Author's Note

Chapter 11 Maraston history lesson, because this country had a rich history.

Okay Midnight may he powerful but he is not in the slighestly overpowered, Just when he is angry his magic becomes raw and brutal. So oops

10 City of Lamark

==================

Midnight was looking at the small village of Bottom Creek and he sighed, he had to get this country running again! These poor ponies needed a powerful wise leader, So what was he supposed to do? Create an army? Ponies would fear him and possibly resist him. Maybe he should create a...Democracy? The ponies would appreciate the nation more and would be more willing to join, they would just need an army to defend them selfs from raiders. The New Maraston Community? Yeah, that sounds good, Now the only t6hing he would need...caps. You can't create a nation poor after all, you need some money. Normally he would use the gold he had in the capital, sadly he cannot enter that death trap. So what would he do? He's not afraid of getting his hooves bloody or even exposing his true nature. He just doesn't want free money, he wants to work for it! He loves struggling and thrashing about. He just needs to make money quickly so how?

He blinked and smirked, though Metal Wing caught his expression, she knew it all to all. It was the expression he wore when dealing with those nobles and also when he started up Operation Balefire, he had a huge plan forming in his head, and Metal Wing was prepared for this. She flexed her organic metal wings and sighed before she looked at the cloud layer, dumb pegasi. She needs a plan on what to do with that stupid cloud layer, she would Sonic boom it, but she suspects the 'Enclave' would come down in force if she did that. While if the nation was at full power, They could easily trump any enclave ships heading their way, After all, Sky Fall had 5 small Cruiser class chips and 2 Large Pony o' War classes, this class of ship would have been able to destroy The Zebra. If that's what they were intended to be used for, they were meant to enforce Maraston law and order. While midnight thought of plans to create an army, Metal was busy thinking of ways to advance the Airforce.

Lucky star sighed, They were planning when they had nothing, Zextra, and Golden Sky both looked confused at both Midnight and Metal wing. Golden sky was the peacemaker it seems. Zextra was a medic and Zebra negotiator. An Lucky star was the Order Leader for now Until Midnight found The Hub. He looked at his map and sighed at the diagram of The closest city, Lamark, the city he hated the most. The City was full of Gangs and drugs, he would need some mint-als if he wasn't going to kill every single pony he saw. Those drugs kept him calm and kept his mind running slower. Most ponies have the opposite effect, making their mind more focused, and quick thinking. Midnight sighed he had two choices.

"Look guys we have two options I see, Option one, We go to an Order Bunker and grab all the supplies and ponies we can, Option two we go somewhere I bloody hate and I suffer, City of Lamark, while if we go to one bunker we may find ponies in cryo-stasis. Or we can go to the one place I never visited, The Lamark Bunker, under the City of Lamark who would have ponies one hundred percent chance of someone at least being there. Though again I hate that option."

Golden sky looked hopeful and smiled, "let's go to Lamark!" Midnight groaned but nodded, I hope the city changed some for 200 years and hopefully for the better.

"Oh, oh no" Everyponies's jaw dropped after they exited Bottom creek, each one staring at Midnight's map, "How the hell do we get there?! That is at least 70 miles to walk! A week's travel?! That cant be I would rather get shot at!" Lucky star groaned, Midnight didn't like it either. To much room to get ambushed or killed, and no one would be the wiser. He had to think of a separate chance than Metal wing's eyes widened.

"Hey, Midnight remember the Raider Nest?" Midnight nodded after his disgust faded, "Well I saw a Skywagon!" Midnight smiled, "I can fly us!" But this time midnight shook his head.

"I will fly us." The way he said it made it an order, it wasn't a request, he was ordering we all allow him to fly or else! Metal wing nodded, though inside she was concerned, it was rare for him to use his Order Tone with anyone. He never really ordered the Midnight order that was M.M job, he was just there as a figurehead, though he had absolute power. He never used his power often, "Let's go to Military base, and grab that stupid cart so we can finally get to that damn dumbass city."

The girls both looked concerned and confused, Midnight seemed Scared and angry, he hated Lamark. They just had to wonder why? Lucky Star pulled out her scoped pipe revolver and looked at her ammo count on her Pipbuck, .38:39 rounds. She sighed, "Look Midnight I understand you hate that city, we are just worried for you, you have been acting weird. You have been through so much, and you haven't even slowed down in the slightest, Hell when was the last time even slept?!" Midnight looked away, which caused Lucky Star's eyes to widen, he only did that when he was trying hard not to snap. "You haven't slept in a month right?!" Midnight grunted, he was pushing himself, and Lucky star's eyes narrowed. "When we get to Lamark You Will Sleep Understand!!" Midnight yelped and glared at L.S, He hated being ordered around but she was right, he won't be any help if he can't think properly.

"Fine you win I will get some sleep Lucky but you have to protect me, I may have taken a nap in the bunker but that wasn't real sleep was it?" Lucky shook her head, and Midnight sighed. "Fine, I will sleep! I haven't actually slept well in a year. Too many nightmares." Nightmares? Why was he having nightmares, Lucky frowned.

When they made it to the raider base, it was still a mess, well of course it was a raider base. Raiders are not very good at keeping it nice and tidy, seriously who uses bodies as decoration. Midnight sighed and looked at the broken wreck of a Skywagon, he groaned at how bad it was, his meager skills in repair would be insufficient. The thing needed a flux capacitor and also a magic converter because Maratson Skywagsons actually halfway relied on electricity. So unlike Equestria, Maraston didn't need to fight the zebra's for coal, we got our energy from the Dragon lands. I mean seriously, the Dragons had coal, and they would be happy to give some if we gave them gold.

Midnight shook his head, "Sorry but this baby will not fly unless we repair it, it seems the Raiders were not very kind to the ship, I mean seriously who removes the Magic converter! Those things are so fucking common the Flux capacitor I can understand." he sighed, "I can bypass the need of a Magic converter, after all, it just recharges the spark battery. Though the Flux capacitor is needed, after all, what would Skywagon be without the Sky." He sighed.

Metal Wing also sighed, "Where would we find a Flux capacitor Midnight?"

Midnight rubbed his chin with a wingtip, 'Good question, I may own the country but, I don't know everything. I am just well knowledged, and I have tons of information stored in my Pipbuck.' I looked at my Pipbuck and searched Flux capacitor, and nearly screamed, It was inside Lamark! 'The hell I tried to store supplies all across the country, who took my supplies?'

"Bad news, my supplies have been stolen, that means we are royally screwed." He sighed, I suppose it could happen, but it would use 5 times the amount of energy. "Let's use a normal wagon, I can modify it with parts from the Skywagon and parts from a Magic Beam Weapon, or plasma weapon. Sadly we have neither and Maraston was in short supply for those weapons as it were, Mainly because we did not produce those weapons, we mostly created pipe weapons and melee. Not many military class weapons, and very few Magic weapons, So what are we supposed to do?" He spoke as he walked over to the normal wagon, and uses his magic to remove the wheels and place a flight harness with makeshift flight rails. He uses his magic to wrap around the wagon with red flames, the flames being melded with the wagon changing its shape. He was careful and patient, he needed to do this perfectly, if not it would likely actually hurt him during flight. He released the Wagon and looked impressed. The old moldy wood had changed into a clean ebony wood, with a wing sword and shield insignia the Mark of the Midnight order, and also his cutie mark. He smiled with pride, now that the looks are done he needs to actually transfer the flight talisman, he sighed. This would be the hardest part and he knew it, it was not easy moving parts to a new wagon, it normally takes weeks or months.

He looked at his Pipbuck and opened a file on the Skywagon schematics, and when he was it, he just gaped. "What the hell I thought this was going to be at least simple, but this?! How do they create these things?! It's absurd!" The schematics were not simple, in fact, they were difficult. Not the process of making them, no that was easy, it was the parts! "I don't understand why they didn't just shorten down the creation list, I understand safety and all but this is just absurd! Do they need to have 5 lightning rods, 2 transfusers, and 10 fucking Flight talismans?! It's just dumb! To get this thing off the ground you only really need one talisman, one Lightning rod, and also well you get the point. Why do they need to have so many?" He grumbled as Zextra looked at the schematics from over his shoulder and blinded.

"That is honestly absurd, why do they need so many parts for one vessel?" Metal Wing sighed and glared playfully at Zextra, the zony smiled softly and shrunk back. "Well, I suppose I could try to look at what we have inside the Skywagon. I may not be as smart as Midnight when it comes to parts but my Pipbuck should tell me what each part is, If that doesn't work why not just travel inside that?" She pointed at a L.A.S.V. the Car had a Cannon on top of it, the only thing odd about it was it had scrap armor. Midnight looked at it and squealed, The girl's eyes widened, Was he excited?

"Oh, my dream came true! A Military class L.A.S.V or Land Air and Sea vehicle was the only kind of vehicle that could levitate well for a short period of time. It can only truly levitate for a few minutes but that is still amazing! It can allow itself to float to the ground So it would be perfect for All-terrain missions!" he took a good look at it and frowned, "Huh it is covered in scrap armor which is sad because the actual armor it used was waterproof, so we have to take the sea out of the name on this one. It would sink like a rock, not even the floating talisman would be able to carry it." He walked over to the car and gasped, "So they used the Skywagon for parts? Maybe these raiders are not a stupid as I fear, it seems this LASV had seen hundreds of battles." He activated S.a.t.s and turned on the scanner. "The original parts have all been removed and new ones have been placed inside, I can tell because the parts all have different numbers. We have good news though, it works, well mostly. The only part that seems broken is the cannon, and that is because some raider put a smaller shell inside the cannon and it exploded inside." He sighed and looked away, how are we going to use this? He doesn't know how to drive.

Golden Sky smiled and looked at the ship, "Hey love? Can I drive it I may not have been the best but I can keep the thing pointed in the right direction!" Midnight sighed and nodded, Golden got inside the ship and grunted, "Does anyone have a magic core?" They all face hooved, well except for midnight who face pawed, they are stupid.

It took them a day to find the core and a few hours to drive to Lamark, the travel was boring, nothing happened So midnight turned on his Game system on his Pipbuck.

Game start! Welcome to The Reaper and the Woods!

A Brown unicorn with a grey mane and tail looked at his double-barrel shotgun, his yellow-orange eyes looked tired. On his flank was the very same shotgun that he was looking at but this one golden, Say hello to Reaper. The unicorn was in the middle of a grassy plain, his own farm, He smiled. Then he heard something and frowned, 'Damn those varmints! If I see 'em! I swear I'll blast those to igits to the moon!' He picked up his shotgun and loaded two shells inside it, and slipped his shotgun into his holster.

Midnight had been playing his game for a few hours and Metal wing was watching him play smiling, Golden sky was Driving as best she could, Lucky star was in the machine turret, and Zextra was attempting to fix the cannon. Metal wing was only good at lockpicking and combat, after all, she didn't need a weapon, she was the weapon.

The trip lasted until noon, then Golden sky gasped, the city in front of them was just short of amazing. It was likely the second-largest city behind Mannalus, meaning it was huge, it was possibly 20-30 miles wide, and And used to have around 1.30 million ponies, but the main thing that gave this city an ominous feel was the countless number of bones surrounding the city. Midnight sighed in disappointment, "They didn't listen to me it seemed" The girls all stopped doing what they were doing well except for golden who kept driving but listened, They looked at midnight in confusion. "Zebra put a siege on this city, before the end, and as you can see they all died. The city defenses were just so powerful that they fired hundreds of beams of magic and bolts of plasma, they killed hundreds but they lost thousands. That is why in the end they had no choice but to use balefire bombs, Equestria will say we had the zebra on the run, but in reality, we forced the zebra into a corner. As everyone knows, you don't corner an animal, it causes animals to do things they wouldn't want to do." His eyes narrowed, "If I ever meet again my aunt I will personally execute her, she was too militaristic to lead a country, she had too much pride, that was her sin. She leads a whole nation into war for what?! To destroy terrified zebra, ponies wish to blame the zebra but I will blame us. If anyone else was in control, This wouldn't have happened!" The girls stared at him in shock, he was angry and he was hiding it, his rage was building. They needed to do something to release his anger, or else he will transform into the Angel of Death. Every Alicorn has a magic form, Luna it was Nightmare Moon, Celestia was Suns Vengence, Cadence was Loves Hatred. For midnight it was Angel of Death, his magic and eyes burned with such amazing force that it caused a wave of dread for anyone who was deserving of death.

Midnight sighed and looked at the city, "I hope it changed, or else I will have to use Justice." He spun out his Revolver, and fliped out the cylinder, and grunted. "I only have 2 rounds?!" The City was similar to Mannalus, it had skyscrapers and it also had hundreds if not thousands of business buildings. The sight of the city was ugly, it looked like it got hit by a direct balefire blast, but in reality, it had not been hit. It just always looked ugly. The LASV slowly rolled stopped, and the smell hit them instantly when they opened the doors. The smell of sex, death, and smoke, and they haven't even made it into the city yet?! "I knew it, I will hate this." Midnight huffed.

Lucky Star tapped Midnight on his hip making him jump, "So why do you hate this city?"

Midnight looked away "Bad memories." And his tone implies making him speak would end in someone getting blasted with magic. So they dropped the subject, "Just know slavery will be common in this city and also be careful about kidnappers, this city was never nice, Not even to the prince. So be on your guard and we take shifts in sleeping, I'm first, Lucky second, Metal third, Zextra fourth, and Golden is fifth. Do not be afraid to shoot to kill some ponies understand, They will likely kill you first if they could." He used his Magic and his Transformation magic to hide his horn and he looked like an Earthpony because he covered his wings with his magic cloak, which normally covered his guns and armor. He looked like an unarmored, and unarmed pony.

He used his magic to cause the LASV to become invisible well as best he would then they started walking towards the city. It took them an hour to get to the city gates, The smell had become stronger and stronger to the point where it was almost overwhelming. The closer they got the more Midnight's mood soured, by the time they reached the gate he was so close to just killing anyone who stood in his way.

A voice screamed at them, "Halt this is Lamark city entrance you have at least 200 caps to enter." Oh, midnight snapped.

He growled dangerously, "Do you wish to perish?" The guard pony seems to have got the message and yelped and the gate slowly opened, Midnight would not be bribed into opening a door that opens for anyone. The girls looked at him with a slight touch of fear, that voice he used was The Angel of Deaths. Magic flames leaked from his eyes though hardly anyone noticed mostly because Midnight kept them hidden with the little restraint he had left. a voice spoke out from behind them causing everyone but midnight to flinch, he just had to control himself

"Look pal don't threaten my guards, I don't know you honestly don't care who you are, just don't threate-" His words were cut off by a look from Midnight's blazing red eyes, But it wasn't the color that made the pony shut up, it was the pupils, They had transformed into vertical slits. To the Pony, he saw how he would die, and it was painful. He whimpered and ran off, Ponies do not know but the eyes of Wrath as the Alicorns call them, showed lesser ponies what would happen if you anger the pony using the eyes. Midnight grunted as his rage become suppressed, he smiled softly.

"Sorry mate but I had to push some of my rage into you, otherwise I would have exploded after all this is the wasteland." Lucky star sighed, he did something bad but at least, no one died.

When the gates opened fully the ponies all saw the horror that was Lamark, a city of slavery, rape, murder, and abuse. Because the first thing Midnight saw was an Old buck raping a filly and his vision turned red. His Magic erupted, and the buck seemed to just disappear, there was no flash no scream, just one second he was there the next nothing. "Be banished foul mortal, may hell seek their vengeance, because when you appear again you will be a broken pony wishing for only death. I never allow others to hurt the young."