much. So I take a deep breath and mentally prepare myself to open up some old wounds.

“I got tired of the hypocrisy,” I explain. “I mean, Tenpony Tower was the Manehatten Hub for the Ministry of Arcane Science. We were supposed to be the guardians of the tech they left behind. But we did nothing with it! Sure, if everypony knew what was inside of the tower, the surrounding raiders would have come to our doors and we would be dead in a matter of weeks. But after a while, our reasons became excuses in my mind. Made by self-centered elitists more concerned with doing experiments than helping ponies out. So, when I discovered an abandoned access tunnel out of the tower, I decided to leave and actually make a difference out there.”

“Oh, wow,” Rose mutters in surprise. “I never would have guessed any of that. So, are they hunting you down now or what?”

I shrug. “I haven’t seen any sign of them since I left. The door was in a blind spot, security wise, so they probably had no clue how I got out. Or maybe they knew that the tunnel was full of ghouls and thought I got torn apart,” I clear my throat while rubbing my shoulder. “It certainly was a surprise when they cut off my way back inside.”

She leans in slightly, her full attention now on me instead of the PipBuck. “And you survived all that,” She playfully hits my shoulder. “That’s kinda impressive for a Tower pony.”

“Hey,” I say while rubbing my shoulder. “I couldn’t shoot the broad side of a barn with a 9mm back then, but I could teleport. You’ve seen me in action against those hellhounds, remember?”

“Like I could forget,” She says, glancing at my back for a moment before quickly focusing on me again. “So you managed to kill the ghouls, right?”

“Eh, no,” I avert my gaze from her while I nervously shift from rubbing my shoulder to rubbing my foreleg. “I, umm, got rescued by Silverwing and his group. I ran into him after escaping the tunnel and they took care of the ghouls that were still biting at my tail.”

“Ah, ok,” Rose says. From the corner of my eye, I can see her rubbing at her scarf uncomfortably as she asks “I guess that was before he did… whatever it was that made you hate him so much?”

I wince at that question. “Yeah, he figured out rather quickly that I was from Tenpony Tower and wanted me on his team. He was looking for some lost tribe of vampire ponies and figured a book horse like me would know a thing or two about that. Honestly, I think he planned on using me to bypass the ‘no-business within the Tower’ policy on non-citizens. He looks at others as tools to exploit rather than actual beings, though I didn’t figure that out until it was far too late.”

She slowly nods. “The other ponies in his group were treated like that too?”

I look back up at her. “In a way. Amber Flare was an ex-raider who had a Buck addiction that Silverwing exploited. Ziggurat was our zebra medic with an odd habit of removing bones from corpses and keeping them. He did mention belonging to some extremist group once, so I figured Silverwing was blackmailing him somehow.”

“And, umm, what about you?” She asks cautiously. “How did he get you onboard?”

“Simple. I was a naive pony who wanted to be a hero like his father before him,” I smile mirthlessly. “All he had to do was convince me that finding the treasure the vampire ponies had would help in rebuilding society out here in the wastes. Reframing all of our side jobs as building up ‘good karma’ in the communities we would rebuild later only reinforced the illusion for me.”

Rose frowns as a mixture of anger and disgust appear on her face. “I hate it when ponies use others like that. If I ever see the stupid griffon, I’ll give him a black eye or two for ya. He is a griffon, right?”

I smirk a little at the thought of Rose beating up the silver-winged griffon. “Yeah, he is. Though, I doubt you’ll be seeing him anytime soon.” And I will never see him again, if I’m so lucky.

“So what woke you up?” She asks. “Did he cheat you out of the treasure or something?”

“The treasure was a bust,” I rub my neck and my body tenses up as the memories come flooding back. Painful memories about the cave, the bones scattered across the place, the murals drawn in blood on the walls, the cracked memory orb. The words to describe that horrible experience stick in my throat. After all this time, I still can’t bring myself to relive that particular moment. “Silverwing wasn’t happy about that,” I finally say and decide to leave it at that for now. “However, Trian Mill was when we parted ways.”

A concerned look crosses Rose's face. She opens her mouth and I wait for the inevitable questions about the 'treasure'. Instead, she closes her mouth and hums instead. “Trian Mill? That doesn’t ring a bell.”

It is a bit of a relief that she isn't going to press me on that experience. Though, Trian Mill isn't going to be much better. Maybe I can gloss over this one too? “I’m not surprised. It was a hidden military base after all,” I explain, trying to decide how much to say about the place. “We only found out about it when the inhabitants started shooting at us."

"Maybe they knew about Silverwing already?" She smirks at her own joke.

"I wish. Maybe things would have turned out differently," I lament, killing the smile on her face as I continue. "They were refugees of sorts. Escaped slaves, former Enclave citizens, exiled Stable ponies. They were scared that we were some kind of raider scouting party. They soon realized we weren't when we didn't fire back."

I wait for Rose to say something but she remains oddly silent. So I continue. "They had no clue what a find they had in their hooves. Trian Mill was a high security military bunker with turrets covering every blind spot. It was definitely built to store something dangerous, but I guess the shipment never came or some group emptied it out decades ago."

A sense of dread starts to swell within me as the memories continue to come to mind. "When they mentioned that their turrets weren't working, I volunteered to take a look at it. I know my way around terminals and Silverwing even had a targeting data holotape he had gotten years ago," I chuckle and raise my hoof a few feet off the ground. "There was this little colt that practically idolized me as I was working to fix the turret system. Thought I was the coolest stallion around."

"What happened to them?" Rose finally asks.

The words stick to my throat and I shut my eyes as that memory comes into focus. "I screwed up," I say softly, fighting back against the pain and regret those words bring. "I didn't notice that there was a virus inside the holotape. Not until the turrets turned on and started gunning down every pony in sight. By… by the time I managed to shut it all down, they… they…."

I feel a hoof on my shoulder and I look at Rose through the tears forming in my eyes. "I killed them, Rose. They were depending on me and I got them killed. I was so sure I had the knowledge and skill to fix this that I didn't even notice that something was wrong with the stupid holotape! I-" I wipe the tears from my eyes and try to regain some composure with a deep breath. "I'm the last pony that should be helping the ghouls out. I've told them as much. Yet, here I am, having learned nothing from the last time I tried to help."

"Treppy," Rose says. "These things happen all the time out here. You can't let them get to you like this."

"No, you don't get it," I say while shaking my head. "I killed an entire community of ponies with that mistake! And after… after what happened to Silverwing and the others? I'm no hero. I'm a monster."

"A monster? Please," Rose says incredulously. "A monster wouldn't risk his life to save me. Or most of the ponies I know, actually. So don't give me that." She then quickly ruffles my mane up to no end.

"Agh! Stop it!" I bat her hooves away. As soon as she stops her assault (and completely messes up my mane, no doubt), I give her a glare. "You know how many times I put your life in danger?"

"No more than any of my other partners," She answers bluntly. It is an answer to which I have no immediate comeback. And she takes full advantage of that. "Look, I know what a monster looks like. And you," She pokes my chest. "Aren't one."

This feels like a battle she won't let me win. Not without tearing myself apart even further by digging deeper into my past. "Alright, I'll agree to disagree. Will that work for you?"

She frowns. "No. I don't think those ponies want you to keep punishing yourself over an honest mistake. I know I wouldn't; you were only trying to help."

'And what good did that help do?' The little pony in my head argues. 'How could they possibly forgive you? You don't even remember their names anymore. Rose doesn’t know what she is talking about. How could she? She’s never screwed up as badly as you.'

And yet, Rose’s words make me realise something: I had been so focused on not reliving the past that I never thought about the ponies I killed by accident. I had assumed that they would hate me for taking their life. Just like I assumed Rose was like Silverwing.

“Do you really think they would forgive me that easily?” I ask softly.

She smiles slightly. “Think they’d like seeing you like this if they did?”

That is a good point. I still feel guilty making Rose think I hated her after I had already decided she wasn’t… evil. Maybe they feel the same way about how I’ve been blaming myself all this time?

As if reading my thoughts, Rose pats my head. “I don’t know how long you’ve been holding this in for. But maybe it is time to stop being stubborn and forgive yourself already, ok?”

It isn’t quite as simple as that. Too many horrible things happened in such a short time of each other that letting go is impossible. Or it feels that way. Though, looking at Rose, hearing her attempts at making me forgive myself. Maybe. Maybe I can let go of this one event. It still won’t absolve me of my sins. But at least the ponies of Trian Mill no longer have to worry about me any longer.

Luna, if I’m wrong in forgiving myself, please make sure their retribution is swift and just. Assuming you can even hear this prayer.

“Alright, enough patting,” I say while lightly swatting her hoof away. “It’s demeaning. And I will try to forgive myself. If only because you make a good point.”

Her smile widens into a grin as she heads towards the door. “Alright, now that that’s settled, let’s get out of here.”

I nod my head at her before moving to the only reflective surface in the room: the monitors. Honestly, why does she like messing up my mane so much? Does she get some kind of enjoyment out of it or something? It is already hard enough trying to look decent in the middle of a wasteland. Not to mention how many times my mane and tail have been cut up and burnt.

Letting out a sigh, I start to fix up my mane when I notice something about my reflection. The pony staring back at me isn’t the same depressed pony I’m used to seeing. This pony looks different. Happier, maybe.

Which is strange. After everything that has happened, I had given up on seeing anything outside of a tired and broken pony in my reflection. A constant reminder of how foolish I was to ever think that I could make a difference in the world. Now I see a reflection that’s closer to the naive and determined pony that left Tenpony Tower so long ago. Still bearing the signs and weight of my past on my shoulders, but less so. And with a dim light of hope that hasn’t been in my eyes in a long time.

There is another difference with this reflection too. A feeling that something is… off about me. Like some part of me is damaged? Or maybe scarred? There are a couple of scrapes and cuts on my face, but they aren’t what is triggering this feeling. As I try to make sense of this feeling, Floria’s question from before I started this adventure comes to mind.

‘Intrepid… what do you know about the spirits?’

Did she see something in me that I’m only now starting to become aware of? Should I have told her the truth of what I had found back there? Maybe, just maybe, she knows what kind of curse I’ve brought upon myself? About that cracked memory orb didn’t contain any memories. Only the pure darkness that now lurk behind my eyes. And sorrow. Pain.

Hate.

Suddenly, my duster lands on top of my head, obscuring my vision and snapping me out of my introspection. I pull it off and glance at an embarrassed looking Rose. “Oops, sorry,” She says. “I guess I overshot that. It’s a nice duster, by the way. Where did you get it?”

“Silverwing got it for a job,” I say while putting my duster on. “I, umm, kept it because I liked the look.” When Rose gives me an amused look, I quickly add “So where did you get that scarf?”

She shrugs. “It was in a mall and I thought it looked cool. So that’s something we got in common,” She gives me a wink. “And you have to have something cool looking if you want to be a serious bounty hunter. Most go with a hat or a gun, though.”

That does bring up one thing I wanted to ask since I’ve met her. “Why did you decide to be a bounty hunter, anyway?”

Strangely, she doesn’t seem eager to answer that question. Instead, she opens the door and takes a look around the chamber before saying “I didn’t really have a choice in the matter.”

“Wait, really?” I walk up to her. “I figured you always wanted to do this. What happened?”

She glances at the ground, looking conflicted. That was a landmine question, wasn’t it? Before I can offer an apology and back off, she sighs. “Alright. You opened up to me about some things. I’ll be fair and do the same,” She then gives me a serious look. “Just don’t pity me.”

I nod and she thinks for a moment. “Treppy, what was your dad like?"

"My dad? He was a typical earth pony," I answer as we walk out of the control room. "Strong, brave, loyal, kind, and sometimes stubborn to a fault. He instilled within me everything he thought I needed to be a good stallion. He's the kind of pony I aspire to be. And regularly fail to be."

"I think you're selling yourself short there," She says softly. I don’t agree, but I hold my tongue and let her continue. "The only thing my dad taught me was how to shoot. He was usually away from home, chasing down some bounty for months on end while mom took care of me and my sisters. She was pretty amazing, being able to do that all by herself."

"I can imagine," I say. "Did you miss your father when he wasn’t around."

She nods. "I got why he was gone for months. As much as a little filly could at the time. But I wanted him to stay with us longer. I used to make him promise that he would come back every time he left. And every few months, he would come back and take me out shooting."

There’s a sinking feeling in my heart as I hesitantly ask “So what changed?”

Her expression grows dark. “Some raiders came by looking for dad. He was gone, though, so they decided to take us instead.”

Every fiber of my being tenses up as Rose slows to a stop. “We tried fighting back, but a mare and a few fillies against some armed psychopaths isn’t really a fight. They liked my spunk, though, so they made me watch as they tortured my family. Then they loaded a revolver and promised to let them go if I begged hard enough. My throat was raw by the time they shot them all. They slit my throat as a ‘reward’ for entertaining them and tossed me out to the vultures.”

She presses a hoof against her scarf. “They really sucked at slitting throats.”

My blood boils as I glance down at her scarf. The dark pony already whispering in the back of my mind. ‘Didn’t you come out here to stop things like this? Ask her where they are. They’re just raiders after all. Scum of the earth. No one will cry if you slaughter them all after you are done here. It is the right thing to do.’

“Where was your dad in all of this?” I ask instead, trying hard not to let the anger I feel from seeping into my tone.

“Don’t know. I never saw him again,” She answers. “I got back home alright, hid there for a couple of months. But he didn’t show up like normal and I realised that it was just me now.”

I lift up my hoof, hesitating for a moment as I remember that she didn’t want any pity, before finally placing it on her shoulder. “That must have been hard.”

Strangely, she doesn’t brush my hoof away. If anything, she seems a little surprised by my gesture. Maybe because I genuinely mean what I said? Regardless, she tries to hide it with a shrug. “That’s the wasteland for ya, Treppy. It ain’t nice to an orphan filly with a rusty gun. So, I had a choice: bounty hunting or starving to death. And I picked not dying. Well, I mostly do hired gun stuff, but no pony really cares what you call yourself as long as your useful.”

“Do you miss them?” I ask. “Your family, I mean?”

“Yeah… but I wouldn’t worry too much. My tears dried up a long time ago,” She says softly before moving up to the metal door that separates the chamber from the rest of the facility. “Can’t show that kind of weakness either. Ponies will think you’re soft and they’ll try to exploit you out of your caps if they can,” She starts pulling on the door. “So I learned to beat them to the punch and never have a partner for longer than a job. Nopony’s a saint.”

I quickly walk up and help her open the door. She gives me a sly smile. “Well, almost nopony’s a saint. You’re the only decent partner I’ve had since, well, ever.”

“And probably the stupidest and reckless partner too,” I say while giving the door a tug. Dear Luna, this door is hard to open!

“Ehh, I’ll admit, I thought you were playing me when we first met,” She gives the door another tug. “Your story was too fishy to be true and you thought talking to hellhounds was a good idea,” She pauses to catch her breath. “Not to mention, you coming to save me for free? Tell me, if you knew my rep before coming down here, would you still do that?”

“Yes!” I grunt out as I give the door one more tug and it finally creaks open. “I came after you because I thought you were in trouble. I don’t think your rep would have changed that.”

She scratches the back of her mane. “Not even if I was like Silverwing?”

“You’re nothing like him,” I say a little too quickly for my taste. Not really liking where this conversation is heading, I poke my head into the hallway and look around. “Are those raiders still around? The ones you were talking about?”

She doesn’t say anything right away and I look back to see her frown. “No, somepony took them out before I got back there,” She says disappointedly. “Pretty brutally too. Makes me wonder if dad is still around. If he is, maybe one day I’ll make it big and he’ll finally take notice.”

Backing into the room, I extend my hoof out towards the opening. “I’m sorry I can’t help you with that. Or do much to fix your reputation. Although, I doubt any pony would believe you if you told them you used to work for an ex-member of the Twilight Society.”

With a chuckle, she talks through the door and waits for me on the other side. “I’ll settle for being treated like a mare for once. Thank you.”

“N-No problem,” I glance at the floor, trying not to show my embarrassment at her gratitude over something so minor.

From the corner of my eye, I can see her smirk as she pats my head and takes a few steps forward. “Come on, let’s get moving before those hellhounds start hunting us down again.”

“Right,” I quickly fix my mane and then start following the clearly amused bat pony.

Paranoia seems to be my ground state within this facility. Every shadow seems suspicious, every pile of rubble looks like a trap in disguise, every room feels like it is hiding a hellhound inside. Every flickering light a sign of something sinister. Maybe it is because Lupa and the others weren’t waiting for us outside of the testing chamber. Or in the many, many, many places where they could easily ambush us since we left the room. After killing so many of their pack, I highly doubt that they would leave us alone like this. And this feeling of being seconds away from dying is never going to leave me, is it?

At least Rose is with me now. For the comfort that provides.

“You alright?” Rose asks, carefully rummaging through some old rubble for a trap. “You seem nervous. Well, more nervous than usual.”

“I was expecting to see Lupa by now,” I admit. Then I look around one more time to see if E.F.S. will pick anything up. Just to make sure. All it takes is one mistake to get you killed.

‘It doesn’t have to be this way,’ The dark pony once again whispers. ‘All it takes is one show of force, one brutal display, and they will leave you alone. It is as simple as that. They’ll respect that. If not, well, you’re more powerful than they could ever dream to be. And it’s not like anypony will care what happens to them. They’re just murderous hellhounds that kill innocent ponies just for the fun of it.’

While that may be true, it doesn’t justify giving into that power. It isn’t something I can control. It is evil, primal, wild, and hungering for something I can never quite understand. Something will go wrong if I let it take over again.

‘More could go wrong if you keep suppressing it like this,’ The dark pony warns. ‘Besides, it doesn’t matter if it is evil as long as the end results are good. That’s what happened in Arbu, right? If one can get away with butchering an entire town because it was full of cannibals, then it should be fine to let go and rip apart a few hellhounds for the sake of avenging the fallen. Or will you continue to refuse and risk losing your only friend?’

“Got it!” Rose exclaims before pulling out a hidden landmine from the rubble. I shove the dark pony to the back of my mind while watching her place her new reward into her saddlebag. “And I think that makes: me - twelve, hellhounds - zero!”

“Think you got enough explosives there?” I ask.

“Not a chance,” She gets up and starts walking down the hallway. “And I get what you mean. But this is a big place. Maybe they thought we were heading somewhere else?”

“Maybe,” I say as I quickly join her. “I don’t really want to tempt fate by spending more time here than we have to. How far are we from the stairs?”

She gives me a sly smile. “How much are you willing to pay for a good answer?”

I give her the most deadpan look I can muster. “Really?”

“Ok, I’ll give you a break,” Rose says. “For the low price of ten caps, I’ll give you a really good answer.”

“Rose,” I say. Ten caps is not worth a simple answer.

“Alright, alright,” She waves her hoof. “How about five caps?” I pause long enough to do a facehoof. Though that doesn’t stop her from continuing. “Ok, how about two caps? One?”

“Is this really necessary?” I ask sincerely. Well, half sincerely. This is obviously a joke on her part.

“But it’s fun to tease you,” She says innocently enough. Then she points to where our hallway turns left beyond the upcoming intersection. “It’s just around the corner there. That one’s free of charge.”

“How thoughtful of you,” I say dryly before a thought comes to mind. “You think they’ve got the stairs rigged to blow up too?”

“Probably,” She answers, then gives me a proud grin. “But that just means another few explosives to add to my little collection.”

I glance at her saddlebag. “Just remember what you did to Rover, ok?”

“Rover? Ah! That one hellhound with the grenades,” She waves her hoof dismissively. “Don’t worry, I won’t let them pull that trick with me.”

True, it would be hard for a hellhound to pull that trick. And using a magical energy weapon would just disintegrate the whole lot rather than cause them to explode. Still…

“Isn’t there a safer way to get to the third floor?” I wonder aloud.

“Safer? No. But this is the fastest way,” She says as we pass the intersection. After a few more steps, she looks around the corner. “And... this is bad.”

Looking around the corner myself, I see the stairwell leading to the third floor. Now completely filled with rubble. Yeah, this is bad. I quickly turn around and scan the hallway behind us. There isn’t anything that suggests that Lupa might be here. No red dots, no signs of moment, nothing. Then a couple of the lights flicker off. Followed by three red dots appearing on my E.F.S..

Rose swears under her breath as I pull out my gauss rifle and aim it down the hall. My hair stands on end as Lupa steps into the light, a satchel over her shoulder and her piercing red eyes staring right at me.

“Well, well, well... what do we have here?” Lupa says slowly. Winona and Roxie also emerge from the other entrances to this intersection, cutting off our escape routes. Lupa looks me over. “Oh, hello unicorn. You don’t look well.”

“I’ve been better,” I say flatly. Lupa looks just as terrifying as the last time I saw her. Winona doesn’t look any better from the last time we fought, though her injuries seem to have healed up nicely. Probably means they have access to healing potions. Honestly Luna, why can’t we find some?

Meanwhile, Roxie looks less intimidating up close. Sure, she has a cybernetic left eye and some bits of metal barely showing through her fur. However, despite this and carrying the equivalent of an energy cannon in one claw, she doesn’t look all that intimidating. If anything, she looks like she doesn’t want to be here at all. Maybe we can convince her to back off?

“I see you’re still with the rat,” Lupa says disappointedly, with the same motherly tone as last time.

“Well I can’t help it if I’m better looking than you three,” Rose says before sticking her tongue out at them.

“That can be fixed,” Lupa says while admiring a claw and then offers a toothy smile. “Of course, that isn’t really why I’m here.”

“Yeah, yeah, you want Smarty back,” Rose rolls her eyes while patting her saddlebag. Then she offers a sly smile. “I think you should go after a stick instead. I hear they’re easier to catch.”

Winona growls but Lupa raises her claw to silence her. “We will get to that. For now, I heard that Winona hurt you badly. So I wanted to stop by and apologize for her.”

“Oh really now?” Rose says, highly amused by the idea. “Are you going to make Princess grovel before him too? Let him rub her belly?” Those questions raise Winona’s hackles, but Rose ignores her and glares at Lupa. “I’ll warn you once, if you like your head where it is at, you’ll back off and leave us alone.”

“Like I’m afraid of a rat biting me,” Lupa laughs and then starts rummaging through her satchel. Probably for show, given how small that satchel is compared to her clawed paws. “But I understand, we are scary monsters to you two. That’s why I also have a gift for him.”

A grenade most likely. Or something else equally dangerous. Either way, I aim my rifle at her and ready myself for whatever she pulls out of that bag. “No thanks,” I say firmly. “I don’t take gifts from murders like… like…”

Every fiber of my being shakes upon seeing Lupa pull out a memory orb.

“Do you really have to say such mean things?” Lupa asks calmly, admiring the orb. “After all, I thought a cultured unicorn like yourself might appreciate a gift like this, no?”

Terror tries to grip my mind as I take a few steps back. Run, my instincts scream at me, yet Lupa’s eyes hold me in place. Rose glances back at me with concern? Fear? Worry? It is hard to tell as my eyes refuse to look away from the orb, but I catch her glaring at Lupa with an anger I’ve never seen from her before.

“That’s low, Lupa,” She mutters under her breath.

“So the rat does care about the pathetic unicorn,” Lupa says, dropping whatever pretense to kindness in her tone. “The rumors made you out to be smarter than this.”

Rose takes a defensive stance. “Say that after you get Smarty back.”

Lupa shakes her head while repeatedly tossing the orb up and catching it in her paw. “It seems the unicorn has better manners than you. All I want to do is talk, just like he asked for,” she glances at me and shows off a toothy grin. “It’s rare for prey to give me as much trouble as he has.”

Rose frowns. “You know I killed two of your pack already, right? Or are you going senile there, grandma?”

“It is their fault for not being careful,” Lupa says coldly, her grin now gone. From the corners of my eyes, I notice the other two shift around uncomfortably while she continues. “You’re a rat that is too weak to do anything but nip at our tails like a coward. Your annoying unicorn friend, though. He practically announced himself to us and somehow made a fool out of my pack. Twice.”

Her voice raises into a snarl. “And I won’t stand for that.”

Suddenly, she lobs the memory orb in my direction and instinct kicks in as I rear back in panic. A sharp burning pain erupts from my chest as a magical blast comes out of nowhere to knock me backwards and onto the ground. It is enough to knock some sense back into my head.

“He might have Smarty, you idiot!” Winona screams while I struggle to get back on my hooves. The orb starts rolling towards me and I nearly have another panic attack before a bullet shatters it into pieces. A few of which land next to the broken pieces of Floria’s talisman now lying on the ground. The magical ward protecting me from being disintegrated by that last magical shot before finally giving out.

“Intrepid! Are you alright?!” Rose shouts, a worried expression written on her face as she glances back at me. The barrel of her rifle barely smoking.

“I’ve been better,” I say weakly while picking my rifle off the ground. Being hit by a magical bolt really hurts! Not to mention that it did knock a little bit of the wind out of me.

“Oh? Are you really afraid that you almost lost your favorite tool?” Lupa mocks with a wicked smile to match her tone. “Weren't you going to throw him away like all the others?”

“You-” Rose snarls, her eyes filled with anger as she moves to fire at Lupa. At the same time, Winona sprints forward, claws extended and ready to rip Rose into bloody ribbons. Time seems to slow as the dark pony whispers one thing to my mind:

'If you don’t do it now, you are going to lose her.'

In one smooth motion, I teleport in front of Rose and rip out Max’s blood from inside my bag. It easily forms into a blade from which to block Winona’s attack with. She staggers back, looking shocked, before I quickly slash at her again, cutting her chest in the process.

No, you are not going to kill her! Not after everything that I’ve gone through. Not after everything that I put her through!

A chill runs down my spine as I rip more blood out of Winona’s wound. She stumbles onto the ground, shaking in fear while I fashion another blade from her blood. A rush of anger and power goes through my being as a familiar siren’s song pulls me towards her.

Afraid? Heh. Maybe now you finally understand what you put those ghouls through. What you’ve put me through.

I step forward, anger boiling into a quiet rage while blood blades hover above me. And yet, even as my feelings are centered around Winona, the siren’s song tugs at my mind to look for something deeper inside her. But what? That question gets buried by the intense and overwhelming desire to tear into her and find it.

The dark pony smiles. ‘After all, a monster like her doesn’t deserve to exist.’

“Intrepid?”

Rose’s worried tone snaps me out of my trance. At least, it felt like a trance. The feelings from before are still there, though. Still screaming at me, making it hard to think and figure out what the hay I was just about to do. Seeing Winona frantically back away from me and noticing the pair of blood blades hovering above me is enough to remind me of what I was about to do.

Lupa stares at me, a dumbfounded look on her face. Then her face twists into an almost gleefully sadistic grin.

Horror flashes through my mind for a brief second before Rose pushes me to the ground, disrupting my control and causing my blood blade to splatter onto the ground in the process. The bolt of magical energy flies over our heads is enough to bring my mind into focus. Grabbing my rifle and teleporting Rose and I away from the hellhounds, I briefly glance back to see Lupa rip the magical energy weapon out of Roxie’s paws. Her head snaps in my direction, that same deranged expression on her face making every hair on my body stand on end.

My mind races as she rushes towards us. Not enough to fire off my rifle, so I sling that onto my back and grab Rose before she can let go of me. An escape route appears in the form of a crack in a wall and I quickly teleport to the room on the other side. And then to another room across the hallway. Then to another room from beyond the glass partition. Again and again until my head starts hurting and fear loosens its grip on me. I let go of Rose and slump against a nearby wall to catch my breath. My heart beating in my ears as sweat runs down my face.

Rose doesn’t say anything as she gets up and looks around the room we ended up in. It looks to be a lab, with a giant hole where the entrance used to be, whiteboards with equations written on them, dusty counters, a wall lined with cabinets and drawers. She wastes no time in searching through them. With the blood curdling roar in the distance, I’m reminded that time is not on our side and look through a nearby drawer for something to help us against the hellhounds.

Let’s see here. Beakers, test sheets, paper clips, bubblegum, proposal for a balefire propulsion system? Wait, what?

“Hey, is this flammable?” Rose asks and I look up to see her holding a large metal canister simply labelled as RP-1.

RP-1. RP. Would that stand for Rocket Propellant? If so, then, according to Thundering, it might contain either hydrogen or kerosene. If the explosion in the recording is anything to go by...

Searching through the other drawers, I eventually find a lighter. “Most likely. Might be explosive too. What’s the plan?” I ask while testing the lighter to see if it works.

“You toss, I shoot, and we find a way up while they’re busy putting themselves out,” She explains before tossing the canister at me.

I catch it and give her a concerned look. “So we’re going to burn them alive? With what might be rocket fuel?”

“You got a better idea?” Rose asks.

“Sneaking is always an option,” I answer back.

Rose shakes her head. “I don’t think that will cut it anymore. Lupa knew where I was in the chamber, so good bet she has our scents now. And,” She then points at my saddlebag. “We have Smarty. Throw in that she thinks you’re mocking her and you think she’ll ever leave us alone now?”

“No, she probably won’t,” I admit. “But still, there has to be-”

Rose’s ears twitch as two red dots appear outside of the room and start moving towards us. We take cover behind different counters, Rose readying her rifle while I peak around the edge to see who is coming.

And not a moment too soon as Lupa and Roxie run into view. The two stop at the entrance, sniffing the air before looking directly into our room. Roxie begins to walk in when Lupa stops her with an outstretched arm. “Wait here and don’t screw up again,” She mutters to Roxie before stepping inside, her terrifying red eyes scanning the room as she does so.

“Sorry,” I mutter before teleporting the canister above Lupa’s head. At the same time, Rose ducks out from her position and fires, bursting it open and splattering both of them with a clear liquid. The dawning horror on Roxie’s face as she recognises the liquid causes me to hesitate as I start the lighter.

That hesitation disappears as Lupa lunges towards us and I quickly teleport the lit lighter onto her. The liquid burst into flames, engulfing Lupa from the shoulders up in an explosive inferno. The fire is enough to make her stop but her expression is… wrong. Completely, horribly wrong. There is no hint of pain, no signs of panic, just a mild surprise that her flesh is burning. Like somepony would when it starts lightly raining on them.

That’s not normal. Why are you acting like that? Doesn’t that hurt? Why aren’t you putting it out? What is wrong with you?!

A bullet smashes into Lupa’s shoulder, causing her to stagger back before digging her claws into the ground and charging forward. Rose darts under the flaming hellhound while I teleport to the entrance of the room. I pick up the lighter and glare at Roxie. She hesitates, gives one look at my lighter and then at her burning leader, before backing off. Thankfully.

Lupa, however, isn’t done with me as she whips around and strikes at my face. I teleport away, but the trickle of blood running down my cheek reminds me to stay on my guard. Running into another lab nearby, I duck behind some cover and ready both my rifle and the lighter. Fear, however, starts taking over again. And it is hard to fight back against it when there’s a flaming hellhound after me. Not only that, she is shrugging it off like it was nothing! Who just shrugs off burning rocket fuel?!

I nearly jump out of my skin when Rose appears next to me and whispers, “Ok, so that didn’t work all that well.”

“You think?!” I whisper back with a hoof over my heart. “Did you know Lupa would react like that?”

“No, I didn’t,” Rose whispers. Despite sounding calm, she looks unnerved by the current situation. “You got a plan B?”

“No, I-”

Suddenly Roxie breaks through one of the room’s walls. Part of the ceiling gives way, but she effortlessly knocks it away, shattering it into pieces as it hits the floor. She then cautiously looks around the room. “Smarty? Smarty?” Roxie whispers loudly while walking into the room. “Come on out, it’s safe now. I didn’t mean to shoot at your friend. Honest. You know how twitchy I can get when ponies make sudden movements. Just tell him to come out and I promise I won’t hurt him again.”

Forgive me if I don’t trust you enough to take you up on that offer.

Rose carefully aims her rifle at Roxie while I glance at the broken ceiling. Mostly because it is surprising that more of it didn’t come down, what with the wall holding it up now mostly gone. However, with enough force applied to it, that might be our ticket out of this mess. “Hey, how many explosives did you say you have?” I whisper.

Rose raises an eyebrow at me. “With all the traps I disarmed? More than enough. Why?”

I shy away from the edge of the counter as Roxie looks our way. “Well, if fire didn’t work, maybe burying them will?”

Rose thinks for a moment. “Don’t think I’ll have time to set that up.”

“I’ll give you some. Here,” I pull out Smarty and place the doll into her saddlebags. “Smarty will be safer with you.”

“Wait, what are you-” Rose starts before I teleport behind Roxie. Flicking the lighter on is enough to cause the hellhound to tense up and I aim my rifle at her as she turns around to face me. Rose looks torn as she glances between me, Roxie, and the door. Eventually she shuts her eyes, shakes her head, and disappears. And honestly? This really is a dangerously risky move on my part.

The air grows tense as we both stare at each other: Roxie’s claws extended, ready to attack. My lit lighter hovers in the air to my left, my rifle to my right, aimed and ready to fire. A classic showdown setup that is a bit more terrifying and less dignified than what literature makes it out to be.

‘Just light her on fire and be done with it,’ The little pony in my head says. ‘You’re not going to win in a straight up fight with her. Not without Rose around to bail you out. And who is to say she isn’t like Lupa when it comes to fire? With all that wiring and cybernetics, she’s probably immune to pain anyway.’

‘When why assume that will work?’ The dark pony coldly chides. ‘Do what you were going to do to Winona. Rip it out of her if you have to. You already know that it is the only way to put them down for good.’

No, there is no need to resort to that. And seeing the way Roxie glances at my saddlebag, maybe there’s a better way of dealing with her.

“You don’t really want to be here, do you?” I ask, trying to sound as non-threatening as possible. Assuming I was threatening in the first place. Though, the way she looks surprised by the question gives me hope. “You don’t need to follow Lupa if you don’t want to. I’m sure the town nearby would be willing to take you in if you ask nicely.”

Roxie glances down at the lighter and then readies herself for an attack. I keep S.A.T.S. and my rifle ready as she snarls “You lit Lupa on fire, you killed Rover, you keep hurting Winona, and you’re keeping Smarty away from her family. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t cut you down right now.”

“Because I’m Smarty’s friend,” I point out. “And she wouldn’t be happy if you hurt her friend.”

“But you’ve been hurting and killing her family,” Roxie snaps while leveling an intensive glare at me. “Our family.”

“And how many families did you destroy when you decided to come here and start slaughtering them all?” I snap back. “They weren’t the ones that screwed with your minds and forced you to be their mindless puppets! So what did they do to deserve the pain and suffering you and your family has done to them?”

To my surprise, Roxie seems taken aback by this, causing her to visibly think for a moment. “But they’re ponies,” she growls. “If we don’t get rid of them, they’ll take our minds away again. Turn us back into mindless weapons.”

“Smarty’s a pony,” I point out, lowering my rifle a little as her anger lessens. “Does she want to do that to you?”

“No,” Roxie mutters. “But that’s because she’s different.”

“Well I’m different too,” I smile at her. “And there are other ponies like Smarty and me who wouldn’t mind being your friend either. So how about we-”

I nearly gag as I catch a whiff of burnt flesh and chemicals coming from… behind me?! I barely dodge away as a set of claws slashes at me. Blood soaks into my torn duster shoulder and the lighter hits the ground with a soft ‘tink’ as I then teleport to the other side of the room. That lighter is soon crushed underneath Lupa’s paw. Her visage is nauseating to see: from the shoulders up, her fur is gone and her skin sizzles and blisters, with scorched pieces of metal poking through at places. What does remain of her fur is wet from some kind of liquid, though I have no clue what she used to put herself out.

And pointing my rifle at her only makes her give me an amused look before glaring at Roxie. “Having a nice chat?” She says coldly, making Roxie flattens her ears and cower before her. “Go back to Winona. I’ll take care of this unicorn.”

Roxie wastes no time scampering off. My body shakes as Lupa gives me her full attention and smiles that bloodthirsty smile. “Now, where were we?”

Pieces of concrete flies into the air as she rushes forward, claws out and fangs bared. Dodging to the side, I quickly teleport out into the open hallway and barely take a step forward before the wall next to me explodes and claws start sweeping towards my head. I barely teleport back and fire a panicked shot at Lupa as she turns to face me.

The shot misses, striking the wall near her instead and causing her to frown and shake her head. “Come on now, unicorn. Quit toying with me,” Lupa says calmly while she slowly walks towards me. “We both know what you are capable of.”

‘She knows,’ The dark pony whispers as I activate S.A.T.S. and queue up two shots. The first misses her leg and the second barely clips her burnt shoulder, causing it to bleed more than it already is.

“Still shooting me? You know that isn’t going to work.” Lupa says, looking confused for a moment. Then a toothy smile forms on her face and presses the tip of one of her claws on her chest. In one slow continuous motion, she cuts her chest open and blood starts seeping out. “There, I made it easier for you.”

‘What are you waiting for?’ The dark pony asks as the siren’s call once again tugs at my mind. I find myself drawn to her fresh wound as the dark pony whispers ‘She is evil, you are in the right. Give in and kill her already!’

Shaking my head, I fight against the temptation in my head while backing away, only to quickly press up against a wall. Sweat runs down my face as I frantically search for a way to escape, only briefly noticing the small lab where this whole fight started from. Not really my intent to run around in circles, but if it buys Rose more time...

Lupa frowns again. “You’re still holding back,” She snarls, moving forward again. “You bare your fangs to Winona but not to me? Why?! Do you know how long I’ve waited for a good challenge? To actually feel the thrill of combat again? What will it take to make you Take Me SERIOUSLY?!”

She charges forward with blinding speed as I teleport away again. Finding myself reappearing in a corridor, I barely have time to look around when Lupa whips around the corner, barely keeping herself upright in her mad dash for me. A whistle catches my attention and a quick glance to my left reveals Rose lying prone at the end of the adjacent hallway.

It takes mere seconds to teleport to Rose’s side, with Lupa’s claws barely digging into my chest armor before I completely disappear. Rather unnecessary, Rose whistles at Lupa and catches the hellhound’s attention. It is at that moment, as Lupa tears her way towards us, that I notice a piece of string wrapped around her hoof. With a smug grin, she pulls it and out goes the pin to a few grenades taped to mines along one of the support arches.

The ground shakes as a chain reaction of explosions turns the hallway into a storm of dust and flying debris. Reacting on instinct, I grab onto Rose and teleport further away from the explosions. It takes a few seconds for the shaking to finally stop and allow us to pick ourselves off the ground.

“You know, when *cough* when I said bury them, I didn’t *cough cough* mean bring the whole floor *cough* down on us as well!” I say, my foreleg covering my mouth as I try not to choke on the dust.

“Well, you did *cough* just disappear *cough* without explaining-” Rose manages to spit out before she presses her scarf against her mouth. “Look, does it matter? *Cough* Lupa’s dealt with now, right?”

“She better be,” I wave some of the dust away as the air clears, revealing both ends of the hallway to be completely buried in rubble. Guess this place really isn’t as stable as I figured. Although, being trapped in a hallway is miles better than having… whatever Lupa is after us. “Any idea how we’re getting out of here?”

Rose barely opens her mouth when some rubble shifts and a claw shoots out from underneath it all. I watch in dumbfounded horror as Lupa digs her way out of the debris we buried her under. Some part of me realizes too late that hellhounds are good at digging while she slowly stands, pieces of drywall and concrete falling away from her bloody body. The cold glare she gives me with her red eyes pierces through my very soul.

And that cursed siren song screaming in my mind. Her blood dripping off of her body, calling to my mind with an urge that is hard to ignore.

“Enough games,” Lupa growls while slowly making her way towards us. “Stop hiding behind your guns, stop hiding behind your rat, and actually fight me like you mean it!”

It gets harder to breathe and I fight back against the terror and darkness gripping my mind while Rose fires her rifle. The bullet digs deep into Lupa’s leg, but she continues forward as if nothing happened. “Actually, no, I think I understand now,” Lupa says with an air of cold, calculating menace. “It’s the rat. She’s holding you back. When you were going to finally fight back, she had to say something and scare the killer away.”

Turning on S.A.T.S., I queue up three shots aimed at Lupa’s head. She has to go down. She needs to go down. As the spell activates, two of my shots miss while the third one hits her dead on. The bullet ricochets off her forehead, causing her to stagger back and little else as blood trickles down her face, the wound revealing a bit of metal underneath her skin.

Lupa shakes her head. “You just keep doing that. That won’t work. The winged ponies wouldn’t let their ‘pride and joy’ be taken out by a cheap shot like that,” She then grins. “But maybe that’s finally sinking in. Maybe now you’ll finally use that magic of yours and give me a real fight!”

“Use my magic? If you insist,” I say, pulling out my MFC from my rifle before funneling my magic into it. Just enough for one powerful shot without causing a backlash like last time. After all, it worked with the first hellhound I fought here, it’ll work on her. I feel lightheaded as I pull the trigger, sending one more bullet ramming right into Lupa’s head, knocking Lupa to the ground. Pressing a hoof against my forehead, I wait for the feeling to go away. Better than having my head erupt in searing pain.

As I’m about to pat myself on the back for the achievement, Lupa slowly stands back up. And suddenly things are back to being bad. No, they are worse, as she cracks her neck and glares straight at me. “That is not what I MEANT!”

Lupa takes a step forward before Rose shoots and hits her shoulder. She howls, not in pain but in rage, and starts charging towards us. Rose fires bullet after bullet into Lupa's legs, hampering her speed, but it is not enough. Nothing will be enough to stop her! If a charged shot to the head won't put her down for good, what can?

'You already know the answer to that,' The dark pony says pointedly. 'Now you need to choose: keep holding back and die or give her a taste of her own medicine.'

I shake my head as Rose fires a bullet that Lupa dodges. No, that can’t work. Blood magic is not going to stop a suicidal monster that can shrug off a force that can easily destroy walls. We have to run! Except we’re trapped with her in a broken down hallway. With flimsy walls and ceiling.

Once again, I funnel my magic into my rifle, pointing it at the ceiling and uttering a silent prayer before firing. And that familiar pain sears through my head as the bullet smashes through the ceiling, leaving behind a small hole to the upper level. Just as Lupa lunges for us, I grab onto Rose and teleport us up.

Reappearing on the third floor, I let go of Rose and clutch my head in an attempt to fight back against the pain. Rose quickly nudges me, saying something akin to “Hey! You alright?!” to which I nod my head.

My head clears up enough to make sense of her next sentence. “Let’s get out of here!” Rose says before beginning to gallop away.

I try to follow but something pulls against my tail. Looking down, a feeling of dread takes over as I notice that the end of my tail has fused with the floor. This is the worst time for Teleportation Splicing to happen! “Why now?!” I shout, tugging at my tail in the vain attempt to free it somehow.

Suddenly the floor in front of me breaks apart as Lupa bursts from the floor below. Pure, unbridled rage pouring from her very being. Her red eyes glaring straight into mine as she strikes for my head. It’s all I can do to just shut my eyes at horrific vision.

So this is how it all ends: Shaking in pure, unadulterated terror and unable to stare death in the face as it is coming. Sorry Dad, Mom. I couldn’t be the stallion you wanted me to be. At least Rose can get away now. Instead of dying in that concrete grave right below us.

… Why am I not in pain yet?

Forcing my eyes open, every fiber of my being stiffens as Lupa’s claws hovers a hair’s breadth away from my face. Lupa herself is frozen, to the point where I can’t tell if she is breathing or not. Her eyes are locked on something behind me and, with all the willpower I can muster, I slowly follow her gaze to see Rose holding a knife to Smarty’s throat.

“Back. Off.” Rose says in a low threatening tone, pressing the knife against the doll to show she is serious.

Lupa just stares blankly at Rose, then at me. Gears turn behind her terrifying eyes before a low, dark laugh escapes her mouth. “Alright, I’ll let you win this round,” She says before patting my head. “Killing you now would be a waste.”

She takes a few steps back, then flashes me a toothy grin. “Oh, and do let the killer out next time, Intrepid. I want an actual fight next time. Between equals.”

With those terrifying words, Lupa disappears back down the hole she made in the floor. I feel cold as I stare at that hole, my body shaking before my legs give out and I slump onto the floor. Her words continue to repeat themselves in my head: Let the killer out, let the killer out. Does she… does she think I’m a killer? No, no, that can’t be it. She can’t seriously want to see me use that- that cursed magic against her! She saw what I did to Winona!

‘Yes, and she grinned like a mad pony over it,’ The dark pony points out darkly. ‘She’s a monster! You’ve seen what it took to just slow her down!’

Something tugs on my tail and I glance back to see Rose cutting it loose from the floor. “I hope you don’t mind it being this short,” She says jokingly, though her tone betrays her worry. “You still look good to me.”

It is all I can do to just nod at her and force myself to stand back up. The small patch of hair fused with the ground captures my attention. A reminder of just how close I was to dying. How dangerous Lupa truly is. A hellhound who feels no pain, who ignores her own burning flesh, who shrugs off bullets…

A hellhound who, upon seeing me pull blood out of her daughter and nearly stabbed her with it, was upset that I snapped out of it and refused to do the same to her!

‘And she called you by name,’ The dark pony whispers. ‘Asking, no, begging for you to quit holding back and let her have it. To show her what you can do with your power.

‘Because she wants to be treated like your equal.

‘She thinks that, deep down, you are both the same.’

My body shakes with that realization. And with tears streaming down my face, I start to laugh.

Author's Note

Congratulations! You survived certain death and escaped the hellhound trap!

Current Quest Objective:

Retrieve Data Needed For Rocket Launch.
Activate Satellite Uplink and Radio Repeater.
Escort Winter Rose Back To Safety.
Scavenge For Medical Supplies.
Don’t Die.
(Optional) Grab Everypony’s Things From Their Offices.

Chapter 10 - Hunting Monsters

There’s an old war story about a battle between the white dragon Mirroth and the Raptor-Class Cloudship, Cirrus Intortus.

Mirroth was badly injured and attempted to take advantage of a thick fog to flee from her assailants. Only the Cirrus Intortus, despite being badly damaged herself, dared to follow after the dragon. The crew knew full well that their decision was suicidal, that there was little chance that they could actually beat the beast in the state they were in. But with all of the unprotected towns the dragon was heading towards, they had to attempt to take Mirroth down.

Thus began the game of cat and mouse; both were wary of the other, unable to tell where they were in the fog, waiting for the inevitable confrontation.

And dear Luna was it a confrontation; Mirroth took the cloudship by surprise, nearly tearing it in half as the cloudship unloaded everything it had against his hardened scales.

The Cirrus Intortus lucked out in the end; a stray shot managed to clip Mirroth’s wing and forced him to take refuge in a cave. A cave that the cloudship promptly sealed with as much firepower as it could muster, ending the threat for good.

In a way, I’m beginning to understand how they must have felt back then: desperately trying to accomplish a suicidally insane task because the alternative is the mass slaughtering of ponies. Though it’s doubtful that any of them had to wait for their monster while pointing a rifle at the head of a stuffed doll.

And this is my plan. The one that even Rose isn’t sure will work. If that isn’t proof that I’ve finally gone insane, I don’t know what is.

My eyes dart around the small lobby. From the destruction of potential cover places, like the broken remains of a receptionist’s desk against an alcove along the wall, to nearly every hallway being filled with rubble, to even the deep gashes and claw marks everywhere, this place simply screams ‘this is a trap!’

Yet here I am, willingly standing out in the open with an ace up my sleeve, so to speak, and luck on my side. And a backup plan when those two things inevitably betray me and everything falls apart. Again, if this isn’t a sign of insanity, I don’t know what is. With a deep breath, I glance at the pin barely sticking out of the back of Smarty’s neck.

Dear Luna, please let this stupid plan work.

In an instant, three large red dots appear on my E.F.S. coming down the only other clear hallway leading to this place. With a few deep breaths, I steel myself for the encounter at hoof. Although every second chips away at my mustered courage as I hear heavy pawsteps and the scraping of claws against glass heading towards me.

Into the light walks the disturbing form of Lupa. Burnt skin is all that remains from the top of her head down to the upper part of her chest; some parts of her skin split open to reveal an amalgamation of muscles and metal. However, my eyes gravitate to the memory orb she is casually tossing into the air as Roxie and Winona appear next to her.

Her red eyes scan the room before settling onto me; her lips contorting into an unsettling smile. “Oh Intrepid! I’m so glad you came! My, you don’t look so well.”

“I-I’ve been better,” I say, trying, and failing, to rip my attention away from the terrifying orb.

“I’m sorry to hear,” She says, catching the orb and digging her claws into it as she cranes her neck to the side. “I don’t see your little friend anyway. Did she finally run off like the little rat that she is?”

Like a roar of vindictive thunder, a shot rings out in response. The orb explodes in Lupa’s paw, blood and glass scattering everywhere as the other two hellhounds immediately act. Roxie feints to the side, pulling out her cannon of a magical energy rifle in the process, while Winona instantly crouches with her claws extended. Pressing my rifle’s muzzle against Smarty’s head is enough to cause them pause. Though, given how both items are shaking in my magical grip, that might not last for long.

Lupa stares at the blood flowing out of her paw, watching the blood drip to the floor without any indication that she is in pain, before looking down the hallway behind me with a frown. “I’m not in the mood to play your games this time, dirty rat,” She snarls before motioning Roxie towards the hallway. I move to block her, only for Roxie to instead pull out a detonator and press the button.

The ground shakes as a cascade of explosions goes off and fills the lobby with dust and smoke. Pure instinct compels my body to the floor as my hooves cover my head. It takes all of my focus just to keep the rifle and doll in my magical grasp as the world around me trembles.

It feels like an eternity passes before the shaking stops and the dust starts to die down. Luckily, the explosion didn’t collapse the ceiling on me. Though it did collapse the hallway behind Lupa. Which means…

I pick myself up and look back to find that the other hallway is closed off as well. “Rose! Are you alright?!” I attempt to move some rubble aside, only to stop when Rose’s familiar whistle puts my mind at ease.

“Now,” Lupa says calmly, pulling my attention back onto her as she fixates on the doll still hovering near me. “About Smarty.”

I glance between the three hellhounds, then at the doll slightly trembling in my magical grip. A doll that is currently keeping Lupa at bay for now. In her mind, Lupa must be thinking that she has already won. With no avenues of escape and no other alternatives but to give the doll over to her, I am simply a dead stallion trying to hold off the inevitable.

“H-How do I know you actually have what I want?” I stammer through my question. Obviously undermining my attempt to look brave in front of them.

The little pony in my head can’t help but sympathise with Lupa as she rolls her eyes and motions to Winona. Winona almost gives an odd look to Lupa before thinking better of it and pulls out a holotape from her knapsack.

If there is one thing I’ve learned from my travels with Silverwing, however, it’s how to tell if something doesn’t add up. And one tape from four mainframes just doesn’t add up. I look straight into Winona’s eyes with as much courage as can be mustered. “Just one? Please, I wasn’t born yesterday.”

Surprisingly, Winona shrinks back at my gaze, a paw hovers up to her chest before she shakes her head. After some more digging around, three more holotapes emerge from Winona’s knapsack before each one slides across the floor and right into my waiting hoof.

“See?” Lupa says with the same unsettling smile from before. “We gave you the tapes, just as promised.”

“We’ll see,” I say before loading a tape into my PipBuck. The screen soon fills up with a lot of numbers and other information that looks like something a rocket scientist would want. I hope. It’s hard to be thorough with three demons of death staring you down.

Ok, calm down, things are not as bad as they seem. The plan is still going smoothly and my ace in the hole is still well hidden. Just make sure that these tapes are legit and then Lupa can be dealt with.

A quick glance at Lupa’s scarred form puts that idea into doubt, though.

As I’m about to put in the third tape, Lupa growls. “I am getting tired of waiting,” She says, baring her teeth. “We gave you what you wanted, now return Smarty to us!”

With a deep breath, I place the tapes away and look up at Lupa. “Alright, everything looks to be in order,” I say before teleporting Smarty, minus the pin sticking out of her neck, to a spot in front of Lupa. “Even used the mend spell to tidy her up. No unwanted seams or anything.”

Lupa (or any of the other hellhounds thankfully) doesn’t seem to notice the pin sliding into my saddlebag as she picks the doll up and hugs it in a surprising display of affection.

“You really are a nice pony, Intrepid.” She says before motioning to the others. “Kill him.”

Both Roxie and Winona hesitate at the command, giving me enough time to teleport as an explosion rocks the inside of the room.

My timing is slightly off, if the ringing in my ears and the slight dizzy feeling in my head is any indication, but my senses are intact for the most part. The hellhounds, however, stumble about in their attempts to stand up; the stun grenade having the full effect on them while also reducing the doll containing it into a pile of burnt fabric and barely recognisable parts.

I smile as my view is soon blocked by the sudden appearance of my ace in the hole: a large, light blue Sentinel robot with a tiny, sparking StealthBuck crudely attached to its back.

This is what happens when you push a nice pony into a corner, Lupa. Especially one that is well read and experienced with pre-war technology.

With an announcement made unintelligible by the ringing in my ears, the Sentinel powers up its two arm cannons. Winona doesn’t notice as she digs her claws into the walls in an attempt to stay standing. Her eyes manage to come across Smarty’s remains before the Sentinel blasts her into the nearby alcove; her fur disintegrates and her skin blisters upon contact with the magical blast.

Shots of magical energy fly past my head. On my left, Roxie leans heavily against a wall, her magical cannon leveled in my direction. As Roxie pulls on the trigger, the Sentinel turns and fires, blasting the hellhound through the wall and disintegrating the cannon in her claw.

Setting aside the ethical questions about having a working Sentinel robot as a museum exhibit, this is actually working out a lot better than I thought. All it took was replacing some wires and using a little bit of magic to jumpstart the thing so it can give the hellhounds a run for their caps. Didn’t even need to mess around with the spell matrix to get it to do what I want, either.

Using one of the robot’s legs, I prop myself against it and wince as Lupa notices the remains of Smarty. A low, pained whimper emanates from her as the Sentinel’s cannons charge.

I’m sorry, Lupa. For what it’s worth, I didn’t want to do this to you. But you forced me down this path. And I’m not going to let innocent ponies die because of my mistake. Not again.

Once again, the Sentinel unleashes a torrent of magical energy at Lupa, forcing the hellhound into the rubble behind her; Her blistering skin breaks and bleeds as the sharp edges of broken concrete and rebar slices through it.

For a brief moment, I hope that this will mark the end of Lupa and her pack; their dead bodies lying on the ground, buried by the rubble of the facility whose owners they tried desperately to murder. But, unsurprisingly, Lupa refuses to stay down; her claws digging into the ground as she shakily stands back up, signaling to the Sentinel to prepare for one more barrage.

My little pony quietly suggests that maybe I should feel bad about causing Lupa so much pain; She looks outright pathetic with her body shaking and covered in blood as tears run down her cheeks.

Yet, seeing Lupa’s bloody visage reawakens that dark feeling within me. It claws at the back of my mind as the dark pony reminds me that Lupa did bring this on herself. After everything that she’s done, after all of the lives she has senselessly snuffed out, this is nothing less than what she deserves.

Then, in the blink of an eye, the impossible happens.

With unbridled rage radiating from her eyes, Lupa charges forward, pushing through another barrage of magical energy before swiftly tearing off the Sentinel’s arms and smashing its head in.

Then she glares at me with an intensity that could melt steel.

My teleport spell couldn’t go off any faster, my panicking mind picking the room beyond the hellhound-sized hole in the wall as the only escape route open to me. That hope is quickly dashed when the spell deposits me into a room with no way out.

Along with a badly burnt Roxie picking herself off the floor. Her body still swaying somewhat from the effects of the stun grenade.

Her claws barely tear into my duster as I dodge out of the way. My rifle manages to fire before she smacks my body into a wall with the back of her paw, knocking the wind out of me.

Pain wracks my chest while Roxie closes in on me. It’s out of sheer luck that her claws tear through the nearby wall instead of my hide as I barely manage to teleport behind her. The wall falls apart, with light pouring and showing a room that I can escape to. And not a moment too soon as Winona soon joins us in the room. A vicious swipe from her ripping into my duster and riot gear just as I teleport away from those two and into the light.

It takes a moment to gain my bearings in the lit intersection I find myself in. A moment Winona uses to tear through a wall and block one path forward. Before I can back up, Roxie rushes through the hole I escaped from and comes at me from behind.

Not liking being in between two irate hellhounds, I desperately teleport down the only hallway that doesn’t have a hellhound in it. Then keep teleporting down every hallway I can see before finding some dark room to hide in. I hug my rifle and press myself against a wall, waiting for them to come after me. Sweat runs down my face and a haggard coughing fit punctuates the silence as seconds drag out for an eternity.

Yet nothing happens.

While E.F.S. doesn’t pick up anything, their presence is still felt in the back of my mind. They are definitely still around, that’s for sure. So where are they?

Poking my head out the door, I visually confirm that they are not out there before finally abandoning my hiding place. With whatever few seconds I’ve just bought myself, I pull up my map. Though the arrow on the map doesn’t do a good job of explaining where I am. Ok, are there any visual landmarks to help pinpoint where I am? Huh, there’s a directory sign here: Three-hundred rooms to the left, four-hundreds to the right, executive offices down the now collapsed stairs. So that places the backup plan south of here. I think. Hopefully I can meet up with Rose before Lupa and the others have a chance to turn my body into a blood smear on the floor.

Red flashes past the corner of my eye before my rifle is swiftly aimed down an empty hallway. Seconds past. Nothing shows up.

Something’s not right here. I just ‘killed’ Smarty by stuffing a stun grenade in it, something I never should have let Rose talk me into doing. They should be ripping this place apart trying to get to me. This is too calm for them. Too restrained. What are they doing?

I shake my head and cautiously start heading down the corridor. That doesn’t matter now. What matters is meeting up with Rose so our backup plan can start.

‘And when that plan inevitably fails too?’ The dark pony asks. ‘You’ve seen what those hellhounds can shrug off. Will more of the same really make that much of a difference?’

Maybe. Maybe not. It’s safer than giving in to this horrible feeling of bloodlust. Safer for Rose, at least.

‘Really?’ The dark pony asks. ‘You didn’t kill Rose when you last used your blood magic. In fact, you saved her with it. It’s only your stubborn insistence that nothing good will come from it that is holding you back.’

Something crunches rock near me, triggers my instincts as I teleport forward. Not a moment too soon as claws dig into the ground and I find myself pointing my rifle at Winona. Once again, she hesitates when I look at her before dashing forward. Giving me just enough time to activate S.A.T.S. and shoot her legs out from under her. Then I run like a mad pony down the hall, hoping to put some more distance between us.

A large rock flies past my face and strikes a pile of rubble hard, causing some to slide off and reveal part of a casing for an old Mr. Handy robot. It starts sparking and I quickly teleport back to escape the explosion. A piece of rebar buries itself deep into my shoulder as I reappear; the force of the impact throwing my body into a nearby wall as I cry out in pain.

“Doesn’t feel good now does it?” Winona asks as she struggles to stand.

Clenching my teeth, I pull the rebar out of my shoulder before pointing it at Winona when she attempts to move forward. She hesitates, her eyes fixate on the bloody end of my makeshift weapon. Then looks up and smiles. I follow her gaze to see Roxie standing above me.

Before I can react, Roxie grabs me by the throat and squeezes. The rebar and my rifle falls to the ground and blood runs down my neck as I desperately try to pry her claws open in vain.

“Make sure you do it quickly,” Winona says coldly. “Before he does that stupid trick again.”

“Not yet,” Roxie growls before slamming me into the wall. Her rancid breath washes over my face as she leans in close. In her other claw hangs the tattered remains of Smarty. “You were her friend. Why did you kill her?”

“Because she couldn’t stand watching you kill more of her kind,” I manage to spit out, saying whatever words come into mind. “This was the only way she could think of to make you stop.”

“YOU’RE LYING!” Roxie roars as she once again slams me into the wall. Her grip around my neck, however, slackens enough to allow me to breath. Maybe I’m actually getting through to her?

“Look, there’s enough of her left that I can bring her back!” I quickly say before she gets the idea to strangle me again. “I just need some fabric for the spell and she’ll be good as new!”

“I’ve had enough,” Winona growls before extending her claws out. “I hope Rover gets the chance to tear your soul apart once I’m done gutting you!”

Thunder echoes throughout the hall before blood and sparks fill the air. Roxie cries out, letting go of me as she grasps at her wound. Seeing this, Winona moves in for the kill before a bullet buries itself into her shoulder. I manage to grab my rifle and teleport away by the time a third shot rings out.

Pain sears through my shoulder as I stumble away from them. Thankfully, Winona doesn’t chase after me, instead deciding to grab Roxie and flee as more shots continue to tear into their bodies. Although, if the red dots on my E.F.S. mean anything, they’re not planning on staying away for long.

“That was too close for comfort,” Rose says as she appears next to me before wincing at my bleeding shoulder. “I knew I should have been standing with you during that deal. You alright?”

“I’ll be fine,” I say while using blood magic to patch up the wound. “Unlike the Sentinel that Lupa just ripped apart.”

“From the look of things, at least it gave them a beating,” She says before her ears flicker. She swears under her breath while glancing over her shoulder. “Can you run?”

Another jolt of pain sears through me as I attempt to move. “Maybe. A healing potion would be nice right about now.”

Our ears perk up as a glass bottle hits the ground in front of us before rolling to my hooves. Emerging from an adjacent corridor, Lupa quietly comes into view. Her cuts and gashes are healed but her body is still covered in her own blood; her red eyes burying themselves right into me.

As I take a step back, something shatters behind us, grabbing our attention as Rose swiftly points her rifle behind us. On the other end of the corridor stands Winona, wiping her muzzle with the back of one paw while the shards of another bottle lie at her feet.

“I was serious about fixing- I mean healing Smarty!” I say, darting my eyes between Winona and Lupa. “If you just get me the materials, I’ll make sure she’ll be good as new! Then we can just, you know, brush all of this under the rug-”

Lupa lets out a low chuckle which soon erupts into hysterical laughter. “My dear little Intrepid, what are you doing?”

Buying time. What little of it there is to pick out a spot to teleport to.

“It’s ok, you can stop lying to me now,” She says, wiping an imaginary tear from her eye. “I know who you really are deep inside. After what you just pulled, you’re about as cold and heartless as I am,” She then glares at me, whatever humor she had now gone. “So stop holding back and fight me like an equal!”

Winona takes a step back as Lupa drags a claw along her exposed chest, cutting it open and causing blood to appear in a diagonal line. “There, I was good enough to bleed for you. You know what to do next, right?”

“Intrepid, get your spell ready,” Rose whispers as she quietly slips a hoof into her bag.

I glance at Rose before leveling both my gaze and my rifle at Lupa, which simply causes Lupa to shake her head and sigh. “What will it take to make the real you come out again? Ah, I know!” She shifts her glare over to Rose. “Winona, tear her wings off.”

Winona again hesitates, glancing at me, as if fearful that I’m going to do something horrible to her. Until Rose fires a shot into her chest and causes her to stumble backwards. Letting out a blood curdling howl, she digs her claws into the ground and charges forward.

For a brief second, an opening emerges and, as my horn glows and I press my hoof against Rose’s shoulder, Rose drops a mine in front of her. Our reappearance some distance away is marked by a loud explosion as the mine goes off.

Shots ring out as we both fire into the dust cloud in front of us. How effective we are, however, remains to be seen as the dust settles to reveal two giant holes in the walls.

E.F.S. doesn’t pick up anything, although it is foalish to assume they aren’t around anymore. Rose quietly scans the area as I reload my rifle. Suddenly, her ears twitch and a flash of red is all that I see before my body is pushed to the ground; a claw breaks through the wall and cuts the air where our heads were mere seconds ago.

My rifle goes off, striking the chin of the hellhound attacking us and forcing her head upwards as Rose swiftly pulls out her knife and stabs right behind the kneecap. In response, the hellhound slams her paw into the ground just as Rose and I scramble out of the way. It takes a second to fully recognize our opponent as Roxie.

Roxie snaps her head towards Rose as a knife digs its way across her arm. Claws rake through the air at the moving bat pony, cutting through the leather leg guard and into Rose’s hind leg.

Rose clenches her teeth as she hovers above me just before I finish reloading my rifle. S.A.T.S. only lasting long enough to slam a bullet into Roxie’s shoulder before the spell prematurely ends.

The force of the shot causes Roxie to stumble and dig her claws into the floor to keep from falling over. A short whistle grabs my attention as Rose takes flight and glides down the hallway.

Teleporting up to Rose, I try to push past the pain in order to run alongside her. My injured shoulder, however, soon force my pace to slow as Rose gets further ahead. The feeling of claws nipping at my hind legs makes it clear what will happen if the situation doesn’t improve soon.

Pulling out another mine, Rose glances back before dropping it below her, giving me just enough time to teleport past it. Roxie barely manages to avoid stepping on it just as S.A.T.S. kicks back in.

Targeting the mine, I shoot at it, causing it to explode and send shrapnel into Roxie’s leg. While a second shot from behind slams into her other leg, abruptly stopping the wounded hellhound for the moment.

As the corridor takes a sharp turn, Rose slows to a hover before looking ahead. With a sly smile, she shouts “Watch your step!”

“I know!” I shout back before passing by her. Sweat runs down my face as I practically dancing around the piles of rubble littering the floor; Every hoofstep sending another jolt of pain through my shoulder.

Just a little longer now. I just need to hold out a little longer. Just until we get to the room and then this nightmare will finally have a chance of ending.

A glimpse of red peering through a crack in the wall causes me to skid to a stop. Right as Lupa bursts through the wall. Without thinking, I fire my rifle and, for a moment, seemingly knock her off-balance as the bullet strikes her shoulder.

Then, in one effortless motion, Lupa digs into the opposite wall and hurls a large chunk that barely grazes my head before slamming into Rose’s wing.

Panic sets in as Rose hits the ground hard. My horn barely begins to channel the magic needed for another teleport spell when Lupa slams me into the ground.

I cry out in pain and desperately try to free myself from under Lupa’s paw when Winona walks into view. Blood stained bandages cover what remains of her claw as she approaches Rose with a cold expression on her face.

Lupa leans in close to me. “You stubborn little unicorn. I wouldn’t have had to resort to this if you had simply given me what I wanted in the first place.” She says in mocking sympathy while I watch in horror as Rose struggles to her hooves; Winona’s good claw fully extended and raised like an executioner’s axe over Rose.

“Rose!” I shout out as Winona strikes.

Flashing a smile, Rose jumps aside at the last second, dodging Winona’s claw as it cuts into the ground. Winona immediately tries to catch Rose with a backswing, knocking her rifle to the side just as she fires it off before she leaps back.

Winona and Rose circle each other as they wait for the other to attack; both carefully avoiding the rubble on the ground.

In an instant, Winona feints right and, as Rose aims her rifle in that direction, strikes from the left. Rose barely jumps back as Winona’s claw slices her leather armor apart and cuts into her chest before firing off a shot.

The bullet strikes the side of Winona’s body, forcing her to take a step back in order to keep her balance. As her paw presses down on a pile of rubble, metal jaws burst forth and bite deeply into her leg. A yelp escapes Winona’s lips and at that moment Rose draws her knife and swiftly cuts into Winona’s leg as she runs past.

Winona growls as she turns to face Rose, only for Rose to effortlessly jump onto the hellhound’s back. In rapid succession, Rose buries her dagger into Winona’s neck, causing the hellhound to cry out before grabbing Rose and throwing her off.

Despite the force at which she was thrown, Rose manages to roll into her fall, clenching her teeth as pressure is placed on her broken wing, and lands on her hooves again.

With rage and anger, Winona tries to strike at Rose once again, only for the chain securing the trap to the floor to pull on her leg and throw her aim off. Rose barely manages to dodge, clenching her teeth as Winona’s claw barely grazes her foreleg, before another hidden bear trap digs itself into Winona’s arm.

At this point, I grab my rifle with my magic and press it against Lupa’s stomach. Pouring enough of my own magical energy into the weapon, I pull the trigger and shut my eyes tightly as pain sears through my horn and head.

The sounds of gems cracking, wires frying out, and bones cracking fill the air. Feeling the weight lifted from my body, I quickly rub the blood from my eyes to see my rifle in pieces before me. Lupa stumbles back a bit before dropping to her knees, her arms instinctively hugging her stomach as she coughs out blood.

My eyes fixate on the blood leaking out of Lupa’s stomach as that dark feeling once again claws at my mind. ‘End it now,’ The dark pony quietly whispers. ‘You’re not going to get another chance like this again.’

Rose leans heavily on my shoulder, snapping me out of it and prompting another set of teleports that sends us past Lupa and down the adjoining corridor at the end.

My head aches and I fight back against the nausea while quickly trying to get my bearings. It’s a dead end with one small gutted room in front of us. A room with damaged walls, precise cuts into the studs along said walls, and a sheet of plywood covering part of the floor inside.

“So far so good, right?” Rose says as she looks up to me. With one of her wings dragging along the ground and deep cuts along her legs and face, her bravado seems almost ludicrous.

“If this is good, I don’t want to know what bad is,” I say before glancing over my shoulder, looking down the hallway we were supposed to have led the hellhounds down as part of the plan. But of course plans don’t always go as expected. Even backup ones.

Rose smiles. “We still managed to make it here despite the detour. And you thought those bear traps weren’t going to be useful.”

“They almost weren’t,” I say before a blood-curdling howl fills the air.

My heart almost stops as Lupa emerges from the hallway, dripping a trail of blood behind her as she sniffs the air before snapping her head in our direction. With a snarl she swiftly drops to all fours and charges; her claws tear up the ground as she propel herself forward like a vengeful wolf.

At the last second, Rose pushes us apart and away from Lupa. However, as Lupa charges past, her claw rips through my saddlebag and armor to cut into my side. I clench my teeth as blood seeps from the new wound while Lupa digs her claws into the ground, trying to use her momentum to turn herself around for another attack.

This works against her, however, as Rose quickly takes aim and fires into Lupa’s shoulder, throwing her balance off and instead sending the hellhound tumbling onto the small room.

It only takes seconds for Lupa to get back onto her paws and ready for another charge.

It also only takes seconds for an ominous sound to go off beneath her.

*BEEP*

The sheet of plywood shatters into splinters as the mine secured underneath explodes. Lupa barely manages to dig her claws into the edges as the floor beneath her gives way to a giant gaping hole.

Rose takes one look at my bleeding side before approaching the hole. As the hellhound finally pulls her head above the crumbling edge, Rose calmly presses the muzzle of her rifle right against Lupa’s forehead.

“Winter Rose. Remember it.”

With a loud bang, Lupa whips back from the force of the shot as her body finally falls through the hole in the ground. Rose backs away while a chorus of beeps fill the air, allowing me to quickly grab onto her before teleporting us a safe distance away.

The ground shakes violently once we reappear, forcing us to the ground as the room simply collapses in on itself. Then everything above that room comes crashing down to fill the void left behind and completely buries that small part of the hallway.

Nopony, no matter how seemingly invincible they are, can survive the amount of explosives we packed into that trap. Nor avoid being crushed under the weight of all the concrete and other materials that just filled in that hole. Not even a hellhound.

And yet that dark feeling within me screams out for blood, just like it did when Max was bleeding out days ago. I press my hooves against my head and try to push that feeling out of my mind. It will go away eventually, just like it did when Max finally died.

A hoof nudges my good shoulder. “You ok?”

“Headache,” I look over at Rose and offer a meek smile. “Nothing to be concerned about.”

Rose gives me a skeptical look before nodding her head. Then she looks back at the cave-in that covers most of the hallway. “Well, there goes one thousand, five hundred caps down the drain. Can’t say it wasn’t worth it, though.”

I nod before opening up the remaining pouch on my saddlebag. The four tapes that we fought and bleed for are still in my possession. Sighing in relief, I open my mouth to say something when Rose turns around and readies her rifle.

It doesn’t take long to see why as Winona scrambles past, completely ignoring us as she eventually reaches the edge of the rubble. There she stands, staring in disbelief while slowly shaking her head at the sight before her. Seeing the tears welling up in her eyes as it finally dawns on her what has happened is too much to bear.

“Come on, let’s leave her be,” I say while placing a hoof on Rose’s shoulder. “We have what we need anyway.”

Rose looks conflicted as she glances between me and Winona. Then she turns and walks away. I give one last look at Winona before walking away myself. Despite knowing what Lupa and her pack would do once they got their paws on Smarty, I wonder if my anger towards them justified my actions here; if maybe there might have been a better way to resolve this.

Hearing Winona whimper behind me, I find myself wishing that there was.

It has been hours since we left Winona to mourn at the impromptu burial site of Lupa. Yet, a part of me still refuses to believe that Lupa is dead. That, even after all we did, she still somehow survived and is planning on killing us. And even if Lupa is dead, that the other hellhounds will come after us for revenge. But I push that thought out of my mind. It’s over now, there’s no point in going after them any longer; I’ve already taken much more away from Winona and Roxie than I feel was deserved. And after seeing how broken Winona looked when we left, I don’t think they have the will to come after us anymore.

And yet, I still can’t shake the feeling that they’ll attack us at any moment. At least the pain from overcharging my rifle is finally gone. That is one thing to be happy for as I eject a tape from my PipBuck; the third one from the collection of four I got from Lupa. Setting it down with the others, I take a moment to look at my surroundings once more. It feels like yesterday that I was hiding behind the door to the robot recharging station over there. Listening in on the hellhounds that would be hounding me for the last two days. It feels rather poetic that Rose and I are resting in this same intersection where Lupa vowed to gut Rose. Or maybe it is ironic. Considering how close we are to finally being done with this adventure, I’m not sure I really care.

Grabbing the fourth tape from the group, I look it over once before inserting it into my PipBuck. The data that it pulls up is the same as the others: formulas, trajectories, and other things that barely make sense to me but still feel like they might be useful to a rocket scientist. I download all of it into my PipBuck and glance back at the pile of tapes sitting next to me. The labels don’t match what the tapes actually contain: Raina’s commendations for her team, recording of the first annual company picnic, Hay Bale’s letters to her grandson. And of course the label on the last tape: Rocky Shores’ confession to Silky Stars.

All those memories forever lost because an uncaring hellhound needed to make room for cold numbers and calculations. As if the ghouls didn’t have enough taken away from them.

No, this is the wrong way of looking at it. As sad as it is that parts of the past have been lost, the future is still there; the ghouls can still look forward to finally having their dream come true. And I got to help them achieve that dream. After all these years, I can finally point to something in my life and say that I did that right. Or as close to right as I can get.

“So do we have everything?” Rose asks as she finishes bandaging her broken wing in place with some old fabric she found along the way.

“As far as I know,” I say before leaning my back against the wall. “Once everything is backed up, I’ll let you have the tapes and we should be good to go.”

“You really are worrying too much about this,” She says while getting up and moving to face me. “Lupa is dead and if the other two are smart, they’ll stay far away from us. It’s smooth sailing from here on out.”

“Still,” I say. “Had I placed them in the wrong side of my saddlebag, they might have been destroyed or buried under some rubble right now. So forgive me for taking some precautions.”

She sighs and then smiles. “Alright, that’s fair. So, you got any plans for your share once they’re done showering us in caps for doing the impossible?”

I thoughtfully glance up at the ceiling for a moment before shrugging. “Honestly, I haven’t put much thought into it.”

Rose nudges my good shoulder. “Come on, you have to have something you want to spend it on.”

“Alright, Ms. Rose, then what are you going to do with your share of the caps?” I ask.

“Me?” She asks before brushing her mane back. “I’ve always wanted to own a dress. Some sexy little white thing that I can wear while standing on top of the bodies of everypony who kept shoving my face into the dirt. Maybe I’ll get a white flower for my mane while I’m at it.”

This takes me by surprise. Something that Rose no doubt notices when she asks “What? I like feeling pretty sometimes. And imagining the look on somepony’s face when a mare in a dress soundly kicks their hide.”

“It isn’t a normal occurrence, I’ll admit,” I say before looking down at my PipBuck and muttering “Not like anything that has happened in the last few days would qualify as normal either.”

Rose wraps a foreleg around my neck and pulls me in. “What would make it even better is if you stood with me in a maid outfit. Just spend a few caps on one and we’ll be the talk of the wasteland!”

“Not happening,” I push her away before taking the now ejected tape and putting it with the others. “If I have to do something with my caps, I’d send half of it home as an apology to my parents for disappearing on them for the last few years.”

That apparently surprises Rose. “They’re still alive?”

“Tenpony Tower is still standing last I checked,” I say before hoofing over the four tapes over to her. “So I’m pretty confident that they are both still alive. Unless they decided to leave for some reason. I can’t think of any reason that would compel them to leave, though.”

“They might leave to look for you,” She says while taking the tapes and placing them in her bag.

“It’s… not entirely unlikely, I guess,” I admit. “I hope they don’t, though. I left behind a note explaining what I was doing specifically so they wouldn’t worry about me,” I then stand up and look over my damaged gear. “And if they are looking for me, I’d rather not have them see me like I am now.”

Even if I am finally moving in the right direction, I’m still not the kind of pony I want to be. At least, not yet. Not while these dark feelings continue to claw at the back of my mind. Urging me to bloodily murder every pony whom I hate for one reason or another.

Rose nudges my good shoulder again. “You know a maid outfit would fix that, right?”

“Again, not happening,” I say as I nudge her back.

We both smile and Rose opens her mouth to say something when her ears twitch. She swiftly moves in front of me and points her rifle down the corridor. “Looks like I was wrong,” She whispers before motioning me to get behind her.

For a moment, the air grows still as the corridor remains void of anypony other than us. Then Roxie appears, parts of the skin on her legs having been torn off to reveal the cybernetics underneath. No doubt the only thing allowing her to keep moving in spite of her injuries. I quickly move behind Rose and activate my E.F.S. to try and see if it can’t help me spot the others. Only to be confused when the spell marks the hellhound as green.

Wait, green? Why green? Isn’t she hostile?

This could just be yet another bug with the E.F.S. spell; After all, there isn’t any reason for us not to be kill on sight with her at this point. Not after all we put them through. But a part of me isn’t satisfied with that answer since Roxie isn’t being threatening at all. All she’s doing is calmly walking towards us.

The feeling that something is off intensifies as Rose levels her rifle right at Roxie. “Stop right there.” She commands and, surprisingly, Roxie listens. No defensive position, no threatening pose, not even an angry growl. Roxie just stands there, staring at me with a tired expression on her face, as she cradles an object in her claws...

Rose raises a hoof when I start to approach Roxie and asks me “What are you doing?”

“Following a hunch,” I say before glancing at Rose’s knife. “Can I borrow that for a moment?”

With a worried look on her face, Rose glances between me and the knife before finally giving it to me. “Just don’t do something reckless with it,” She warns. “And don’t get cocky just because you can teleport out of- Okay, now what are you doing?”

“Relax, it’s just an old duster,” I say as I take the knife to the torn parts hanging off of my duster. With the leather straps hovering next to me, I return the knife to its sheath and teleport to the halfway point between Rose and Roxie.

Admittedly, that probably wasn’t the smartest decision ever as Roxie takes a step back at my sudden appearance near her, which in turn causes Rose to point her rifle at Roxie’s head.

I quickly hold my hooves up, silently hoping that this doesn’t end with my head rolling on the ground. “R-Roxie,” I manage to say in a tone approaching calmness. “I… Y-You have every right to be angry with me. I hurt you and Smarty like those winged ponies you hate. But Lupa would have killed more innocent ponies had I not done that and… “

A nervous chuckle escapes my lips. “It doesn’t matter what I say, does it? You’ll still hate me all the same. But,” I look Roxie in the eye. “I meant what I said about Smarty. Please, let me fix this one mistake and make her whole again.”

Roxie stares back at me for what feels like an eternity. Then, reluctantly, she reaches out with the burnt remains of Smarty in her claws. I’ll take that as a yes.

I move closer, taking the remains in my magical grasp and wrapping them in leather strips in front of me. Then I cast my mending spell and watch as the pieces meld together and transform into a perfectly crafted Ms. Smarty Pants doll.

Taking one last good look at Smarty, I hover her over to Roxie, who, with tears in her eyes, quickly grabs the doll and lovingly hugs it. At such a display, I can’t help but say “I’m sorry for making you hurt Roxie too, Smarty. Even if it was the only way to keep them from killing more ponies.” It is silly, but, well, I am a very silly pony.

Rose quietly walks to my side as Roxie holds Smarty up to her ear for a moment and then nods. “Smarty forgives you,” Roxie says calmly. “And if Smarty forgives you then… maybe I can too.”

I can’t help but smile at that. “Thank you.”

Roxie glares at Rose before looking back at me. “But only you. And if you or that thief ever hurt Smarty again-”

“Wouldn’t dream of it!” I say with my hooves up before glancing at Rose. “Right?”

“Only if you don’t give me any reason to,” Rose says while glaring at Roxie.

Surprisingly, the hellhound just nods her head in agreement. “There won’t be. There never was a point to all of this killing anyway. And with Lupa finally gone, maybe I can convince Winona to go join the other hellhounds in the NCR.” And with that, Roxie turns around and calmly walks away.

A wave of relief instantly washes over me as I take in a deep breath. “Finally, I get a resolution where no one gets hurt or killed.”

“That was completely reckless, you know that right?” Rose asks as she watches Roxie leave.

“Yeah, I know,” I say before I turn around and start to walk away. “But this is just another reason why I’m an incredibly poor fit for the wasteland; I don’t think I could live with myself if I didn’t at least try to make amends for the horrible things I put her through.”

Rose shakes her head and walks up to my side. “I don’t get you, Intrepid. And I’m not sure if I’ll ever get you.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it too much,” I say before my smile disappears. “Once this job’s done, we’ll go our separate ways and you won’t have to deal with this weird unicorn anymore, eh?”

It actually hurts to say that. These last few days with Rose have been, well, horribly nerve-wracking and frustrating. But also the best few days I’ve had since leaving Tenpony Tower. So much so that the idea that this is the end of us working together is just... well, I don’t want to accept that. At all.

But Rose was clear that that is how she operates when we first met: One job and that’s it. That just makes things easier for everypony involved. Besides, I doubt she’ll want to continue traveling with a high-maintenance pony like myself anyway.

“Treppy, about that,” Rose says as she rubs the back of her neck. “I… well, I was thinking and-”

Claws immediately tear up from the ground in front of us as Winona bursts through. We quickly back away, Rose leveling her gun at Winona as the hellhound takes one look at us and lets out a howl.

Suddenly the ground beneath us gives way and pain sears through my left foreleg before my body is tackled into a wall.

Slowly, I look around as my mind tries to understand what is going on. Rose hugs her stomach as we lie on the floor, her expression is full of pain as blood soaks her leather armor and trickles to the floor.

Shifting my body in an attempt to stand only causes more pain to shoot through my foreleg; the bone and flesh showing through the gashes that split the three still attached pieces of my leg.

The sound of my PipBuck hitting the ground somewhere snaps me out of my daze and I look up to see… see…

Dear Luna, what am I looking at?

Blood seeps from the tears in the skin of the creature looming over us. What’s left of its skin. Metal plating shows through the large missing patches of skin, either covering exposed muscles they were grafted onto or simply jutting out of the arms and legs in disturbing angles. Small patches of blood drenched fur still exists in places, but it isn’t enough to even attempt to guess at what this thing might be.

It isn’t until its red eyes pierce through me that I instantly recognize who this is.

Lupa.

The roar of thunder echoes through the hallway as a bullet lodges itself into Lupa’s disfigured body. Blood smears across the surface of Rose’s rifle as she tries to reload it for another shot.

Lupa doesn’t even flinch at the wound as she meets Rose’s defiant glare with an unnatural smile. She picks Rose up and her smile widens as Rose attempts to bury her fangs into the hellhound’s paw.

“Not happy to see me, Winter Rose?” Lupa asks mockingly as she watches Rose draw blood. “But I came all this way to thank you for the fireworks you set off for me. The least you can do is show some respect!”

Rose cries out in pain as Lupa begins to crush Rose in her claws. The cry only makes Lupa laugh. “What a beautiful song you're singing! I might forgive you just for that alone.”

“Stop it. Stop it!” I cry out. Then I notice that Roxie is still nervously standing down the hallway and immediately point to her with my good hoof. “Lupa! I fixed Smarty, ok?! Just please! Stop hurting her!”

Lupa stares as Roxie meekly shows Smarty off. “Smarty?” She asks, loosening her grip just enough to allow Rose to gasp for air.

O-Ok, think. Think! T-There has to be a way out of this. Just get Rose free so she can run and then… and, umm…

‘What are you waiting for?!’ The dark pony screams as that dark feeling from before comes back in full force. ‘You know already what you need to do in order to save her, right?!’

“You know, it was in this exact same spot that I said I wanted the honor of tearing this winged thief apart,” Lupa says as she looks around the place. “It would be a shame to go back on that. But since you gave Smarty back to us, I feel like humoring you this time. I’ll stop hurting her.”

Whatever moment of relief instantly flees when Lupa extends one claw on her other paw. “Slicing her head off quickly won’t cause her any pain, right?”

Time slows down as Lupa raises her claw to Rose’s head while Rose struggles in vain to pry herself free.

No, that wasn’t what I meant! Stop! STOP!

‘You already know she won’t stop,’ The dark pony points out.

BUT SHE HAS TO! If she won’t then-

‘Then Rose dies,’ The dark pony continues. ‘All because you refused to use your power to end this.’

No, it’s not my fault! That power is evil and I can’t control and-

The dark pony just glares at me. ‘And it is the only thing that will save her now.’

I force myself onto my good leg as Lupa’s claw hovers over Rose’s neck.

‘So what matters more to you?’ The dark pony asks. ‘Her life or your own moral comfort?’

Lupa blinks and stares as her paw is pulled back by the blood blade I’m driving through it.

“Put. Her. Down,” I say calmly while glaring at Lupa.

That grin. That grin of pure twisted joy that appears on Lupa’s face as she looks in my direction. It kindles a hatred for her that the dark presence in my mind greedily feeds off of, empowering me the more I let that hate grow.

“Finally,” Lupa whispers before casually tossing Rose aside and adding more fuel to my rage. “I was starting to wonder how badly I had to push you before you would finally do it.”

Ripping the blade out of Lupa’s paw, I hover it back to my side while using some more of my own blood to bind my left foreleg together.

“I have to admit, I like the fire in your eyes,” Lupa says while watching the blood drip from her paw. “They really make you Come Alive!”

The ground shakes as I teleport out of the way of Lupa’s strike. Appearing behind her, I strike my blade down in between the plates and drawing out enough blood from the wound to form another blade.

This only seems to excite Lupa as she swings around to strike; her claws barely scraping against my cheek before I once again teleport behind her and repeat the process again, forming two more blades of her own blood.

“You know how long it’s been since I’ve had this much fun?” Lupa asks, digging her claws into the wall before throwing a chunk at me. I dodge out of the way only for her to ram right into me.

“‘Our pride and joy’ they called me,” Lupa stares right into my eyes as she presses my body against the wall. “Every hellhound in my pack was tortured and ripped apart just because they couldn’t risk an experiment on me going horribly wrong.”

One blood blade narrowly misses Lupa’s eyes before I drive the rest into her arm, cutting under the plating and drawing out more blood to turn into blades.

Lupa tries to throw me into another wall but I manage to teleport before hitting it, reappearing near the floor as my body skips across it.

Strangely, whatever pain that was coursing through my body fades away, replaced with a growing feeling of quiet rage and bloodlust. Along with another familiar feeling I can’t quite name.

I manage to stop right next to Winona, who quickly backs off at my presence. Not that it matters. My anger only has one target right now. Getting back onto my hooves, my body trembles as my eyes lock onto Lupa’s smiling face.

“But even after they finally had their weapon, they wouldn’t let me go out and play,” Lupa says before charging at me.

I jump to the side and duck under her arm as my blood blades rake across her side; some scraping along metal while others cut into flesh, allowing even more blood to be violently yanked from her body.

There’s that strange yet familiar feeling again. It’s almost like my very soul is being invigorated somehow. What is it?

“Sure, they’ll let me out if there was a pony in some power armor or another hellhound that needed to be put down,” Lupa continues while turning around, her body swaying as she does so. “But never anything challenging enough to justify my existence. My loved ones horribly tortured or dead, and I didn’t have anything to show that it was all worth it.”

Forming a long scarlet stream out of all of the blood blades I have, I whip it towards Lupa, watching as it slices off a couple of metal plating from her arm as she dodges.

That warm energy once again sends shivers down my spine as my focus is drawn to Lupa’s bloodied arm. Only to go just as quickly as it came, replaced with an overwhelming sense of wrongness inside of me.

Suddenly, my hooves are swept out from under me as Lupa scoops me up and slams me into the ceiling. “Kill, kill, sit, kill. That’s all I ever heard,” She says before throwing my body into the ground hard. “Then, when the winged ponies started killing each other, they told me to die.”

“But Smarty told me not to die,” Lupa raises her claws to strike down against me. “So I decided to do what I was always told to do: Kill.”

A bullet slams into Lupa’s face, throwing her aim off and causing her claws to barely miss my head as I teleport to the side. In one swift motion, I rip enough blood out of her arm to create another blade and cut it off.

In that brief moment, as that energy once again surges through me, something clicks in my head. Whatever this energy is, it is clearly inside of her.

Lupa stumbles back before staring in shock as I lift the severed arm in the air and drain it of all the blood it has in it, forming it into a long spear.

And if I have to rip it out of her, so be it.

With a laughter that only fuels my hatred towards her, Lupa strikes once again. I dodge and immediately run my blood spear through the spot where I shot her with my rifle.

Lupa coughs up blood as the spear bursts through from the other side and swings around to strike at me. Her claws barely cut into my good foreleg before I get out of the way, ripping out more blood from her new wound as I do so.

The more I cut into her and the more blood I rip out, the better I feel. Everything fades away as I desperately try to claw my way towards the source of this wonderful energy inside of Lupa. A task made easier as Lupa slowly becomes more and more sluggish with each strike.

Soon Lupa simply slumps onto the floor, that stupid smile still on her face. Something in my mind feels off as I continue to coldy tear into her. As if some part of me is telling me to stop. Why? After everything she’s done, after almost taking my only friend away from me, she deserves this.

My body shakes as more of that warm energy rushes through me. I’m so close now! I can already feel it! Soon I’ll finally stop feeling like something is wrong and… and…

Wait, no. No! Where did it go?!

The energy fades away, replaced with that crippling sense of wrongness inside of me. I rip out all of the blood from the body in front of me and look through it all. But no more energy comes out.

I-It was here a second ago! Why is it gone?! It can’t be gone!! I needed that for… for… why did I-?

My ears flicker at the sound of somepony falling to the ground. My head snaps in that direction to see another hellhound. My eyes focus on the bloodied bandage covering one of her claws.

A small trace of that energy that was inside of Lupa is coming from there.

The hellhound scrambles to her feet and tries to run before two blood spears pierce through her legs, pinning her to the ground.

No, no, no. Where do you think you’re going? Did you think I forgot about all of the pain you’ve caused too? You don’t deserve any pity from me.

Right, there’s nothing wrong with tearing it out of you too. You don’t have this horrible feeling gnawing inside of you. You don’t need it. You don’t deserve it.

The hellhound tries to cut into me with her claws but I sever them from her body before they can reach me, adding more blood to the torrent already circling around me.

Once again this energy surges through me as I rip into the hellhound. More continues to pour out the deeper I go. Then it suddenly leaves me before I can find the energy source inside the now torn apart body.

Why? Why can’t I hold onto this? What am I doing wrong?!

I cast my eyes around the place, looking for more sources of this energy that I desperately crave. And find yet another hellhound cowering on the other side of the hallway.

Our eyes meet and the hellhound panics, scrambling against the floor as I approach. It presses its back against the wall, pure terror on its face. Like it matters. After all the death it caused, it deserves this. Suddenly it begins to dig into the ground, trying to escape. Not that it can escape, I can simply teleport to it and-

A bullet flies past my head, causing me to stop dead in my tracks.

“That’s enough, Intrepid,” a voice calls out to me as I look back at my attacker. Not a hellhound, but willing to help them. And bleeding too. The energy inside of it is slipping away.

“Look, I’m sorry for shooting at you, but you weren’t listening and… w-why are you looking at me like that?”

I take a step towards my attacker.

“Intrepid?”

That other hellhound can wait. I need this one now.

“So this is what you were warning me about,” My attacker says before pointing its gun at my head. “I’m warning you now, another step and I’ll shoot.”

Slowly, nothing rash, can’t risk losing this one too.

As I continue to slowly walk towards my attacker, its aim wavers and it shakes its head. “Why? Why does this happen every single time I partner up with somepony?”

It doesn’t take long to get to where my attacker is lying on the ground. My mind focuses in on its stomach, where the source of energy is leaking from.

“Well I’m not accepting it this time!”

Just need to be careful here. Soon I’ll have what I need and this gnawing wrongness inside will finally disappear forever.

As I prepare to rip my attacker apart, it screams “SNAP OUT OF IT, TREPPY!”

Treppy? Why does that feel familiar? No pony has ever called me that except…

Rose…

Rose!

The dark presence loses its grip on my mind as the memory of Rose bleeding out appears in my head. I shut my eyes and press my hooves against my head, desperately try to shove these evil feelings and urges out.

Dear Luna, what was I doing?! Why was I obsessed with something so stupid while Rose is dying?! Ugh! Just get out and let me think clearly for once! I said get out! Out!

With one last push, the dark presence disappears, leaving me feeling light-headed but finally able to think normally again.

“Oh thank Celestia that worked,” I hear the familiar voice of Rose say.

“Rose?” I ask as I open my eyes and look around. “What happened? My head feels like it went through a blender and-”

My eyes widen as I notice the bloody piles of torn up flesh and metal strewn across the floor, before seeing Rose’s badly injured body in front of me. Feeling some magic coursing through my horn, I hesitantly look up.

And see the dozen blood blades hover above Rose. All poised to strike down at a moment’s notice.

In a fit of panic, I shake my head violently, causing the blades to dissolve and splatter harmlessly against the floor and walls of the hallway.

“No, no, it happened again!” I say as I quickly back away. “Dear Luna, why did it happen again?!”

Just when I start running away, Rose shouts out ”Treppy, wait!” She tries to stand but immediately collapses in pain and hugs her stomach.

Snapping out of my state of panic, I immediately rush back to her side and try to assess the extent of her wounds. It doesn’t look good, her stomach is cut open and there seems to be some internal bleeding as well.

Rose coughs up some blood before smiling. “Heh, you actually came back.”

“Of course I did! Now, stop moving while I treat you!” I say as I try to use my blood magic to stop the bleeding and seal up the wounds.

“It’s nice, you know,” She says while looking up at me. “Having somepony that actually cares about what happens to me.”

“Come on now, you’re the great Winter Rose! Don’t tell me you don’t have a fan club somewhere that would kill themselves if you were to disappear.” I say in mock disbelief to hide the ever growing worry mounting in my mind. Dear Luna, why does she look so pale? I stopped the bleeding in time, didn’t I?!

She chuckles a bit before wincing in pain. “You’d think. I grew up thinking that all I need to do to get some attention was to tease and boast about myself to every pony I met. But I’d always overdo it and end up alone in the end.” She then lays her head onto the ground. “At least now I won’t die alone like I thought I would, right?”

Tears run down my cheek as I frantically shake my head. “No, you’re not going to die! Not if I have a say in this!”

Come on, think! There has to be some way to save her! I know there is! Like a drug or some potion or something! Wait, potion! That one recording about the accident! Thundering mentioned something about Rocky receiving some kind of special potion!

Spotting my PipBuck nearby, I retrieve it and find Rocky’s office on the map. Glancing over at the hole Lupa made in the floor, it should be a simple matter to get there and back in time.

A scared look flashes onto Rose’s face as she lifts her head up to look at me. “Treppy, wait-”

“I’ll be back, I promise!” I say to her with as much of a reassuring smile as I can give her. Rose reaches her hoof out and begins to say something but I teleport away before hearing it.

Fatigue and pain nearly overwhelm me as I reappear; the lightheadedness from before steadily gets worse and my vision becomes slightly blurry while I try to keep my balance. It is an understatement to say that this isn’t good.

Shaking my head to regain my senses, I glance down at my PipBuck before teleporting a few more times towards Rocky’s office. With each reappearance, I have to fight to keep myself from fainting as it gets harder and harder to focus.

Eventually I slam my body hard against a door as sweat rolls down my face. Noticing the sign reading ‘Rocky Shores’ on it, I try the doorknob only to discover that it’s locked.

No, no, no, don’t you dare do this to me now, Luna! Not after all I’ve been through to get this far!

An idea suddenly pops into my head and I hastily rummage through my saddlebag before pulling out the set of janitor keys Rose gave me earlier. Each key that refuses to go into the lock only serves to make me panic more.

Come on, work!

Please! One of you! Work!

Work!

Finally a key slides into place and turns with a satisfying click.

Slamming the door open, my eyes scan through the place before finding a glass display case with different trinkets inside; among them is a flask with glowing yellow liquid inside. The case’s door won’t open and the lock to it is too small for any of the janitor keys to fit inside.

My body slumps against the case as I cough up some blood. The pain and fatigue throughout my body and mind is starting to become too much to ignore now.

There’s a safe on the wall, but nothing inside is going to help me. The drawers in the oak desk? One by one they prove to be completely empty. And nothing else in the room would contain a key inside of it.

In a fit of frustration, I rip the blood from my mangled foreleg, breaking apart the blood cast around it, and form a blade to break the display case apart.

As shards of glass cut me, the flask in the case falls over. Quickly I dive to grab it before it can shatter on the floor and hug it tightly. My vision, however, is too blurry to clearly make out what it says on the label; though something resembling the word ‘healing’ seems to be engraved on it.

It will have to do.

Holding the flask between my teeth, I start to limp over to the door when my legs give out; the glass shards dig into my body as it hits the carpet floor of the room. Placing the flask in my mouth, I bite down hard as I try to will myself back up. But my legs simply give out and I fall back onto the floor again.

No, I can’t fail now! I promised I’d come back, Luna! You hear me?! I promised!

Slamming my hoof into the ground, I summon enough strength to stand in place. Although my body shakes from the strain of even doing that. My vision continues to become blurry, making it difficult to even pick a point to teleport to. My mind drifts over to where Rose is now as regret from leaving her alone in her final moments hits me.

I shouldn’t have left. Everything always falls apart in the end. I’m not sure why I thought this would be any different. If only I could just go straight there now. Now I can’t even see clearly enough to make the attempt.

But I can picture it clearly in my head.

Focusing on the memory of the corridor Rose is in my mind’s eye, I pool every ounce of magic into one last teleport spell.

Soon the room disappears and my body collapses into the darkness that replaces the soft carpet floor. The flask falling out of my mouth and my vision gives out as consciousness slips away from me.

I failed.

Like I always do.

Why? Why can’t I keep my promises when it matters the most?

Why does everypony around me keep dying like this?

I’m sorry, Rose. I tried. Dear Luna, I tried.

In the end, I couldn’t save you. I can’t save anyone.

I’m sorry.

I’m…

Author's Note

...

Quest Objectives Completed:

Deal With Lupa.
Retrieve Data Needed For Rocket Launch.

Current Quest Objectives: