At what point does determination and dedication cease being the foundations of self actualization? At what point do they become a crutch; Used simply as a means of keeping one afloat when they know no other way? And at what point can one forgo that crutch in exchange for other, more progressive virtues? But more importantly, at what point must one reject the imposed ideals of others that demand rectification of the very virtues they uphold?

Those that live in blind faith will tell you that the key to existence is to let go of the fear of what you cannot control or understand and give yourself to the belief that those above us will not lead us astray. Those that live without that faith will insist blind faith instils foolhardiness and the damnation of ignorant bliss.

For everyone, at some point or another, they will need to make a choice. To stand by what they know and double down on the security of ignorant fanaticism, or to take that harrowing leap into the arms of the unknowable and confront the possibility that their faith and unwavering dedication had always been to their determent.

For me, the Enclave had always been the foundations of who I was. I served. I always had. But as we began to descend into the bowels of the dark, icy depths of the MOA Hub, salvation laying before us and the knowledge that Skylight, among other ponies, were not far behind, I knew that such a mental confrontation was fast approaching. I only hoped that when the time came for me to make my choice, that I would be strong enough to face it.

Some problems you can't muscle your way through.

The doorway into the hidden MOA Hub had opened up into a long, metal tunnel only just wide enough for most ponies to walk two by two. I, on the other hoof, took up the whole hallway and was forced to walk single file. Every surface glistened with a thin layer of frost and long icicles descended down from the ceiling. I had to shift my weight around a few times to avoid bashing my head into some of the lower hanging ice spears.

A few bodies littered the frozen ground, skeletal and clearly having been there since the great war. Clearly this place had not been intended to survive balefire. A few of the skeletons had been fused to the walls by thick chunks of ice, fleshless limbs sticking out at us at odd angles as if the walls themselves were trying to grasp at us.

In front of me, Vapour shivered, looking at one corpse that only had its back half locked in ice. The front half had long since decayed, leaving behind nothing but frosted over white bone, while the back half still contained mummified flesh.

The farther in we got, the more the skeletal corpses began to change, shifting from white bone picked clean and preserved by the ice, to withered corpses who’s coatless flesh had taken on an icy blue colour. I noticed many of them seemed to have be twisted and mutated into strange, abomination-like forms, with multiple limbs and mangled bone structures. Curiously, a few had both wings and a horn, though none of them seemed to be true alicorns, only weird mutant echoes of one. I stepped over one of the shrivelled bodies, watching it carefully as its lifeless eyes stared up at the ceiling, its mouth open in an eternal scream. Clearly some ponies hadn’t been killed outright by the balefire blast. Some had died slowly, freezing to death and in agonizing pain as the ambient radiation did its work.

“The fuck are these? Ghouls?” The Enclave troopers behind me asked, observing one of the mutated, shrivelled pony bodies.

“If they are, I’ve never seen any like them,” Icewind muttered, narrowing her eyes at their blue coloured flesh and grotesque limbs.

“Th-think they’re s-still alive?” Vapour asked nervously, giving one of the corpses a wide berth as we continued on down the tunnel.

“Unlikely,” Firestreak huffed. “Even mutant filth like ghouls can freeze to death. Besides, I’m not getting any life signals on my EFS. Are you?” She paused for a second, clearly reading something on the inside of her HUD. “The Megaspell Reactor Module should be two levels down,” She informed us. “Expect heavy resistance from the security systems down here.”

I gave an affirmative nod, shifting to face down another hallway as we reached a turn in the tunnel. We passed a few frozen, disheveled rooms that looked to have once been offices, though they didn’t seem to be of any relevance to us.

We came to a stop at a closed steel door that had been locked with a terminal inset into the wall beside it. Icewind quickly pulled herself up to it, hacking away at the terminal as lines of flickering green code began to scroll across the screens cracked surface. A few moments later, she gave a nicker of victory as the terminal beeped and allowed her access.

"Let's see here..." She muttered to herself, scrolling through a couple of the files on the terminal. "Looks like there was some sort of test lab down a hallway to our right. Some sort of IMP experiment," She informed us reading over the files.

"Wasn't IMP being worked on by the m-ministry of Arcane Technology?" Vapour asked, craning his neck to look over Icewinds shoulder at the screen.

Icewind shrugged. "Supposedly, but I'm not going to argue with the terminal."

"Any mention of what the project was?" Firestreak asked, stepping up beside her. Her voice was filled with an intense interest that I had not expected from her.

Icewind shook her head. "This is a door terminal, not a data log. That's pretty much all there is," She paused, reading over the lines of text on the screen. "Actually, it looks like the experiments were later moved to a more secure section of the facility. No clue why though," She pushed a button on the terminal and the steel door slid open, revealing the dark, sloping hallway beyond. Even with all our headlamps activated, we couldn't make out the end of it.

"Come along," Firestreak ordered, taking point as we began trotting down the new hall. She glanced back at Icewind. "Do you think you can lead us to the testing lab?"

Icewind gave her a confused glance. "Is it of any relevance to the mission?"

Firestreak gave her a smug smirk. "I'm just curious."

Sighing, Icewind began leading us down a side tunnel, peeking through a few doors before finally finding one with a flickering sign above it reading: IMP Testing Area. She pushed open the door carefully, her eyes darting back and forth for any security systems. So far, we had seen nothing.

When it was clear that nothing was going to jump out and start shooing at us, she pushed the door open the rest of the way and trotted in, making way for the rest of us to enter the chamber. The laboratory was a mess. Long dead corpses lay strewn about the room, many missing limbs and large chunks of flesh. Crystallized blood splattered the walls and a large containment unit lay busted open, it's glass casing having completely shattered. A single desk had been shoved into the corner, a cracked terminal resting on top still humming away despite the cold.

"The fuck happened in here," The Enclave solder I still didn't know the name of muttered, glancing about.

"Not sure," Firestreak responded, trotting over and pulling open the terminal. Her eyes glazed over the screen for a few seconds before nodding and pulling herself away. "Alright, there is nothing here that we need."

Icewind scowled as Firestreak stalked past her and back out into the hallway. "Seriously? You made me drag us to this stupid lab and that's it?"

Firestreak shrugged. "You were right. No relevance to the mission. I just wanted to sate my curiosity," She pushed past Icewind, ordering the rest of us to follow.

I moved to follow after her, when Vapour Trail's voice caught my attention. "Hey Icewind, look at this."

I turned my head to see the two pegasus looking over one of the entries on the terminal. Clearly Vapour had taken to looking over the terminal once Firestreak was done with it.

"The most recent strand of the formula has proved to be far too effective," Icewind read aloud, her eyes sweeping the screen. "I have requested to have all future tests on the formula be conducted in a more secure level of the facility, and Rainbow Dash agreed. The last thing we need is this stuff getting into the facilities airflow. One bottle of Sparkle~Cola is all it would take for this miracle serum to become a disaster. I'll report my findings on the formulas properties tomorrow after a good nights rest. I'm fucking exhausted."

"What do you think that m-means?" Vapour asked, looking up from the terminal to address Icewind more directly.

"Doubt we'll get to find out," Icewind sighed, pointing to something on the screen. "This terminal entry was dates only 26 hours before the bombs fell. I doubt whomever this pony was ever got the chance to record his findings," She glanced down at the mangled corpse of the pony that lay a few feet away from them. "Or leave the room for that matter."

"I suggest we speed this up," I rumbled, pulling their attention over to me. "We still have much work to do."

Moving back out into the hallways, we quickly caught up with Firestreak and the other Enclave soldier, trotting behind them as they rounded another turn in the tunnel. At the end of the new hall, I could see a large set of stairs leading down into the floor below. Almost immediately, my EFS locked onto four hostile signatures as four turrets popped down from the roof and swivelled to aim at us.

Boom!

My tesla cannon fired off a streak of cracking blue energy before the turrets had a chance to fire, its first shot decimating two of the turrets in a single blow. The whole hallway shook as the blast ripped metal from the walls, icicles shaking and a few of the larger ones breaking off and slamming to the floor violently. The Enclave troopers behind me had to swerve out of the way as one icicle suddenly dropped down atop him, almost impaling his head.

“Shit! Hold your fire! Too much force will turn this tunnel into a death trap!” Icewind shouted, ducking into one of the side offices for cover as the two remaining turrets began to open fire on us.

I grunted as I flared my wings as far open as the tunnel would allow me and pushed myself between the turrets and my squad, turning myself into a pony shield as the turrets poured a stream of fire towards us. I felt the bullets slash through my body, ripping open large wounds in my sides.

“Firestreak! C-can you m-melt the ice!?” Vapour asked, pushing himself up next to Icewind. “Make it so it w-we won’t get impaled if we fire our guns?!”

“That’s a lot of fucking ice to melt! And I’m a little low on flamer fuel after my fight with the Maulwurf!” Firestreak shot back, her head darting about as she tried to assess the situation. “I’ve only got enough left for one fight!”

There was a loud beeping sound as six more turrets popped down from the ceiling, this time behind us. I heard the Enclave troopers give off a shout of warning, blasting up and destroying one with his Novesurge rifle before he was forced to dive for cover.

As the sound of gunfire continued to echo down the halls, a new noise began to make its way into my cybernetic ears. At first it started as just a faint scratching sound, but then it began to grow as more and more scratching noises began to join in on its haunting chorus. Wails began to billow down from the hallway we’d come from, a high pitched and tortured cry. I turned my head, watching as some of the frozen corpses began pulling themselves from the ground, their mangled hooves twisting in awkward angles as they shuffled towards us.

“What the fuck!” The Enclave pony I didn’t know shouted, whipping around and firing a few blasts of magical energy into one of the approaching ghouls. “I thought you said those things were dead!?”

“I thought they fucking were!” Firestreak shouted back, taking to the air and doing a quick spin to avoid being shot down by the turrets. She hesitated for a moment, looking down at the shambling horde of ghouls as more began spilling into the hallway behind us. “I’m still not picking any life signs up on my HUD!?”

“Well they’re clearly fucking walking!” Icewind hissed, her rifle blowing the head off one of the ghouls. Its head burst apart upon impact as if it had been frozen in liquid nitrogen.

One of the frozen ghouls lunged forward with shocking speed, grappling onto the back of the Enclave troopers beside me, its jagged teeth gnawing at the metal power armour that enclosed them. Three more rushed me, their hooves lashing at my sides and cutting deep gouges into the exposed parts of my hide. I knocked one to the side with a rough swing of my fore hoof, crushing its throat and causing it to gasp desperately on the ground as it tried to draw air through its broken throat.

Vapour ducked back behind the doorway as the two turrets by the stairwell peppered the wall beside him with gunfire. He dipped back out, trying to aim a shot at the turret, only to be forced back as a frozen ghoul began flailing at him.

More blasts from the turrets made their way past my defenses, piercing my hide. I grit my teeth as the feeling of my flesh patching itself together began to itch its way across my body. “Enough of this,” My horn flared, shooting beams of light at the two turrets in front of me. They exploded in a burst of shrapnel as the deadly beams lashed through them.

The tunnel shook again as the turrets detonated, more icicles dropping down from the ceiling. I gave a loud howl of pain as one particularly large icicle skewered my left wing, ripping through flesh and feathers and pinning it to the ground.

I scowled, violently ripping my wing from the ground with a loud fleshy, tearing sound. Blood splattered against the white, ice coated walls and I could feel the liquid crimson dripping down my body begin to crystallize in the subzero temperature of the hallway.

“Into the stairwell!” I roared, knocking the two ghouls still grasping to my form off and maneuvering myself to face towards the five turrets behind me that were still firing round after round of bullets into my body. Whatever programming these turrets had been given, they had clearly addressed me as the primary threat. They were right.

My subordinates didn’t need to be told twice. They scampered around my massive hooves, making a push for the large entryway into the stairwell, swerving to and fro as dozens of frozen ghouls viciously swiped at them. I backed up a little, following them slightly as more turret fire ripped through my flesh. I glanced back, watching as the last of them darted down the stairwell and out of sight.

All my hairs stood on end as I aimed my tesla cannon up at the ceiling, sending a massive burst of energy out and obliterating the six turrets above us. With a blinding flash of light and tesla energy, I saw cracks begin shooting across the roof. The tunnel shook, more and more jagged icicles slamming downwards as they were shook free from the icy roof. A few ghouls gave loud howls of pain as they were pinned to the ground, crushed beneath the falling ice.

I staggered backwards, trying to keep my hoofing as I felt the entire hallway lurch to the side, the frozen ground slick beneath my hooves. I ducked to my right, narrowly avoiding another chunk of the roof as it collapsed down on me.

More ghouls were beginning to round the corner, attracted by the loud commotion. A few of the closer ones began to rush forwards, throwing their bodies at me, hooves outstretched and maws gaping as if hoping to devour my immense form whole.

I rammed into the first two with my hooves, sending them flying back and crashing into the group charging in behind them. A second later, I let my horn flare to life, blasting blast after blast into the ceiling above the ghouls. I felt the hallway shake more and more with each blast, more and more cracks spider webbing across the frozen, metal surface. One of the ghouls looked up just in time to see one particularly large crack shoot out above them before the whole ceiling collapsed down atop them.

I jumped backwards, trying to reach the door as the roof behind me exploded, metal and ice raining down as a landslide of rock and snow began surging into the tunnel. Massive chunks of ice crashed down onto the ghouls, crushing them and burying the few that hadn’t already been crushed alive.

With one last push of my legs, I threw my whole body forwards, slamming myself into the open doorframe leading into the stairwell. Rock and debris continued to rain down behind me, filling my ears with the booming cacophony of destruction. After a few seconds, I looked up, making out the now fully blocked off and collapsed hallway.

Wincing slightly, I pulled myself up and turned to face the steep set of stairs. I let my red eyes light up, illuminating the otherwise pitch black descent into the lower parts of the Hub. The rest of my subordinates were nowhere in sight.

I began trotting forwards, careful not to slip on the thick sheet of ice that coated the steps. At the bottom of the stairs, I saw a large doorway that had been left ajar, leading out into what appeared to be a larger chamber. Stepping out, I saw my team gathered in the middle of the room, surveying what appeared to be a large octagonal antichamber with the image of a lightning bolt emerging from a stormcloud with dark wings lining the back engraved on the floor. Like the hallway from before, it was covered in a thick layer of ice and frost and icicles hung from the almost cave-like ceiling above. The walls seemed more damaged, large chunks of the chamber having already caved in hundreds of years ago.

Shifting my gaze over to my companions, I noted that they were gathered around the long since burnt out remnants of a campfire and the desecrated remains of five pegasus ponies, their prewar clothing tattered and corroded. Firestreak shifted to look up at me as I slowly pulled myself through the entryway and into the chamber. “Oh good. You survived,” She smirked, gesturing for me to join up with them in the centre of the room.

“Are you surprised?” I mused back, tromping over to stand beside them and awaited further instructions.

Firestreak gave me an amused smirk through her helmet. “Admittedly… no.”

"I h-heard a loud crash?" Vapour asked nervously, glancing at the doorway I had just walked through. "What h-happened up there?"

"Collapsed the tunnel," I replied bluntly, not bothering to elaborate.

Vapours eyes darted from the door to me, then over to Firestreak. "Is that going to make getting out of her a problem?"

Firestreak shook her head. "According to the files we procured, there are multiple passageways connecting the two floors," She gestured over to three other side tunnels that seemed to lead to ascending sets of stairs. "Getting out of here won't be the problem. It's going to be trying to predict where our enemies are going to come from..." she turned back to face Icewind who was currently reading through an old looking journal of some sort that she had picked up off one of the corpses. A few of the ice coated pages seemed to crumble away at her touch. “Well? Get anything?”

Icewind shrugged. “Looks like these ponies got locked down here after the bombs fell and froze to death,” She said, her eyes sweeping over the faded lines of text. “Looks like they were stuck down here for almost two weeks before the cold and hunger overcame them.”

“Oh no. How very unfortunate,” Firestreak drawled sardonically, rolling her eyes. “What about dangers? Did they mention anything about what else we might find down there? I had anticipated the turrets, but I don’t like how those ghouls got the jump on us.”

Icewind flipped another page in the journal, skimming through it as fast as she could. “Well the good news is that they seemed to think those ghouls were exclusively on the top floor,” She noted, tapping a line of poorly scrawled text. “It looks like you were right. Those weren’t normal ghouls. Some sort of pre-war experiment with IMP. Likely the cause of the devastation we saw in the laboratory upstairs. Seems they were looking into how to use IMP to remove radiation contamination and the damage to the facility from the balefire bombs let the test subjects out of their cell.”

“Future dangers, Icewind, get to it!” Firestreak snapped, huffing a little, clearly impatient. “I need to know what lies on the floor below!”

Icewind scanned a few more lines, occasionally going back and reading a sentence again as she tried to decipher the weathered text. “It doesn’t say, it only says that everypony that went down there didn’t come back.”

“Damn. Then we should prepare for the worst and assume that whatever’s down there is still a threat, even two hundred years later,” Firestreak grunted. She looked back up at me. “Horrigan, you’re taking front again.”

I gave another nod. “Understood.”

We began making our way down another side tunnel, leading deeper into the facility. Unlike before, we seemed to be descending at a steep slant. Parts of the tunnel had completely collapsed in on themselves, forcing us to double back and find alternative paths through the facility.

Eventually, we came to the stairs leading down to the bottom floor, only to find it completely blocked off by rubble. Twisted, frozen over skeletal limbs of ponies that had been caught in the collapse jutted out from the debris, as if they had been trying to claw their way to the surface, only for their body to finally give out. Vapour shuttered as he glanced nervously at the broken, protruding limbs. Beside him, Firestreak gave a loud growl as she glared at the collapsed stairwell.

“Damn, W-we’re going t-to need to find another way down,” Vapour stated, kicking at the rubble with his armoured hoof a little. He turned, glancing up at me. “Do you think you can blow a hole in the floor like you did in the donut shop?”

Firestreak raised a hoof, stopping me before I could follow through on the request. “Not unless you want Horrigan to bring this whole place down on top of us,” she looked around, once more reading off the files downloaded into her HUD before pointing down a side hall. “There is an elevator down that way. I doubt it’s functional, but we can probably fly down the shaft.”

I nodded, turning and marching in the aforementioned direction. It didn’t take us long to find the elevator shaft. As Firestreak had predicted, it was completely non operational. I tensed my muscles as I grabbed onto the sliding metal doorway and pried it open. There was a loud screech as the two metal doors slid apart, sparks shooting out around me as I made way for us to enter the shaft.

“The Megaspell Reactor Module should be in the chamber directly beneath us,” Firestreak informed us, letting her wings shoot open. “But likely so will whatever dangers lay in the depths of the facility. According to the files we reclaimed from Stable 13, the bottom floor was where Rainbow Dash kept her most top secret experiments. It will be very well guarded.”

One at a time, we began leaping into the broken elevator shaft. It was a tight fight for me, my wings being too large to fully open within the confined space. Eventually, I gave up on trying to fly and just let myself drop down to the bottom floor. The whole shaft shook violently as my metal hooves impacted with the ground, but thankfully, nothing seemed to collapse.

“Stay on guard,” Firestreak ordered us, her wings beating at her sides as she came in for a landing beside me. “I’m detecting hostiles.”

I activated my thermo vision, scanning the room beyond for any signs of life. Immediately, I picked up on a few signatures. The first was the glowing red outline of some large machine a few rooms away, likely the Megaspell Reactor Module we were searching for. The other four signatures I picked up were smaller and cylindrical in shape, roughly the size of a ponies hoof. And they were moving...

“There is something in the next chamber,” I informed them, my eyes following the four shifting shapes through the walls.

“Any idea what they are?” Icewind asked, readying her Novasurge rifle.

I narrowed my eyes, trying to figure out what they were through the wall. “I’m uncertain,” I admitted. “The heat signatures don’t appear to be pony or even mutie in shape. I suspect some form of robot. I seem to have just picked up the heat signature from their energy source. I cannot determine their actual shape.”

“Then let’s deal with them now,” Firestreak ordered, readying her own weapons. “The longer we wait, the more time that Stable mare and her Dashites have to catch up with us.”

Giving a quick signal of understanding, I turned to the closed doorway leading out of the elevator shaft. I reared back for a moment, before slamming forwards, sending the two pieces of the doorway flying outwards with a loud bang.

Immediately, I heard a loud whirring sound as the four massive Ultra-Sentinels in the middle of the room spun on their gargantuan tank-like treds and locked in on us, the hulking rocket launchers built into each of them making a loud clunking noise as their rockets clicked into place. The large robots were almost tank like in appearance, each one standing almost 9 feet in the air. They were each equipped with two massive arm-like energy cannons on each side and a massive rocket launcher protruded from what one could only consider a shoulder. They were painted a pale cyan blue in colour with rainbow streaks running down many of the metal plating that comprised their armour, clearly designed to resemble the minister mare who developed them, though the paint had long since begun to peel away, revealing the frost covered steel beneath.

Firestreak gave a loud shout of worry from beside me as all four fired off their massive rocket launchers towards us in unison. “Scatter!”

I dove to the side, fire exploding out behind me as the rockets detonated, rocking the chamber and threatening to collapse the whole facility down atop us. I heard the Enclave troopers I didn’t know give a scream of pain as the explosives tore through his body, blasting apart his hind legs and leaving him thrashing on the floor in pain, blood seeping from her mangled body.

My wings burst open as I shot up into the air, my mechanical eyes darting back and forth as I tried to assess the situation. Thankfully, the chamber was large enough to allow for flight, with a remarkably high ceiling. Below me, I could see my team darting back and forth in the air, blasting away at the massive machines with their rifles while doing their best not to be ripped to shreds as the Ultra-Sentinels unleashed a torrent of rainbow coloured beams in their directions from the large energy cannons on their sides.

I snapped my wings together and dove downwards, my hooves flashing out and slamming down atop one of the Sentinels, simultaneously letting my tesla cannon fire off an arching beam of crackling energy into another one across the room. The blast from my cannon ripped the arm off of the sentinel, sending chunks of metal and circuitry bursting out like shrapnel. Beneath me, I felt the metal plating of the Ultra-Sentinel dent, but the large robot seemed to just shrug it off, whipping around and throwing me from it’s back.

Across from me, Icewind flashed through the air, her Novesurge rifle blasting shot after shot into the assailing robots. Most of her shots refracted harmlessly off its impressive armor, but one shot seemed to make its mark, blasting out some of the circuitry within. She gave a loud yelp and had to duck backwards as one of the Ultra-Sentinels suddenly rushed at her, its arm-like energy cannons swinging and attempting to ram her to the ground.

I pulled myself up, shaking off the flecks of ice that clung to my coat and feathers before snarling and letting my Tesla cannon charge up again. The Sentinel that had thrown me to the side spun around to face me, another rocket clicking into place. Not waiting to let it fire, I sent a blast of energy careening towards it, blasting apart a section of its metal plating. The Sentinel lurched back, its rocket going wide as its whole body was sent reeling.

Firestreak ducked out of the way as the rocket I sent off course detonated near her, nearly blowing off one of her wings. “Hey! Watch it! Some of us are a little more fragile!”

“Horrigan! The fusion cores!” Icewind shouted, drawing my attention over to her as she dipped and weaved through the air. “Aim for those!”

I nodded, reactivating my thermo vision. Immediately, the same small cylinders of heat I had seen before popped up in my vision, outlining the four fusion cores lying exposed on each of the Ultra-Sentinels backs. Dodging another torrent of rainbow coloured blasts from the nearest Sentinel, I let my horn flare with life, sending out four blazing beams of glowing green energy. The beams weaved through the air, wrapping around the room to face behind the Sentinels before plunging into their backs, skewering the fusion cores.

{{Error… Error… System malfunction}} One of the Ultra-Sentinels began beeping, its body trembling as I poured another round of energy into its body. I flapped my wings, lifting myself up into the air as all four of the large tank-like robots began to shake, their metal heating up and beginning to glow a bright orange. {{Overload detected. Initiating destruction}}

“Shit, they’re going to blow!” Firestreak shouted, her wings flapping as she dove for a doorway at the far side of the room. “Get out now!”

“What about Lemonheart!” Vapour shouted, nervously glancing down at the still struggling form of the Enclave pegasus that had had his lower half decimated in the initial blast. They were still desperately clinging to life, dragging their mangled form towards the far doorway, trailing blood and entrails behind them.

“Leave them! That’s an order!” Firestreak shouted back, quickly ducking through the door and out of sight. Vapour and Icewind exchanged a quick, knowing glance before quickly following behind her.

I hesitated for a moment, glancing back and forth between the rapidly beeping Ultra-Sentinels and the doorway. Finally, I dared to look over at the badly wounded Enclave soldier, still desperately trying to make it to safety. He wasn’t going to make it in time.

“Please… He-help me…” he gasped, blood trickling out from under his helmet.

“You served the Enclave well,” I rumbled, taking a step back towards the doorway. “But I have my orders.”

I quickly pulled away from him, leaving him alone in the room as I ducked into the doorway and into the room beyond. Icewind was waiting on the other side of the door for me and quickly pushed a button on a terminal the moment I was through, slamming the door shut. Not a second later, I could feel the whole facility shake as a booming explosion echoed around us. Flames licked at the sides of the doorway and bits of dust and debris collapsed down around us as the walls shook.

A moment later, there was silence. My EFS picked up no signs of life in the previous chamber.

“Fuck… I feel like every room just gets darker,” Firestreak muttered from behind me, surveying the new chamber.

I turned around to try to make out the new room. Even with our power armour headlamps on, the chamber was remarkably dark. The red glow from my eyes illuminated a large blinking device in the centre of the chamber. Long wires trialed off from the machine, leading into the shadows of the room beyond and multiple pistons silently continued to pump, even after all these years. A small metal cylinder protruded from the centre of the device, ringed by a small circle of blinking green lights.

“Looks like we hit the jackpot,” Firestreak smirked, flapping her wings a little and swooping over to the device. She pushed a button on the side of the machine, watching with satisfaction as the metal clamps around the cylinder released with a hiss of steam before reaching forwards and removing the cylinder from the machine.

“That’s the Balefire Reactor Module?” Vapour asked, looking the small cylinder in Firestreaks hoof over curiously. It’s so small.”

“It is,” Firestreak soothed, looking the small device over greedily before placing it gently within her saddlebag. “Don’t let its size fool you though. This thing could power a whole city for near hundred years alone.”

“And should be powerful enough to fuel our teleportation device into the Single Pegasus Project,” Icewind added. “Now come on. We need to go. The longer we wait around, the more time the Stable Mare has to catch up.”

Firestreak held up a hoof, signaling for Icewind to slow down. “Not yet. We aren’t done here.”

Icewind snarled. “What do you mean we aren’t done here? We have what we want.”

“There’s a secondary objective,” I rumbled stoically, recounting the small piece of information that Thunderbolt had told me the day before.

Icewind glanced at me in confusion. “A secondary objective? What?”

“Vapour, go see if you can turn the lights in here on,” Firestreak ordered, turning away from Icewind and I for a moment. Vapour gave a quick salute before swooping off into the darkness. Firestreak returned her attention to us. “There is something else here in this facility that is necessary for the Enclave’s prolonged victory. Without it, history will only repeat.”

“Prolonged victory? Is reclaiming the sky and the cloudlayer not good enough?” Icewind asked, still clearly confused as to what Firestreak was alluding to.

Firestreak gave a smug shake of her head, her eyes darting back and forth behind her visor as she began reading some files that she popped up on her HUD. “We underestimated the ponies of the wasteland the first time. Our victory was assured, and yet a single mare managed to destroy our forces, obliterate the cloudlayer and disband a majority of the Enclave. That cannot be allowed to happen again. Now that the ponies of the wasteland have had a taste of the sun, if it were to be taken away again, they would fight back. And that is not something the Enclave is currently in a position to combat.”

“F-found it!” Vapour’s voice shouted from the darkness of the chamber. A second later, there was a loud humming sound as dozens of overhead lights flickered to life, filling the room with a clinical white glow.

Now with the lights buzzing away, we could make out the massive walls of the chamber. Dozens upon dozens of looming metal silos lined the walls, each one connected to the centre device by long wires. Large metal apertures were built into the roof of the chamber, each one directly above the many silos.

I saw both Icewind and Vapour give gasps of surprise as they looked up at the imposing, monolithic towers around them. Icewind seemed to shrink back, her eyes turning to pinpricks beneath her helmet. “This isn’t just a facility is it…? This is a fucking megaspell missile silo…” She whipped back around to glare at Firestreak, her awe rapidly changing to horror. “This is the secondary objective! There are… Goddesses, there are enough megaspells stored down here to wipe out Equestria a second time!”

I glanced down at Firestreak myself, only to see the same surprise reflected in her eyes. “I… no... We had no idea these were down here…” Firestreak breathed. “The files from Stable 13 said nothing about…” She cut herself off, staring up at the massive missile silos around us. I counted at least fifty at a quick glance, but there were possibly more, hidden elsewhere within the facility. “Vapour! Can we redirect these to be activatable from the oil rig!?” There was a noticeable excitement rising in her voice.

Vapour glanced around nervously, rubbing his forehooves together as if he was unsure if he should answer or not. “I-I s-suppose we could, y-y-yeah… But w-we wouldn’t u-u-use these, right?”

Firestreak just ushered him towards the central machine. “Irrelevant. This kind of firepower would give the Enclave a level of leverage we haven’t had since…” She paused again, her mind racing as she tried to remember the last time the Enclave had held such an advantage. “Ever, I suppose. Now get to work! I want the override for these in the hooves of colonel Thunderbolt immediately!”

Icewind quickly pushed her way in front of them, wedging herself in the way of their path to the central device. “No. We leave these here! Thunderbolt doesn’t know about these, and he doesn’t need to. These megaspells can do no good!”

“Step aside Icewind. Do not make me ask you twice,” Firestreak growled, the tip of her flamer flickering to life.

Icewind stepped back, but she didn’t move out of the way. She glanced past Firestreak at Vapour, holding his gaze for a second. “Vapour, listen to me. This cannot end well for anypony and you know it.”

“You’re beginning to sound an awful lot like a Dashite again,” Firestreak hissed, taking another step forward. “You’ve been on thin ice all day Icy. Don’t give me a reason to have you branded a second time.”

“Icewind. Step aside,” I rumbled, glaring down at her from where I stood a few steps away.

Her resolve seemed to crumble under my intense glare. She took a deep breath before finally stepping back, letting Firestreak and Vapour pass. She glanced over at me, her expression hollow.

“Vapour, redirect the overrides to the oil rig. Horrigan, Icy, We still have an objective to secure. Follow me,” Firestreak ordered, leaving Vapour to do his job as she continued to lead us further and further into the massive chamber.

Icewind and I walked side by side behind her as we stalked forwards. I looked down at Icewind, watching her carefully as she trudged along with her head held low, her eyes darting back and forth as we continued to pass missile silo after missile silo. I could see worry and doubt flickering across her face, even through the enclosed helmet.

Finally, Firestreak came to a stop at a small door that led off into a side office. When the door proved to be locked, she bashed it open with a loud kick from her armoured hooves.

Inside was nothing particularly extravagant. A simple, frost covered desk lay on its side against one wall, two of its legs broken and a single, office chair lay crooked in the centre of the room. Against the far wall, locked behind a pane of glass, was some sort of green, alchemical substance contained within a strong looking glass vial. The golden label plastered to its side read: ‘IMP Dash-13’.

“The fuck is that?” Icewind asked, trotting over and peering through the glass pane at the green substance. “Some sort of improved IMP sample?” She glanced back at Firestreak. "This is what they were working on upstairs, wasn't it? That's why you were so interested."

“IMP Dash-13,” Firestreak informed her, ignoring the second half of her question and grinning at the small vial of sloshing fluid. She tapped a few keys on a terminal beside the glass, causing the pane to slide away with a loud hiss, leaving the small vial exposed. “Developed by the Ministry of Awesome in secret close to the end of the war as a failsafe in the event of balefire annihilation. It was ultimately developed to rid the entire world of pony-based mutants, regardless of the degree of mutation. To separate and cleanse Equestria of the pony-made atrocities that had, even back then, begun to litter the landscape. Fortunately for us, the project was never fully completed, leaving it in a state where any pony with even the smallest traces of radiation that isn’t inoculated to the virus will die several hours after contact.”

I saw Icewind’s eyes narrow behind her visor. “That could wipe out all life in the wasteland if in the wrong hooves… Colonel Thunderbolt approved of this?”

“He suggested it,” Firestreak retorted calmly. “The wasteland has proven that they won’t back down without a fight. Bringing back the cloudlayer is just the beginning. Doctor knife Slit has been working on a device to dispense the virus into the air, letting Equestria’s jet streams take care of transmission; given enough time, these air currents will carry the virus across the globe. Within a few years, we could see Equestria removed completely of radiation and taint. Free of mutant abominations. We’re going to save the world, Icewind.”

“By killing every creature on the surface…” Icewind breathed back, disbelief in her voice. “That’s insane and you know it!”

Firestreak sneered, her excited tone suddenly shifting to a much more imposing one. “There is only one way we will ever truly have peace in our time.”

Silence followed. There was a tense moment where no pony moved. I let my eyes shift back and forth from Icewind to Firestreak. I could see their bodies shifting, their eyes locked in a tense staring contest to see who would back down first. Even through her armour, I could see every muscle in Icewinds body locking up and tensing.

Finally, Icewind gave a long, deep sigh, her muscles relaxing. “You know I can’t let that happen…”

Faster than my eyes could follow, Icewind shot forwards, her hind hooves kicking into Firestreak’s face as her head snapped forwards, her mouth clamping down tight around the small vial. She beat her wings hard, pushing off from the wall and making a dash for the exit of the room.

Firestreak roared, her flamer spewing a blazing stream of flaming napalm. She whipped around, rushing after Icewind. “Horrigan! Stop her!”

I lurched into motion, my powerful hooves pounding against the frost coated ground as I lunged after Icewind. Icewind gave a loud yelp, swerving in the air to avoid a strike from one of my massive hooves as I tried to bat her out of the air.

The burning blast of fire shot past me as Firestreak dove after us, the searing heat catching the tips of Icewind’s wing feathers ablaze. Icewind abruptly shot upwards above us, swooping out into the massive missile silo area, her body spinning rapidly in the air to put out the flames.

I shot up into the air after her, my horn bursting to life as I sent a lasso of energy out towards the fleeing pegasus. Icewind thrashed in the air as she felt the tendrils of energy coil around her, but she could do little as I magically ripped her from the air and sent her hurtling back towards the ground. She managed to wriggle herself around and free her wings just fast enough to slow her descent before she slammed into the floor. I heard a loud crunch as one of her fore hooves snapped under her as she collided with the ground.

Before Firestreak or I could close in on her, Icewind stumbled back to her hooves, gritting her teeth against the pain and making another dash for the far side of the room. Her broken forehoof buckled and she cantered to the side, desperate to stay upright.

“Firestreak, I m-managed to redirect the megaspell cont-trols to the Enclave oil rig and-” Vapour Trail started, only to pull up short, his eyes widening as he saw Icewind staggering towards him, Firestreak and I in close pursuit.

Firestreak flashed above my head, shooting over where Icewind was still limping for the exit and slammed down beside Vapour, her imposing, power armoured form shifting to block Icewind off from her escape. “Halt traitor!” She spat, her voice a strange combination of disdain and smug amusement. “Relinquish the vial or die a Dashite!”

Icewind staggered to a stop, her eyes frantically glancing back and forth between the three of us. Her gaze settled on Vapour, who was still staring at her with wide eyes, confusion sprawled across his face. “They’re trying to wipe out life in the wasteland, Vapour!” Icewind spat out desperately. “They’re going to kill everypony!”

“Silence, traitor!” Firestreak seethed. “I should have known you were going to do this. Once a Dashite, always a Dashite!”

“I did more for the Enclave than you ever will!” Icewind screamed back. I could hear the tears forming in her eye in the inflection of her voice. Her whole body trembled as she took a step back from the two Enclave ponies. “I gave up everything for the Enclave! Everything! My life! My cutie mark! I knew the Enclave sometimes pushed the boundaries of right and wrong, but I still let them brand me because I truly believed what they were doing, despite its faults, was for the betterment of pony kind! But this!” She held up the small vial of green fluid before gesturing to the collection of megaspell silos around us. “This is taking it too far! It has to stop!”

“I-Icewind…” Vapour started, worry prevalent in his eyes. “D-Don’t do this. I’m sure the Enclave knows what they’re doing. We just need to t-t-trust in their plan, like they always told us t-to.”

Icewind stared at him for a long moment, her eyes flicking over him, clearly trying to get a solid read on him. “The Enclave knows damn well what it’s doing, Vapour,” she spun around and looked at me, giving me a clear view of the terrified look in her eyes. “Horrigan, please. Don’t let them do this. Skylight gave up everything because she realized what the Enclave was doing was wrong. You want your proof that she was right? You want proof the Enclave was more than willing to manufacture the Cloud Seeding Rebellion to boost their own image? Here’s your fucking proof.”

I stared down at her for a long moment, letting her words filter through me. Finally, I took an advancing step forward, looming over her. “I was ordered to put you down if you got in the way of the objective. Stand down or die.”

I could see Icewind’s whole body go slack at my words. She stared up at me defiantly, her ears folded back against her skull. “So I suppose you’ve decided who you really are then, Horrigan? Just the lapdog of the Enclave?”

I gave a loud snort, causing a burst of steam to escape my helmet's ventilator. “I serve. I always have.”

“My patience is up, Dashite,” Firestreak snarled, her flamer shooting out a small burst of flame, searing the air inches in front of Icewinds face. “Your time is up. Horrigan, kill h-”

She was cut off as the intercom on her helmet gave a loud beep. “Commander! We’ve got a problem!” A voice cracked to life over the radio. I recognized the static filled voice as the voice of the Enclave soldier Firestreak had left guard at the entrance to the facility.

“This is a bad time,” Firestreak scowled, placing her hoof on her helmet's intercom. “What is it, Honeydew?”

“It’s the Stable mare and her Dashites! They’re here and-” Their voice cut out for a second as the sound of shouting and gunfire filled the intercom. “I can’t stop.. Fuck! Prepare for a fight! They’re coming your way!” There was a loud bang of a rifle on the other end of the intercom before it cut to static and went dead.

Firestreak grit her teeth, her eyes darting back and forth. “Shit… not now!” Her head snapped to the side, pointing at Vapour. “Vapour, you’re with me. We cannot let the Stable Mare and her Dashites prevent us from leaving with our objectives. Horrigan, kill Icewind,” With that, Firestreak flapped her wings and shot up into the air, swooping out of the room.

Vapour hesitated for a second, looking from Firestreak to Icewind. Finally, he gave Icewind a concerned look. “Please be safe. Don’t make the wrong choice,” He muttered, his voice so low even my enhanced hearing almost didn’t pick it up. Then he kicked off into the air and followed after Firestreak.

Icewind watched him leave for a second before slowly shifting back around to face me, cautiously backing away. “Horrigan, you don’t have to do this. What the Enclave is doing is wrong and you know it!”

“The Enclave has ordered your execution,” I replied bluntly, ignoring her plea. “And I will obey!”

Icewind barely had time to jump out of the way as my hulking tesla cannon flared with light and sent a beam of explosive energy hurtling towards her. She gave a loud gasp of pain as she landed roughly on her injured leg, before flapping her wings and shooting up into the air.

“Horrigan, please! I know you’re better than this!” She shouted down, doing an abrupt swerve in the air as I sent another blast chasing after her.

Instead of responding, I shot up into the air towards her. The ground cratered under the immense strength of my hooves as I kicked off from the ground. I flashed towards her, my large hooves ramming into her chest and sending her careening to the side. Icewind’s body slammed hard against the side of one of the missile silos, the impact knocking the breath from her lungs. She looked up just in time to see me send another searing blast of arching tesla energy her way. She frantically beat her wings, dashing out of the way of the blast as the massive shockwave of energy crashed into the silo.

“Careful you idiot! One wrong move and you could cause this whole place to blow sky high!” She snapped back at me, dipping to the side as another violent swing of my hoof nearly crushed in her skull.

I lurched to the side, intercepting her mid air as she tried to swoop around me. My bulk collided with her, sending both of us rapidly spiralling towards the ground. Icewind kicked off of my chest, her wings shooting open as she tried to make another beeline for the exit. Before she could get far, my bladed tail flashed out, coiling around her midsection and slamming her roughly against the ground.

She twisted around in my tails constrictive grip, her saddle mounted nova-surge rifle flaring with prismatic light as she sent several beams of burning magical energy slashing across my body. I scowled, taking the hits as I swung my hoof forwards, cracking her heavily across the head in an attempt to pummel her into submission.

“Give me the virus,” I growled, my tail lurching backwards and hoisting Icewind up into the air.

“Go fuck yourself Horrigan,” Icewind shot back as one of her hind hooves squirmed their way out of the grip of my tail, giving her enough wiggle room to kick off from me again and break free of my grapple.

I scowled, thundering forward as Icewind shot back up into the air, the pounding of my hooves causing the whole chamber to tremble. I saw Icewind twist around in the air, aiming herself to face me just long enough to send five more beams of prismatic energy directly at my face, the flaring blasts repeatedly bursting against my visor.

I veered to the side, my vision blinded with the searing lights of the blasts. I thrashed blindly in the air, hoping to strike her down before she made it to the door. My hooves met only empty air. Feeling fury building up inside me, I let loose a booming roar of rage. My tesla cannon flared with light as I began blinding blasting around me, sending crackling bolts of magical energy flashing in every direction. I could feel the powerful ripples of the explosive shockwaves as each blast detonated.

Somewhere in front of me, I heard Icewind give a loud yelp of pain. I shook my head as my vision began to clear, spotting Icewind collapsed against the doorway, painfully dragging herself back to her hooves. She had avoided a direct hit from my tesla cannon, but the coinciding shockwave had knocked her from the air, the left side of her power armour steaming and ripped apart where the rippling wave of force had slammed into her. Her helmet had been tossed aside, revealing her blue hide and messed up, multi-toned mane.

She glared back at me, a trickle of blood dripping down the side of her bruised face. She spat a wad of blood from her mouth and pulled herself back up to face me, the vial of IMP Dash-13 held tight in her hoof.

“Alright Horrigan, this is how this is going to go. I can’t beat you. I’m not stupid enough to think I even have a chance, so you’re going to let me go or I’m going to smash this! Then the Enclave can say goodbye to their precious little genocide serum,” Icewind scowled. She placed the vial on the ground and raised her hoof, poising it to slam down and shatter the vial at a moments notice. “Something tells me that your mutated body isn’t going to be a very big fan of an airborne virus designed to eradicate mutations. I reckon we would both be dead within the hour.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” I shot back, taking a step forward.

In response, Icewind lurched downwards with her hoof slightly, making me pause. “Try me.”

I flinched slightly at the motion, my eyes transfixed on the small vial resting below her hoof. “Why did you have to go Dashite, Icewind,” I spat, glaring daggers at her. “We could have simply secured the objective as we were ordered to and left. This didn’t need to get complicated.”

“I had hoped the Enclave was better than this,” Icewind hissed back. “Clearly I was mistaken. Just use your head, Horrigan. It doesn’t take a fucking scientist to see that all of this is wrong. You’re always saying that the Enclave has Equestria’s best interests at heart. Does this really seem like the best thing for pony kind? Genocide?!” she gestured to the small vial beneath her.

A resounding boom echoed down from the floor above signalling that Firestreak and Vapour had most likely engaged the Stable mare and her companions in combat. I glanced upwards, my thoughts briefly shifting to Skylight. With any luck, she had taken my advice and didn’t come.

I returned my gaze to Icewind, my eyes narrowing as I took another step forward. “We would be saving ponies from the filth of the wasteland. I’m sure Colonel Thunderbolt knows what he’s doing. He would never needlessly put the lives of innocent ponies in danger.”

“Listen to yourself. You’re just justifying what the Enclave does with no consideration for if what you’re saying is actually true. What if you’re wrong? What if Thunderbolt has been lying to you just like the Enclave lied to you about the Cloud Seeding Rebellion?”

“We don’t know that they lied!” I shot back, anger rising in my voice. Just the mention of the rebellion caused pangs of rage to course through my body. “Perhaps Skylight was wrong. Perhaps she misunderstood the information. And so what if the Enclave did create the rebellion?! They were right to villainies going below the clouds, weren’t they! We went below the clouds and look at what happened!”

Icewind’s hard glare softened somewhat as she looked at me with her sad, distant gaze. “Do you really believe that Horrigan? You would support the Enclave, even if you knew they killed your own mother?”

I could feel my body trembling as the implications of the question washed over me. Duty, honor, courage, obedience… at what point does virtue change to vice. For the first time since I had awoken in my new body, I was thankful for the icy helmet that obscured my face, because the last thing that I wanted was for Icewind to see the tears that streaked my face.

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” I said sternly, taking a final step towards Icewind, my trepidation shifting into a steely resolve. I could hide the tears, but I couldn’t hide the tremble in my voice. “My mother is gone. There is no undoing what has been done.”

Faster than Icewind could react, my horn flared to life and a burst of magic erupted around the glass vial. Icewind reacted too slow, slamming her hoof down only for her strike to rebound off my powerful magical barrier, sending her skidding backwards a few steps. My magical aura scooped up the vial, sending it hurtling and spinning through the air towards me until it came to a rest in front of my face.

“No!” Icewind’s scream echoed throughout the chamber as she madly dashed towards me, stumbling on her broken leg, her hooves outstretched to grab onto the vial.

Before she could make it far, my tesla cannon flared, sending an arching blast of light straight into her chest. The blast exploded against her body, ripping apart the front of her armour and sending her limp from flying back several feet through the doorway into the smaller chamber beyond. I felt a spray of blood splatter across my visor as the front half of her torso was blasted open.

I stood there for a moment, heaving, staring into the darkness that her body had been thrown into, before returning my gaze to the small vial. It had to be done… my thoughts echoed inside my head. There is no going back.

I popped a small metal compartment open on the side of my armour and slid the vial snuggly into it before letting it slide shut once more. Stealing myself, I strode out of the missile silo chamber, my blood red vision sweeping back and forth as I tried to locate Icewind’s mangled corpse.

My eyes landed on the smoldering remains of Icewind’s power armour, one side dented inwards and the front half ripped to shreds. It lay in a large pool of blood, black in the dim lighting of the chamber. I reached a hoof out, rolling the steaming armour over. It was empty.

My head shot up, glancing around the room. Immediately, my enhanced vision picked up on the trail of blood leading from the abandoned armour to the broken down elevator shaft. Scowling, I charged forwards, the large pauldrons on my shoulders crashing against the sides of the elevator entryway and smashing them apart. I let my wings open up in the confined space, jump upwards through the shaft towards the second floor. My hoof caught onto the ledge of the floor above, allowing me to hoist the rest of my body upwards.

As soon as I scrambled my way onto the second floor, my thermo vision clicked in, illuminating the still warm trail of blood that trailed across the floor. Scowling, I prowled forwards, my eyes sweeping back and forth as I stayed alert for any traps or ambushes Icewind might have hastily through together.

I rounded another corner, my glowing eyes the only light cutting through the thick gloom. I saw the trail of blood shift from moving down the main hallway into one of the side rooms. My advanced EFS quickly locked onto a single target inside the small room, curled up in one of the corners, clearly trying to tend to their rather serious wounds.

I felt a grim smile that I in no way felt etch its way across my face. “Found you,” My tesla cannon began to charge up, locking in on my target through the wall.

“Horrigan…”

My rapidly beating heart went still. I whipped around, suddenly coming face to face with Skylight as she stood behind me in the hallway, her magical energy rifle already aimed and ready to fire at me at a moment's notice. I felt my whole body lock up as I stared down at her, my mind temporarily going blank. Breathing suddenly became hard. She took a nervous step back under my intense glare, but she didn’t seem to back down.

“You shouldn’t be here,” I rumbled, my blood red eyes burning into hers. I took a step away from the room Icewind was hiding behind, advancing towards Skylight. “I told you not to come. Whatever you hope to accomplish here, I assure you, you will fail. There is no stopping the Enclave. Not anymore.”

“I told you I couldn’t do that,” She said back, her voice quiet. “We can’t let the Enclave reestablish the cloud layer. Even if that means I’m going to have to go through you.”

I took a deep breath, trying to settle my racing nerves. “I made you a promise... Had you heeded my advice, you might have survived. But that chance has come and gone. Time to die…”

Before I could fire off a blast from my cannon, a loud clinking sound echoed down the hallway behind me. I turned my head just in time to see a small metal apple with a bright blue band on it rolling down the hallway to stop between my hooves.

“Sorry Horrigan,” Skylight muttered, taking another step back. “But I figured you’d say that.”

Boom!

Skylight dove backwards as a massive jolt of electricity surged up around me and the EMP grenade detonated between my hooves. My power armour locked up and I felt all of the cybernetics in my body temporarily shut down. I gave a roar of rage, desperately thrashing about as I tried to break free from the sudden paralysis, but to my growing horror, my body failed to move.

Out of the corner of my vision, I saw the Dashite Misty Cloud fluttering down the hallway out of the darkness, a sash of EMP grenades dangling from her chest. “Looks like you were right, Sky. EMP grenades lock him down.”

I gave another bellowing roar, violently trying to slam my body towards them. I felt my knee jerk slightly and I managed to lunge forwards a step before the locking mechanisms on my armour clamped shut again, immobilizing me once more.

Skylight and Misty Cloud jumped back at my sudden advance, keeping their guns trained on me. “Alright, what’s the plan, Skylight?”

“We need to get to the bottom floor. We have to stop them before they get their hooves on the Balefire Reactor Module.”

A hollow laugh built up in my throat at her words. “You’re too late for that,” I growled between clenched teeth. “We have what we came for. Now all you and your mutie bastard friends are going to face the consequences of opposing the Enclave.”

“The Balefire Reactor isn’t your biggest concern,” Another voice rasped from behind me. Both the Dashites looked over to see Icewind shakily pulling herself from the side room, her hoof held tightly to her chest to stop the stream of blood that poured down her front and her body leaning heavily against the wall for support. “It’s what Horrigan has on him that you’ve really got to fear.”

Both Dashites immediately shifted their weapons to aim at Icewind, their expressions a mix of shock and fear, but Icewind quickly raised her one free hoof in surrender. “I’m on your guys’ side. Trust me. The Enclave is planning to unleash a virus on the wasteland. We need to get that vial off of Horrigan before he gets it back to the oil rig.”

“Traitor!” I roared, using every last ounce of strength I had to lurch to the side again. My body managed to shift a few feet towards Icewind, making her flinch backwards. I could feel a burning sense of betrayal broiling inside of me. How dare Icewind turn on me like this! After everything the Enclave had done for her! “You will pay for betraying the Enclave!”

“I already paid that price,” Icewind shot back, steeling herself as she trotted over to my side and pried open the metal side compartment I had stored the IMP Dash-13 virus within. “And I have no intention of letting everypony in the wasteland pay that price as well.”

“Sorry Horrigan. I wish this could have gone differently,” Skylight told me sadly, watching me closely as Icewind extracted the vial. “But you knew it had to be this way.”

I felt the electric tension keeping my bladed tail taut slacken. A grim snarl formed on my peeled lips. “Indeed.”

My tail abruptly lashed out, slashing Icewind across the side. She gave a loud shout of pain, staggering back from the force of the impact, the vial of IMP now tight in her grasp.

“Shit!” Misty swore, stumbling backwards and frantically reaching for another EMP grenade. At the same moment, I felt my hooves break free from the suspension and I dove forwards, my whole body ramming violently into Misty, sending her staggering backwards.

I whipped around, my fore hooves flashing upwards through the air to deflect a shot from one of Skylights’ blasts as she took to the air, sending beams of deadly light down towards me. My horn glowed, wrapping her wings in an aura of my magic and tensing, causing her to sag in the air and crash down violently to the ground.

Icewind fired another blast of energy into my side, by I weathered the shot, lunging forwards and ramming her against the wall, my tesla cannon aimed at her head. “You are going to give me the vial!”

Misty Cloud hammered into me from the side, allowing Icewind to break free and duck out of the way as my tesla cannon blasted an explosive beam of energy into the wall where her head had been, bursting open the concrete structure and sending pieces of debris flying in every direction. I reeled on Misty, my hooves slamming against her sides and knocking her back, only for Skylight to dive at me, the beams of her Magical energy rifle slashing away at the exposed hide on my fore hooves.

My tail flashed out, batting Skylight to the side as I dove for Icewind again. Before I could reach her, Misty tossed another EMP grenade, the metal explosive clattering and tumbling across the floor in my direction. I jumped back, my horn flaring as I erected a magical barrier between myself and the explosive.

The Dashites scattered as the apple grenade bounded back towards them. Skylight dove at Misty, wrapping her arms around her front and sending the two of them tumbling down the hall and out of range of the EMP before it could lock up their own armour. The hall flared with light as the grenade detonated, bolts of electricity crackling out and racing up the walls.

With a howl of anger, my horn pulsed again, sending the created magical barrier slamming towards the Dashites. The powerful field of magical energy rammed into Icewind, sending her sprawling across the floor. Skylight lunged out of the way, ducking into one of the side rooms as the wall of force crashed towards her.

Another round of magical energy blasts scored my hide as Misty pulled herself back to her hooves, her rifle flaring as she tried to find some weak spot in my defences. I powered towards her, my hooves thundering loudly against the floor and my eyes flashing dangerously in the darkness. She ducked under the first swing of my hoof, only for my lashing tail to collide heavily with her chest, sending her flailing to the ground with a resounding thud.

I whipped around just in time to see Icewind and Skylight take to the air, swerving back and forth to avoid the lethal slashes of my tail. My vision locked in on Icewind again, my tesla cannon charging up to blast her from the air.

Icewind abruptly lurched to her right, narrowly avoiding the blast as the arching tesla energy blasted into the ceiling, blowing a hole in the roof leading to the floor above. I dove backwards as the rock and debris from the top floor began crashing down towards me, sending massive chunks of frozen cement slamming into the ground. I felt the whole facility shake as the detonation threatened to collapse the whole structure.

Skylight rammed her armoured hooves against the back of my head, causing me to stagger forwards. My tail swung at her, its long, bladed end rending open the side of her armour and slashing a long gash into her flesh. She dove backwards, trying to avoid another strike from the bladed tail, only for my whole body to whirl around and ram into her, pinning her to the floor with my powerful fore hooves.

“Skylight!” Misty Cloud screamed, staggering back towards me, blasting shot after shot into my hide as I loomed over Skylight. “Let her go!”

I placed my massive hoof atop Skylight’s head, readying to crush her skull flat. “Allow me to show you what happens to those that betray the Enclave. Goodbye, Skylight.”

The tortured wail of the ghoul alerted me to its presence before it collided with me. I glanced up, my eyes catching with the pale eyes of one of the frozen ghouls from the floor above as it thrust itself through the hole I had blasted into the ceiling and slammed against my head in a manic frenzy of slashing limbs. I stepped back, my body lurching as I tried to throw the ghoul from my body.

More howls of pain began echoing down from above as dozens of ghouls began spilling through the hole in the roof and down towards us. A few ghouls sporting mangled and mutilated looking wings and horns began smashing open new holes in the ceiling, making way for more and more ghouls to flood in.

Skylight staggered away from me, her magical energy rifle blasting the head off one of the rushing ghouls as she scampered over to Misty and Icewind. “We need to get going! Now!”

Icewind nodded, spinning around and taking off down the hallway. “This way! Come on!”

“NO! You aren’t going anywhere!” I boomed, throwing the ghoul off my back and clearing my path of ghouls by blasting through with an explosive shot from my tesla cannon. I lurched forwards, knocking jittering ghouls out of my way with my hooves and I charged.

More ghouls began to pour in from above, piling into the hallway. More howls of anguish began rising up from around me as I charged after the fleeing Dashites, becoming a strange melody of horror.

I rounded a corner in the hallway after the Dashites, my heavy form skidding across the slick ground and crashing into the steel wall. The tunnel shook, a few of the large icicles on the roof crashing down and impaling some of the ghouls within the surging horde. A few ghouls jumped at me as I slowed down to steady myself, only to be crushed beneath my hulking hooves, their frail forms shattering like glass. I only had one target.

I aimed up a shot at Icewind, my tesla cannon flaring with light. The deadly beam flashed out, missing Icewind my inches, but landing close enough that the coinciding shockwave sent her sailing forwards, her grip on the vial of IMP slackening and sending the vial skidding across the floor.

I saw Skylight pivot and race for the fallen glass tube, her hooves outstretched. My magic was faster. I scooped the vial up in my magical aura, sending it spinning through the air back towards me. Misty Cloud’s wings buzzed as she shot past Skylight, her mouth clamping tight around the vial mid air as I pulled it towards me.

Another frozen ghoul rushed us, this time their hooves frantically slashing at Misty Cloud. Skylight rushed forwards, her rifle blasting the head off the ghoul as she pulled Misty back to safety.

I scowled, storming forwards. My tail swung at Misty, hoping to knock the vial from her grasp. She dodged out of the way, darting down another side hall, Icewind and Skylight close behind.

Not letting them get too far ahead of me, I tucked my head against my chest in preparation for impact and slammed into the wall, smashing my way through a side office and back out into the hallway in front of them. The three Dashites pulled up short as I burst into the hallway before them, my impressive form towering well above their heads.

“There is no escape,” I told them, my blood red eyes the only thing they could see in the darkness of the tunnel. “Now give me the vial.”

“You’ll have to kill me!” Icewind snapped.

“That will soon be easily accomplished,” I retorted, my massive cannon glowing a sinister blue.

More howls signalled the arrival of the ghouls as they began spilling into the hallway behind them, while others began surging through the hole I had smashed through the wall. The three Dashites glanced at each other for a moment before lunging towards me, diving past me and trying to make it too the far side of the tunnel.

My fore hoof swung out, catching Misty Cloud in the chest and ramming her against the wall. My tail lurched forwards, the razor sharp blade at its end slashing across her face and cutting one side of her mouth open into a macabre smile. Misty screamed in pain, the vial dropping from her mouth before being scooped up in the shimmering aura of my magic.

I pushed her backwards as I lurched off from the wall, my tail swinging violently and slashing aside a group of ghouls that charged at me as I began sprinting for the far side of the hall. Up ahead, I could see the doorway that opened up into the larger anti chamber at the entrance of the second floor.

A loud scream began to rise up from behind me as dozens of frozen ghouls began clambering onto Misty Cloud, their rotting teeth digging deep into her flesh. I saw Skylight spin around at her cries of pain, rapidly rushing back towards the swarm of ghouls to save her friend.

With a growl, I lunged into Skylight grappling her with my large form and tossing her forwards, throwing her from the tunnel and into the larger chamber beyond. She hit the ground hard, skidding across the slick floor to lay in a small heap in the centre of the chamber.

Icewind rolled across the ground as another ghoul swiped at her, its jagged, icy hoof whistling above her head. She swerved to the right to avoid another, only for one of my fore hooves to slash out and ram her across the head. Icewind was sent tumbling head over hoof down the hallway, her wings flapping awkwardly as she tried to lift herself off into the air.

I broke through the doorway of the tunnel into the large chamber, one of my hind hooves crushing one of the ghouls flat below me. Icewind staggered back to her hooves beside me, looking up with only just enough time to catch my tail flashing towards her before it slammed across her chest, sending her hurtling through the air where she collided hard against the far wall. Her head bounced against the rough surface before she dropped to the floor, unmoving.

“Misty!” I looked up to see Skylight make a dash for the hallways again, where beyond Misty Cloud continued to thrash back and forth, desperately throwing ghoul after ghoul off of her as the swarm rapidly began to overtake her, gnarled hooves prying her armour from her body and rotting teeth peeling the flesh from her hide. I pushed my way in front of Skylight, one of my hooves bashing out and clobbering her to the ground. I could feel Skylight desperately beating her hooves against mine as she tried to break free from my grip and go help her friend, her voice filling with desperation. “No! Please! I have to save her! She’s all I have left! Horrigan! Please! Not again!”

I gave a loud huff, looking back at the tunnel where the ghouls continued to swarm over Misty Cloud, ripping her body apart piece by piece as she violently struggled to pull herself to safety. For a quick moment, my eyes locked with the struggling Dashite. She looked back at me, horror prevalent in her eyes.

“You fought well,” I grunted, watching as another ghoul managed to dig its teeth into her flesh.

“Horrigan… no… Please…” I felt Skylight whimper against my hoof. “Please no… Not her too…”

Not daring to look Skylight in the eye, my horn flared and a beam of light shot out, bursting against the top of the entryway. The whole chamber shook as cracks raced along walls. The roof of the hallway split and a massive landslide of rubble and broken cement collapsed down across the entryway, sealing us off from the hallway and the ghouls within it. Even through the rubble, I could still hear Misty Cloud's cries as the ghouls began tearing into her more, pulling her limb for limb.

“No!” Skylight screamed, tears streaking her face as she pushed away from me and charged at the collapsed hallway entrance. She dropped to her knees, her hooves frantically digging at the rubble, desperately trying to clear the path.

Misty Clouds screams abruptly went silent, being replaced with the triumphant sound of frenzied ghouls and the tearing of flesh as they tore into the new meal. Skylight's whole body went still, her eyes locked on the wreckage between her and the corpse of her friend. Her shoulder heaved, her breath coming out in slow, pained pants. I saw tears drip across the stonework.

I loomed above her, my glowing eyes spotlighting her in the darkness of the chamber as she wept. I stood there for a long moment, just looking down at her. Slowly, I placed the IMP formula back into my side compartment.

Silence endured.

“Just kill me,” Skylight's scratchy voice finally spoke up, distant and resigned. She turned, looking up at me with her tear filled eyes. “Just kill me, Horrigan... I’m done…”

I didn’t move. I just remained standing there, glaring at her through the gloom.

I saw Skylight's despair abruptly evaporate into rage. She pulled herself to her hooves, charging towards me, fury in her eyes. “I said I’m done, Horrigan! Finished! Why won’t you just fucking kill-”

She was cut off as my hoof swung out and slammed her against the ground, knocking the breath from her lungs. She gasped, spitting up blood as she dragged herself away from me. I began stalking towards where she had fallen, towering above her, my wings splayed out at my sides.

Skylight came to a stop, resting once more against the collapsed entryway to the hall. She stared down at her fore hooves, noticing that they had begun to tremble uncontrollably. “How can one pony lose so much,” She sobbed, pushing aside a tear that rolled down her face. “It shouldn’t be allowed,” She turned her face back to look at me once more, her expression defiant. “So finish the job… You’ve taken everything I ever had. My family, my cutie mark, my best friend… My life’s the only thing left for you to take.”

There was a loud clunking sound as my tesla cannon thunked into place, leveling with her head. Skylight flinched back as she came face to face with the glowing end of the massive cannon, but she didn’t bother trying to move out of the way. The muscles in my body tensed as I charged up the deadly weapon.

My eyes caught with hers. I held her gaze for a moment, not daring to look away, knowing this was the last time I would ever get to look into her verdant eyes. There was a sorrow in her eyes beyond any that I had seen before. So much betrayal and heartbreak. It pained me to know that I had been the cause of most of it. I wondered if she could glean anything within the glassy, lifeless eyes of my helmet, or if they were as soulless as I knew them to be.

I opened my mouth to say something to her. Some final remark that would justify everything. That would prove to her that she should never have betrayed me. That the Enclave truly was were she belonged. That we truly were going to save the wasteland. But no words came to mind. Just as Skylight had lost everything, I realized so too had I.

The clattering sound of metal across the ground dropped my gaze to the floor, where another apple grenade had rolled to a stop between my hind hooves, this one marked with a dark crimson band.

Boom!

I only barely had time to lunge to the side when the area I had been standing exploded in a burst of fire and shrapnel. I hit the ground, my armour scraping against the rugged surface. I looked up, making out Icewind frantically pulling Skylight from the ground and pushing her towards the exit.

“Come on! We need to go! Now!” Icewind shouted, ushering Skylight along.

I roared, clambering back to my hooves. My tesla cannon began charging up at my sides, SATS beeping to life on my HUD.

“H-Horrigan? What's g-going on?” out of the corner of my eye, I saw Vapour Trail stumbling into the room, his helmet missing and a large gash oozing blood across his brow.

I ignored him, my attention focused on the two Dashites. SATS locked in on Icewind and Skylight. 100% chance to hit. In the magically induced frozen state of SATS, I could see Skylight staring back at me, her eyes locked with mine. I had been here before, but this time, I didn’t hesitate.

Blam!

A powerful, arching blast of tesla blue light streaked forwards, crackling through the air towards the Dashites. I heard the pounding of hooves and Vapour Trail screaming as he charged forwards, throwing himself between Icewind and the blast.

Boom!

The chamber was filled with sparking energy as the lethal blast exploded against Vapour's body. Vapour was sent tumbling across the room. The lower half of his body ripped free from his torso, blood splattering across the icy walls in messy strokes. He hit the ground, rolling across the floor and lying still, his breath fading.

I stood there for a moment, eyes wide beneath my helmet, staring blankly between Vapours crumpled form and Icewind and Skylight as they dipped through the doorway and out of sight. After a long moment, I growled to myself. “Damn it.”

I hauled myself over to where Vapour Trail had fallen, looking him over. His entire lower half had been blown apart, his back half trailing sinewy strands of flesh and entrails. Blood burbled from his mouth and most of his hide had been burned away. He had managed to drag himself a few inches before fully collapsing.

“Why did you get in the way,” I monotone, looking down at the small pegasus as he lay before me, gasping.

Vapour let a small, pained laugh escape his blood soaked lips. “I-I g-guess I just d-didn’t want to see Icew-wind d-d-die…” He gave me a sad looking smile as he rolled onto his back, looking down at his decimated lower half. He grimaced, tears welling in his eyes. “Oh shit… Th-that’s not good…”

“Hold still,” I grunted, kneeling down beside him. “I’ll find a healing potion.”

Vapour’s fore hooves reached out and grabbed onto me before I could pull away. His grip was weak and I could have easily overpowered him, but I stalled. “Won’t d-do any g-good,” He gasped, his face scrunching as the shock began to subside and the real pain began to sink in. There was a strange determination glinting in his eyes. “Horrigan… I want- I want you t-to l-listen to m-me…”

I nodded, slowly sinking back into a kneeling position beside him.

“It isn’t to l-l-late for you t-to fix this,” He sputtered, his grip tightening ever so slightly around my hoof. “And I know it’s not too late for Icewind either… P-please… remember that…”

I scowled. “Icewind is a traitor.”

“So are you…” He nickered almost smugly. He closed his eyes, his breath slowing. “I’m not s-s-stupid Prance… I know w-who f-f-freed Skylight from her cell,” He looked back up at me, tears glistening on his cheeks. “Fix this Prance… Promise me that.”

“I don’t even know what you want me to fix,” I rumbled, lowering my head to hear him better. His voice was fading.

Vapour gave me a smile. “I’ll l-let you decide that…” Vapour’s body stilled and for a moment I thought he had faded entirely. When he did speak again, his voice sounded far away, as if he wasn’t really in the room anymore. “I want a proper pegasus funeral, Prance… I want to be in the sun… I want to be with Lighting again…”

I gave him a small nod, watching as the last bits of life drained from the small pegasus’ eyes.

For a long moment, I just sat there in the dark, staring at the lifeless corpse of Vapour Trail. His words bounced around inside my mind as I tried to make any sense of them. Fix this? Fix what? The situation with the Dashites? The wasteland itself? I considered continuing to give chase to Icewind and Skylight. Perhaps killing them would fix whatever problem Vapour had been referring to. But I decided against it. It would have been pointless to do so at this point. By now they would have made it out of the MOA Hub and out into open air.

Firestreak stumbled into the chamber a few minutes later, her armour singed and battered. She looked over at me, her eyes landing on the broken form of Vapour. “Fuck…” She muttered, stumbling her way over. She stared down at the limp body, her hooves trembling in rage. "fuck... damn it. Fuck," She looked back up at me, her eyes hard and determined. “Come, Horrigan. We need to go. Now!”

“What happened with the Stable mare,” I groused, pulling myself back up to my hooves as my commander approached. I had to force my gaze away from Vapours broken form.

“The bitch killed Honeydew and escaped, but we still have what we came for,” She held up the small, cylindrical Balefire Reactor in her hoof. “Now we need to get back to the Raptor before the Stable mare regroups with her Dashites and comes back for round two,” I nodded, moving to gently scoop up Vapour's prone body, but Firestreak stopped me. “Leave him. We don’t have time. The longer we stay, the more chances they have to ambush us.”

I hesitated, looking down at Vapour's body. His dying words had been to be in the sun one last time. To be with Lighting.

“Orders are orders,” I finally told the corpse, turning away and following behind Firestreak as she raced out of the MOA hub and back out into the bitting snowstorm, leaving Vapour's body behind in the cold, sunless hole beneath the ground.

Author's Note

Oh boy, did Horrigan ever mess up this time or what?

Only two chapters left my friends! Hope you all enjoyed the chapter and have a great day!