Storm Surge threw the disabled creature in front of his form as the other two Hunters slammed into him. Despite the blow being lessened, the impact sent everyone flying - ending with the previously disabled Hunter being impaled on the spiked head of its brother. The stallion, however, was more fortunate and landed on his back with only the wind partially knocked out of him. His weapon was also flung a few hooves away, with it’s flashlight pointing directly at the Hunters.

While attempting to shove air back into his lungs from the downed position, Storm saw that the two stuck Hunters were screeching and hollering in anger as the intact creature of the duo began to violently tear it’s disabled brethren off, taking chunks of decayed flesh and bone fragments with it. A few more sickening seconds later, the shredded creature stopped thrashing and went completely still.

Pop! Squelch!

The carcass on the ground started to twitch slightly in the area of it’s head and neck until faint and tiny blue glows eliminated from what were once slit holes in the creature’s neck. Now they were gaping wounds to allow the Plexers to escape their destroyed flesh fortress. Three insect abominations in total - all of which were now headed straight for Storm.

The other Hunter managed to scramble to it’s clawed hooves before raising it’s head towards the shattered windows at the top walls of the dark library - only illuminated by a collection of visors, glowing eyes and flashlight beams - and making a distorted ‘groaning’ sound towards the ceiling.

What sounded like a dozen similar groans rang out from various points in the dark room to answer the initial call. Then the standing Hunter joined it’s significantly smaller companions in charging at the stallion, who was still laying on his back. The charging Hunter sped past the skittering Plexers and leapt for Storm with it’s spiked face pointing downward.

The creature didn't expect for it’s would-be prey to raise his hindlegs - as if a father was playing ‘the airplane’ game with a foal - and catch it’s midsection in midair. The second Storm felt the rotted flesh hit his hooves, he activated his thrusters to launch the Hunter over his head and into a bookshelf.

Crash!

A downpour of heavy rotting wood and dust-laced hardcover books came down on the monstrous being. One large section of the wooden shelf crushed the creature’s neck entirely, making a brief and disgusting crunching noise as the bone and Plexers within the neck were reduced into the floor.

With lightning speed, Storm tethered his weapon back in front of his sightline in order to aim at the original set of approaching Plexers. A tilt of his Sweeper later and he had all three of the advancing insects in his sight - one for each barrel. Then he pulled the trigger. Rivets flew and the Plexers exploded into a mess of blue substances and tiny limbs as their skittering died out along with their lifeforce.

Not a second later, a whoosh of air sped past his neck just before a bone-like projectile bounced off of his helmet’s steel plating. Storm whipped his head in the direction of the last Hunter in the trio that had charged him, to find that it’s ‘tail’ with being dragged down to it’s back section to retrieve another fragment for it’s next projectile shot.

Just as the tail snapped back at attention and at the direction of the Hunter’s living prey, it found nothing. The bone-encrusted mess of a skull swayed slightly while the creature’s head scanned the room for their soon-to-be prey. The monster paid no mind to the commotion in which it’s brethren and the stallion’s companions were causing nearby. It only had one goal in mind. Only one thing to find.

And it found him.

Or rather, he found it.

The Hunter had just enough time to raise its tail to defend itself before the suited stallion appeared from behind an adjacent bookshelf to take a swing at its neck. The blade managed to slice it’s tail clean off, but missed the neck thanks to the intrusion of the now severed spiked tendril.

Storm hadn’t been expecting the creature’s new equally agile reflexes and had expected the swing to be enough, giving the Hunter a chance to strike back. It leapt onto the stallion, knocking him on his back and pinning him to the rotten wood below. His head slammed into the floor and the small trickle of liquid in his mouth told the pegasus that he had likely bitten his tongue during the impact. Storm’s head was spinning and the copper-like taste in his mouth was the only thing that brought him back to the moment just in the nick of time.

The beast shrieked and slammed its head down where the blue and grey helmet was, only to have him jerk away at the last possible second, forcing the Hunter to slam into the wood, sending a small outburst of splinters everywhere. The impact seemingly had no effect on the Hunter as it was back up and ready for another strike. It’s head came crashing do-

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A torrent of gunshots rang through Storm’s ears as he watched bullets tear the Hunter’s head from its neck. The bony skull plopped to the ground next to his own head while the rest of the shots presumidly killed the Plexers residing in the open hole.

Using all the strength in his aching muscles, the stallion flung the decapitated corpse off of his chest in time to see Rainbow Dash standing a few steps away. Her flashlight was aimed in his direction before she removed to it so as to not blind him. The armored mare rushed over and offered a hoof to help him get back on his own.

“Thanks,” Storm quickled coughed out, reluctantly swallowing his own blood in the process. “We need to get to the others!” He added, using his flashlight to spot their mentioned companions. Snare was swapping between using her tethered submachine gun on a charging beast while using her hooves in an attempt to lift the bookshelf that had fallen on Trail Hunter.

“Uh…” Rainbow began nervously, snapping her own flashlight towards two more Hunters that were climbing in through the ceiling windows. “That might be a problem!”

“Oh shit! Flank around to the others, I’ll watch your back!”

Before Rainbow could argue with the order, both Hunters noticed the two pegasi and raised their tails before cloaking. Dash steadied her weapon’s grip and retreated behind a row of shelves - which separated the two creature's last known locations and herself for a hopefully safer journey.

Storm fired in the spot where he had seen the Hunter’s turn invisible, only to see his rivets pass through thin air, meaning they had moved. While a string of curses spat through his head, the stallion stood his ground and swayed his weapon’s beam back and forth in hopes to catch any sign of movement.

But nothing happened. No scrape of sharpened hooves on wood. No growls or moans as the creatures communicated. Nothing.

Then he heard Dash scream.

Fuck!

Rainbow felt excruciating pain as she was slammed from her side and into the row of shelves on her right. The blue pegasus’ small form combined with the suit were just the right combination to send her into the shelf, but not break anything - both on her body and on the object - knocking it over and sprawling the mare out on the other side.

There were multiple holes of varying sizes in her midsection, however, the suit’s thick fabric managed to keep the depth at a minimum. This small relief didn’t mean much to Dash as she clutched her side with a good wing while attempting to stand. The mare didn’t get very far until something forcibly slammed her helmet face down into the wood, sending a riving pain up her spine and down the back of her neck. She attempted to kick the attacker with her hooves, but the creature’s strength had her pinned face down into the floor.

Rainbow’s head hurt, which clouded her attempt to tether the now lost machine gun for her aid. Her thoughts of the weapon were suddenly interrupted by the new development of a fleshy appendage blocking her visor’s view. She finally realized that the Hunter was wrapping its tail around her helmet in an attempt to take it off a little too late.

One of her hooves was pinned underneath her chest, but the other was at the side of her restrained head. Using the free hoof, Dash attempted to pry the tendril off only to feel immeasurable pain as a bone fragment was fired into her forehoof, sending it down to the ground. She whimpered in pain before thrashing her head backwards as a last ditch to try and throw the creature’s tail wrapping job off.

But it was to no avail. The tail tightened and the grinding of metallic joints being pried from their sockets filled the interior of the helmet before it was yanked completely off of the mare’s head. Rainbow’s vision was temporarily hindered as she adjusted from the blue-green glow of her now missing visor to the very real and very dark surroundings.

Now that her head was momentarily free, Rainbow quickly did her best to look behind herself to see the hollow holes in the Hunter’s head and the glowing slits in its neck. The creature then brought it’s spiked tail to its neck and decapitated itself. The blow glowing started to ‘climb’ as the Plexers inside wiggled from their homes and began to escape their host.

They never made it very far before Rainbow felt the creature’s weight being thrown off of her. Through her darkness adjusted eyes, she caught the sight of Storm slamming himself into the decapitated body, knocking both himself and the corpse to the ground. The Hunter landed on its side, causing the side of the hollowed out neck to cave in and crush two of the Plexers within. Rainbow only had a second to see the remaining Plexer’s blue glow before it too vanished underneath the armored hoof the stallion.

Storm was seeing red. Whether it was stained blood on his visor or just rage, he didn’t register or care. He heard nothing but the molested dying screams of Ivory and Nourish echo in his head. The stallion raised his upper half and a hoof before retracting his blade back into it’s sheath and letting his hoof strike the thing’s neck.

Crunch!

Again.

Crack!

Blood spurted, tendons snapped.

Snap!

His hoof screamed in agony upon being forced to pummel another body over and over, but he didn’t seem to feel it or care.

Storm didn’t even notice that the neck was gone - as were the Plexers, which were reduced to blue stains - and that he was driving his hoof into the now splintering wooden floor repeatedly until some unseen force from behind grabbed at his shoulders.

His muscles tensed and his heart skyrocketed in his chest as the stallion swung around while activating the blade in the process. He was nearly done swinging it at the possible assailant’s head before he noticed who it was…

Rainbow Dash.

Not the glowing, hungry writhing eyes of a Damned - or in this case, the hollow bone maze of a skull - but concerned and very real magenta ones now that her helmet was down.

Storm felt his heart slowly settle, his lip quivered but only for a second, and his muscles contracted before attempting to loosen their grip around his form. He looked down at the mangled mass of crimson and aqua before returning to her stare. Then he eased upwards onto all fours.

Rainbow looked like she wanted to say something but didn’t dare to. It was like she could sense the wild, animalistic stare on his face behind the helmet. Instead, she was silent as Storm passed by her, tethered her helmet and threw it to her.

“Put it back on.” He ordered coldly, sounding much like he did after the revelation of his friend’s fates. “We’re not done…”

Rainbow placed her helmet back on her head. Thankfully, the joints were only yanked loose and no permanent damage had been done because the helmet whirred and snapped into place telekinetically.

With that, vaulted over the downed shelf and onto the other side with the now helmeted mare in tow. The duo raced through the remainder of the row only to arrive at their companion’s side in time to see a gruesome sight.

Snare was on the ground, propping herself up with one forehoof while clutching the other one - that was filled with bone fragments - as she unloaded her sidearm into a retreating Hunter. Blood was pooling out from her chest, a forehoof, and a hindleg.

Trail Hunter was still pinned underneath the bookshelf, barking up a string of curses and shouting while firing almost aimlessly at the nearest monster. He nearly shot at Storm and Rainbow in his haste, but noticed them in time. “Where the fuck were you two?! He demanded hysterically. “Get this thing off of me!”

Rainbow and Storm rushed over - one on each side of the stuck stallion - and put their hooves underneath the titanic bookshelf in an attempt to pry it off of him. From the other side of the room, more moans and ‘cawing’ rang out.

“Shit!” Storm swore before turning to Rainbow. “Help her keep them back! I’ve got this!”

Rainbow didn’t even think as she released her end of the shelf rather than setting it down, eliciting a strained grunt from Storm, who took the full force of the heavy shelf as he and Trail worked in tandem to free the latter. Dash’s attention was stolen by the decloaking monster on top of the librarian’s desk that Snare didn’t see.

“Get down!” Rainbow warned just in time for Snare to duck and miss having her neck sliced off by the projectiles that flew over her head.

Snare whipped her head around and fired at the Hunter with Rainbow. They both hit the creature, but none of the shots landed into its neck nest, allowing it to escape behind a nearby row of shelves.

Meanwhile, Storm had just finished giving everything he had to get the unnecessarily weighted appliance off of his pain-in-the-ass partner. Trail dragged himself out the second his lower half was free just before Storm was forced to release his hold on the shelf. The wooden object came crashing down when Trail was out of harm’s way. Now with their backs against the wall, the four steadied their weapons and aimed outward, scanning the room for movement of their cloaked fiends.

“Planning! We need backup, send one of-” Storm started to say into the comms, only to receive static in response - a sign that both the comms and the suit cameras were out.

Great. Plan B it is… He thought bitterly before informing his team. “Aim for the neck! They’re stored in the neck!”

“What?!” Trail asked, grabbing his own rifle. “How in Tartarus do they see?”

“Through holes in the neck. Now shut it and focus!”

Nearby, a pen-holder was knocked over - signaling a cloaked Hunter had just accidentally brushed by it while honing in on it’s prey - along with other subtle indicators as the four suited ponies formed a half circle against the fallen shelf. A pile of discarded and yellowed papers suddenly sprung up before gliding to the ground to the group’s right.

“They’re fucking with us!” Trail growled, desperately trying to hide his fear.

Rainbow Dash felt her breath hilt in her throat. The mare felt trapped both inside the visually restrictive helmet in addition to literally being trapped by invisible monsters. Every demonic ‘cackle’ that rang out made her feel as if they were laughing at the group’s lack of visibility. They were purposely drawing this out for some reason. Fun perhaps?

The pegasus mare didn’t have long to contemplate before one of the beasts suddenly dropped its cloaking spell. This Hunter was within spitting distance from the group as it stood in one of the open rows facing them. It raised it’s tail and hollered. By now, Storm and Snare were firing at it from beside Dash’s head. The firing from Snare’s unsilenced weapon defeaned Rainbow - and the rest of the group - for they were not able to notice another sneaking Hunter until it decloaked and struck Snare directly across the chest, hitting the mare directly on her control console.

Snare’s chestplate sparked and screeched a horrible metallic cry while the now yellow segmented ring flickered before fading away entirely. The Hunter then grabbed the mare’s helmet with its tail before firing bone fragments into the visor, shattering the glass and causing Snare to let out a blood curdling scream.

The decoy Hunter had decloaked once more, but Rainbow or Storm were paying it no attention. Instead, the two were focused on the creature that had invaded their personal spaces with full intent to kill one of their friends. While it held Snare against the shelf, the Hunter used it’s head to bash into Rainbow - who had charged it with rifle butt poised to strike - thus knocking her into a heap on the ground. Dash managed to lift her head in the Hunter’s direction just in time to see Storm engaged in hoof-to-claw combat with the disgusting thing.

When he got close enough, the Hunter attempted to use the same attack on Storm, only to have him move his head out of the way and return the attempt with a hoof to the creature’s neck. The armored stallion shoved it against the bookshelf and held it with his right forehoof before activating his left forehoof’s blade and slicing through the bastard’s neck.

Upon seeing the Hunter’s demise, Rainbow shot up to a standing position with rifle in tethered grip. She scanned the once more seemingly empty room while her stallion companion checked on Snare.

Storm had to prop Snare up on her back after killing her attacker. The mare had just dropped to the ground limply, making him fear the worst. But after a moment, her hooves came up to her helmet. A quick inspection of the mare’s bone-filled and blood caked visor made Storm able to see the truth without a doubt. Snare’s left eye and the space right in between her eyes were filled with the bone-fragments. Her one good and visible eye was leaking tears.

“We need to get outta here!” Trail said, stating the obvious from his place to the group’s left. “The doors we came in through. We can make it!” Rainbow joined his side as the two unloaded at another decloaked Hunter.

“Can you walk?” Storm asked the wounded mare, trying to help her up. Snare tried to stand only to squeak in pain at her impaled leg. Or maybe it was the new eye injury. Or both.

“N-no…” She croaked, seemingly trying to fight the ability to stay conscious due to blood loss and physical trauma.

“There’s at least two dozen more! We can’t take them all on!” Trail Hunter informed, turning to see the new situation. Storm couldn’t see more than his eyes behind the suit but he could feel the selfish expression on his face. “... Leave her.”

“What?!” Rainbow asked from Trail’s side. “Are you fucking serious?!”

“It’s survival of the fittest, sweetheart. And right now, she isn’t fit to be walking but the rest of us are! Now, are you two coming or not?” Another creature decloaked when it was inches away from the group, but Trail and Rainbow quickly took care of it, causing the decapitated monster to slide into a nearby shelf. “Clocks ticking guys!”

Storm swore before lowering himself down and sliding Snare onto his back. The mare weighed practically nothing compared to him, but the combination of an armored suit on his form and another pony on his back made his weight unbalanced and movement awkward. The whole time he did so, the stallion gave a death glare to Trail from behind his visor.

“We’re all getting out of here.” Storm said, tossing his shotgun to Rainbow. “Dash, Keep us covered from behind. Hunter, take the-” A chorus of roars rang out through the library.

“I’m not here to attend my own funeral.” Hunter spat before sprinting towards the exit down the furthest row to the left.

“Hunter!” Storm called after the retreating stallion. When his call was left ignored, he muttered under his breath. “Son of a bitch…”

Another chorus of groans and chittering filled the room upon the stallion’s break for the exit. Gunshots filled the row ahead alongside screaming - of both pony and monster alike.

“We’ll take the opposite end.” Storm ordered. “I’ll go first, just watch my back.” Dash nodded and the two sprinted down the row.

Along the way, Storm could hear the scrapping of sharpened hooves on the wood, prompting him to dodge into another row of shelves where one had collapsed or rotted away prior. Rainbow followed suite. Suddenly, a sharpened piece of bone was flying towards him from the front.

Storm deflected the incoming projectile with his Sweeper before using the same weapon to unload at head height until he hit the cloaked creature’s horn. Just like before, the Hunter started to ‘glitch’ as the spell faded away and revealed itself. The beast had just enough time to let out a roar before it’s neck was also filled with rivets.

With the threat nullified, the trio continued the mad sprint for salvation until they had exited the row and arrived dead center in the library -at the rounded librarians desk - where Storm turned on his heel to the left and where the now wide open exit was. Off to his right, the stallion heard a hiss and decloaking sound.

“Dash! Right!” He shouted, alerting the mentioned mare of the creature.

A shotgun to the neck took care of the soon-to-be firing Hunter before it got the shot off. Then the two were sprinting for the surprisingly empty doorway. There was no grunting or growling. Only dust particles falling from the-

That was when Storm realized it. While running, he snapped a glance upwards only to see four Hunters digging their bones into the support beams of the rotten roof.

Shit! They're gonna bring the whole place down! He thought while picking up speed. His muscles aced and his hoof felt like it was on fire.

Nearby, Rainbow Dash struggled to ‘limp sprint’ her way alongside her companions. The tiny fragments in her hoof made the mare cringe in pain with each step but due to her small form, she was able to suppress the stinging sensation. At least for now.

The three barreled out of the doorway a second before the ceiling came down, sending splinters, debris, and dust everywhere. So much so that the mist around the buildings’ front was pushed aside in the blast. But that wasn’t all. While running, Storm turned his head to see that the collapse of the roof was also causing the entire front frame of the building to come down in addition.

Motherfucker! He mentally cursed before remembering the nearly ceiling-high windows at the top.

It was a long shot, but it was better than nothing. The stallion slightly lessened his pace, keeping up with both Rainbow and where he estimated those now falling windows to be when the place went splat. Upon reaching what he hoped was the distance, he quickly and suddenly dove into Dash, sending the two to the floor. As the building closed in its final inches, he swung Snare around to shove her underneath himself along with Dash.

Then the building fell.

The previous outburst of debris was a slight drizzle compared to what exploded around the trio now. A snapped off piece of wooden support beam smacked Storm directly in the helmet, sending him to the ground and on top of the shattered building’s frontal frame. The stallion’s vision spun until he spotted the bone-encrusted head of Hunter looming over him.

In a flash, he was up and sending a bladed hoof towards… a severed head.

No ‘living’ Hunter. No merciless beast waiting to devour him. Just a prior trophy of one of his squad’s kills.

The head rolled a few paces away before settling in a crack of wood. It was at that moment, Storm realized how hard his heart was assaulting his chest. His steel control console didn’t help the feeling of catching up on his long overdue breath. He coughed while getting to his hooves and standing over the wreckage.

“Holy Shit! Anyone still alive?” Hunter’s mildly irritating voice rang out through the dust and fog of the streets. Then his silhouette came into view as he ran towards the aftermath of lumber and steel.

Rainbow and Snare were still on the ground with Dash on her side and Snare on her stomach. They had a perfect view of Trail Hunter as he tripped over the buildings’ frame and ended up head first into a discarded beam. Storm also saw the malarkey and would have taken great joy in the sight if it weren’t for other matters.

Ignoring Trail, Storm made his way over to the girls, who looked clearly as shaken and exhausted as he felt. The stallion leant a hoof to assist Rainbow in getting up before looking down at Snare then back to Hunter - who was pulling his head off of the ground.

“Take her back to the ship.” Storm huffed, sounding nearly out of breath. “Dash and I got this.”

“What? Are you kidding me?” Trail snapped. “Why the fuck do I get babysitting duty? I’m in charge he-”

“Oh yeah? How well did that work out for us?” Storm challenged.

Trail lowered his helmet, allowing the others to see his sweat-caked and fuming expression. “Listen pal, I don’t know who the FUCK you think you are, but I’m not bending over because some newbie wants me to! I’m on top because I earned this position! I’ve tried to be nice since you are new to order around here, but I’m done with that! If I want you tried for disobeying then I will have you tried and shot!”

“Why wait?” Storm replied, standing his ground and eyeing the stallion, before gesturing to Hunter’s sidearm. “C’mon, point that thing at me right now. See how well that goes for you.”

Hunter snorted. “You got a deathwish, old man?!”

“No, I just hate seeing incompetent, egotystical assholes who think they are everything and more. Rank doesn’t matter. It’s survival!” The faint growl in the stallion’s voice had fully revealed itself. “Everyone matters - not just you!. You have their backs and they have yours!”

“Holy shit, does Princess have a fucking second brother?! This ‘magical friendship’ motto of yours is good for nothing but getting everyone killed. I made it out of there because I knew when to run when shit hit the fan! Meanwhile, you and the dyke over there decided to play the hero role for what?” Hunter pointed at the unconscious and broken Snare in Rainbow’s grasp. “She’s dead already! Hell, I’d rather die than live without an eye in this world!”

That can be arranged…

“What the actual fuck is wrong with you?!” The Element of Loyalty suddenly snapped at Trail upon deactivating her own helmet. “How is somepony trained by the captain of the Wonderbolts this much of a loser?! She stood by your side to make sure those things didn’t get you and this is how you repay her?!”

Hunter chuckled before turning his attention to the prismatic pegasus. “I’m the loser? Me? Really? My kind means more to the world than some pretty piece of fuck meat! The only reason you are out here holding a gun is because Daddy Douchebag over there is too much of a sweetheart to sell your flank to the nearest town’s breeding racks!”

Rainbow gently let go of Snare and stood up aggressively. A determined fire roared in her magenta eyes as she approached the misogynistic stallion. Her progress was only stopped by a large hoof that stuck out to catch her chestpiece.

“Don’t.” Storm said, his voice calmer with her but still clearly seething with hatred.

“I’m gonna kill him.” Rainbow growled, trying to shove his hoof away.

“Not yet. Somepony has to get her back to the ship.”

Trail Hunter was smiling widely now. He watched in exaggerated amusement while snickering to himself. “I honestly can’t tell if you two are trying to pass for father and daughter or a dysfunctional couple. Still, it’s funny either way.” Both ponies glared at him - Rainbow’s anger flustered face clearly visible while Storm’s helmet hidden expression most likely mirrored her own - until a soft croak came from Snare. All three looked down to confirm that the poor girl was still hanging on.

Hunter sighed. “Fine, I’ll take her back. I think a well deserved day off with a couple cold ones will do nicely afterwards.” The stallion hoisted Snare onto his back then took one last look at the two pegasi. “See you two later! Or maybe not… Anywho, good luck out there, Storm Scrooge and Rainbow Dyke.” Then he slowly disappeared back in the general direction of the ship, which couldn’t even be seen in the thick haze surrounding the city.

Storm and Rainbow turned away to continue on their objective, when the mare stopped suddenly. Her breath hilted upon realizing the stabbing pain in her forehoof that had returned after the adrenaline was depleted from her body.

“Well that was something.” Rainbow commented, gritting her teeth and handing the stallion his shotgun back. “I thought you two would never put down the ruler.”

Storm sighed - a sound that was made more audible by the helmet filter - while accepting the weapon before storing it on his back. “Please, I can only take so many dick jokes.”

“Don’t worry, one just left.” Rainbow snickered at her own clever comment, but swore she heard something else in the mix. It was faint, but the mare definitely heard it. A faint, almost inaudible chuckle coming from the side. She stopped. Then turned to her companion, who was busy scanning what few buildings were visible. “Did you just laugh? Like at a joke?”

“No. Stay focused.” Storm replied in his usual monotonic way, albeit a little too quickly. Rainbow just stared at him knowingly. He seemed to notice it, because the next thing he said was; “All that noise is bound to draw more in.”

Storm and Rainbow turned away to continue on their objective, when the mare stopped suddenly. Her breath hilted upon realizing the stabbing pain in her forehoof that had returned after the adrenaline was depleted from her body. She winced and let out a slightly strained gasp, which clearly caught Storm’s attention.

“See that alley? Let’s get over there.” He said while sneaking a side glance at her injured hoof.

The duo arrived in a turn-in alley where a couple rusted dumpster bins blocked off access to the deeper parts of it’s path. Confused as to why they were at a dead end, Dash looked to the taller one of the two only to have him grab an overturned chair from between the bins. The chair looked like it was somepony’s old smoke break chair - at a time when smoke breaks were a regular thing that is. Storm motioned for the mare to sit, so she did. Meanwhile, he sat on his haunches while still managing to be a little over head height and level with her despite being seated significantly lower.

Even in the dense fog of the surroundings, Dash could see his purple tethered appendage reach into some pouch on his suit where a small diry-pillow colored medical bag was housed. She could only tell this from the not so faded red cross in its center. The stallion pulled out a pair of tweezers before grabbing her hoof - an action that made her flinch before extending it out - then he activated his earpiece’s flashlight to see the injury.

“Hold still.” He ordered calmly, studying the wound for the least painful way to proceed. “This is going to hurt.”

“GreAT!” Rainbow went to reply, switching to a higher pitch when the sooner-than-expected pain began shooting through her hoof.

One by one, each shard was pulled out. Thankfully, none of the bones had shattered to form splinters in her appendage, so only whole chunks were lodged inside. When it was done, Storm continued to hold her hoof up and shine his light on the small tears in the fabric - which were now slowly self-sewing back together.

“How does it do that?” Dash asked with legitimate curiosity.

“The same way the Tethertechs and helmets operate.” Storm replied, keeping her hoof steady. “Small, self-sustaining telekinesis spells are cast on all tether-based technology. They work off of either preset paths on the console or the user’s mind through brain waves and thought.”

“So, your saying that you made my suit fix itself by thinking about it?”

“Yes and no. The spell is set to repair the suit’s cloth - which is one of the presets, but I had to direct where exactly I wanted the repairs mentally.”

“Wait, then can’t somepony just make the suit break by thinking about it then? Like while in a fight?”

“Theoretically, yes. But they would need to have access to each equipment’s code. Every suit console and Tethertech has their own. I have access to yours, because it used to be one of my old ones so I was able to command it.”

“Cool.”

“Depending on which end you are at, yeah.” He let go of her hoof. “Put your helmet back up. It’s never a good move to take it off.”

The magical self-sewing process finished shortly after. Storm and the now helmeted Rainbow got up and exited the alley, but not after one of them quickly checked the exit’s corners. The duo could only move forward now. Down what Storm saw was a way too cramped for comfort sideroad which would lead to the Hub according to Planning’s instructions.

To the pegasi’s left was a large grocery store with boarded up windows and nearly empty shelves from what little they could see through the board’s cracks inside. Further down was a small, official looking building with twin dumpsters blocking it’s entrance. This building read ‘Town Hall’ in chipped black letters. To the right, was the library and community center combo that their group had just escaped from - well, the standing portion of it that is.

Upon exiting the street, Storm and Rainbow were greeted with their destination at last. The Hub. Just like a certain guide unicorn had mentioned, the place fit it’s description minus the decay and grime. Four main streets and four side streets all met in the middle to form the hexagonal-shaped Hub. Large outcoves separated these street entrances and exits from one another, while displaying various stores in a segmented strip mall fashion.

Most of the streets and alleys were barricaded off by sandbags, debris from destroying buildings, or even old chariots. Only three were open. The first was the one which the equine duo had come through. The second lead to a huge set of almost gothic looking buildings. And the third - which was by the far the most prominent - was the main street leading to the West. This path did have its share of makeshift barricades, but every single one was in pieces or shoved roughly against the walls of nearby businesses. Pieces of steel, cloth, and bone littered the street which only added to the unsettling feeling in the hazy city. Even though the entire city was in disarray, this one street in particular looked like a hurricane had rolled through with only said street in mind as a target.

“Woah… Looks like they were trying to keep something out over there.” Rainbow hypothesized.

“Or in.” Storm replied, earning an unseen quizzical look from behind the mare’s helmet.

“What? How can you tell?”

“The barricades are knocked over facing west. Something or a whole lot of things trampled them to leave.”

“I thought this all started in the west? Wouldn’t those sandbags and stuff be knocked down towards us if those things were invading Fillydelphia from the west?”

“Maybe the city’s residents decided to run. They are on the edge of the Equestrian Sea afterall. Not a lot of places to go, but they could have changed paths to either north or south after fleeing the city.”

Storm lessened his pace to check his surroundings more in depth. First, he decided to skim through each store title - the ones that were still standing that is. Snazzy Tazzy’s Clothing Store, Angel’s Pasta and Exotic Cuisine, Another office building - a tag agency or housing permit building most likely, a home defense surplus store, and a whole bunch of shopping centers or sit-in restaurants dotted the plots of land surrounding the hexagon. Almost all of the stores had products missing from the front windows - assuming the windows were still standing in some - while others had boarded up or chained off entrances. One building was completely caved in, which was either a product of weathered decay or a battle. Probably both.

“So much for window shopping.” Rainbow commented as she made her way through the middle of the hub - which resembled a miniature park with empty fountains and once decorative fencing.

The stallion said nothing. He was focused on a store labeled Buckshot’s Home Defense Surplus, which had a subheading that read ALL-TERRAIN-SYSTEMS GEAR IN STOCK underneath. Storm turned the Rainbow. “Wait here a second. Something I need to grab.” Then he disappeared into the building.

A few minutes later, and the suited pegasus emerged with a couple of strange parts and circuits which Rainbow had no intention or hope of understanding. He stored them in the suit’s inventory before both his and Dash’s earpieces crackled to life.

“...STATIC... St-m? Rainb- Can a-ypony hear me?” Planning’s voice came through, getting less choppy towards the end. “Hello?!”

“We’re here.” Storm replied. “What happened back there?”

“Oh, thank Celestia.” Planning sighed in relief. “We lost connection for a bit. Twilight thinks the disharmony signal might have something to do with it.”

“Is Twi there now? What about Spitfire?” Rainbow budded in. “Cuz, I need to pick a bone with them about one of Spit’s guys.”

“No, Twilight returned to the science deck. Something about recording the reassembly of the next element for you two to see when the signal is found and the seal is destroyed. And Spitfire is helping set up a makeshift infirmary at the ship’s ramp. But I can relay whatever you need me to tell her.”

“No thanks. This one’s all mine when we get back.” Dash snickered, imagining the chewing out Trail Hunter would receive from her Wonderbolt idol and princess friend.

“Okay…” Planning cleared her throat. “Both of your suit cams are back online as well. I see you’ve made it to the Hub, but Snare’s cam isn’t responding! Wait! Where are Hunter and Snare?!”

“They’re heading back.” Storm interjected. “Snare is badly injured and Hunter is ticking time bomb that I plan to be ten miles away from when he goes off.”

From Planning’s end of the comms, a digital alert rang out nearby. “Oh… So it’s just you two now, huh?”

“Yeah, and?” Rainbow asked.

“N-nothing!” Planning replied swiftly. “Just doing a headcount here. Anyway, the signal is back. It’s somewhere at the Sunset Pier Apartments to the East.”

“Group C should be there by now. Have they found it?” Storm asked.

“That’s the thing…” Planning trailed off momentarily. “I can’t reach them! After the interference faded away, I got a hold of Group E and you two, but I can’t get to them at all!”

“Fuck. Okay, We’ll head that way.”

“Affirmative. Can you try to contact them along the way? I can’t reach them no matter what I try.”

“No problem, Plans.” Rainbow confirmed.

With the destination decided, the call ended.

Storm snorted softly. “Plans?” He asked.

“Yeah, what about it?”

“Do you give everypony a nickname just for the Hell of it?”

“Sometimes.” Rainbow shot back playfully before a devious idea hit her. “Why, you want one?”

“N-” Storm started to reply, only to be cut off.

“Let’s see…” Rainbow continued, rubbing her helmet’s temple as if exaggeratingly thinking. “Mr. Paranoid is accurate but a little mean...”

Somepony shoot me…

“Mr. Right isn’t bad, but it would get old fast. Hmm… I’m thinking too outside the box here, aren’t I?”

Oh, for fuck’s sake not-

“I’ve got it! Rarity gave me this one.”

Fuck!

“Stormy! Plain and simple.” The blue pegasus said triumphantly at her new title for the irritated stallion.

Storm sighed. “I already told you about that nickname. I don’t like being called that.”

“Why?” She asked, clearing tired of the drawn out game of beating around the bush.

“That’s for me to know.”

Rainbow shrugged. “Alright. Until you tell me why you hate it so much, I won’t stop calling you it.”

“You aren’t serious.”

“Oh, I am, Stormy.” The mare snickered.

“This is going to get old rea-”

The conversation could go no further when Storm’s eyes made contact with a figure in the second story window of the gothic-like buildings in the distance. He couldn’t make out much other than the equine shape, but that was all he needed.

“What’s wrong? Can’t think of a good comeback, Stormy?”

“Shut up.” Was all he replied quietly and harshly, forcing the mare’s ears to subconsciously lower. Upon realizing what he sounded like to her, Storm elaborated. “There’s someone in the window up ahead. Let’s get off the streets.”

Rainbow’s ears perked up again as she snapped her head towards the structures but she failed to locate this illusive someone. “Uh… Okay.” The two of them snuck into a nearby alley to avoid the stranger’s gaze while they made a plan.

“Shit. There aren’t any buildings in between us and there. We’re gonna have to cross that open ground.” Storm thought aloud after a careful peeking examination of the place with his camera.

“Am I the only one getting Daring Do trab vibes from this?” Rainbow muttered, beginning to feel uneasy at the prospect of standing as targets in a misty, raining, city where the only sounds was the wind and distant growling of waves.

“You really like that book, huh.” Storm commented ducking back into the alley.

“Series.” Rainbow correctly, turning sheepish upon realizing how much like a certain purple egghead she just sounded. “And yeah, It’s the definition of awesome. They remind me of what we are doing right now. Ya know, minus all the death and stuff…” She trailed off a bit melancholy towards the end.

“Yeah, well it’s a good lesson. Not all stories end on a happy note.”

“... You should give it a try sometime.”

“Daring Do? I’m not a fan of fiction.”

“Why?! It’s like the only acceptable thing to read while not being considered an egghead.”

“It’s fake. Why would I want to fill my head with something that is useless and doesn’t pertain to my survival - or in this case, our survival.”

“Dude, you're crazy. That's the whole point of books like Daring Do. To escape from the chaos in life. Spend enough time with your muzzle in one of those books and everything else just fades away until the last page ends. Wow, I really sound like Twi now.”

“We all have our ways to escape. Mine is just more practical.”

“You mean antisocial?”

“There are multiple ways to view it.”

“Yeah. Whole lot of ways to look at hiding in a dark room by yourself while building an arsenal to rival the old Royal Guard.”

“Hey, you’ve got your peace and I’ve got mine. Can we stay focused?” The stallion grunted, becoming frustrated with how easily he got swept up into conversation with the mare while out here. “Well, whoever is up there isn’t a sniper. They had plenty of time to pop one of us so they would have done it by now. Guess we’re going to cross over and hope for the best.”

“Alright. Let’s get this over with!” Rainbow announced confidently and began to trot forward before she was blocked.

“If we get into trouble that we can’t handle, then duck for cover and run for the ship. No matter what you see or hear. Got it?”

Rainbow rolled her eyes from behind the visor. “Yes, dad.” Then she walked past him grumbling about having two fathers now or something along those lines.

Meanwhile, back in Fillydelphia’s harbor, the Solstice remained docked with the Equestrian Sea at it’s back. Two wounded ponies limped up to the ship’s ramp - one of which was resting on the other’s back.

The previously assigned runner group - Group E - was standing guard outside the makeshift infirmary and restock center after completing their search of the city’s harbor and beach. When the two silhouettes in the fog grew closer, the ship’s huge spotlight was shown down upon them.

“Gah!” A slightly prebuscant male voice rang out. “It’s me! Shut that shit off!”

The light did reveal an armored Trail Hunter with the wounded Snare Trap on his back. Snare was completely still, giving the medics on the ground the worst thoughts. The spotlight was lowered, leaving the small industrial lights to pierce the fog’s blanket in the area.

A mare and stallion wearing white coats sprinted towards the approaching duo. They took the unconscious mare off of the grateful stallion’s back and rushed her to a stretcher. The orders of a doctor were drowned out by Trail, who went over to the small ‘break corner’ of the camp before popping open a cooler and grabbing a bottle of cider. The stallion began drowning in the bitter, yet refreshing alcohol until a mare’s voice to his left nearly made him choke.

“What happened?” Spitfire demanded, not caring for the sputerting stallion in front of her.

When Trail could use his lungs effectively once more, he groaned before replying. “Shit happened.”

“I’m gonna need a little bit more than that.” The yellow pegasus was trying to hold back visible irritation.

Hunter signed in annoyance before throwing the half-full bottle towards a barrel and missing by a mile, shattering the glass everywhere. “Shit hit the fan. We had two choices to get to the Hub. The only open side street or the library. I wanted to use the street because it was safer and you guys could monitor us in case we needed backup, but that other jackass overrode me and made us take the library.”

Spitfire raised an eyebrow. “That Storm Surge?”

He nodded. “Yeah. Great on princess’ part - letting a senial old man into our forces.”

The mare frowned once more. “Senial? He’s like not even forty yet. He’s practically my age.”

Hunter’s features froze for a second upon realizing he had subconsciously insulted his superior. “Right… you look great by the way.”

“Uh huh.” Spitfire replied, clearly not buying the asskissing. “Continue.”

“Right. So, we got jumped by some of those fuckers and were fighting for our lives. Storm and his fillyfriend wanted to get out so we all started making a run for it. Snare was attacked, so I stopped to help her. I got slammed into a bookshelf by one of the creatures and was able to see those two bunk-buddies escaping out the front door without me and Snare.”

“How did you get away?”

“Snare pulled me out of the shelf and we fought our way out. She got shot in her eye by one of the fucks on our way to the door.”

“I see.” Spitfire sighed. “I’ll report this to Princess Twilight after receiving their half of the story.”

Hunter froze. “Their side? Excuse me, ma’am, but I don’t think that is necessary.”

“And why is that?” Spitfire asked, her trademark questioning brow and tone returning.

“... Because uh- they probably won’t return. It’s just the two of them out there after all. Those two are probably dead meat by now. But if they do make it back, I want to request that one of them be banned from the program.”

“Why not both? If you claim they both abandoned you two, then why only one?”

“Well, uh - because it was really only his idea to leave us behind.”

“His? Storm’s idea, you mean? Still, in any case I would have to kick them both out but something about your story doesn’t sit well with me. I’ve known Rainbow Dash from far before any of this. She never missed a show as a filly and I got to meet her a few times in pony. I know she isn’t a deserter and embodies the Element of Loyalty for a reason. So, you can imagine why I sense bullshit when some anger-prone prick comes to me and tells me that she isn’t all that I’ve come to know.”

“Well, you see I-”

Spitfire just glared at him before interrupting. “Get out of my sight, Hunter.”

“Wa-”

“I SAID GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY SIGHT!” She roared.

The stallion did just that. He wasn’t afraid of the mare, but wanted to stay on her good side. Well, for now…

Just you wait, bitch. Trail thought resentfully. When I’m on top of the Runner’s Division, let’s see who orders who around. Thoughts of erotic blackmailing involving the barely middle aged commander filled the depraved stallion’s head while he walked away.

“You're all the same…” He muttered bitterly before popping open another bottle. The stallion took a swig, nearly coughed and decided to smash the nearly full bottle on the ground. “Only difference is, you can’t control me. Not anymore…”

Just outside of the Hub, the pegasi duo found themselves standing at the foot of titan-like gothic buildings. There were five buildings in total - four of which mirrored their brethren save for the weathered damage in randomized spots - while the middle building was the smallest of the bunch and resembled an office rather than an apartment complex. A once golden arch rested over the entrance to this office building and was joined by spike-like triangles resembling a child’s drawing of a sun. Or at least half of a sun. Underneath the clipart-like logo, the words SUNSET PIER APARTMENTS hung despite their neon lights being burnt out decades prior. The interior of the office-like building was, however, completely caved in by the roof and pieces of the taller surrounding structures as well. Not every structure was standing completely upright as some were crooked, another had nearly half of it’s east side missing, and one appeared to be shorter than the rest despite being the same exact model.

It wasn’t until Rainbow got a better view of the uneven geography’s cause that she was able to process what she was seeing. The entire pier was sectioned off by rough cuts in the landscape - some of which were lower to the ocean than others. “Woah…” She commented, gracefully hopping onto a nearby destroyed chariot to get a better look of the distance.

“Yeah, that about sums it up.” Storm said, joining her visual scan of the debris-littered coastline. “Erosion hasn’t been kind to this part of the city.”

“No kidding. I’ve never seen waves that aggressive.”

“Well, that's what happens when you literally fire the sun at the ground. It’s a domino effect mixed with a hoofull of dice throws. We might still be miles away from Los Pegasus or Canterlot, but we still can’t escape the aftermath.”

“... It’s like this isn’t even Equestria anymore. I feel like I’ve seen some of these places in like postcards or while seeing a Wonderbolt show, but now it just feels like…”

“Like nature rerolled the dice and said ‘fuck you’ to all of us?”

Rainbow nodded, letting out a sound which was a mix between a light chuckle and scoff. “Yeah.”

Storm exhaled through his nostrils while looking at the barely standing apartment block before them. “Well, we aren’t getting any younger and neither are those buildings. Let’s find C and the element signal and get out of here.”

“Didn’t Plans want us to call them?”

“Right. Hold on a second.” The stallion lifted a hoof to his Tethertech before a small holographic box appeared. A few button presses later, and he was dialing the present number for group C’s ATS links.

STATIC

“Anything?”

“No.” Storm switched to the next preset code on the list.

STATIC

Then another.

STATIC

“Oh fuck me…” He muttered while tuning to the final one.

STATIC

“Are the strength of those things really that crappy?” Rainbow asked.

“No,” Storm replied, momentarily forgetting the open and crackling channel. “Something is interfering with our comms just like it is on Twilight’s signal.”

“Great, so these things can use radios now? What’s next? Singing?”

“I’ve never seen a Damned use a radio, but I don’t doubt they are smart enough to figure one out. Just keep your eyes open and ears peel-”

“... STATIC …H-hello?” A dry, wheezing male voice asked. This stallion on the other end sounded as if he had been traveling through the Saddle Arabian desert for a week straight without any water. The strain on his voice only added to the desperation when he began to plead with someone on the other end, “N-no, no, no…”

Storm and Rainbow shared concerned glances from behind their visors at the mystery stallion’s frantic begging - which had now turned into full blown sobbing with a few words choked in between.

“Who is this?” Storm finally asked, causing the other stallions pleading to die suddenly. His cries and sniffling ceased completely, leaving only the faint pitter patter of the rain’s assault on the duo’s roof to be heard.

A metallic clanging spilled out from the earpiece as something heavy was knocked over on the comm’s other side. What sounded like scraping followed shortly after and was joined with deep, pained breathing that had a slight growl to it.

“NO! Leave me alone!” The stallion returned, sounding more panicked and frantic than before. The other two could hear him panting through the call while he ran away from some unseen force. “I-I didn’t want this! We didn’t want this!”

In the process of listening to the haunting call, Storm pulled up a holographic screen to the side and began fiddling with some code on it that Rainbow had no intention - or hope - of understanding. A few moments later and the grey pegasus had a digital map of Sunset Pier Apartments pulled up alongside the call’s screen. Much like the rest of his suit’s displays, this screen was various shades of purple, but it had one difference. A single yellow dot.

Located on the second floor of the only straight standing apartment complex, this moving yellow dot dashed through the corridors like a miniature sun escaping the horizon for when the moon returned in the night. Suddenly, the dot started to glitch. It became hazy before breaking into pieces and jumping around only to be returned to its original spot as a whole dot.

“Shit. Signal’s fading.” Storm muttered, checking the code part again.

“Signal? As in the signal?” Rainbow asked.

“No, I’m tracking whoever this is from their ATS link upstream. Only Twilight’s device can track that signal.” A couple lines of code later, and the yellow dot was more solid again. It was still retreating deeper into the building and rounding corners as a seemingly random pattern like no thought other than escape was running through its mind.

“Are you from Group C?” Storm asked the stallion on the other end. The dot suddenly stopped at the end of a hallway.

“N-NO! PLEASE! G-GO AWAY! I DIDN'T MEAN I-IT!” He balled, sobbing in full force. The scraping grew louder. So did the breathing. Storm even swore he heard a whisper of something dripping. “SHE WOULDN’T LET ME SEE YOU! I DIDN’T KNOW WHAT THEY WERE DOING! PLEASE STOP!”

The grinding of a shotgun being pumped dominated the call. The stallion’s sobbing was joined by coughing as he choked on his own snot or tears, but the sound died out entirely just before-

BANG!

An explosion of gunpowder and terrible squelching overpowered the static of the call - which lessened just in time for the pegasus duo to hear a heavy object thump to the floor. Storm’s holographic screens were all repressed into one smaller screen that displayed only a single message:

/// ERROR /// SIGNAL LOST /// CALLER CODE HAS BEEN DISCONNECTED OR IS UNAVAILABLE /// PLEASE CONTACT SUPPORT

“H-holy shit!” Rainbow fumbled for her words. “Did he just… did he…”

“Yeah.” Storm replied, answering the mare’s unfinished question for her. “Something is seriously fucking wrong here.”

Rainbow was still in brief shock at what she had just witnessed. Sure, she had heard of ponies taking their own lives before but it was very rare back in the old Equestria. However, the cyan pegasus had never actually heard anypony do it right before her own ears. She was able to feel the trembling in his sobs, feel the shakiness of the weapon. She was able to hear the last choke of breath before this mystery stallion’s head was very likely reduced to a crimson stem.

“What do we do?” Dash finally asked, desperately hiding the need to move on from her thoughts.

“Well, we aren’t running in there without a plan. That’s all I know...” The stallion trailed off upon realizing the self-given hint in his own sentence.

Storm was silent for a moment while weighting the duo’s options in his head. Once a finished idea was finally hatched, the stallion raised a hoof to his earpiece. A few seconds of connecting later, and he had a call established.

“Planning, it’s Storm.”

“I read you, Storm.” The grey unicorn on the other end replied. “Is everything okay?”

“I think we found C, or at least one member of it. Heard him on the comms.”

“Oh finally! What is they’re pro-”

“He’s dead.”

“W-what?”

“He called us for some reason and started shouting at something on the other end.”

“Did one of those things get to him?”

“I don’t know. He tried to reason with whatever it was. Then he shot himself. For all we know, that suicide was staged, someone else could have pulled the trigger on him. There might be survivors in that part of the city and something tells me they aren’t a fan of trespassers.”

“I-I don’t know, Storm.” Planning replied before the digital beeps of notifications came from her end of the call. “I don’t really see anypony claiming this city as they’re own.”

“Yeah, well you prepare for the bad and then deal with the worst. We’ll know what we’re dealing with in a few minutes.”

“...*STATIC*... B-be carefu-l in th-er- *STATIC*” The call started to fade into static before it was cut out completely, leaving the two armored ponies to themselves in front of the apartments once more.

Planning Period was forced to cut the call off before the ear splitting crackling permanently injured her ears. She leaned back in the surprisingly comfortable office chair while rubbing at her strained eyes. While the mare was grateful for not being placed out in the field with the others - one time was enough for her as is - she still wasn’t used to sitting at a desk literally all day while shifting through decade old newspapers, TetherTech recordings, and satellite maps of the city below. Back in Ponyville, she at least had breaks, but the grey unicorn still preferred the company of actual friends over a deranged boss. Nothing was actually holding Planning back from a break, but she feared what could happen to her friends below if she left the station for even a second.

With a sigh and a sip of her second coffee, the mare wiped her lips and leaned forward once more. She levitated a newspaper article dated from a week before what her older peers had called the outbreak day. Various articles were scattered throughout such as “Comic Book Store Owner Out of Job After Electrical Fire,” and “Hundreds in Outrage After Forced Removal from Their Homes.” Planning cocked her head to the side subconsciously. Princess Twilight had given her a literal mountain of information on the city from both before the outbreak day and after but wasn’t able to assist in explaining or give any highlights after she was whisked away upon some lab-coated stallion whispering in her ear.

She wished that there was somepony to help her. Storm already told them that he had no knowledge of the city and she really didn’t want to bother him while out there. There were others in the Communications Tower of the ship with Planning - over twenty of them to be exact - but they were all busy in their own workspaces whether that be on an active call or shifting through information, so she didn’t want to be a nuisance. So, instead she kept reading. Kept researching. This went on for about ten more minutes when Planning’s discarded TetherTech on the desk beeped. A call was incoming.

A call from her sister. Her dead sister.

When she read the name, the unicorn’s eyes started to water uncontrollably. She began shaking her head and whispering “no” to herself over and over again. With a shaky hoof, Planning grabbed the device and threw it across the room, startling a few nearby communications officers in the process. They looked at her before returning to their own more important tasks in their respective workspaces. Planning began to silently sob into her hooves as the sudden memories of her failure to help her sister seek out justice replayed in her mind.

Over and over. She couldn’t stop. They wouldn’t stop. Planning didn’t even see the tower’s interior anymore. All she saw was their shared apartment back in Ponyville. Everything was the same. The unmade bed, the chipped walls, even the unwashed dishes from the night prior - all little details that Planning had remembered from the night before her sister was never seen again.

And there she was.

The slightly older unicorn mare was nearly a twin to Planning with the only exceptions being her short-styled mane and orange eyes. She was also lacking glasses unlike her younger sister. The mare was standing in the open doorway to their shared apartment, but the outside where the streets of Ponyville should have been was just a white fuzz mixed with blue static-like particles.

“H-h-hightlight?” Planning sputtered in sorrowful disbelief.

The mare - Highlight - smiled softly. She slowly approached Planning before wrapping her hooves around the frozen unicorn. Planning began to shake slightly and buried her head in the crook of her sister’s neck.

“Shh… It’s okay, Dotty.” Highlight cooed into her ear.

Planning sniffed before weakly chuckling. “Dotty… I haven’t heard that stupid nickname in so long…” The mare couldn’t explain it, but the world around her began to shift once more. Instead of returning back to the tower interior, small splotches of black haze appeared here and there. But she didn’t notice or care. Only one thing mattered now… “I missed you…”

“I know,” Highlight let go of the embrace to pull back and look her tearfilled twin in the eyes while holding onto her shoulders. “I miss you too. But it’s okay. I’m here now and you won’t have to worry about leaving me this time.”

“Y-you think I-I left you?” Planning asked, swallowing and shaking her head frantically. “No, no, I didn’t! I-”

“You wouldn’t come with me.” The interruption was sudden, but not really backed by any emotion or hostility. “You were too scared to seek the truth but you found it, right?”

“I-”

“You found it, right?” The question was more forceful this time.

Planning gulped and then nodded. “Y-yes. We did it… We ended what she did.”

“We?” Highlight asked, her tone raising to a mocking playful one. “You mean Storm? He killed Rarity. Not you. You just begged him not to end your life too. That is all you ever did. Beg and hide.”

“H-how do you know about Storm? What do you mean, sis - I didn’t know what she would-”

“Ignorance was always your weak point. You sought information about the old world because you are too scared to face this one. Well, not anymore.” Highlight let go of the embrace and turned away from her stunned sister. Then she walked to the hazy white - now turned black - and blue doorway before looking over her shoulder at Planning. “I want to help you, Dotty. I want to let you see it.”

“See what?”

“The truth.”

“W-what? I already helped expose Rarity’s actions! I know the truth.”

“Not about that. I’m talking about yourself and your role. About that you - have no idea. You have been playing it your whole life but didn’t realize it until now.” The mare held out a hoof. “I want to show you it. You can finally see it. All the pain, all our struggling can end.”

Planning couldn’t explain it, but she felt extremely compelled to agree and found herself advancing towards the door before she even realized her legs were moving. She couldn’t tear her eyes from the look Highlight was giving her. It was the same look that she gave her when the two were about to raise hell in the community but knew it was wrong and so right at the same time.

“I-I can’t.” Planning finally said, managing to stop her zombie-like advancement towards the doorway. “My friends - they need me. I need to get back!”

Highlight sighed. “That is where you’re wrong, Dotty. They are just like you. They haven’t been exposed to the truth and won’t be until they are finally not blind. I’ll take them to see it too, but I want you to witness it first. Then you can see them again. I promise.”

“O-okay.” Planning let go of her mental restraint, causing her hooves to begin moving again. She caught up to her twin in what felt like hours and seconds at the same time. She took one last look at Highlight’s innocent smile.

Then they moved into the haze.

Twilight Sparkle ran a hoof through her unkempt mane, nearly knocking her glasses off in the process. The enclosed elevator to the comms tower was unbearable for a mare like her who was always sweating and busy or urging to be somewhere. In this case it was both. The lavender unicorn had just returned from preparing the research staff with recording devices to show the three newcomers the eventual assembling of the next element.

The mare had a pinkish-purple holographic screen open from her Tethertech, which had a list of everypony from Runner Groups C through E. Every name on Group E was still highlighted in a bright purple. Group D had three names in green as well - Trail Hunter, Storm Surge, and Rainbow Dash - while Snare Trap’s name was in yellow. Group D made her frown and defeatedly sigh upon seeing that every single name was a dull black-grey. Twilight contemplated going through the choppy video feeds from the few times each Runner’s camera was working, but she knew the ride would only last a few moments longer.

Eventually, the elevator doors slid open and allowed her exit into a short hallway with a few side rooms but one main set of double doors. A label on top of these double doors read Communications Control. Finally at her destination, Twilight used her magic to push aside one of the doors in time to see chaos.

Every single one of the communications officers were crowded at relative distance from something or someone that Twilight couldn’t see from her vantage point at the room’s entrance. With a raised brow and growing knot in her stomach, the unicorn quickly trotted up to the right side of the crowd. What she saw shook her to the very core.

A security guard in full ATS gear slowly approached a teary-eyed Planning Period. The guard was a mare of more than average build. She had her helmet down, revealing her lime crew-cut mane and hard but concerned brown eyes to the world. The mare calmly tried to coax the grey unicorn out of putting down the pistol which she had pressed against her chin.

Twilight’s eyes widened. Her attention was now solely on the mare’s suicide attempt. In all her years of struggle and strife, Twilight had never seen anything like this. There wasn’t any sign of extreme depression present in the grey unicorn before - in fact, she was tied with Rainbow Dash for optimism upon the trio’s arrival - so this was unbelievable.

Planning seemed… disoriented - out of it even. Her eyes were glazed over behind the tears. Her lips were quivering as she seemingly was in conversation with… nobody. “I-I can’t… My friends - they need me. I need to get back!” Then she was beginning to slowly lower the gun.

Twilight wanted to leap forward and snatch it from her. Maybe use her magic to sneak up behind and knock the pistol from Planning’s grasp, but the tethered digit on the trigger let the unicorn know that would likely cause more harm than good.

Planning stopped lowering the gun when it was at her throat. Then she immediately raised it back to her chin, pressing it deep within the fur and skin. “O-Okay…” Was the last thing she said before…

BANG!

Crimson bits exploded. Ponies screamed. Planning’s body thudded onto the cold steel floor. Her corpse had a hole in the chin and in her temple. Her eyes were really dead now. Not just glazed. But the thing that really caught Twilight’s stare was the frozen smile on the deceased mare’s muzzle. It looked like an expression of pure bittersweet happiness. Like she had been lost but found something.

Twilight didn’t have long to stare or contemplate the horrific scene before the sound of two dozen notifications going off at the monitors around the room. Some of the struck officers managed to pry their eyes away from the gore and return to their respective stations to answer their calls. Even Planning’s monitor beeped, forcing Twilight to shudderingly step over her corpse and accept a call from the ship’s armory.

“Comms Tower, do you read me?!” A young stallion's voice asked, his tone shaky. “Somepony please pick up!”

“This is Twilight Sparkle. I read you, armory.”

“S-something is wrong down here, Princess!” Screams could be heard faintly in the background of the stallion’s side of the call. “Reaver just set off a grenade on his suit and killed two others! He didn’t even say anything to them! He just kept begging something we couldn’t see, not to approach him!”

In the background of the tower, Twilight heard similar reports of suicides and murder-suicides from the stations all around her as this stallion was telling his account. “Shit! Okay, listen to me carefully; I want everypony disarmed on that deck and moved away from anything harmful! Any weapons, equipment or sharp pieces of machinery - anything like that!”

“Understood, Ma’am!” The stallion hung up to do presumably just that.

Upon ending the call, Twilight turned her head to survey the rest of the chaos-coated room where other comms officers were giving similar orders. All the mare knew was that she had to get to the source of this - and fast!

Storm Surge and Rainbow Dash stood before the most geographically sound apartment complex of the quint. The one that lay on the very edge of where the ground became uneven and soon to be claimed by the ravaging sea below. The mist surrounding the city started to clear up ever so slightly, allowing the afternoon sun to pierce the grey downcast and faintly illuminate silhouettes of what each room held through the windows.

What caught Storm’s attention, however, wasn’t the sneak peak into the lower floored rooms but rather the strung up and rotting corpse that was nailed to a pillar behind the receptionist desk. Judging from it’s build, the corpse had been a stallion - who had also been a police officer by the hint of his torn uniform. He had a white, almost purple tinted coat and torn short cut orange mane and moustache. This stallion’s eyes had been removed or rather dug out from their sockets while his forehooves were forced up and behind his head where a large assortment of medical instruments and industrial grade rivets kept him in place.

But what caught Storm’s eye the most was what was scratched into the wall above the ex officers’ head - and in between his hooves - which was a single word:

BLIND

“What the fuck…” He muttered, scanning the corpse’s would-be resting spot for more clues with his flashlight.

“Uh, what?” Rainbow asked. “Why are you staring at that desk?”

Storm stared at her from the side. “The desk? Really? You don’t see the corpse hanging from the pillar behind it?”

“What are you talking about? I don’t see a body!”

“Your kidding right? It’s pretty fucking hard to miss this.”

“Why would I joke about this? All I see is the word ‘blind’ and some oversized nails back there-”

Rainbow continued on her rant but Storm blocked it out upon hearing a faint whispering coming from the corpse’s direction. He started to approach the hanging body, prompting the mare to call his name, but he didn’t listen. On his way over, the grey pegasus seemingly forgot to do his typical side-to-side sweep of the first floor’s hallways as he was in some sort of trace for the remains on the receptionist pillar. He looked up at the rotting corpse - which surprisingly didn’t smell of anything. On the intact part of the corpse’s uniform, a badge and nameplate remained which read ‘Officer Hard Case.’

“Storm?” He heard in a distorted tone from behind, but the stallion couldn’t pry himself from the body.

Sure enough, these whispers were coming from it but at the same time, they weren’t. The stallion’s lips weren’t moving and he was dead as a doornail, but two voices continued to faintly play in Storm’s ears like a song that one would consider a guilty pleasure that they would be embarrassed about when their friends caught wind of what said song was.

Suddenly, the corpse’s empty eye sockets, mouth, and every other visible orifice flashed white just as the voices became amplified and more clear. Storm took a step back as if expecting the thing to go off like a warhead but it didn’t. A single flash of white light and then the hollowed, rotting sockets returned to normal.

Then he heard a voice from behind. It was clear as day and definitely not the slightly scratchy voice of his companion. The stallion swung around with his weapon raised to see three newcomers; a light blue earth pony stallion with a dark blue mane, a blush red unicorn stallion in a full doctor’s getup, and the now very much alive gruff, short officer unicorn stallion that had been previously hanging above him. All of them were completely ignoring his armed presence as well.

The blue stallion was wearing a very expensive looking overcoat and fedora which shadowed his lidded, almost tired look to his eyes. “I don’t want excuses, Doctor” He said wearily. “I want answers. Why is half of my town’s residential sector being used to house the mentally ill?”

“They aren’t mentally ill, mister mayor.” The doctor explained, kicking the stone below lightly and lowering his head. “We aren’t really sure what is wrong with them, but we do know one thing-”

“They’re fucking crazy. That’s what we know.” The officer - Officer Hard Case interjected harshly.

“Then they should be in a certified asylum. Not my living space for residents and tourists.” The mayor continued.

“I-I understand, sir, but we can’t!”

The major raised an eyebrow. “You can’t? What is your name?”

“Uh, it’s Saving Grace, sir. Doctor Saving Grace.” The doctor replied shakily.

“Well, ‘uh Saving Grace,’ remember who holds your paycheck at the end of each month before choosing your words. Carefully - I might add.”

“Understood, sir,” Grace said, “But I don’t think relocation is possible. I’ve already tried to get small shipments of patients transferred to Ponyville’s clinic, Los Pegasus, and even Manehattan, but they claim to have their psyche wards full! Some of them are having to fill up other buildings like we are!”

“Then why haven’t we heard about it on the news?” Hard Case budded in once more, scratching at his thick moustache.

“No one wants to admit that the cases keep rising daily now.” Grace explained, levitating a clipboard where both stallions could view its contents. “We can’t keep this suppressed from the public forever. Once the media finds out, it will be like a domino effect everywhere. We must treat our patients before then!” He added with a faint spark of determination.

“I’ll agree with the last part.” Hard Case scoffed. “I swear, if I have to restrain one more lunatic screaming about wanting to see some divine truth or whatever, I’m going to lose it.”

“They can’t help it, officer.” the doctor scolded. “This isn’t their doing! Like I tried to say before - something is making them react this violently and sporadically. We just can’t pinpoint the exact cause of what you call insanity.” He spat at the last word like it was the most crude of titles.

“They can’t help it?” The officer stallion repeated in a mock tone before roughly shoving down the collar of his uniform to reveal a set of healing bite marks. “Does this fucking look like I care if they can help it or not?! They need to be locked up for good!”

“Enough, you two.” The major warned, straightening up his hat. “Doctor Grace, I want a proper diagnosis and a solution for every single patient here - all one hundred ninety-seven of them - and I want it soon. If we can’t help them overcome whatever this is, then we will have to resort to more… uncouth measures to keep them away from the public’s prying eyes until more can be done. Officer Case, I want you to supervise the doctor’s progress and report to me on a nightly basis…” The mentioned officer looked upset as if he was a primary school colt who had just been assigned extra homework. “Is that clear?”

Both stallions nodded. Then they were gone. Vanished into thin air. Storm found himself staring at the empty entrance before he realized that Rainbow was shaking him - an act that nearly made him swing at the poor mare.

“Storm! Storm! Answer me dammit!”

“W-what?!” He stammered, blinking a few times and failing to rub at his helmet-covered throbbing temple.

“Dude, what the hay was that?! You just started staring at the wall and kept muttering to yourself!”

“No, I was checking-” The stallion stopped mid sentence upon realizing that the crucified corpse of Hard Case was gone. Only the etched word remained on the pillar. “What the fuck…” He trailed off.

“You mind explaining what that was all about?!” Rainbow sounded on the verge of hysteria.

“I-I don’t know. They were here and then they…” Storm trailed off once more, checking the spot where he swore three stallions were just standing.

“Who? You’re not making any sense!”

Storm didn’t elaborate. He just kept switching between examining the empty pillar and equally empty space the trio of stallions had just occupied - or so he thought. His breath came out a bit shaky once the pegasus realized he had apparently been holding it until now.

“We need to go back.” Rainbow said, suddenly breaking him out of the detective trance.

The stallion shook his head. “No, I’m fine. Let’s find whatever is causing that signal, kill it and leave.” He began to head in the direction of a nearby door with an icon of a stairwell on it when the armored mare’s hoof caught his chest.

“Nuh-un. We aren’t going anywhere but back to the ship!”

Storm looked down, attempting to look straight into her eyes from behind the visor. “We? What’s that supposed to mean? You aren’t finishing this alone. Where I go, you go. And where you go, I go. That’s how this works.”

“Then we both head back. I can’t just sit by and let you become a basket case!”

“I said I’ll manage. Fuck, I lived a hallucinated lie for a year straight. This shouldn’t be much different.”

“It’s scary how calm you are about this. Are you sure?”

Storm pondered the question mentally for a second. Truth be told, he was terrified that he was seeing shit again. That Cadence mare should have fixed him, so why the hell was he seeing this stuff? It didn’t matter, well it did, but not right now. Right now all that mattered was making sure both he and Dash made it back. Preferably in one piece that is.

“Yeah… I’m sure.”

Her silent stare from behind the helmet made the cyan pegasus’ questioning clear of that statement, but the two turned away nevertheless. Instead, she sighed and removed the hoof blocking his path. “Okay. Just… Just Pinkie promise you’ll tell me when something comes up like that.”

“And I’m supposed to know what that is?”

“Oh, right.” Rainbow replied, smacking her helmet at momentarily forgetting that the stallion had no idea about her friend circle’s custom. “Nevermind, but just promise me.”

“Alright.” He then moved to the side of the stairwell entrance before swiftly pushing the door aside and checking the corners. Rainbow stayed outside to watch the duo’s back. “Ah shit…”

“What?” Rainbow called over her shoulder, turning away from the main lobby to peak inside of the doorway where her companion was exiting.

“Stairwells out. It's literally a pile of rubble."

"Crap. What about that?" The mare pointed a hoof at a nearby entrance to a duo of empty elevator shafts."

"Nope. That's not going to happen."

"Lemme guess, you're afraid of elevators too?"

Storm didn't respond. He just eyed the two openings. Both were lacking the elevator boxes but on the right one had a visible cable - signaling that the elevator was likely in the basement. As for the left one, it was on an upper floor.

"Yep. That's a yes." She groaned and most likely rolled her eyes behind the helmet's coverage while making her way to the right elevator shaft. "C'mon, Stormy. We don't have any other options. Look, I see a ladder on the other side." Before he could protest, the armored mare had a running start at the open shaft.

"Dash!" He shouted, moving to stop her but it was no use. The cyan pegasus disappeared into the abyss before a loud clanging sound resounded through the shaft.

"I'm okay!" She huffed, sounding like the wind had been knocked out of her. "The rung hit my stomach, but I'm fine!"

Storm was now standing on the empty shaft's ledge. His TetherTech light illuminated the surprisingly large area and gave his companion a clear path to climb up to the second floor's equally absent doors. When she was up, Rainbow peaked down from the second floor. "Your turn, big guy!"

Oh, for fucks sake… The stallion thought while he backed up to gain a running start. Normally, he would have tried another stairwell, but the only other one was also leaking debris - a sign it had been reduced to a similar fate as the last - so this was his only option. Storm tethered his weapon to the suit and mentally prepared himself for the inevitable jump over what looked like a bottomless pit.

Then he charged.

Before the nature of the death defying stunt registered in his brain fully, Storm was in the air and soaring towards the rusted ladder across the shaft. He slammed into it full force, grabbing two different rungs in his haste while the rest of his body reset upon the shock of being slammed into metal.

Then he heard it.

CREAK! SNAP!

He was already scrambling for a different set of rungs but didn't realize that a whole portion of the weathered ladder was coming down. He cursed and heard Rainbow scream his name.

Then a sensation of being feather-light hit for a moment before his build and armor began to pull him down deeper into the abyss. Along the way down, he turned his head to shine a light which revealed the bottom of the shaft’s wall was torn out and flooded - one of the parts that had been taken by the ocean.

Luckily, the aquatic environment broke his fall, but that was about all the positive it did. Storm’s ears popped slightly at the sudden change of audio inside the helmet and his limbs became heavier underneath the water. He sank back first, splaying his forehooves out in hope of grabbing onto some form of leverage in the murky depths. The grey pegasus barely noticed the ‘O2’ icon and second counter appearing on the top right of his helmet’s HUD in the process of fighting for purchase. Eventually, his hoof caught on something that felt like a support beam or rebar. The force of a single limb against the downward current made his hoof scream in agony before the other hoof grabbed hold and balanced out the weight.

Storm could hardly see through the almost ink-like water surrounding him. From his brief view above, he knew the wall behind him was blown out and led deep into the ravaging waters of the Equestrian Ocean. So with that in mind, he began searching the other three walls with his forehoof only to find nothing.

Shit! He mentally cursed while checking to see that his oxygen tank had less than seventy seconds remaining.

Next, the stallion swapped tactics to use his hindlegs in hope of finding a place of sanctuary below. A few moments of prodding later and he felt a gap - a relatively large one at that. Though he couldn’t see where it led, he did know the current wasn’t leading into that area so it was an option. Like a monkey in a tree, Storm swung himself into this little gap - barely missing his helmet on the ceiling of the entrance in the process.

His transition into the new space, however, was not as forgiving as the previous fall. Not even a few seconds after entering the gap, the physical sensation of being externally waterlogged was stripped away, and he hit something hard. The stallion got to his hooves slowly - almost robotically while he let his joints catch up with his nerves. He craned his neck after slamming into the concrete floor which was revealed by his flashlight.

A call notification popped up on his screen suddenly. He answered. “Storm?! Are you okay?!” Rainbow called out desperately.

“Yeah… yeah. I’ll survive.” He coughed. While talking with the mare, he continued to survey his surroundings. The color palette was almost entirely absent with dull grey walls and concrete floors. Black smears dotted some of the walls - whether they were old blood or oil or anything else could not be determined from his distance. Storm turned around to view the hole he had just fallen through. The steady stream of water leaked through and into an artificial channel created by the uneven ground of the falling building, which in turn led into a smaller hole that filtered the small stream out into the ocean.

“Oh thank Celestia…” She muttered before speaking up. “Where are you?”

“The basement. This place hasn’t entirely fallen off the map yet at least.” He huffed, pulling the Sweeper to his front.

“Okay. Hold on, I’ll find a way down to you-”

“No. Stay put. There’s a lot of debris sticking out on the way down. I got lucky not to be impaled by any of that shit. I’ll make my way up to you.”

“Whatever happened to the ‘wherever you go, I go’ thing?” Rainbow retorted, sounding upset about either being told to stay like an obedient dog or about the apparent hypocrisy. Perhaps both.

“What do you mean? I am going where you are right now. That fits into the ‘wherever you go, I go.’ Just keep your head down and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

“Oh, so sit in a corner and tell everything to fuck off?”

“Exactly.”

“Aghh! It doesn’t work if you agree with it!”

“If you say so-” A metal clank resounded throughout the basement, making the stallion snap to attention. “We can debate this later. I don’t think I’m alone down here…”

“... STATIC… Buck. Okay, just be careful -STATIC...”

“... STATIC… You too.”

Then the call ended. Storm closed the pop-up and put his attention solely on his surroundings. He had to fulfill his end and find a way back up to the second floor before that fearless pegasus dived down to join him instead. He decided to start from the beginning. The elevator shafts. Surprisingly, there were two separate shafts for each elevator. The one he had just fallen through was flooded and leaking out into a nasty couple story drop until it reached the ocean below.

But the other shaft was a different story. Due to their sectioned nature, the other elevator entrance was not flooded at all. In fact, it even housed the elevator box as shown by the shut doors and absence of leaking water. Storm put a hoof on the ‘open’ button, knowing exactly what he would receive but tried it anyway. Nothing.

Yep. Powers out. God, I love twenty year old technology. He thought bitterly, slamming the button plate as softly as an enraged stallion could while maintaining a low auditory profile. But then an idea hit him. Looking back to the wall with the elevator button, Storm noticed a small intact electrical box just a few steps away from the elevator doors. Hmph. That’ll work.

Rainbow Dash hated waiting. She hated it for two reasons. The first being that it was BORING as all Hell. The second, because it made her feel like she was a filly again being told to wait by the shopping cart while her mother went off to another aisle. The cyan pegasus slumped back against the hallway hall. She grunted in discomfort at having the chestplate slightly dig into her body from the crouched position.

“Stupid thing...” Rainbow muttered, shifting to her side slightly to find a more comfortable position. A couple minutes went by with nothing but the sound of her filtered breathing, the creak of the infrastructure, and the distant crashing of waves. “Argh! This is boring!”

Instead of sitting around doing nothing, the mare decided to remove the magazine from her rifle before spinning it around with her hoof in an attempt to keep it balanced. When that got old in roughly ten seconds, she put the magazine back inside of her weapon. In addition to this, the still fever made her antsy about the constricting helmet. A push of a button later, Rainbow put both hooves up to her head and pulled it off before placing it beside her form.

“NOOO! PLEASE YOU HAVE TO LET ME SEE HIM!” A female voice shrieked from down the hall.

Rainbow dropped her helmet while recoiling upon hearing a mare’s scream from down the hall. She quickly fumbled with her weapon trying to grab it and turn the safety off when a door was flung off of it’s hinges. This now grounded door came from the same direction as the scream. Rainbow eyed the spot uneasily with her flashlight for what felt like a millennia as she fully expected to see some hideous creature rounding the corner.

The cyan pegasus peeked into the small apartment room - which looked like it had been converted into a makeshift hospital room by the white bedsheets and portable medical equipment at the bedside - but all of this was lost to Rainbow, who was uneasily staring at two ponies within the room.

One was a bright yellow pegasus mare with a frazzled purple mane and tearstained eyes. The other was a blush red unicorn stallion wearing a doctor’s getup. The mare was sitting - or rather twitching - on her bed while the doctor was kneeling down below the mare, grabbing her shoulders and calmly whispering. “Please, calm down, Miss Frost.” He attempted to soothe, but the mare only shook her head while squeezing her eyes shut.

“No, no, no! You don’t understand! I need to see him!” Frost opened her bloodshot and bagged eyes before looking into the doctor’s own. She was becoming hysteric. “I can’t say no to my little colt! Please let me go!”

“Miss Frost, I…” The doctor paused, not sure how to break some sort of news to the hysteric mare. “I am sorry to inform you, but your son passed away seven years ago in an accident on a field trip at Cloudsdale’s Weather Factory.”

Rainbow watched silently, fully expecting the already on the verge yellow pegasus to lose it as all mothers would upon being told the heartbreaking news, but she didn’t. Instead, she nodded frantically. “I know, I know, but he came back to me! Last week, Spectrum Bolt came back to me! He wants to show me something!”

“Something?” The doctor asked, clicking a pen and levitating a clipboard to his chest. “What did your son say it was exactly?”

“He said we could be together again! That his daddy and him were waiting for me!”

“Waiting for what?”

“I need to see him! I need to go!” The mare repeated suddenly as if she was reset on some sort of loop. “He’s waiting for me in the West! The West! He said that we would all see it there!”

The doctor scribbled something onto his clipboard. “The West is a general direction, Miss Frost. Did he say any specific landmark in the West?”

“Yes! Yes! Bolty said that it was the place where harmony would begin and all conflict would end!” Suddenly, Frost looked to the doorway and Rainbow swore it was right at her. Then she smiled. “It’s time!”

“What time is-” The doctor asked, looking to clock on the opposite wall from his patient, but was interrupted by a fork being jammed into his throat. While attempting to cough up blood and pry the mare off of him, the doctor was sent to the floor where he gurgled violently as the mare stood over him.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” She repeated. “I can’t fail Bolty again! I need to see him! I need to see it!” Then with the fork in her hoof, the mare charged towards Rainbow.

“Stay back!” Rainbow demanded, raising her weapon but Frost refused to acknowledge her presence. Dash unloaded into the mare’s legs, but the bullets passed through. Then Frost ran through her. Rainbow spun on her heels but could not find the mare. “What the-”

The armored pegasus finally started to lower her machine gun when another scream filled the halls. Then another. And another. A chorus of screams - even a few joyous shouts rang out through the hall. After each scream, the door of the respective scream was flung from its hinges as well. The pattern of scream and then door continued as they would go one at a time, then two until they started traveling in a row towards the mare.

Rainbow ducked out of the doorway to avoid being slammed into by the mass of wood. Thinking on only instinct, she spun around into the now open doorway to reveal that nothing except a dusty apartment building was waiting for her. The screams and banging continued in the background until the amount of doors on the second floor had reached zero.

Dash’s heart was ravaging her chest. The heat inside the suit was unbearable as shown by her sweat. Rainbow seriously did not like this. She hated this whole thing. The apocalypse, her friend’s fates, even herself for not being able to be there when it all went down. She would never show it, but just watching the ghost of the once vibrant world was starting to wear her down and she didn’t know what to do. Not on her own.

Suddenly, her earpiece beeped to life, breaking her out of the retching thoughts. “Rainbow?! It’s Twilight. Call you hear me?!” The unexpected call and beeping made the mare flinch.

“Twi? Whats up?”

“We are! In a few seconds!”

“Wha-”

“Listen to me!” Twilight sounded out of breath. Her tone was shaky and laced with fear. “I ordered an emergency takeoff for the Solstice. Something is causing our crew to go crazy and harm themselves! We need to get out of it’s range until the signal’s source is destroyed and the seal is broken! We’ll swoop by to pick you and Storm up after the seal is broken!”

“O-okay! Calm down, Twi-”

“Dash! You don’t understand! I had suspicions but now I know for sure about who or what is behind the signal! It’s Applejack! It all makes sense now! She had to leave the farm to bring her uncle and aunt back to it! Fillydelphia went on quarantine before she could return to us! I should have seen it sooner!”

“You’re not making any sense, Twilight. How do you know it's AJ?”

“Because! Each seal is formed from the corrupted element it represents! Applejack was Honesty; everypony that is dying seems to be dealing with their own kinds of tragic truth or guilt!”

“Shit…”

“I need you to tell Storm this as well! I can’t reach his comms or access his camera.”

“Oh no…” Rainbow muttered upon a sudden realization, but Twilight still clearly heard her.

“What?”

“Uh… We are kinda split up-”

“WHAT?!”

“Heh…” Rainbow chuckled nervously. “Yeah, we tried to climb an elevator shaft and the ladder broke when it was his turn. He's down in the basement.”

“For Celestia’s sake…” The sound of a hoof slapping a face could be heard from the other side. “Okay, just… just try and reach him before Applejack does. My map still shows she, er it - whatever she may be - is still inside the building with you two.”

Rainbow shuddered. The thought of a psychotic Applejack or even a monstrous one was a terrible image that kept replaying over and over again in her head. “Got it. Thanks, Twi...” Then the call ended.

Once the image was beaten away from her mind, the mare pulled up another call with her basement-trapped friend this time. Just like Twilight’s attempt prior, she only received static. “C’mon, c’mon!” Rainbow muttered, trying to tune the knob on her earpiece as if it would somehow magically make it connect. It didn’t. All she received was static.

Dash leaned over the entrance to the elevator shaft and stared down it for a moment. Please, be okay… She thought before a shotgun blast resounded from down the shaft.

Rainbow’s eyes widened in horror…

Storm enjoyed engineering - especially electrical. It was one of the few instances where time slowed down and allowed him to problem solve a problem that could actually be solved. No mental strain of thinking where his family’s next meal was going to come from. No purple unicorn blabbing on about him being a prophet or saving the world. Nope. Just simple wiring ‘A’ to ‘B’ and moving on to the next logical problem. The stallion would have enjoyed it much more if a voice in the back of his head wasn’t reminding him of a moral obligation on the second floor who could be attacked any second he spent down here.

So he picked up the pace. Storm already had cables from his suit connected to the electrical box - which he had decided to jump starting after checking to see if the intact elevator’s cable still held, and sure enough the metal box was suspended on the second floor high above his reach. A few sparkes later, and a chirp resounded throughout the room. The grey pegasus looked over his right shoulder to see that the two triangular buttons labeled “Up” and “Down” were now glowing a faint beige.

Bingo. He thought, the slightest of joy filling his head after another successful engineering job. Storm began to walk over to the button when a sudden chuckled materialized to his right. Storm swung around with shotgun in tethered grip and a determined gaze on his flashlight beam’s illumination of…

nothing.

Just another room with shelves, boxes, and empty fuel canisters. He swept the room with the beam, strafying to an adjacent open room to find more decay and dust-covered debris. Storm’s breath had been severed in his throat as he listened for the slightest fall of hoovesteps or pattern of blood dripping. It wasn’t easy with the roaring water outside, but he kept his ears perked up in preparation.

“My, haven’t you grown…” A gruff male voice commented from behind.

Storm spun on his hooves and fired a round of buckshot into the wall. Into nothing. Small shards of stone scattered and a black spread of holes were the only things in the direction of the voice. Storm couldn’t hold his breath any longer. His lungs were begging for air, so he allowed it. A single bead of sweat rolled down his helmeted face, nearly catching him in the eye. He had to let his clenched teeth relax after they began to strain his jaw.

“Now is that any way to treat your old man?” The voice reappeared, from behind him yet again.

Storm froze. His eyes widened. He had thought the voice was a bit familiar but he hadn’t heard it in so long that…

“C’mon. We talked about this, Windstorm.” It continued, turning from faintly sly to serious. “You will face me when I’m talking to you.”

As if on instinct, Storm found his hooves doing just that. Before he was able to stop himself, the grey pegasus was faced with another grey pegasus. This one was half a head shorter than him, but had a similar muscular build of a military stallion. His dark blue mane was also significantly shorter than Storm's own. He had a long scar running across his frowning muzzle as well.

“Ah, ah, ah,” The stallion scolded, using a wing to point at Storm’s helmet. “Eye contact too, Windstorm.”

BANG!

Another shot fired. The shell exploded through the stallion’s chest, sending viscera and gore everywhere as he dropped dead on the spot. Storm realized his breath was shaking along with his legs while attempting to force himself to move forward and examine the kill. Surely enough, the stallion was dead. Much of the spread had pierced his now pulped heart.

“Where was that all those years ago?” Storm nearly tripped over himself turning around yet again to find the stallion - who was unharmed - standing a few steps away and blocking his route to the elevator button. “I would have never guessed you had so much of me in yo-”

“We’re not the same.” Storm growled, still keeping the weapon trained in his direction.

“Wow. Interruptions too? Damn, boy,” The stallion chuckled, shaking his head in mock disapproval. “My absence really has made your manners rusty, huh?”

Storm didn’t respond.

The stallion scoffed then he suddenly slammed a hoof down on the concrete, making it echo in the tight basement, and causing Storm to flinch. The stallion smirked. “It still works.”

“What the fuck do you want, Iron Sight?”

The stallion’s lips formed a mockingly surprised ‘O’ in response. “Woah, I never thought I’d hear you talk to me like that. Guess some things do change. Others not so much.”

“That supposed to mean something to me?”

The stallion started slowly circling Storm, but didn’t remove himself from the path of the elevator shafts entirely. “And another thing…” He paused, putting a hoof in the air as if he was about to give an important speech. “I don’t recall ever allowing you to call me by my real name. I recall ‘sir’ being the title of respect a father deserves.”

It was Storm’s turn to scoff. “Deserve? Yeah, you got that in the end alright.”

The stallion - Iron Sight - put his wings up in false surrender. “Damn, boy. Look at you. Where was the stumbling, stuttering mess of a colt that could barely point that thing at me all those years ago?”

“You tell me.”

“I know he’s still in there.” Iron ran a hoof across the black holes in the wall, creating a faint scraping sound. “Just buried beneath this tough guy act.”

“You don’t know shit. You’re just some fucked up part of my head and nothing more!”

Iron laughed. Not chuckled faintly, but laughed. “Oh, that’s good! I’m almost convinced that you are this ‘badass’ of sorts! You know, I may have been a drunk piece of shit at times but at least I was true to my word.”

“Yeah, knowing a bloody nose was all I would get each night was real fucking comforting.” Storm’s tone was enraged, but controlled at the same time.

“Well, at least I was straightforward. At least I wasn’t a hypocrite. You act like the good guy and help everypony but for what? Out of the kindness of your heart? Bullshit. You do it to escape me. To escape Delilah-”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Storm let loose another round into the spot where Iron had been standing. This time the shot went straight through his father, who looked down at his chest in an unimpressed fashion. “Don’t ever say her name around me!”

“Excuse me, boy.” Iron turned serious. “I thought I was allowed to talk about my wife without anyone's permission. Guess I need my schizophrenic bastard’s approval first.”

Storm’s legs felt heavy. His eyes were straining at either sweat or tears within - which of the two he did not know. His head hurt at how long and concentrated he had been tethering his shotgun, forcing him to lower it reluctantly.

Iron made somewhat of a sincere sad face. “I don’t mean any of it, Windstorm. You know deep down I always loved you. That you were the best thing to ever-” The stallion’s sentences were broken into snickering before he composed himself. “I’m sorry. I can’t! I can’t even keep up a comedic face long enough to make the joke. Anywho, I came here to offer you something.”

“Offer me? Since when do you give out anything besides a beating?”

“Since now. Circumstances have changed. I saw something incredible after you pulled the trigger. Hell, I’ve been staring at it for nearly two decades since. I want to offer you a chance at redemption.”

“What the Hell do I need that for?”

Iron laughed again. “Oh, come on. I knew you weren’t very bright, but this is just unbearable. Fine, I’ll explain it to you. Those raiders who took out Forge and Blossom? Salvus? Anypony who even looked at your precious little lighthouse? All those lives you took out of paranoia. Oh! And let's not forget my personal favorite! Remember when you slaughtered that whole hospital after they left you broken and bleeding surrounded by your friends? I saw the whole thing! Front row seat even! I was honestly shocked when you shot every single broodmare too. But you don’t remember any of that do you? Or is that just the excuse you keep telling ‘prismatic precious’ up there?” Iron pointed to the ceiling. “Speaking of which, how is that going? Think she figured out what a degenerate piece of shit you’ve become? The things I did in the war don’t even compare to what I’ve watched you do.”

“Leave Dash out of this. You want to start shit, take it up with me.”

“Yep. You really haven’t changed at all. First taking mommy’s licks for her and now for some random mare that you met two days ago. You are really hopeless, you know that? Just a few days ago, she came in, wrecked your paradise and now you vow to protect her at any cost despite blaming her? Hypocritical!” He sang the last word in a sing-song tone.

“I wasn’t thinking straight when I said those things! I know it’s not her fault!”

“You’re right! It's not her fault! It’s yours! Your obsession with helping one mother to atone for what you did to your mother and me led to that. You got your friends killed and you can’t stand to accept it. You can’t eat more than a bite, you can’t sleep most nights, and you push away anypony that makes eye contact with you. And you know why that is? Because you know whose fault it is, but you can’t face it. Just like you can’t face me.”

“I have no regrets over you! I’d shoot you ten more times if I got the chance!”

“Really? Even though you have nightmares about it every single night? Even though it forced your mother to take the blame for my murder and flee forever? You ended my life, ruined hers, and still ended up fucking your own up - all on your own! I don’t know if there is a more obvious definition of a ‘screw up’ in the dictionary than you!” Then Iron composed himself, exhaling through his nostrils. “But this isn’t about that. I am offering you this to fix everything you’ve done. All you have to do is follow me and see it.”

“See what?”

“Unity. A place with no struggle. No conflict. No monsters.”

“Yeah, a little less cryptic bullshit would be nice!”

“Well, you only expected a punch in the mouth each day from me, so now I’m trying to change.”

“Well… where is it?”

Iron pointed at the elevator shaft behind him. The elevator shaft that no longer housed a dark metal interior but rather a hazy white and blue fuzz. “Through there. Let’s go up, you and me. We’ll catch up and have that father-son bonding time you always wanted. C’mon, we both have to take the elevator anyway.”

“If I follow, will you leave me the fuck alone?”

Iron put a hoof over his heart. “I swear to Celestia, er what is left of her.” Then he stepped into the elevator box - which had come down after he pressed the button with surprising speed.

Storm noticed that his hooves were once more involuntarily moving towards him again. He hated the idea of being in a small box with this… hallucination? Vision? Whatever the fuck it was, he just had to cooperate until it ended. And he went away. Forever. With a single foreleg, the armored stallion lifted it to step down into the elevator box when-

“STORM!” A familiar mare’s voice shrieked from across the room. The mentioned stallion stopped his progress and turned to see Rainbow Dash sprinting towards him full speed with her gun aimed at him. Or so he thought. “MOVE!”

Storm turned his head only to come to a few realizations. One, he wasn’t about to step into an elevator shaft - which was on the opposite side of the room. Two, Rainbow was sprinting from the elevator towards him. Three, he was directly face to face with a fleshy pit of three dozen blue squirming insects. It wasn’t until his brain registered that a full body creature was containing this ‘face-pit’ that he noticed the two forehoove blades hanging down under its ‘chin.’

Then it swung.

The stallion had just enough time to fall on his back before the blades swept across where he had just been standing. Even through the suit’s thick fabric, he could feel the disturbed wind as the bone scythes passed by. Storm fired his shotgun out of reflex, but missed by a mile in his haste.

A volley of machine gun fire ranged out from the downed pegasus’ side, turning the creature’s attention off of him. As the mass of flesh and bone-like head turned away, Storm got a clearer view of it. The ‘head’ was made up of a single pony that once had orange fur and a trio of apples for a cutie mark. Where this pony’s head should have been was a large and deep pit of muscle and flesh where the Plexer pit was located inside. Upon noticing the gunfire, the creature ‘folded’ a few flaps of armored flesh to protect the blue creatures. As for the rest of its body, the monster had a snake-like appearance with its main body being a mess of bone, flesh, and muscle - all of which were coiled to make the thing fit in the basement. Four limbs made up of more bodies and the sprouting blue tentacles made up the creature’s arms and legs. As far as Storm could tell, the two blades of the face corpse were the only method of attack. But he knew it had more.

They always did.

Rainbow Dash tried firing through these flaps, only to have her shots get stuck in the bone or bounce off, so she ceased the attack altogether. The beast made some sort of skittering sound before it folded it’s limbs in as small as possible and leapt out of a missing chunk of the basement ground - which led to the open ocean and pierside.

“Storm!” She called, running up to the stallion who was slowly getting to his hooves. “What the fuck was that?!”

The stallion shook his head in an attempt to lessen his newly formed headache. “It’s a new type. I’ve never seen one like that before.”

“No! Not that thing! Why were you holding a shotgun to your head!”

“I… I didn’t know I was. I thought…”

“What?”

“... nothing. We need to kill whatever that thing is.”

“It’s Applejack.”

“Who?”

“One of the Element Bearers… I mean, ex-bearer.” Rainbow’s tone and ears drooped at the correction. “What did she make you see?”

Storm didn’t reply.

“Storm? What did she make you see?”

“Don’t worry about it. How do we kill it?”

Rainbow sighed, clearly fed up with his secrecy but knew now wasn’t the time. “AJ represented the Element of Honesty. Twilight thinks that she makes us see some sort of… tragedy. And it kills us.”

“Let me guess, face up to whatever this tragedy is and we break this supposed seal?”

“Exactly. At least that is what Twi told me a few minutes ago before she left…”

“What do you mean left?”

“She had to take the ship and get out of range of whatever AJ is doing to us.”

Storm grunted. “Typical. We get roped into some holy mission and now we are left for dead.”

“They didn’t have a choice! Her crew was dying because of this!”

A splash of blue liquid landed in between the two pegasi, killing the argument out of the gate. The duo looked up in time to see the monstrosity hanging from a hole in the ceiling. It’s four dozen blue orbs locked with their visors.

Then it lunged.

Storm had a fraction of a second to shove Rainbow away before his head was encased in the now open flesh flaps. His vision went black, then glowing blue as he stared into death over a dozen times. He might have heard Dash scream, but it was muffled. Storm activated his hoof blade and dug it into the creature’s face, but it didn’t phase the thing. Instead, it’s blue insects started to shine extremely bright.

Then Storm’s vision went completely blue.

The weight of being trapped in a fleshy maw was instantly lifted off of the stallion. The nearly pitch black and blue glowing tomb was gone. But something worse had replaced it. The blue glow wore off, allowing Storm to see that his surroundings were very different. He was no longer in the two decade old ruins of an apartment complex’s basement with his fate-decided partner and a massive monster.

He was home.

But at the same time he wasn’t. The place was definitely his foalhood home, but only the interior matched it to a deadly degree. The windows were covered with the same white and blue haze as the elevator shaft before. Storm was standing in the front entrance, where a colt’s saddlebag hung on a large nail next to a lunchbox. His lunchbox.

The stallion turned around to see that his front door was absent from the picture. Only a blank wall with no access to the outside haze in sight - not that he wanted to traverse that field again after where it left him last time. From his position, Storm could see the small living room which sported a worn couch and armchair which reeked of booze and other unpleasant scents. A small circular table had a taped TV remote and was littered with bottles. On the couch, Iron Sight lay sprawled out with a dirty blanket covering his twitchy body. He was muttering something to himself while in his sleeping state as well.

Storm froze momentarily, almost forgetting he was a full grown stallion in a suit of armor and armed to the teeth. When the realization returned, he quietly loaded the remaining three shells into his shotgun and cocked it, wincing as the sound exploded throughout the room.

“Careful,” Iron’s voice warned despite his body remaining asleep. The voice in question sounded like it was coming from Storm’s own head rather than a physical body. “You know what happens when you wake, daddy.”

Storm grit his teeth and began approaching his sleeping father. He pointed the shotgun down as if expecting Iron to jump up at him like a Damned feigning death to trick its prey. Iron snorted and twitched, making Storm move back out of reflex but he never woke up much to the latter’s relief.

“Ooh! That was close!” The disembodied voice continued to playfully taunt. “I promised you unity, so here it is. We can all be one happy family again, Windstorm.”

Suddenly, the sound of glass shattering in the next room perked Storm’s ears up in alarm. He raised the shotgun and began slowly approaching the hallway which ran alongside the living room. A quick check down the hall’s left revealed the closed doors of the bedrooms and bathroom. To the right, a small slice of the kitchen could be seen, but the source of the sound could not be identified.

With what felt like thundering steps, the grey pegasus made his way slowly and methodically into the kitchen. What he saw made him nearly drop the gun. Or rather who he saw. Facing away from the entrance was a small beige pegasus mare. Her medium length blonde mane was unkempt - a clear sign of stress filled sleepless nights. The mare was scrambling to clean up the mess of an accidentally shattered coffee mug. Her movements were clumsy and rushed as if she wanted to get the job done before someone found out. She looked over her shoulder at the hallway - and right at Storm - but seemingly didn’t notice him before she returned back to scooping the pieces up and tossing them into the trash can.

Storm couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t move. He just stared. When his shaking limbs finally acknowledged his brain, the stallion quickly turned to sprint down the hallway. But he couldn’t. Because standing in his way was a small grey pegasus colt. The colt had an onyx mane with blue stripes and purple eyes. His eyes.

The colt looked surprised, then the widest smile formed on his face upon noticing the mare at the table. He then ran through Storm on his way to embrace the mare’s foreleg. The mare gave a small smile and embraced him tightly, lowering herself to reach his height.

“Mommy! You’re home!” The colt exclaimed in a volume that made Storm cringe again.

“Shh!” The mare whispered softly, looking towards the hallway again. When no real threat approached, she continued. “I promised I would always return, Stormy.”

Just hearing that nickname stabbed Storm in the chest. He couldn’t bring himself to leave now. He could only watch.

“Are you staying for good now?” His younger self whispered hopefully.

Delilah frowned slightly. Then she shook her head. “No… I can’t quit just yet… I’m sorry…”

“But you say that every time! Is selling flowers really that hard?!” The younger Storm had slight traces of tears in his eyes at the retold promise.

“It's… complicated, sweetie.” Delilah sighed. “I can’t quit. My boss won’t let me until the whole store is sold out. But when I sell every single flower, I promise we will get as far away from here as possible.”

“Far away from dad?”

“Far away from dad.” She confirmed, shivering slightly. “We’ll live in Canterlot in a mansion and have hot chocolate every single night. But I have to get us enough for this mansion first, dear.”

“I know.” The colt said as he was pulled closer into his mother’s chest. The strain in his voice showed the pain of being left alone. Again. And again. Until her next return.

“Hey, cheer up.” Delilah said, sounding as if she didn’t believe herself. “Grandma and grandpa are taking you to the farm for all of Hearth’s Warming Break. That’s ten days away from here!” The colt smiled while looking up at her. “Now, go get ready for school, Stormy. I might have time to walk you down ther-”

“What’s this?” Iron’s slurred voice asked from behind the grown Storm, causing Delilah, the younger one, and Storm to spin around and face the hallway. The colt Storm instantly hid behind his mother’s legs, peeking out from a slit in between.

“Nothing, dear.” Delilah replied cautiously. “Please just go back to bed-”

“I know… what I-” Iron burped. “-heard. You’re tryna take my colt from me!”

“N-no, my parents just want to see him for the holidays. Then we’ll both be back to celebrate Hearth’s Warming!”

“Celestia,” Iron muttered, nearly falling over. “Only two things that mouth is good for and only one pleases me. The other is just bullshit.” He took a stumbling step closer. The adult Storm felt his mental grip on his weapon tighten.

“Iron, please go back to bed.” Delilah placed a foreleg in front of the young Storm.

With the real Storm’s position close enough to Iron, he activated the hoof blade and swung it - half expecting it to go through the apparition but it made the drunken abuser fade away into a mist of blue-white particles. Turning around, the grey pegasus also noticed that his mother and his younger self were gone. As was the kitchen.

Storm was back in the home’s entrance. Back at his saddle bag and lunchbox hook. But this time the front door was in its proper place. The second Storm noticed the new addition, he heard his father’s distorted voice from everywhere and nowhere all at once.

“What you saw is what was, Windstorm.” Iron said, his voice turning serious. Not drunk, mocking, or playful. Dead serious sincerity. “I had to remind you of what it was like. I was a piece of shit because I couldn’t stand taking care of somepony I didn’t plan on bringing a foal into this world when I couldn’t even take care of myself after the war. You know how it changes things. It changes you. It kills you from the inside out and whatever remains isn’t much. It isn’t you. It wasn’t me…”

“That doesn’t change shit!” Storm replied, yelling out with no clue if his ‘father’ could even hear him. “Trauma gives you no right to treat mom like that! It gave you no right to treat me like that! You got what you deserve and that's it!”

“Even after all this time you still don’t understand, boy. I was terrible because I was weak. We all are. We can’t process the worst of life and it turns us. Molds us into something awful that must be stopped. You stopped me, but became what I was in turn. Sure, it took nearly two decades but you made it. The cycle continues and it never stops on its own. It never will, Windstorm.” Then the front door opened, revealing the white and blue haze except, Storm could see the silhouette of a mare and stallion in the haze. “Unless we stop it…”

“You can drop the act!” Storm pumped his shotgun. “Stop hiding behind Iron’s face and just come at me!”

“I am not wearing anything’s face. This is just what you perceive my form as.” Iron replied indifferently. “You relate my presence to a fear of the unknown and hostility, so I appear as your father.”

“You don’t exactly look friendly with the bodies being piled up.” Storm didn’t like where any of this was going but he finally had a chance to get some answers from whatever this thing was.

“I am not the Honesty Vessel in which you are referring to. It is merely giving me a chance to communicate uninterrupted with you, Windstorm Surge.” ‘Iron’ lifted a foreleg towards the living room behind him, causing the scene to phase into a view of the apartment’s basement where a hysteric and worried helmetless Rainbow Dash was trying to shake Storm’s still body awake. The quad-limbed Damned was also missing. “This is where you really are.”

“Am I dead?” Storm asked, sounding more curious and not at all worried about his mortality.

“No,” Iron removed his hoof, causing the scene to return to his living room once more. “You are temporarily in my collective consciousness. I must discuss something urgent with you.”

“How about you tell me what you are first? I know you’re not a pony.”

“That is correct. I am not of equine descendance. Additionally, I have no name. Only a title given to me. I am known as Custodithought.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t exactly help much.” Storm’s tethered appendage was growing itchy on the shotgun’s trigger.

“In your language of ancient equine, before Equestrian, it translates to ‘Warden of Thought’”

“I’m guessing you didn’t set all of this up for a trip down memory lane and a fucking history lesson?”

Iron nodded. He never blinked or removed his eyes from Storm during the subtle gesture of confirmation. “You really do live up to your reputation, Windstorm. I want to discuss the journey of breaking my seals. I only allowed you to find Honesty so that I may reach you like this.”

“Your seals?” Storm tensed up. “This is all you? The Damned, the Plexers, the apocalypse - it’s all you?!”

“Once again, your reputation precedes you in terms of perception.” Iron replied, looking ever so slightly taken aback by the latter’s ability to catch on so soon. “I must compliment your kind’s proximity to the title of my multiplexer beings. You were only one prefix away from the original term. However, I do not understand the labeling of the temporary vessels as ‘The Damned.’”

“What is there not to understand? Are you saying those things aren’t the bastard children of you and whatever the ugliest thing in Tartarus is?!”

“The vessel’s appearance is only decayed and corrupted because of their biological makeup. Their bodies are not resistant to time and its effects. They will corrode and fade given enough time despite my multiplexer’s enhancements.”

“Enhancements?” Storm spat. “Carving out eyes and turning wings into scythes is an enhancement to you?”

“For their purpose, then I would answer in the affirmative. Once the soul leaves the vessel, then it becomes clay for molding. A blank canvas for creation. Whatever analogy suits you. The spirit, the soul - the many names your kind has for it - is the important part of life. The flesh is only a temporary vessel which I use as collateral in return for giving the souls unity with one another.”

“Humor me then. What do you want?” Storm found himself only looking into his ‘father’s’ cold unflinching eyes because looking anywhere else made him uneasy.

“You are here because you have my respect.” Iron replied, forcing Storm to give a weird look in response to hearing his father’s voice utter those words. “You have been given countless opportunities to fall into depravity, but you persist. You do not force yourself upon the female sex, you selflessly joined a group to unite the Element of Loyalty with her friends, and you tried to fix things with your father despite his mental state being unsalvagable. The list goes on.”

“Hold on a minute.” The stallion deadpanned, lowering the shotgun slightly. “You just said I would become a monster like you, er - Iron Sight no matter what. Now you’re saying I am redeemable?”

“No,” Iron sighed. “All of morality fall eventually - no matter their strength. You are no exception, but you are going to outlast most around you. I can see it. For that you have both my respect and my regret. Why regret, you ask? Because of your resilience, you must suffer.”

“I suffer because of what you did to the world! Fuck, we all do!”

“The world’s suffering is a necessary pain towards unity. And I did not bring about the end. Your kind did that. I tried to bring the beginning of unity. I tried to make it unexpected and swift, but you all persist despite the fact that I have been offering the only possible solution. The first step is the hardest for mortals. Naturally, you will resist. That is why you are here.”

“Want to explain this unity bullshit to me? I’m getting awfully sick of the vague game here.”

“Guilt defines you, Windstorm Surge.” Just looking at Iron was starting to make Storm’s splitting headache return. “From your foalhood to the present, it makes up who you are and what you will become. You carry burdens for others because you cannot face your own. I am giving you the chance to forget all of the burdens unjustly cast upon you. You can return to your family and the rest of us as one. No struggling. No conflict. No war, hunger, rape, depravity, or even death. All you have to do is make the initial sacrifice.”

Storm thought for a moment. Everything this ‘Warden of Thought’ was saying came from things he hadn’t told anypony for nearly thirty years - all of which were dead so spreading the information was close to impossible. This thing had to have a backseat to his mothers or father’s memories. Hell, it probably had access to his own. Still, so many things didn’t add up. “A perfect world, huh?”

Iron nodded. His indifferent eyes never blinked or left Storm’s own during the motion. “A unified existence. Not with flesh and blood but with mind and soul.”

“I’m finding it hard to push past you wanting to help us after seeing what the world is now. A landscape of both living and dead monsters doesn’t sell this paradise of yours!”

“It is the nature of morality. Everything fades in the end. Flesh, principal, even minds. All good things come to an end, but they shouldn’t. That is why I was created. I am the catalyst for unity. I offered a solution. Cut out the decay of flesh and individualism before it became corrupt and jaded. Instead, I would serve as the starting point for all with no end point.”

“Yeah, because being a flesh suit for your bugs is an eternity everycreature wants.”

“It wasn’t always that way, Windstorm Surge. My design was… flawed.” Iron held off as if the last word hurt it to say. Suddenly, the living room behind Storm’s apparent father was replaced with a dark room where a ring of a dozen creatures - of all races were summoning some unseen force with magic. Amongst them was a dark black unicorn with a silver and blue mane which was flashing between those colors and a black-red swap. “During my creation, the corruption of mortality overtook one of the creators. This creator’s input was vital in my birth but the corruption of his umbrum mind was also woven into my design. It made my multiplexers horrific in appearance and their connection methods violent, but it must be done in the end. Regardless of flaws, I was able to complete my goal.” Behind Iron, the living room changed to an overview of Equestria as shown by the royal city of Canterlot in the background.

“What?” Storm wondered aloud, slightly lowering his weapon.

“I brought all the equine races together for the founding of your kind’s greatest achievement - Equestria. It was the beginning of unity. The beginning of harmony.”

“Bullshit. The tribe elders of each race came together on Hearth’s Warming Eve. Everyone knows that!”

“That is what your kind has repurposed the holiday’s origin as. It is understandable being that respected equine symbols are used to bring harmony instead of something like me.” A dark forest where earth pony, pegasus, and unicorn elders were sitting in a ring with their respective tribes behind them formed in place of the other vision. Storm could make out small blue glows coming from the back of the elder’s necks. “Equestria was supposed to be the starting point for a unified existence, but there were those who favored the prospect of free will over total peace. I was locked away with the early stages of the elements of my own devising by a group which called themselves the Pillars.”

“Pillars?”

Iron didn’t respond. He just stared coldly for a moment then changed the subject. “I will not be sealed away much longer. I will return and unite every living soul on the planet to save you from your destructive selves. But my progress has been hindered by the Element of Magic’s personal quest.”

“The seals.” Storm muttered, raising his weapon again at the stallion’s vague threat. Or promise.

“Affirmative. Though, I do not agree with the title ‘Seals of ‘Disharmony,’ they are not of my naming. Those have been placed to ensure that no creature misuses the Pillar’s weapon.”

The Harmony Enforcer… Storm thought.

“Correct again.” Iron replied, making Storm almost jump at his apparent mind-reading ability. “The mission’s ability to stand for so long is admirable but it is misplaced to a fault. The Element of Magic doesn’t realize what she is doing. She is blinded by the false vanity of free will. I cannot reach her or the Element of Loyalty like I can with you. The Elements of Harmony were created based on the Pillar’s values and that makes them immune to my influence until their vessels have been extinguished and their soul free from the responsibility of bearing.”

“You want me to talk her out of reversing two decades of shit?” Storm asked. “Even I’m not convinced!”

“I understand.” Iron replied calmly. “You are not ready. The stress of the situation requires time to process. In time, you will understand why unity is necessary. We are linked now - united now. I will guide you towards a symbiotic future. Without it, war, conflict, and suffering remains. You will all repeat your mistakes until the day comes that your own flesh and blood will be your downfall.”

“It doesn’t take me long to recognize a monster.” Storm replied coldly. “I’m killing this Honesty Vessel thing and getting Dash - and the others - out of this nightmare!”

Iron was silent once more. Storm could sense the disappointment his father always had plastered on his face. “Then I must help you both see.” The living room changed back into the basement scene where Rainbow suddenly is jumped by the huge Damned.

“Dash!” Storm subconsciously yelled as if she could hear him. Then he turned to the uncaring Iron. “Call off your attack dog! I’m the one you want!”

“It’s like you didn’t process a single word I just said.” Iron sighed. “Look away if you cannot bear to watch the Element of Loyalty being free and moving on to a better state of existence.”

The grey pegasus couldn’t look away. He watched as the creature clipped Rainbow in the side with one of it’s bone-like claws and knocked her to the ground. Using the same claw, it pinned the mare who struggled to tether the equally pinned gun. Her helmet turned towards Storm’s own conscious body.

“Storm!” She called while dodging being engulfed by the thing’s fleshy maw.

Another snap. It missed by a hair.

The mentioned stallion looked to Iron before desperately adding, “Fine! I’ll talk to Twilight!”

Iron was unphased. “Excellanet.”

Rainbow dodged another bite in the background. “Storm! I know you can hear me!”

“Call it off of her!” Storm growled, angered at the creature’s continuous attack despite his compliance.

“It makes no difference. She will be freed sooner or later. You can join her after relaying my message to the Element of Mag-”

BANG!

An explosion of buckshot filled Iron’s face, causing the surprisingly solid stallion to be knocked back into the wall. Even with half his face gone, the unmoving cold eyes remained locked on Storm as he started to get to his hooves.

BANG!

Another shot. This time to the stomach, which sent Iron back to the ground. He showed no signs of pain but was incapacitated at the very least. Storm stomped a hoof on the battered ‘stallion’s’ chest, forcing him to remain down.

“As long as I’m breathing then so will she!” He roared at the figure of his father against the wall and floor with his organs hanging out. “You think I’m struggling for myself?! I already accepted what I am a long time ago! And another thing, I am united with my family! I know that now! AND NOTHING IS GONNA FUCK WITH THAT AGAIN!” A final blast reduced Iron’s head to pulp.

The words never again, never again, never again, replayed on a perfect loop inside Storm’s mind as he attempted to catch his breath while staring at the mutilated corpse.

Then the world around Storm started to twist itself. The ground started to shake, debris began falling from the ceiling, and a blue glow dominated his vision for a moment before it came back. Storm’s head hurt like Hell. He could feel twin trickles of blood down his nostrils and maybe even out his ears. But he was back in the real world.

Sitting in front of the now dead and Plexerless abomination, which his shotgun was halfway caught inside its ‘mouth.’ Storm quickly pried his weapon from the corpse’s flesh flaps and stored it on his back. Then he heard a groan.

“T-took you long enough.” Rainbow weakly chuckled, clearly trying to hide both the physical pain on her battered body and damaged suit. The mare was on the floor, lying on her side while a small trickle of blood ran from her left foreleg. She seemed to notice Storm’s glare at the leg. “I think it’s just sprained but it hurts like Tarterus.”

Storm looked back to the dead creature and destroyed basement as if non verbally asking what happened. Rainbow noticed this and attempted to sit up. “Whatever you did, it worked.”

The stallion said nothing before approaching the helmetless cyan pegasus and helping her up. What Rainbow thought would be more of a military style assisted carry turned surprisingly into a hug. An awkward one aided by the bulky suit plates and consoles.

“Mph!” She softly winced at the tight embrace. “Still sore, big guy.”

Storm retracted immediately before refusing to meet her gaze even behind his helmet. “Sorry…”

An uncomfortable silence filled the small basement at the unexpected act of affection before the grey pegasus cleared his throat - a sound that reverberated thanks to his filter. “What happened while I was out?”

“It grabbed you and filled it’s mouth with some bright light. I thought you were dead for sure!” Her tone and ears dropped at the words. “But AJ let you go and you just sat there muttering to nopony while I drove her away! She jumped me and I thought it was over when you grabbed her and started yelling about family while shooting at her over and over again. You didn’t miss a single shot too!”

Storm, however, didn’t share her misplaced excitement at the battle. He just stared at the deceased abomination but couldn’t get Iron’s - or the Warden’s - cold stare out of his head. He knew he was deep in the shit, but just how deep had been realized now.

“Hey, Equestria to Stormy,” Rainbow said, waving a hoof in front of his face to gain his attention. “What about you?”

“Huh?”

“What did you see?”

Before he could respond, both pegasi’s earpieces chirped to life with no static whatsoever, revealing Twilight Sparkle’s frantic voice. “Can you both hear me?! Come in!”

Storm helped Rainbow by supporting her left foreleg to help her walk. “We hear you Twilight. We need to talk-”

“Listen!” Twilight interrupted harshly. “You need to get out of there NOW!” Once the words left the earpiece, a rumble from above caused dust and small pebbles of debris to fall into the basement floor. It was almost identical to the one Storm had just experienced.

Then they heard the roars. The screams. All of which were above. Some were close and others were distant. The roaring barely overpowered the groan of the building as it started to come down under the weight of the horde above. Suddenly, the elevator which Storm had fixed - and Rainbow had rode down in - was sent to the bottom of the shaft, revealing a flood of Damned crawling through in its wake as shown by the army of blue orbs in the darkness.

“Shit!” Storm swore before grabbing his Sweeper and opening fire on the first few flooding out of the shaft. Luckily, the pile up of bodies forced the creatures to shove their fallen out of the way to get into the basement, but both ponies knew they had nowhere near enough resources to take on what they had seen in Ponyville first.

Rainbow was firing too. She had run out of machine gun ammunition and was down to the pistol, but she also sprayed at the nearest bone and flesh beast. Storm looked around the room desperately while scanning for a way out. By now, the two had been backed up to the wall where the AJ Damned had momentarily fled through a hole in the pier's foundation.

A hole that led to the ocean.

“Dash,” Storm yelled over the roaring and gunfire. “I have a plan! But you’re not going to like it!”

The mentioned mare looked over her shoulder while Storm took charge in holding the horde off. “Oh, for Celestia’s sake! You’ve got to be kidding! I can’t even swim like this!”

“I know! I’ll carry you and use the suit thrusters to keep us from hitting the rocks! Your helmet will prevent you from drowning since it’s pressurized!” The horde had closed in on over half of the basement now and were rapidly gaining ground.

Rainbow had run out of ammo completely and Storm had been on his last rivet canister for a while now. The mare took one last look into the hungry eyes of the creatures. “Okay! Buck it!”

Then the two turned tail and leapt from the hole, timing it out so they were falling at the same time. Luckily, they cleared the rocky landscape by a longshot and there were no rocks in the particular spot they were falling into. Storm still had Rainbow by the foreleg but was now holding her to keep the two intertwined for the coming splash.

The last thing the stallion saw before the murky ocean took his visor’s vision was the horde standing on the pier’s edge - some of which were falling into it either on accident or purpose - and all the while, his focus was on a specific pony standing on top of the ledge.

Delilah Diamond.

His deceased mother just coldly watched with the monsters piling down around her as Storm plunged into the depths...

Author's Note

I don't even know where to begin. The feedback on the story so far has been EXTREMELY helpful! I want to specifically thank Mix-Up, Goldminer23, and and EverfreePony for this feedback. You all have either brought up inconstancies and problems with the story that I feel are on the right track to being fixed as this chapter (as well as half of 19 is written) currently. I have taken most of my free time these past two months to really sit down and map out a more concrete plot and have finally stepped out of my fear shell to give you all some real information on the plot in this chapter - both through clear dialogue and subtle hints hidden around Fillydelphia while Storm and Rainbow continue to explore the city. And sadly, the full story of Fillydelphia is also in a future arc so it won't be fully explored here. However, there is enough subtle clues to get a general idea of what went on. But on the bright side, you get to see more of the city's story and trust me it has a good one. Anyway, I just wanted to bring up a few things that I have attempted to improve to see how many you all caught while reading this chapter alone:

Rainbow has been given more equal 'screen time' (page time?) with Storm. Her interactions with him, other characters, creatures, and the world around serve to both inform her and the readers of the new world. She is more fittingly curious about interesting stuff such as the ATS suits and gear but keeps the more egghead stuff on the side.

Storm has begun to show some more of his buried personality around Rainbow. A couple of his mannerisms and opinions other than "Fuck this" and "Fuck that" are revealed here. This is a sign that he is trusting her more after what they have been through and will continue to go through. I plan to go even further on this during downtime on the ship but in a way that fits him with help of a certain cyan pegasus. Additionally, his avoided past is also briefly explored and he is forced to start facing himself in order to keep himself alive for what remains of his 'family.'

More evolved Damned have come out to play! Their intelligence and ferocity have also been brought up to the forefront. Evolved Hunters made from Fillydelphia's all unicorn police force show this. They took tactics learned from their chapter 2 and 15 encounters with Storm to 'enhance' themselves.

Trail Hunter got a brief moment leading into why he is such a dick, which will be explored more when Storm and Rainbow have smaller fish to fry than what they are currently doing.

The main 'villain' is also finally introduced here. I hate the word 'villain' for the Warden but to Storm and Co. it is just that. An opposing antagonist with differing motives. There is SO much more to this character but it refused to reveal more than Storm needed to know because all it wants is his compliance at the moment.

The actual plot information is being conveyed in two ways now. 1, through dialogue between characters. This is the most open way with direct information. And 2, through environmental clues that slowly build upon what the dialogue is doing by giving you all a much larger than before spoonful so that you can attempt to solve the mystery before the characters do. Unfortunately, I am not able to show much more and all of the enhancements to the story such as improved character archetypes, survivors from FiM, and more locations but they will come. Let's just say a familiar face (or a few) will appear in chapter 19.

Until next time!