Fallout: Equestria - Most Dangerous Game

Chapters

Prologue: The World Before
Chapter One: Under the City
Chapter Two: X-23
Chapter Three: The Aqua Dome
Chapter Four: Ocean Blaze
Chapter Five: Mare of the Sea
Chapter Six: Pale Ghost
Chapter Seven: Horse Shoe Cove
Chapter Eight: Directions
Chapter Nine: Corse Correction
Chapter Ten: Depths
Chapter Twelve: Aimless
Chapter Thirteen: Stallion Stone
Chapter Fourteen: The Love Shack
Chapter Fifteen: Heart Breaker
Chapter Eleven: Wing Leader

Prologue: The World Before

Prologue:

A buzzing alarm sounded, summoning a pair of perked ears.

Urg, so early?

Somewhere underneath the large nest of pillows and blankets sitting nearby, movement stirred. In a flash, a small, greenish glow manifested over the top of a nearby pipbuck, while a forehoof swatted outward to switch off the alarm. In a crack between the bundle of quilts, two yellow eyes glared at the encroaching sunlight like it was some spiteful foe.

I swear, the nights feel like they’re getting shorter and shorter every day. She thought, moments before her mint green snout poked free.

She abruptly rose, violently shaking off the mass of silky comfort, casting pillows and plushies about the room like a fluffy hurricane. Standing amidst the chaos, the magnificent, light green kirin, yawned and rubbed sleep from her eyes. One glance into a nearby mirror, however, seeing her frazzled mane, proved that describing herself as magnificent, wasn’t quite the right word.

Her name was Jadefire. Her parents having named her after one of her supposed ancestors who’d had many dalliances with dragons. She was rather unsure how much of that was true, however, as many of those stories were indeed as far-fetched as they sounded. Atop her head, her wild emerald-green mane looked more like a mass of tangled vines, ready to attack anyone nearby.

A quick shower, a few minutes of brushing, and pilling it into a tight bun fixed that issue, as well as seeing her minty coat was clean for the day. After putting on her pipbuck, and slipping into a nice business uniform, she scooped up her modest saddle bags, and headed out the door to work. The nearby train to a small suburb just outside San Prancsisco’s Ministry district, like she took every morning, was waiting at the station, right on time.

“Damn,” she cursed to no pony but herself as she realized. “Forgot breakfast again!”

Her stomach gave an audible protest, growling like she was suddenly starved.

Urg, everyone’s gonna hear that! She thought, her mane prickling with self-awareness as she stepped aboard the train. All I have to be is presentable, why is that always so hard?

Either way, such thoughts were quickly placated when a unicorn mare pushing a trolley full of coffee, tea, and an assortment of breakfast pastries came down the aisle. Deciding a blueberry muffin should be enough, the kirin nibbled at the soft treat as she looked over the documents tightly packed into her saddle bags. Her pip buck made such a task easy, a new marvel of arcane-technology. She simply held up her foreleg and scrolled through the various menus before finding her notes.

At least some things can be easy. She inwardly remarked, thankful for Stable-Tec’s ingenuity as she considered her work. Now, where did I leave off last night?

She did as she always did, worked at every moment she got, until after about half an hour or so, she finally arrived on site. Stepping off the train with the rest of the commuters. Normally, with the war on, one would assume a foreigner like a kirin would draw many unwanted stares and glances, the subject of much deceitful gossip and distrust. While there was a small number of bigots, her kind had allied with the ponies of Equestria recently in the conflict. Due to growing hostility from the Cesar of Rome, and the Kirin land’s proximity to Zebrica, the dragon-ponies had no love for the enemy. Finding mutual feelings in Princess Luna, and her new ministries, the Draco-equine folk were common in Equestria’s northwest regions.

Nowadays, nirik berserkers and pyrocasters were fighting on the front lines. Serving as valuable shock troops in critical, large-scale battles. Jadefire, however, was as far from her flaming, demonic form as a butterfly was from a dragon. She’d always had a better level of control when it came to her darker side. While true, she had gone nirik before, what kirin hadn’t? Anger often got the better of most of them at times. The important thing was not letting herself get too lost in the moment. If a kirin stuck to that philosophy, they’d never go full nirik, never lose themselves to the berserker’s fiery rage.

You never go full nirik. She remarked, at the advent of that thought, just as she always did. Calm, collected, and presentable, Jade. As always.

Her tight-fit suit, snug to her shoulders and lean rump, coupled with neat tie and mane helped dismiss the thought of kirin that had sacrificed their morals and even sanity for the war effort. With that in mind, she entered the front lobby of the Ministry of Awesome. A vast, towering building that radiated the same proud, boastful energy as the prismatic pegasus to have founded it.

“Urgh,” she groaned, seeing the large sign boasting the ministry’s stark name in glaring rainbow lights as she entered through the multitude of turntables and revolving glass doors.

She was never a fan of the name; ‘Ministry of Awesome’. Finding it to be too juvenile and immature in nature. As evident by most of the world viewing them as a joke simply conjured to boost the head mare’s ego. Despite the brash signs, the building itself looked like little more than a well-fortified warehouse. But once inside and through the right doors, down a few dozen flights of stairs, one saw the real ministry.

Shiny on the inside, cold and gray deep down at the core. She couldn’t help but think every time she delved deep into the complex’s steely corridors.

Many thought the most boastful and cocky of the six ministry mares had done little with her department, and while that was true at first, she’d become much more involved over the years, while seemingly being anything but. Twilight had her own project at Mareiposa, while Pinkie Pie and Rarity did their best to keep enemy influence out of the realm by any means.

Rainbow Dash’s ministry, however, was attempting to do far grander things. It was no secret to those in the know that the creation of superior soldiers was becoming necessary as the war continued to escalate. There were whispers of alicorn projects, ponies turned into goddesses with arcane-chemistry and science. The Ministry of Awesome, with all of its own secrets, had similar ambitions.

Ponies playing goddess. She inwardly expressed her true feelings. Though if they can give us control, hope? She really didn’t want to think about the form of hope it offered her.

Regardless, she finally came upon a smooth rectangle in the wall, the seamless panel blended almost perfectly into the steel sheet. If not for her trained eyes, and the fact she made this trip almost every day, she’d never have even spotted it. Yet with a scan of her forehoof on the nearby panel the door slid open. Beyond, was the cold, steely interior of a service elevator, not too dissimilar from that deep in the bowels of some mine shaft. Either way, she was presented with two buttons: ‘up’ or ‘down’. As always, her forehoof tapped the button to descend without even thinking about it.

They really need to make a faster route. She thought, covering a yawn with her forehoof as rocky walls rolled by. What’s it been, almost two hours?

After what many would consider a daunting plummet into the earth, she eventually reached her stop, several minutes deeper than most ponies could ever consider. Yet her trip was still not over, the elevator giving a metallic groan as she stepped off onto a smooth concrete platform. Like most things down here, the monorail station was carved from the rock, like an unnaturally sheer extension of the cavern. This place had been constructed for practicality, not comfort, the same kind of logic Rainbow Dash seemed to live by. Just like the train above, a hiss rattled along the rails before the carriage finally glided into the station, door opening with a low woosh.

Offering nods and smiles to the few other workers, Jade boarded as she did every day. Weary mind almost on autopilot as much as the vehicle in which she sat as she watched more rock drift by outside. Caverns filled with construction briefly flash through cracks and crevasses in the walls, whole hordes of scaffold, concrete, and excavators manned by ponies as the Ministry District expanded downward as much as it did upward. Many said it was like a second city in itself down here, as signs marked the different stops, until finally, the train came to a halt. The woosh of the doors was accompanied by the clang of metal and distant drilling, the music of progress that was the symphony beneath most of wartime Equestria.

Seeing ponies trot ahead of her like drones, taking turns into yet more corridors, she could almost imagine the vast web of tunnels above, all locked away under the south end of the Pransisco Bay. Either way, the vault before her marked the highly secure entrance to the San Pransisco branch, R&D labs of the Ministry of Awesome, the research hub to which she was assigned. Scanning her forehoof once again to gain entry, before being identified by the pair of ultra-sentinels that stood sentry, Jade passed a few of the many projects that sat neatly around the polished, clinically-white room. Bio subjects in tanks, jars, or robotics upon tables tended to by spider-like, robo-arms. Among them were whole R&D wings dedicated to stealth suit prototypes, enhancement potions, and cybernetic upgrades. Even research into minor mega-spells, to be passed onto test sectors elsewhere in Equestria.

There were advanced laser weapons intended for flight as well as energy blades designed to fit Shadow Bolt wings. The Scorpion tail intended to fit the advanced flight power armor first envisioned by the Ministry of Image was a particularly wicked sight as Jade finally reached her office, far at the rear of the room. Plopping her tail down behind her desk and peered out of the barred forward windows at yet more research facilities beyond.

One area that caught her particular interest was that designated for support teams and field agents. It was an area above the main field where many ponies, and kirin alike analyzed and sifted through all the data field teams had collected. Using experimental implants and augments to do so at an impossibly fast rate. So too, was it her job to find patterns in the code, compiling profiles of any individuals the ministry deemed to be of particular interest. Given that the ponies serving on such teams were already advanced enough, picking out the cream of the crop, left their elite truly superior to most others. Perfect candidates for the more combat-oriented cybernetic programs.

Jadefire had been selected with just as much care and deliberation from her teams. She had a knack for looking at a situation, seeing a pattern, then following it to its most likely conclusion. As if her brain were a tiny computer all its own, she saw numbers and data flow before her like the world were really just one big program. It was a trait very uncommon among her kind, once again, something that separated her from the nirik she dreaded becoming.

Don’t think about that Jade, just focus on work, like always. To lose her intellect like that would be her biggest nightmare. I’m in control of my anger and my life, not my emotions.

That being said, a small part of her longed for fieldwork. The only unfortunate part of that was the few Kirin operatives the Equestrian military cared for were savage berserkers. Those of her kind, unable to charge enemy lines as fiery shock troops, sowing death, and chaos as they went, drew far more attention to themselves. Despite the vast number of creatures the zebra legions employed, kirin were not among them. Therefore, there was no doubt to her enemies of where her allegiances lay, unlike griffins and dogs.

She almost hated the fact, detested her reality stuck so close to her dream, yet blocked by cold concrete walls and paperwork. ‘Almost’ being the keyword, and unlike most, her position offered her, and a few others, a glimpse of what may be coming. She could see the writing on the walls clear as day. She and those fortunate few others privy, had already started looking for ways to survive the impending apocalypse.

The idea filled her with bitter dread and anger, yet a cold sympathy every time she wandered down a street to see ponies content with their day. She wished she could tell them, yet she’d end up in a Ministry of Moral prison in seconds. It was far easier to declare a non-pony a bigot, doom preacher, or zebra sympathizer. There were ponies here she cared about, even loved, yet she couldn’t say a word. Therefore, she waited, like she was a mare on death row, watching the gun directed at Equestria’s head as she dreaded the day the bombs would fall. The whole idea sent a shiver down her spine, she’d never thought it would come to that.

It won’t, it can’t. Not yet, it’s too soon. She hoped she was right about that; sure the war would have to escalate to an utter stalemate before the buttons were pressed. Just calm down and think, go over the plan again, if you must.

She let out a small breath, rubbing her forehooves together nervously as she glanced right. To where her theorized escape lay in the adjacent room. It was never something she was supposed to have access to, yet relationships with its designer provided a few perks. Besides, after the end who would be left to care? Either way, clearance, and certification would be the last of her worries. Not only was it classified to the highest degree, but it was still highly experimental. The prized project of the lab technicians, her companion, a cute little blue pegasus named Datastream, had informed her many times that, although it was untested, the Al-One: C-Zero-Four-N body was all primed and good to go.

She hated to think she’d betray her colleague like that. That all she’d thought about when she’d been told there was a thing like that right next door, was how she could use it to escape the end of the world. She’d have done the same for Data in a heartbeat if she could, often dreaming of a life where the two of them were free of the war and happy. Yet even the pegasus denied the end, focused on little more than her work as if her life also depended on it.

But what else can I do? No pony will listen to me! She thought, in addition to the snider thoughts. But what if Data and I have the same plans?

It made her feel sick to imagine that about a mare she genuinely cared for, but there were no regulations, no protocols, no slots in a stable for her if the end came. No, the country she’d pledged her life to would just leave her to burn in balefire with the rest, she had to do what she could to survive, no matter what.

All the project needed was a donor. This new ‘body’ as Data called it, needed someone’s mind to fill the space technology alone could not. It was not some robotic shell. A simple tool given some mockery of self-awareness like a Ponytron or Sentinel. It was a highly advanced, synthetic construction of metals, polymer, and the most advanced cybernetics the ministry could muster. With only the briefest hints of biological components left to betray its original nature.

Not only that, but as the project had aimed to construct such things in the image of alicorns, the prototype apparently offered all the benefits of an earth pony, pegasus, and unicorn with hardly any of the drawbacks.

At least if you ask Data, that mare will never admit there are hidden flaws in her design. Jade thought, sure it could not be so flawless. I’ll just have to cross that bridge when I come to it, not like I can ask everything without coming off as suspicious.

The primary idea had been to find the perfect donor, knock-out test after knock-out test, to discover who was a prime fit. After such a pony was deemed ready, they’d run yet more tests with their new augmented body before collaboration with the other departments would allow an entire squad to be commissioned.

With those new bodies, they’d surely be unstoppable on the battlefield, a complex magical power core allowing them the magical prowess of a unicorn, while maintaining the weather shaping and speed of a pegasus with the aid of internal boosters and spell matrixes. That wasn’t even counting the solid metal shell, boosted by tight-knit synthetic fiber muscles, assuming the durability of a solid earth pony, not to mention their enhanced strength.

Just have to hope my training will be enough. She thought hopefully. Then again, how do level-one combat drills and a lifetime of logistics help?

The only other knowledge she had was that Data had imparted to her. She had no doubt the pegasus would be gushing to her about it right now if she was around. On that note, Data’s absence did leave the kirin feeling a little uneasy, it was not like her to miss a day of work. All in all, she was as prepared as she could be, and with her advanced salvation merely sitting right next door, she could not afford to let any small flicker of emotion or doubt get in her way. The world was cold and cruel, she had to be too, as she assumed the world to come after the end would be no less hostile.

Either way, such things were all in her head. Products of fear, hysteria, and her wild imagination, she was sure. That said, the kirin sat at her terminal, letting out a long sigh as her mane wafted in the light breeze of a nearby fan. Occasionally glancing left, hoping she’d catch a pleasant view of Data finally showing up, time dragged by with the ambient ticking of a nearby clock. The blue pegasus was nowhere to be seen, therefore she peered over the profiles of a few suspected zebra sympathizers, the words streaming into her brain like code, just like she was used to. With a mind like hers, how could she not be ready for what was coming?

She felt like a computer already, was the prospect of genuinely becoming a machine really that bad, if it meant she could live on? She really had no idea; she simply noted the information down like always. Pretty sure some poor pony was due for arrest when the evaluation reached the right authorities. To her, it was just the same monotonous routine as every day, always waiting for that inevitable end, yet never able to see exactly when it was going to hit her.

Then it happened.

The entire room shook violently, dust trailing from the high ceiling as a moan akin to a dying monster rippled through the earth. Like some eldritch abomination was clawing its way up from under the city, metal groaned, grinding rock growled and concrete ruptured like cracked glass. Heads shot up from the depths of work, ears stood on end like timid birds, as everypony glanced around nervously for a moment. Hushed chatter filled the room as the whole place shook again, and an odd clicking started to hum from the many pipbucks some scientists wore.

Panic started to flare as Jade did her best to calm her nerves, pressing a forehoof to her chest and focusing on breathing. She thought to take charge yet was sure that may only draw attention to her plan as she glanced at the adjacent room. Seconds later an all-white unicorn with an electric blue mane, draped in a lab coat that marked her as chief scientist, came clamoring in, her face awash with fear.

“Something’s wrong! Everypony get to the lowest levels!”

That was all she exclaimed before she bolted back out the door, dust filling the corridor outside as every other pony scurried after her. Everypony, except Jade.

Where is Data, why is she not here, she’s always here!? It was the most urgent thought to pass through her mind, the only pony she cared about other than herself at that moment. No, think… She’s not here, you are. You’ve thought about this for weeks, do it!

“It’s now or never,” she muttered to herself, taking a deep breath, the air tasting oddly ironized, before she exhaled, assuming an almost zen-like concentration.

It was how she often staved off her darker side, and now served her just as well as she casually trotted to the door, scanning her forehoof to enter. It was harrowing to not see Datastream pooling over her work. While Jade’s logical side could only assume she had run with the others, leaving only tables fitted with spare parts, and the core transfer unit. The body itself was nestled inside, like a butterfly ready to emerge from its synthetic cocoon of manufactured fluids and plastic womb. She’d only seen it outside once, long before it had been installed into its incubation pod for study.

Across from it, was the transfer pod, a tall cylinder, marked by a glass door that had been prepped just in case an emergency donor suddenly became available. Two parts of her mind were at war, one that desired nothing more than to find Data, find a solution for the pair of them. While the other thought far more selfishly, boldly declaring her partnership with the mare was nothing more than a method to ensure her survival.

Who knows if she’s even here? She’s always at work, she works while sick! If she’s not here, there’s no telling where she is. It pressed coldly. But she and I… All we wanted together…

The room shook again, making the lack of time all the more evident as the latter side of her conflicted emotions won out. Now, more than ever, Jade considered herself perfectly worthy of salvation as she awkwardly climbed into the small cell, her legs folded at her side as the glass came down with a low woosh. The whole thing was slightly cramped as she wormed into the small, metal tiara above, fitted with blinking lights and wires.

Ouch… stupid thing’s tight! She thought with a wince. You really had to make it tight, didn’t you Data!?

She dismissed the bitter sting the memory of the mare she was betraying once again summoned. While the machine clipped around her horn awkwardly, not designed for a kirin, yet fitting with some force, nonetheless. The moment it was secured, the hydraulics took hold and lowered the metallic crown fully, ushering a grunt as it clamped onto her skull like a vice and began to map her neural pathway.

“Scanning… Forty-eight percent of host pathways mapped,” buzzed a tinny voice as a claxon blared over the rumbling of the room’s shuddering.

Regardless of her meditation routine, Jade’s heart was racing faster than a freight train. Her pipbuck started to click faster and faster while the very air around her seemed to grow thick and soupy. She gagged, as if her lungs were melting, suddenly feeling oddly lucid, as if her insides were becoming liquid. There was a subtle dribble from her nose as she tasted blood, but she sealed her eyes tight, took a deep breath, and begged Celestia she’d make it.

“Fifty percent,” the computer chimed at halfway, then sixty, then seventy, the buzzing voice seeming to mix with a swelling ambiance of screaming.

“Just a bit more… I... I’m sorry, Data!” Jade muttered to herself at eighty-five, sure she was going to make it with all of her brain intact. “Ninety-eight, almost…!”

There was a thud of hooves on glass, just audible above the din of destruction. Reflexively, Jade’s eyes flared open, her vision painful, and reddened by weeping blood vessels as they appeared to burst behind her quivering eyes. She wanted to scream, but she could not, feeling like her lungs had become soup. What she did see was the mare on the outside of the glass, blue fur singed, mane weeping like hot taffy as it appeared to slop from her sagging skull. Datastream, locked on the outside of the pod, stared right at Jade, the pair’s eyes weeping blood as Jade’s heart stopped.

She… Where was she, I…? The kirin had no idea what to feel, looking at the pony she cared about most, knowing she was betraying her right before her eyes. She came back… I can stop it, I… Have to!

“Power surge detected, emergency cerebral transfer initiating… Transferring now,” blurted the machine as she felt a sudden, electrical pain in her skull.

“No, wait!” she shouted, voice gargled as she reached out with a forehoof towards Data’s melting limb, body shuddering as if it had been turned to jelly in the pod.

That sensation paled in comparison to the throbbing inside her skull, as it felt as if her whole brain were trying to burst free. Before with a sharp flash and a harsh ringing in her ears, it was as if her sight were a terminal robbed of power, and the rumbling world went dark.

Urg, my head… What… What Happened…?

It was only a brief flash of moments, as if they’d been stretched out into decades but all surged by faster than lightning. She saw glimpses of her home, her street, ponies going about their normal day only to be incinerated by a blinding green flash. Then she saw Data. The cute pegasus mare she’d come to adore smiled at her deviously. Her sleek mane sweaty after a long day’s work, draped over her freckled face, while her lab coat slipped over her rump as she lay atop Jade’s chest, rubbing the kirin’s flank.

“Was it all you dreamed of, my little kirin?” she mused, a coy look in her eyes, a look Jade loved more than any. “I did so much research into pleasing a mare.”

“You know it…” Jade responded, reaching up to stroke the blue mare’s lean curves. “You always put your best into everything.”

“Yes, and you do all you can to steal it from me.” The sudden shift in tone was nearly as stark as Data’s bitter frown, right as her coat started to bubble like hot wax. “You used me for everything!”

“What, no, Data I didn’t have a choice!” Just as the mare atop her melted like hot, blue butter, Jade felt herself start to bubble, overcome by the din of screaming in her ears.

“Data, no… I’m sorry… I just had to get out!” She lurched up feeling gooey chunks of flesh slouch from her decaying bones before consciousness finally resumed. “Datastream!”

The first thing she noticed was a complete lack of sensation, her skin was cold as ice and from horn to hooves, she couldn’t feel her body at all. At least for a quick moment. Like some old, dusty computer rebooting, she soon detected the sensation of her extremities, recognizing just as fast that they were unharmed. That was where the normality stopped; however. Things felt very different, she felt more like she was feeling something intangible, something detached from herself, yet still herself all at once. The sensation would have made her head spin if not for the darkness behind her closed eyes, a gloom that was split by a band of light seconds later.

As if she’d never used them before, her eyes hinged open like the stiff doors of a decades-old stable. She caught the briefest flash of a reflection in the inky glass shell around her, as black sclera, and pupils ringed with glowing yellow irises began to scan her surroundings. In time with her scrutiny, a small readout began to scroll just outside her field of view, stark, red words chattering about air quality, temperature, and internal status. Several strings of code danced across her vision like buzzing insects, before a final message popped up.

‘Transfer complete: all functions within acceptable parameters.’ A tinny voice, weary and strained as if it had grown sleepy, buzzed in time with the words as they faded from her sight.

At that, she blinked, the flash of her eyes reflected in her cocoon doing the same, before she shook her head with a heavy, metallic clang. All she could think about next was how tight everything suddenly felt, and all of a sudden her only priority was exiting the pod. Like her mind was robotic, she systematically analyzed every detail, suspended in thick fluid, fed by wires, tubes, and cables plugged into her spine and skull. Feeling the sleek glass shell around her, beyond it the gooey cocoon that incubated her.

Accessing her magic was not as hard as she imagined it would be with the lack of a horn, the power core thrumming where her heart should be, radiating a deep aura as she did her best to focus. Admittedly, it was a tad jarring to feel the magic emanate from her eyes, rather than her forehead. Seeing her reflected gaze glow a brilliant teal as her magic activated the manual lock and opened the pod.

There was a hiss, as the glass shell hinged wide, the jelly-like mass of the outer cocoon slumping free like wet rubber, trailing strings of sticky goo as her incubation mix splashed to the floor and she did her best to take a step. Yet as if the sensation of being reborn was not authentic enough, her legs wobbled like a newborn foal’s and she staggered, slumping on her face as more of the hot liquid sloshed over her. Synthetic mane like a wet rag over her eyes, she huffed, feeling the teal shreds of her artificial womb swiftly cool as they hit the concrete, before going hard as they rapidly dried into a thin, flaky crust.

Urg… Here I wondered why foals don’t remember the day they’re born. She inwardly huffed, disgusted by the plastic-like slime. I feel like I’m gonna be sick.

Nevertheless, shifting a quivering forehoof to her face, she shoved her wet mane aside, before doing her best to hinge the front of her body up on her two weak forelimbs. She managed about halfway before slumping back down with a low growl of frustration, before looking about for anything she could use to help herself.

For a moment she dreamed Data would be there to meet her, almost like some proud mother seeing her foal walk for the first time. But the room was devoid of all but the red glow of emergency lights, rotating like a crimson tornado as a distant clackson blurred. The sound of a city in pain hummed over it, distant metal grinding, steel groaning as concrete creaked like trees caught in a storm. Then there was the screaming, she had no idea if it was her new ears that picked up the distant cacophony of pain, but she was sure she could hear what sounded like a thousand ponies being melted alive. Only, it was more akin to a memory pulled over the world like some wicked veil.

The idea made her shudder, yet her new, glossy skin didn’t crawl the same way as before. It was unnerving, to think what parts of her equinity she may have lost, but she shook off the idea. That new, cold, calculating part of her demanded she focus on what was immediately required for her survival. Therefore, her glowing gaze was swift to home in on the only functioning terminal, its screen filled with crimson error messages and blinking warnings.

“That’s funny, it should glow the standard green why is it…?'' As if the memory of just how dire things were had been lost in the lucid soup of consciousness transfer for a little too long, she finally realized the terminal was not lit up at all.

The information was projected into her own vision, just like when wearing her pipbuck!

My eyes they’re… She pressed a forehoof to them, terrified they’d feel like mere flashlights, only to feel smooth glass. I can hardly even feel my hoof against them!

Not only that, but as the illusion of red alarms slowly died, she rapidly discovered the extent of her illuminating vision, thanking the goddesses she wouldn’t be stuck so deep underground in pitch blackness. Doing her best to glance into her peripherals, a reflex she was sure she’d have to get used to, sure enough, there was a small icon for night vision in the perpetual heads-up display that now occupied her visual range. Even when she closed her eyes, eyelids like heavy blast doors sealed over her vision, she saw it. Pressing a forehoof to her face again didn’t even cause it to shift.

Of course, the whole thing would have been far more blissful if she had something good to look at. The entire lab was in utter chaos. Consoles hung from the walls only connected by sparking wires as monitors and glass lay strewn across the floor, covered in what appeared to be a millennia’s worth of dust. Glancing back to the terminal linked up to the transfer pod, she saw its consul flicker and dance with the words; ‘Transfer complete’.

To the left of that, however, was a far grimmer sight. From her vague recollection, she’d come to expect the image of her body in the initial pod, yet all she found was a gooey, lime-green puddle. Bones and clothes still stuck out like chunks of meat in a steamy soup, while she saw her pipbuck bob, covered in bloody slime. Flashes of Data melting outside the glass had her staggering again, yet while bloody-blue smears marred the pod, there was no sign of another puddle, or bones around it.

Did she get out, did she find a way? She thought, sure if anypony was smart enough, it was Data. Or did she just drain away like spilled Sparkle Cola?

She would have been sick if her new body knew how, instead pressing a forehoof to her muzzle, an oddly equine reflex her synthetic limbs didn’t seem to understand. Either way, she did her best not to think about it, staggering back to her wobbly hooves, clinging to the walls as she sidestepped the pod and slumped before the transfer terminal.

Trying her best to recall all of the details, she used her magic to enter a few commands, seeing that the cerebral transfer had indeed stopped at ninety-eight percent and that barely any life forms could be detected nearby. As her internal processing said in her vision, the air was cold, and hostile, filled with readings that would have certainly killed her if she was still biological. She had no idea how or why, surely the zebras had no weapons that could literally melt ponies alive? All of that worry was cut short as she glanced at what would often be an insignificant detail, however.

For one who spent most of her life staring at terminal screens, the date was not often something that caught her eye. Yet one glance to it now, and she went more rigid than the broken stone around her. If she still had a heart, it surely would have skipped a beat at the revelation.

The current date… It’s been almost two hundred years since I walked into the lab!

She could barely comprehend it, even with her mechanical mind racing a mile a minute. When she had blacked out, what had been only seconds for her, had been two whole centuries for the rest of Equestria! No wonder the lab looked more like an ancient tomb, no wonder her body had decayed into sludge, as odd as that was. Yet she’d heard screams, sure she’d seen flashes of the past, like it was an echo, fuzzy, but there, visually imposed over reality like a cheap video edit.

She cupped her head with two trembling forehooves, really hoping the shivering was from genuine fear, and not a flaw with her new body. To think she could have lost her ability to feel shocked at such a revelation was mildly terrifying, far too extreme in the direction of calm she often strived for. Yet like some cruel master, the universe was not done, and as she dared study a little deeper, the next part absolutely floored her.

The trackers for several of her old colleagues, and even a few rivals were still active! There was also a note, one meant for her! As if someone had known she was hidden here, a glowing cocoon, a light of rebirth in the dark depths of a cursed city. Yet like most of her new revelations, time had not been so kind.

Even the note was time-stamped from roughly seventy years prior. Either way, she gingerly reached out a forehoof, tapping the screen to activate a recording linked to the notification. What followed was a buzzing crackle, as if a storm of radiation were messing with the speakers, before a tinny voice finally spoke up.

“I know you’re alive, Kiddo. No way you’d let yourself be taken out by the bombs.” The voice seemed older, yet enthusiastic, the kind somepony may expect from some adventure on early morning cartoons, yet broken by static and small pops as they went on.

“I’m not sure what bolt hole you crawled into, but right now it’s time to shit or get off the pot! The damn game is afoot! I’ve already cleared my share of pieces from the board, now I need you to start your turn.” Jade cocked her head, sure she should know exactly who this was, yet the whole thing escaped her, an infuriating fact as she recalled the small hint of her transfer that had been lost with her old body.

“There’s not many of us left right now. Coltvert has still eluded me, but I’ll find him. That’s not why I am recording this message though. I’m not sure what your plans were, but you need to get in the game, and now! Something big is happening near Las Pegasus, and I’m not able to head out that way for the foreseeable future.”

So, some cities are still alive? Doing her best to stand as the recording played, Jade considered the fact that the world may not be so lifeless after all. At least until the recording concluded.

“I am not sure when we’ll see each other next but know that I may have to kill you. This is your one warning. I’m going to be the last one standing, so fair warning. Sincerely, Agent Lockedheart.”

Her ears whirred like small radar dishes as she finally managed to stand up straight, the name one of the few things in the message that resonated with her.

“Agent Lockedheart, that old bastard from Trottingham?” Despite everything going on, the synthetic pony smiled to herself. “If he’s alive, who else survived, after all this time?”

Before she knew it, she was walking again, out through the ruins of her old lab, and up the rubble-strewn tower of a broken stairway. The elevator was surely gone by now, lost to time, yet the second she was close enough to the surface, her heads-up display chimed like a built-in pipbuck.

‘San Pransisco Crater’ was what the area was apparently called, and as she peered upwards through a large fissure rent into the earth as if by monstrous talons, she knew why. The sky was beset by a baleful green glow, the ruined faces of buildings constructed like black monoliths to weather an assault, looming like dark gods over her. Lightning flashed and storm clouds swirled, as the huge spires shot upwards like monstrous needles into the turbulent clouds. Then there were the sounds, not screams, at least, not equine screams. Jade saw the red marks on her built-in E.F.S, glimpsed the shapes of things scuttling in the gloom, and her ears drooped.

“Okay,” she muttered to herself. “Getting out of here may be harder than I thought.”

Foot Note: Level Up.

New perk activated: Android - It may have taken away your equanimity, but hey, at least you survived the end of the world; gain the following attributes:

+10 Science

+20% Limb Resistance

+15 Rad Resist Water Breathing

+5 DT Poison and Chem Immunity Fire Resist

-30% EWS Resistance

Chapter One: Under the City

Chapter One:

Deathly was the best way Jadefire could describe the twisted mass of rubble, earth, and metal. Like a half-rotten corpse, the sickly detritus of the city’s decaying mass had eaten through the floor, crumbling buildings sagged like a wet blanket over the tattered earth. As if melted, rock dribbled down, frozen in a petrified state of decomposition. Rusted metal sprung from cracks and crevasses like the gnarled ribs of a decades-old cadaver, while severed pipes and drains gushed sickly green water as if the world itself were bleeding. Many more tunnels appeared to have been snapped like twigs, as did the corroded bridges that stretched out from their open maws, as if pulled like hot taffy.

A train car, still tethered in several places, drooped from the yawning cavern of a subway tube, carriages swaying in a ghostly wind. The metallic creaking was painful, as was the dull whaling of the monolithic towers looming beyond like faceless goddesses. Their flanks rent and torn as if by a gigantic dragon’s claws, they almost seemed to sway in the turbulent sky below the towering bulk of their tallest neighbors.

The concrete and rocks themselves seemed to crawl, as if looking at it closely revealed it was actually made up of countless fields of grasping hooves. Flashes of lightning made that illusion no easier to ignore, nor did the red bars that made it clear there were a lot of very real threats moving around the blighted pit. All of it stretched above for at least two hundred feet, if not for the sheer girth of the cavern it would have been impossible to see the glowing green sky. Yet it lingered there, taunting her as she sat right at the muddy, waterlogged base of the fissure.

What in Luna’s name happened here? She wasn’t sure if she thought or spoke the words as a hundred ghastly voices echoed on the wind. Mega spell damage is one thing, but this…

It appeared as if the whole city had been plucked from the earth, and twisted like a wet towel. Yet for all of the destruction, there were no bodies, not even bones. She had a sickly feeling that they’d all met the same gooey fate as her sludgy meat suit. With no mechanical mind to save them from melting, she dreaded to think how it had felt.

I was only here for a few seconds, and I felt like I was already drowning. She thought, ducking away from the open sky as lightning flashed and thunder boomed. What kind of sick weapon did they use?

Of all her years of working in intelligence, she’d never heard of a zebra weapon capable of unleashing such devastation, nor one that literally melted ponies into goo. Yet the Ministry District was always known as the toughest egg to crack, surely if they had a weapon that could unleash such devastation, they’d use it here. The shrieking and screams were a testament to that, even now it was as if a million voices lingered like ghosts. Her ears folded at the thought, the cold sensation and mechanical whir, a chilling reminder of how distant from flesh and blood she now was.

I guess I should be thankful for it. She did her best to ignore her pale reflection as she staggered back over the rubble in search of another route out. All those years terrified I’d lose myself and now look, I’m hardly a Kirin anymore.

It was a solemn irony, one she also stashed in the back of her mind, hoping her cybernetic brain was just as good at burying her dread as her previous one. The soft motions of her legs, from the clack of ceramic plates, to the whir of motors and joints, all of it was shoveled away.

For a second she could close her eyes and imagine she was just walking into work, even if the floor of the corridor she now found herself in was twisted at a steep angle. The glow of her new eyes shone on the back of her eyelids like a pale moon, the tap of her metallic hooves on the sleek concrete was the only sound to break up the dull shifting and steady click of her sensors. Then they opened, and as if the world were just as robbed of color as her new body, the ghostly hall ahead was illuminated only by her vision.

“Urg, come on, this thing has better night vision than this, surely?” she muttered aloud, ears twitching in the direction of every scurry and shift in the gloom. “Everything here’s gonna see my eyes shining like a Celestia damn lighthouse!”

She tapped the side of her head, yet aside from a dull metallic thud, and several sensors registering the touch of her forehoof as cold, there was nothing. A tap on the opposite side, resulted in the same thing, as did a furious shake of her head. Warnings of balance modulator and motor function settings flashed in her vision seconds later, and she begged the goddesses she hadn’t just set her body to walk backwards!

“Okay, Jade, think, you know this.” She pressed a forehoof to her chest, slowing breaths that had hardly elevated in the first place.

She ignored that inequine feeling, doing all she could to feel as if she were still natural. “I just have to think, the body is me now… It’s just like old times, only with… Abilities?”

Having never been trained to become a cyborg, she felt oddly like some filly with newfound superpowers. It was like old comic books, that was if the story took place in a dead city rather than a chaotic metropolis filled with space-age tech and wacky supervillains. Either way, she swallowed hard, feeling a lump roll down her silky, synthetic throat, even if she was unsure her artificial innards actually registered anything. Phantom biology or not, however, she calmed her mind, thinking clearly and bluntly about seeing what was ahead of her. Her sight flickered, she blinked, and with a small hum, the lights faded out, leaving her in utter darkness.

What no, that’s not what I wanted, now I can’t see at all! Panic set in far faster than her metallic body seemed able to comprehend, her hooves tapped as she danced on the spot like some terrified filly, before with a few more blinks, she realized she could see.

Unlike before, the world wasn’t cast in a pale, moon-like glow. Now it was a dull green, and slightly fuzzy, as if she was peering out from behind the screen of a terminal. Her enhanced gaze cut all the way down the hall, spying lockers torn from the crumbling walls as the corridor warped and twisted. She blinked again, and the vision remained, calming her nerves as she took another false breath. Glancing left, she found naught but broken pipes, burst from their fastenings on the wall as if intense pressure had popped them long ago.

The rusty metal had been torn free like little more than paper, while she was certain many of the claw marks rent in the cracked concrete hadn’t come from any kind of bomb. Opposite, across a sleek floor marred with a patchwork of cracks and small streams of water, were doorways into the interior of the old labs. It was hard to tell, given the state of things, but she was pretty sure if the crevasse had been above the elevator shaft, then this was the southern side of research and development. Her old department, as secretive and divided as it had been all those years ago.

If I can get through here, and onto the tram lines, maybe I can slip out of the bay. Across to the north end, at least. The calmer she was, the more her logical mind came to life, aided by a series of pings and flashes on her E.F.S. Okay, then that’s the plan, just have to remember my way through.

Broken glass from the many laboratory windows crunched and cracked under her hooves as she made her way down the hall, discovering many of the doorways inward had collapsed. Even the signs that had once guided her around the corridors were weathered and faded, smudged by mold and weeping paint. The walls themselves seemed to bleed vile ichors, as if she really were deep inside a rotting corpse. Yet her new body at least had the decency to project what the signs had once said over the faded imagery her eyes provided.

‘Stealth R&D.’ Her ears perked along with her attention as her eyes passed over the sign, the dull green words flickering into her vision as she did so.

Specter’s lab, surely that paranoid buck had a way through into the back tunnels? She thought, pretty sure he’d had that kind of plan for as long as she’d had her idea of uploading her consciousness into the prototype. Now, I just have to get in.

The automatic doors to the lab were a jar, leaving barely enough space for a foal to squeeze through, let alone an adult mare. For a moment she wondered if shrinking talismans were a part of her new design, but after several attempts to will that reality into existence, it became pretty clear she’d have to think of another way through. That was until her vision flickered, and after a small readout scrolled across her eyes, the door highlighted in her vision seconds before her brain literally provided an answer.

‘Point of intent identified, structural analysis complete... Recommended course of action: sufficient strength to clear passageway.’ She blinked several times, first in confusion, then to clear the words.

What, so I can just yank it open? She looked at both forehooves like they bore the might of a goddess, only realizing she were standing slowly on her back legs when she wobbled back to all fours with a surprised yelp. That’s absurd, it’s an infiltration unit, not an attack bot!

She began to wonder if there were things about the body she now found herself trapped in that she didn’t know, or at least fully understand. But furrowing her brow and stepping up to the door, she shoved against it with her left shoulder. It gave a deep clang, the whole tunnel reverberating as dust trailed from the cracked roof in misty plumes. Wincing at the echoing sound, she made sure none of the red marks around her instantly started beelining her way, before she pressed both forehooves between the door’s two opposing slabs.

“Okay, here goes nothing,” she reassured herself, shoving both left and right with all her might.

It felt like an instinct to grunt as she exerted herself, even as force and pressure readings in her vision assured her she was working well within limitations. Her forelegs whirred, plates clicking together to form solid walls of metal as her back legs planted to the floor, digging at the broken concrete. She closed her eyes, muzzle wrinkling into a snarl as she felt the door slip, and grind into either side like a heavy slab of stone. Her vision was filled with information about her pace and exertion level, assuring both were minimal, before the reluctant slabs would move no further.

The ghost of her biology returned as she fell back, rump hitting the concrete with a clank as her back slumped against the burst pipes opposite. She huffed and panted on air that she was sure she didn’t need, while phantom limbs ached, were mechanical ones remained stronger than ever. The door was wide open, within she could see the long aisles of the labs stretching away, sloping downward into a diluted pool of green goo. She hoped it was water, radioactive or not, rather than what was left of Spectre’s staff as she picked herself up and trotted to the newly opened passageway.

The room was dark, save for the flickering sparks from exposed roof cables and dull emergency lights. Yet her enhanced gaze cut a swath through the sea of toppled tables, shattered glass, and broken equipment. It plotted a path to the far side of the room, beyond that making out the core of south R&D, before a route through the stealth suit testing area. She felt a wash of relief pass through her. Past that, she could surely get out, and hope that there were places beyond the city to have survived.

Yet the moment of triumph was short-lived. The room shook, the whole corridor rumbling as she staggered back and glanced right. Back the way she’d come, something moved, something so big it appeared as little more than a wall of flesh shifting beyond the cracked concrete. A red mark corresponded with the thing, as she imagined a huge snake of writhing flesh and bone. That heated feeling of panic returned, and without a second thought, she darted into the labs. The roof bulged under the weight of whatever it was as the sound of it moving rumbled like a huge ball of sticky meat rolling just out of sight.

Moving as fast as her legs could carry her, she floundered her way through the slanted lab, passing old prototypes and decayed stealth bucks, before flopping against the opposite door. Thankfully avoiding most of the former-pony sludge. Whatever hulking monster had come upon her stopped too, all she could see was viscous black slime dripping from the lull in the roof, as if the thing were seeping through. Yet there was no sound, no movement, and no red bar, as if it had simply vanished or died.

Okay, not waiting around to find out what that is. She thought, making her way deeper before the thing could rot its way through the roof. Okay, south R&D core, so the test areas are to the left.

She read the sign from another helpful prompt in her vision as she came upon the ruined atrium at the center of the stealth labs. The room was round, with steep walls lined by balconies. Each floor was made from glass, marred by a web of cracks, and faded by centuries of grime. She was at least thankful to be on the bottommost floor, so as not to have to navigate her way over the treacherous surface.

Talk about walking on thin ice. She thought, seeing the irony of how she’d used this place before the war, along with every other head of department. Yet it looks like I’m the only one who made it.

What did make the ghost of her stomach churn was the writhing mass of flesh and bone she saw drag itself across the glass two floors up. Thankful for the clear surface’s strength, she watched in cold dread as the thing's foot heaved, and pulsated, quivering like the underside of a giant slug. Not one to have the thing fall down on her as the glass creaked and the bubbling mass moaned with a thousand horrified voices, she swiftly ducked into the test labs, pressing her back to the walls as she calmed herself.

Please, please don’t tell me that’s what I think it is. The image of a thousand ponies all fused into one bubbling mass was hard to shake, yet another glance revealed the thing was gone. Just get out of here before it gets to you, Jade, by Luna!

Taking that to heart, she glanced about, before cautiously creeping her way deeper into the labs. Much like her own facility, the testing area consisted of a long bulwark, overlooking a series of environments below. From a maze cornered off by flickering shield talismans, to an artificial desert that was no more than a field of dust, the underbelly of the city had it all. The snowy environment had melted long ago, leaving a sludge-filled pool filled with molds and slime. While the jungle environment was naught but withered frames of old vegetation clinging to rusty trellises and pipes. Hydration systems still weeping sickly fluids.

Opposite, were the offices and field labs, as well as the locker room and gym for the operatives chosen to undertake testing. A large hole in the roof and floor cut off the walkway ahead, a sleek deluge of muddy water and green slime streaming down in a toxic cascade she did her best to avoid. Any thought that the hulking mass that stalked her could be up there, and she doubled back, spying that the far side of the chamber had sunken in and collapsed on itself.

There has to be an emergency escape from the operatives’ quarters, that’s standard procedure. She really hoped her knowledge of structural protocol still held true even after the city had been put through a blender, as she crossed a rusty gantry into the rear of the locker room.

The walls were a creamy-pale color under the centuries of grime and mold that mottled them. From the endless rows of rusty lockers, to the vast Shadow Bolt mural chipped away on the far wall, it was in no better state than anywhere else. The dull hum of flickering electrical lights, as well as the gurgle of drains in the ceramic tile floor, caused her ears to perk. It was oddly devoid of screams, yet sounds like faulty plumbing shifting in the thick walls had her on edge.

I am not going to end up inside a mass of pony flesh, no way. She told herself, seeing empty operative uniforms laying in heaps where those who’d once worn them must have melted. Nor am I going to end up down the drain!

Every shudder or creek had her on edge, while she was sure the walls bulged in places, as if some great mass were heaving through the tight space just beyond. Like the dead scales of a molting dragon, tiles popped free of the concrete, yet every time her eyes would shoot to the warped mass, any movement ceased. She swallowed hard again, feeling panic stir in her unnervingly calm innards. She almost wanted her steadfast mechanical body to be the one in charge, not her still very much flesh and blood mind. Yet with a tapping of hooves, she pressed on, before coming upon an ill-lit exit.

The green sign above the rusty bulkhead door was unmistakable, even flickering and splattered with crimson as it was. The blood appeared oddly fresh, but having seen many experiments before, it wasn’t new.

How bad a day has it gotta be if blood’s the last thing to phase me? She thought, seeing more sprawled on the walls, as if ponies had bled out before melting. Either way, if I’m right, the back of the department should lead to the tracks.

The very same line she’d rode in on what felt like only hours ago, if she was lucky it would still be intact, there may even be a service carriage. That idea spurred her on, hooves tapping on a floor they once again registered as cold as she crept towards the door, away from the bulging walls and bubbling drains. At least before something caught her eye, the bright flicker of light, and the gleam of sleek black in the stark glow. To the right of the exit, down a squat set of steps was a series of glassy pods. Not too dissimilar to the one she’d awoken in, the sleek cylinders were suddenly blasted with light as those above them flickered to life, several unceremoniously popping.

She hopped back with a shrill yelp, wincing as the sound echoed through the dead facility and glassy shards scattered about her. What met her eyes when she dared look back, beyond her stunned reflection in the glass, was a sleek, skin-tight, black suit. Marked by a neat pattern of hexagonal panels and a narrow visor, the thing was potted with metallic wires and piping. The chest was fitted with a small dashboard of buttons, as was there a narrow pipbuck-like device built into the left foreleg. Yet they were the only true break in its otherwise uniform appearance. Jade knew the sight almost instantly, her rival department’s prize project.

“The X-23, by the goddesses, they left this here!?” She could hardly hold back the words, overcome by excitement. “It’ll be a piece of cake getting out of here if this thing still works!”

Prototype or not, she’d seen the specs on the equipment, and it was not uncommon for leaks between rival departments to happen for more than simply academic purposes. Data’s project had been the favorite child of the Ministry anyway, a few more weeks and the body she was in now could have had the stealth tech built in, outclassing Specter’s department by years. Yet as she went to test the identification tab, it was her body that proved to be the biggest issue.

The identity readings of the prototype were not registered, and the second she pressed a forehoof to the panel and her eyes to the screen, there was a whir. If not for centuries of rust and grime, the two turrets that noisily ground down from the roof would have cut her to ribbons.

Instead, she ducked, flinging her forehooves over her head as the first turret clattered to the floor in a rusty heap. The second whirred, took aim, then sparked out as a deluge of black slime and oil flushed from the mechanism above it. She had to leap away from the toxic sludge as it sent her rad-meter into a frenzy, staining the floor like a vile flower as it blossomed from the impact. The turret’s rusty skeleton soon followed, clattering down just as its companion did before finally, she dared peek up at the glass.

“Hello, my bad… The system didn’t recognize you.” It was the first voice she’d heard in two hundred years.

A young mare’s, maybe even a filly, tinny and robotic, it didn’t sound like that of anypony. Even so, she twirled on the spot, searching for the one who could have spoken, while it added.

“Oh my. I’m such an idiot! I didn’t mean to alarm you!” The mare said again, a flash of stark silver lancing across the black suit's surface like some kind of terrified chameleon.

“What, who said that, who’s there?” she asked, glancing back at the cylinder as her eyes darted to every shadow. “What’s going on down here?”

“I–I don’t know… One minute I was… Arg… It’s so fuzzy,” buzzed the voice, sounding far more confused than anything so robotic had the right to be. “But records show maintenance is almost two hundred years overdue… Is that a problem? Oh, by Luna, I’m not used to this!”

Jade froze, ears tall as she realized. Neck feeling stiff as ice she slowly shifted round to look at the suit, seeing the series of flickering buttons that had come to life on its chest, as well as a soft flutter of pink across its chameleonic surface.

I thought all that talk of internal suit personality was a joke. She recalled all she knew of the thing before the war. My department had it outclassed, we could copy consciousness…

She had to wonder if her team were the only ones down here to make such a breakthrough as she tentatively moved right up to the glass and finally spoke to the thing.

“You can talk?” she asked, a small part of her feeling stupid, as if she’d already cracked up, and talking to a suit seemed like the most reasonable thing in the world.

As if taunting her, the thing remained silent for a second, save for the blinking lights that pulsated and flickered like some kind of odd, digital heartbeat. Her ears folded, and her face sank, all fuzzily mirrored by her reflection in the glass as she sighed and pressed a forehoof to the smooth surface. For a moment there had been a flicker of hope, the emboldening thought that she was not alone down here. Now it felt as if it had all been snatched away, she really was going insane. Her mind could have just been tapping into the echoes of radio waves for all she knew.

Talking suits, yeah right, like they got that far. It was a strange feeling of superiority she almost wished she didn’t bear, if only so she’d not be alone. Funny, I never wanted them to get that far with their department before, but now…

With a deep sigh, she turned away, head held low as the ambient din of creaking metal and warping concrete droned around her. Yet the second her eyes were averted, there was a dull chime.

“Y–yes… Yes, I can…” Her ears perked, head spinning back to the suit before she could even register its voice, yet like some shy foal, its lights flickered and a timid eep sounded from its voice box. “Gah, sorry, sorry!”

What in Celestia's name? She cocked her head, one ear flopping over her mane like a lost puppy as she crept back. What kind of personality did they upload into this thing?

“Are you…” She could hardly believe what she was asking as the words formulated in her mechanical throat. “Are you shy, really?”

She looked the sleek thing up and down, studying the countless cords and talismans in more detail and realizing that she had no idea what some of the arcane machinery was. At least half of it was not of Equestrian make, yet reverse engineering foreign technologies was not abnormal for the Ministry.

“I… I… No, I just… Don’t like ponies looking at me!” The suit suddenly exclaimed, sounding more like some pouty foal than ever. “But I’ve been down here for so long I… Can’t say I’m not happy to see somepony.”

By Luna, did they really model this thing’s personality on a timid filly or what? She really had to wonder, but once again pressing a forehoof to her chest in another pointless breathing exercise, she asked.

“And how long is that?” The lights on the suit pulsed out for a second, as if it were trying to hide the fact that anypony was home, and after a moment she added. “Well, I guess if you don’t want to talk, I can just…”

“What, no!” The display flickered back to life as the suit called out, before blinking away softly again. “I–I… I mean, please don’t go, I don’t want to be left down here again.”

Okay, so shy and lonely, what a combo. She was sure even her analytical servos were buzzing with irritation at that. Still, if she wants out of here, maybe we can help each other.

She said as much, and the suit’s lights blinked as if she were contemplating the idea. Evidently, her internal processing was slower than Jade’s own, as it took a few minutes for her to finally respond.

“O–okay, but… You’ll have to help me out… I…” As if blushing the hexagonal mesh of the suit flickered red, then a soft pink. “I can’t really walk.”

Well, isn’t she a master of the obvious? Jade did all she could not to roll her eyes at that, holding back the witty comment and nodding. Why do I feel this is going to be more awkward than it already is?

“And how do I go about doing that?” she asked, tapping on the glass, before looking over the blinking dashboard of buttons below the cylinder. “I almost got shot just looking at you!”

“Don’t worry, I’ve cataloged your scans… Though, I have to say your analytics are odd… Are you sure you’re well?” the suit asked as the dashboard started to blink and flicker.

Am I? Jade looked herself over, testing each robotic leg in turn. She was hardly a step above the suit itself, and that feeling of cold beyond her phantom biology simmered in the back of her mind.

“I’m healthy enough to get us both out of here, I can promise you that,” she assured, pressing a forehoof to the scanner when prompted, and wincing as machinery growled in the walls.

“Your readings are cold… And… Is that a trademark?” Jade felt the ghost of a blush in her cheeks as her burning ears folded, she didn’t need any more reminders of how inequine she really was.

“Are you coming out of there or not?” she asked, and the suit's lights flickered, while a series of blues and greens floundered across its surface.

“Yes, yes, sorry, sorry!” she declared, voice rushed as if she really were typing out commands at an impossible rate. “Okay, just stand on the plate in front of the pod and stay perfectly still. Here’s hoping the dresser still works.”

“The what?” Jade asked, doing as instructed, only to have the floor under her hooves slide away, and her legs locked in place. “Hey, what is this!?”

She tugged and struggled, yet it was as if her body interfaced with the facility’s internal workings in a far deeper manner than just a simple impeding of mobility. She swore she heard the echoing ghosts of static recordings, and glimpsed blurred images of long-lost camera feeds. In the same instance, two withered arms of metal rose on either side of her, sharp beams of blue light lancing from their tips, scanning over her. Through the mess of technical data scrolling across her vision, she saw a screen in front of the suit pod flare to life, listing her proportions and statistics as if the two devices had always been intended to interface.

“Oh… That feels funny… Ah, be gentle!” The suit called, voice a muffled blur as she was slowly sucked down below the pod.

Just then the arms that had been scanning Jade’s frame retracted with a rusty squeal, and four more sprang up in their place. Part by part, plates were fitted to her metallic frame. Like some kind of undercarapace, they were drilled into her ceramic hide like they’d always been intended to fit. Seconds later the arms pulled back, replaced by a magical shimmer as she slowly became cocooned in a growing field of blue telekinesis.

“By Luna, what is…” Her voice was cut off with a digital buzz as the blue hue enveloped her head, silencing all save for the thoughts inside her head.

Feeling as if only half of her mind were here in the moment, while the other was set adrift on centuries’ worth of lost data, she heaved and tugged at her restraints. Yet more came, clamping her upper legs, then her midriff with steel rings that drilled into her sides. She wanted to scream, felt flares of pain that were not registered by her mechanical body. She had to wonder why the two interfaced so well, what she and her companions had really been building for the Ministry. Finally, there was an electrical jolt, so strong she was sure it would have popped her flesh and blood body like a static balloon.

All it did to her now was freeze her solid, and for several long moments, she was terrified the machinery would go the way of the turrets, pinning her in the dark tomb forever in a cocoon of crackling magic. Seconds later, there was a hard shunt as more of the tiles under her parted, and like a vacuum in reverse, the stealth suit was sucked over her bit by bit, hexagonal tiles layered like a set of sleek scales over her hide. Stunned as she was, it felt tight, hugging every curve of her slender frame, until it rolled up her neck. All she could do was close her eyes tightly as the nano weave of arcane technology grew over her face like a web of tiny black wires, and her vision faded out with the simple words.

‘X-23 interface complete… System fully interfaced and operational.’

Footnote - Level up.

New perk activated: Stealth Buddies - The base software patch for the Stealth Suit Mk XXIII, that was easy! Gain the following attributes while the Stealth Suit Mk XXIII is equipped:

Prototype Dampening Sensors (+5 Sneak)

Chapter Two: X-23

Chapter Two:

The lab’s glassy door slipped open as Jadefire stepped through. The long room was far sleeker and more clinical than the rest of her department, white walls so pale she could see her reflection, while the dark tiles under hoof shimmered like marble. Above, the lights hummed, as did the many refrigeration units, cryo pods, and suspension tubes. A vast array of wires and pipes fed into each of them, all connected to the many projects locked away safe inside the sprawling bulkwalk of terminal screens, blinking buttons, and dials. Ponies in lab coats, bearing the stark symbol of the MoA trotted about their business like cogs in a well-oiled machine, while cameras watched from every corner and the odd security robot rolled by.

It was all in a day's work for Jade as the kirin made her way by each of the stations, earning a nod or a wave from several of the ponies. While others looked less than thrilled to be under the supervision of a non-pony. She did her best to ignore the latter notion, at least having the luxury of being equine, unlike griffins or the sand dog construction workers. Her attention was solely focused on another pair of doors ahead and as she came upon them, she pressed one forehoof to the scanner on the left. There was a buzz and a click, before a metallic stalk bearing a glowing blue eye popped free of the wall, peering right into hers as she let out a weary sigh.

If I had a bit for every time I’ve been scanned… She inwardly groaned, used to the unimaginable number of screenings by now. I’d be good to retire.

The stalk hummed, sinking back into the wall as red lights around it turned green, and the door whooshed open. The room within was far darker, with cool, steel-gray walls and several pony-sized glass tubes fitted upright in the wall. Within were odd masses of flesh, at least to the untrained eye. Biology had never been Jade’s strong suit, she was far more adept in logistics, but even she knew the sight of the synthetic organs growing within the pods, fitted with a web of wires and needles. The sight made her wince, feeling a twinge in her gut at the idea. Yet one mare who was utterly desensitized to the sight, was the one who frantically flitted around the room like a buzzing wasp.

Most of Datastream’s blue features were masked by a lab coat, gloves, and a pair of goggles as she darted from a set of screens, to an array of buttons on the other side of the room. Jade almost had to spin in place to keep pace with the mare, before the pegasus finally settled by a medical pod at the lab’s center, this one laid out like an enclosed medical stretcher. It too was filled with incubation fluids, yet where the others contained organs, this contained the body of a whole mare, a very familiar synthetic mare. The faded sight of the prototype’s ivory coat was overshadowed by Jade’s reflection in the glass as she approached, only then seeming to gain Datastream’s attention as she cleared her throat.

“Oh, Jadefire!” The blue mare jumped up in alarm, her somewhat adorable accent accentuated by her nerdiness. “I–I didn’t see you come in… Everything alright?”

“Fine, fine, don’t know how you can miss me with all the sensors going off,” Jade responded with a smirk.

“If I didn’t learn to drown out all those distractions, then I’d never get anything done. Security is just too tight, I can hardly focus!” Data flared her wings in emphasis, before darting over to type on a screen at the pod’s flank. “I mean seriously, what do they think is going to happen, it’ll just get up and walk off?”

“More along the lines of somepony will get in and walk off with it,” Jade responded, biting her bottom lip. “Or some spy from another department.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice about that, stealth tech has been clamoring to get me alone, Specter’s so needy, I swear,” Data muttered, focusing utterly on her work. “I take it you spoke to the board?”

“I’m surprised you remembered you asked me to,” Jade responded with a slight giggle. “But yes, why do you think I’m here?”

“To bask in my utter genius, no?” The pegasus finally spared the kirin a glance, a giddy smile beaming on her face.

I’ll get a good sample of that after work. She thought, doing her best not to let her eyes wander to the mare’s more than appealing rump. Professionalism at work, Jadefire!

Even so, despite the majority of her focus being on the task at hoof, it was evident Data caught her bosses’ flustered pause. She winked, twirling her tail, butt swaying just a little under her lab coat.

“You’re a menace, you know that right?” Jade deadpanned, but Data merely laughed as she looked back at the screen.

“Not what you say after a drink or two,” she cooed, smirking at Jade’s heated blush, before adding in a more serious tone. “And the board?”

She… I… We’re at work! The kirin’s mind spun for a long moment before she finally collected herself.

“You have one more week, though the pod has to be moved up to the test chambers,” she informed her companion.

“Right next to your office, how convenient.” Data winked again as she brushed past the kirin, making extra sure her tail tugged at Jade's mane as she moved over to the head of the pod. “All you’ll have to do is glance over and there I’ll be.”

“Lucky me,” Jade deadpanned, yet one playfully sad look from Data had her rolling her eyes. “Just tell me you’ll have it ready for testing, they won’t wait again.”

“Trust me, I got it,” Data assured, tapping the pod. “When this baby is up and running, neither of us will have to worry again.”

‘X-23 interface complete… System fully interfaced and operational.’

With a buzz akin to the digital static of a dial-up tone, some semblance of consciousness was spurred into reality. Like her thoughts were scattered shards of glass springing from a cracked window, images and memories danced around Jade’s head in a jumbled mess. Like each train of thought was a raindrop tossed around in a thunderstorm, before surging together with the almighty boom of thunder. Then, like a flash of lightning, her consciousness finally fell into something coherent, and with a lurch, her eyes flashed open.

Her vision felt more blurred than it really was, just another feeling of wrongness to add to the growing list of sensations that felt unnatural. Only the odd flicker of her night vision danced in her sight, along with the readouts from her E.F.S. Yet where there had once only been a few gauges in her peripherals, now there were several. Ranging from a small icon of a pony, each of its limbs stated to be fully intact, to a small bar indicating stealth status. For a mare with a machine brain, it was still overwhelming, at least to the part of her that still insisted she was biological.

Either way, the digital clutter failed to last very long. The moment she stopped focusing on it, it faded from sight, dancing in and out of her vision as her intentions flitted about. One thing was for sure, synthetic brain or not, her head was pounding, as if some little pony were dancing on a set of drums, while giddily bouncing off every corner of her metallic skull. She could hardly remember what happened, one second she was in her office, then the alarms, then the dark tunnels, the monsters, the terminals… For a moment, she swore it could all just have been a dream, that she’d just wake up at her desk, and see Datastream through the window like always. That was until she lifted a forehoof to her face.

It was cold and metallic, the same ivory-ceramic surface as her forehead as the two tapped together with a dull clack. Her synthetic skin informed her it was cold, far from the warm flesh and blood she’d felt mere moments ago in her true dreams. Even so, for a moment, she felt content just laying there, part of her wasn’t even sure if she’d managed to break free of the magical prison her tampering had locked her within. It was at that moment, reality came flooding back. Eyes prone to the tiled floor of the locker room, she could see the arms of the dresser lying limp, as well as the empty suit pod. Sideways as the whole thing was.

I’m free, and… She hated herself for finally admitting her dreams were as far from this nightmare as ever. And this is all real… The world ended, oh right.

Nothing but the ambient creaking and grinding of the dead city sagging above her met her ears as they stood tall. With a groan she sat up, swaying dizzily as natural instincts struggled to keep pace with efficient machine senses. One thing was for sure, she felt far more tingly than before, not to mention there was a tight grasp around her, almost like some kind of latex.

What a thought… Not like I’ll see anypony in that kind of get up again. She thought, glad the idea could still get some kind of libido going in her synthetic innards, only to sour at the idea she’d never see her new body’s bubbly creator ever again. What I wouldn’t give to just see somepony else!

“Urg, what happened?” she moaned, pressing a forehoof to her head once again, before running it up to feel for her mane.

The synthetic mockery of natural hair was gone, sealed under her suit. So stretching out one forehoof she looked herself over, seeing the hexagonal mesh of the stealth suit tightly wrapped around her coat. It left all but the very tips of each hoof to the imagination, coating her in an ever-shifting illusion of color, like some kind of oversized chameleon. Sitting up, and battling not to waver as her brain felt like soup, her rump clattered on the tiles, and she lifted her second forehoof to rub the thing. It was smooth and plastic-y, but she could feel the touch of her hoof against it as if it were an extension of her body.

Wow, I feel more alive than before! She thought, suddenly coming to realize she could feel the bitter chill in the air, in addition to the static buzz that emanated from the suit. That’s going to take some getting used to though.

“Hehe, that tickles!” muttered a voice that seemed to come from inside her head, right as the suit rippled a pulsating set of blues and greens. “Oh goodness, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you were awake!”

Jade was on her hooves in seconds, jumping up like a timid filly caught with her hoof in the cookie jar. It was only when the suit’s timid voice, as well as the lights on the dashboard over her breast, lit up in union with the buzzing tone, that she remembered she wasn’t alone. There was a rush of heat over her whole body. A hiss of steam seemed to be forced from the suit’s every pour, right as she pressed a forehoof to her chest, imagining she was still calming her breath and collecting herself.

“Did you just heat me?” she asked, flexing each limb as she felt as if she’d just been blasted with a mane-dryer. “What’s that about?”

“I… I… Well, I…” The suit went so pink it was a wonder she didn’t light up the whole undercity with her glow. “It’s nothing, just a little embarrassment… I’m sorry!”

Oh, by Luna, why did I put this thing on again? She asked herself with a roll of her eyes, really hoping the thing couldn’t read her thoughts. What and you’d rather be alone, and not able to turn invisible?

She could hardly fault her own logic there, even if a good old stealth buck would have sufficed. Regardless, finally feeling as if she’d regained her composure, she glanced around.

“Don’t worry about it, just try to tone down the light show, please!” she asked, feeling a nagging sense of confusion in her head, as if picking up on the suit's conflicted thoughts, before adding. “I mean the pink.”

“Oh, right, right, sorry… My bad,” X-23 muttered, and with another dull burst of timid feelings, she flickered the pink down to a dull gray. “I really, really have to get a handle on that.”

You don’t have to tell me that twice. Jade thought, rolling her eyes only for the suit to mutter.

“What was that?”

“N–nothing, nothing, just thinking.” Jade went stiff as a board, ears erect as she realized that maybe her new companion had a small link to her thoughts after all. “Just… Well, if we’re going to get out of here, we have to do it together.”

Luna help me, I just hope we can get out. She thought, the far more subtle thought seeming to be beyond X-23’s ability to pick up for now. Just have to pick up where I left off.

“Yes, yes, right, got it, okay!” the suit muttered, summoning a ripple of blue as a rush akin to how it felt to be a giddy filly nipped at Jade’s mind. “And how do we do that again?”

“I told you, I think I know a way out of here, but I need to know I can count on you to keep me hidden, think you can do that?” Jade responded, hoping her scornful feelings at the sight of the blue flashes reached the suit.

“Hidden, got it, that’s what I was made for, hidden coming right up!” That giddy rush once again swelled, and with an electrical tingle, Jade watched her body flicker, disappearing into the darkness. “Hidden now!”

‘Stealth field activated: field integrity: 100%’

Just like when the two had first bonded, the digital scraw flashed across her vision, as if somepony were typing the message out behind her eyes. Yet just as soon as they faded, another set of words materialized. Only these were bright red.

‘Test one activated: Ambush.’

Wait, what? The words had about a millisecond to register in Jade's mind, before alarms and sirens began to blur, and the whole room was suddenly bathed in crimson light. Oh, by the goddesses, why is nothing ever simple!?

The sudden flash of spinning lights dazed her night vision, she had about a second to blink the effect off before there was a metallic growl, and three, far more operable turrets, deployed from the ceiling. Like the tight pressure of a plastic bag robbed of air, X-23 sucked tight around her, invisibility faltering like a weak radio signal as her synthetic brain erupted into a slurry of analytics and code. Her ears twitched as the turrets whirred, the flash as they fired sending a surge of panic through her. Yet where the lingering ghost of her flesh and blood lingered, her mechanical side leaped into action. The world slowed to a crawl, never before had she seen the effect of S.A.T.S so clearly, but just as soon as the spell was cast, she leaped aside.

Her legs sprung out like hydraulic pistons, cracking the tiles. Next thing she knew she was in the air, overcome by a rush of dizziness as the spell faded. The second time resumed, she went from calculatingly precise, to wildly floundering. As if controlled by years of rigorous training one second, and herself, the simple office-working kirin, the next, she slammed into the wall muzzle first. Denting the locker as her ceramic coat clanked, X-23 let out a sharp yelp of pain. The stealth field finally flickered out from the point of impact, turning a dull blue.

‘Stealth field error: field integrity: 0%’

“Ouch, that really hurt!” exclaimed the suit as Jade found herself looking at the dented locker, right as the whole wall lurched back, and rolled up into the gloom, flipping over to reveal an array of metal spikes.

“By Luna, by Luna, by Luna!” Staggering back, she glanced around frantically to see the whole room transforming in a series of segmented panels.

Each flipped and rotated like some giant jigsaw, turning the place from a locker room, into a death maze. “By Luna, why did no pony tell me this is what they had down here!?”

“It’s the ambush protocol, that would defeat the point!” X-23 hardly sounded like she thought any better of the situation even if she’d have been inaudible over the metallic grinding, if not for their neural link. “I thought you’d know, you seemed pretty confident!”

“I was when I knew where the door was!” Jade yelled outwardly, jumping back as the floor under her split in two, tiles rolling away in neat sequence to reveal a pit of gnashing gears underneath. “This is just insane!”

“Only the awesomest for the MoA, right?” X-23’s words were cut off as once again Jade's synthetic instincts took over, time slowed, she leaped aside, back onto the far platform as the turrets once again turned the ground she’d been standing on into a ragged mess of shrapnel.

I can hardly use my own body, it’s just avoiding the fire, but I need to get out of here. She had a feeling her self-preservation protocols would only get her so far, she needed to find her way to the door.

Glancing up, her eyes scanned the room in far more efficient detail than any natural pony could. The whir of the turrets once again filled her ears, but like a camera set to look for one target, her gaze fixed, focused on, and even magnified the door.

There it is! She inwardly screamed, willing her brain with all her might to get her there. Come on, you got me through that door before, you can do this!

She caught the two turrets fixate on her, ears folding as she instinctively ducked, the concrete behind her peppered with fire before it sank away to be replaced by the endless spines. In the same motion, however, she kicked off, rolling like a tumbleweed in a gale, before clattering against one of the fallen lockers. With a hard clank, it slipped off the platform and into the gnashing teeth below, as more and more of the room fell away. She had seconds at best before the whole floor was gone, and she too would be mangled by the rusty maw. Worse still, as her eyes once again fixed on the door, she saw a plate of spikes slowly falling into place over it.

Oh no, you don’t, I’m not dying here, not to one of Specter’s schemes! She had no idea whether it was her new body, or her will to survive, but filled with a surge of courage, she leaped off the platform.

Magic deep in her core flared, projected around her with just enough lift to negate her weight. It had warnings about power usage flash in her vision as she sailed over the rusty teeth like a less-than-elegant missile, before she struck the door with a hard thud, one forehoof wrapping around the handle. Gotcha!

“Oh goddesses, oh goddesses, hold on!” X-23 screamed in a flustered panic as with a clack of tightening metallic plates, Jade heaved herself upward, and yanked the door open.

Before she knew it, she was swung out over the gnashing pit as the thing flung wide. That terrified urge returned, the feeling she was just an office worker destined to become mincemeat. No, this was not how she was going to die! She narrowed her eyes, focused on what her synthetic brain was telling her, and kicked off the last platform, right as the turrets took aim. Closing her eyes tight, she lurched toward the open space beyond, rolling to a loud, metallic stop in the dark concrete corridor as the door behind her was cut to ribbons by the guns. Scampering to the left, she took cover behind the wall, ducking and tossing her forehooves over her head as she shivered like a terrified foal. She was sure she’d have wet herself with fright had she still been able. A second later, there was a deep clunk as the plate slid down, and the death room was sealed away.

For what felt like far too long she sat there, hunkered down as if the bombs had only just fallen, lost in the cold dark. That was until her night vision flickered on once again, and peaking between her prone hooves, she saw a long corridor lined with dull emergency lights and hissing pipes. Lifting her head, she felt the tight grip of her suit slacken, once again feeling as if X-23 had blessed her with a burst of heat as she glanced back to see she was indeed safe.

Okay, note to self, not everything down here is what it seems. She made sure to remember that as she began to creep along. Let’s hope there’s no more surprises.

Even so, it sounded like her suit was the one hyperventilating. The rush of her coolant systems seeming to represent such a thing as Jade finally asked.

“X-23, you good?” There was a dull hum from the thing, her camo once again flickered, slowly rendering the two of them invisible as she finally responded.

“I’m fine… Perfectly fine… Not traumatized at all.” Jade had to wonder how a suit could even be so scared, yet she understood perfectly well as X-23 added. “Let’s just move before that gets us!”

That? What is she talking about…? The thought crossed Jade’s mind the second she glanced at her E.F.S, seeing the red bar behind her right as the ceiling bulged inwards like wet paper. Oh, right, that!

Black slime dribbled down in sickly strings from the web of cracks that blossomed above her. She started to run, and right in time, as seconds later, the whole roof came crumbling down behind her. Like a dam had burst, the slurry of sopping-wet flesh and grasping limbs flooded into the hall. Evidently, her escapade in the death room hadn’t gone unnoticed. Right now she had no idea whether she preferred the metallic teeth, or the grotesque amalgamation of spines that lined the fleshy maw dragging itself after her.

“What in Luna’s name is that!?” she screamed, breaking into a full gallop, as she did her best to keep away from its many grasping limbs and coiling tendrils.

All she could see of it in the fleeting glances cast back over her shoulder was a wall of blistering flesh sandwiched into the tight space, barging aside pipes and gutters. A hundred pony faces, warped into petrified expressions of agony, rolled, and rippled across its bubbling hide. While eyes twitched and writhed from within its many slimy folds. It was the most horrifying thing she’d ever seen, the only thing sparing her from throwing up at the mere sight of it was her inability to do so as she didn’t even want to imagine the smell.

“Oh, oh, I know this place, this is near the station!” X-23 suddenly exclaimed, stealing Jade’s attention as she looked forward. “Take a left here, then a right, it’ll take you right to the tracks!”

Good to see she’s not utterly useless then! She thought, pretty sure her fickle invisibility was of no consequence when the thing behind her lacked eyes half the time. I get to that train and Luna help me, I’m riding it as far as I can, fuck this cursed city!

Coming upon a narrow intersection marked by the flickering glow of an emergency exit sign, she took a sharp turn left, hooves skidding on the cold metal under her as the thing tore its way after her. Ripping bloody chunks from its constantly regenerating mass as it ground away concrete.

“Okay, now right!” X-23 reminded her, narrowly avoiding a collapsed section of the tunnels as she bolted up a set of steps, right as the thing appeared at the bottom. “Okay, just past this door, and we…”

Jade’s head hit the floor with a metallic slam. Static buzz reverberating in her ears, she was yanked back from the door. Her metallic forehooves dug at the floor, battling to stop her from being dragged back down the stairs, as she looked in horror at the tendril coiling around her hind legs, and the maw rapidly ascending towards her. Any second now and she’d be enveloped by the rest of its grasping limbs, a series of hooves, talons, and spiny tentacles. There’d be no escape from that pit of serrated teeth!

No, not today! Summoning that surge of survival instinct once again, she kicked out one forehoof at the door controls, smashing them with a static hiss of sparks.

With a steamy sputter, the door slid closed, as her magic flared, and she yanked her leg out just enough to see the sharp slab of metal sever the thing’s offending limb. It screamed in a symphony of pain, as if a thousand ponies were all mauled at once. Muffled by the door as it was, it still chilled her right down to her metallic bones as she staggered back, only to hear the pounding beyond the wall.

It's still after me! She flicked off the writhing tentacle that had been severed as it flailed like a snake, before rolling onto her front and looking about. Train tracks, out of here now!

This tunnel was far larger than the rest, a yawning chasm with a smooth, domed ceiling of bricks and rusty pipes, and much to her relief, a set of industrial tracks.

“See, what did I tell you?” X-23 muttered, while Jade felt an odd sense of pride that wasn’t her own.

She shoved it aside, all she focused on was what her enhanced eyes revealed to her, and for once she smiled, feeling a flicker of hope.

Oh, Specter, you paranoid fool! For all the trouble his department had just caused her she had no doubt the carriage prime to leave, filled with supplies, had been his. Okay, got the train, now out of here!

The thought dashed through her synthetic mind like lightning as she darted down the service steps, just as the wall and door bulged, black ichor oozing through every widening crack.

“Okay, okay, Jade, think, how do these things work again?” she asked herself, recalling her compulsory evacuation drills. “Just flick the spark generator, and then accelerate, right!?”

“Oh, moving now!” X-23 screamed, as Jade’s learning curve was cut short by the whole wall around the door crumbling in a deluge of fleshy mass.

“Oh Luna, screw it!” she yelled, closing her eyes as she flicked every switch and shoved the accelerator.

The whole platform lurched, brakes squealing, before they snapped with a metallic bang and a flash of sparks. Yet for all of its attitude, it barely rolled away fast enough, ripping several of the monster’s grasping tentacles free as they took hold. She screamed, feeling the whole thing tilt as if it were about to be tossed off the tracks, diving aside to avoid a gnarled mass of bony limbs erupting from the thing’s bulbous flank. Bloody slime splattered across X-23 as the stealth field once again died completely. Yet it was the last of her worries as the whole cart tilted downward, and supplies tumbled into the thing’s maw.

Wrapping a foreleg around the side rail, Jade watched as black duffle bags and crates were devoured by the pulsating sphincter beyond the thing’s teeth, lined by flailing hooves and pained faces. Once again it grasped her hind legs, she screamed, yet not before catching a glimpse of what rolled out from one of the bags. She had no idea what her past colleague had planned to do with the set of grenades bundled amidst the stacks of ammunition but focused all of her magic on the bandoleer.

“Yeah, fuck you too!” she screamed as the thing roared, the set of grenades with every pin telekinetically pulled sinking into its pulsating maw.

There was a stillness for several moments, she thought she’d somehow been sucked into S.A.T.S once again. Seconds later she had to close her eyes to avoid the blinding explosion. The flash of flesh, bile, and sickly smoke erupted through the cavern, ripping the bloated mass apart as the ruined ceiling came crumbling down atop it.

The ear-rending shriek of its gruesome death was akin to a thousand horrified wails, but with a heavy shunt and a squeal of metal, the cart lurched from the bloody devastation and rolled on. Snatching her away from the fleshy abomination and plunging her deep into the tunnels as the smoke and fire dissipated into the gloom behind her. Falling back against the controls, Jade panted, even if her body didn’t need it, panting was all she could do.

“Is it gone?” It was X-23’s voice that broke the perpetual huffing of her breath, and with a sniff, she ran a bile-coated forehoof over her nose.

“I–I think so… I hope so,” Jade muttered, staring off into the dark, as if that toothy maw would surge after the cart.

When it failed to do so, she leaned back, rested a forehoof on her suit, and sighed. What in Equestria am I walking into?

X-23 flickered, the stealth field dancing over her in odd patterns as the suit felt a little slack. Jade could hardly bring herself to care, all she hoped was that whatever she found at the end of the ruined tunnel, it was better than the nightmare she’d just escaped.

Okay, maybe hoping for sunshine and rainbows was a bit too much. Jadefire thought, peering up at the gray sky for the second day in a row. I’m starting to believe it’s always dark out here.

Not once since she’d seen the north mountains of the San Pransisco Bay vanish over the gloomy horizon had she seen the sun. Not once since her train ride had ended in a less-than-elegant emergency leap, had she seen anypony save for skeletons. She wasn’t even sure where the run-away car with no breaks had ended up, but the smoke and sounds she’d heard minutes after suggested she’d made her escape in the nick of time. Traveling on the thing for a whole day, as well as the salty sea scent in the air, told her she was now at least half a world away from the city. Yet all she was really glad for, was the one duffle bag of supplies she’d managed to rescue.

Right, Specter, you sly buck, let’s see what you had. She muttered inwardly as she hunkered down in the ruins of an old farmhouse, an orchard of scorched trees lurking outside.

Carefully, she flicked open the sack, almost scared it too was fitted with some kind of booby trap, after the whole death-room debacle. Yet after a few long minutes of no bombs, lasers, or killer robots, she began to rummage. After all she'd been through, anything would be useful, she almost felt like a foal in a candy store, regardless of her decrepit hovel of rotten wood and cracked windows. For once the universe failed to disappoint, and much like the bags she’d sacrificed to escape, the thing was filled with ammo and a set of healing potions.

Three-o-eight rounds? Her attention perked along with her ears as she levitated out the moldy boxes, thankful the ammunition within was still usable. He’s got to have a rifle in here then?

Yet for all her searching, she failed to find little more than a few more boxes, a standard MoA operative’s combat knife, and an odd-looking pistol. If there had been a rifle, it had been lost in another of the bags, yet the weapon she ended up with was no less interesting. The sensation of magic welling up from inside her chest was still strange, but not nearly as peculiar as the weapon as it rotated in the air before her.

The thing had clearly been modified, not only boasting the standard suppressor any operative’s weapon was required to have, but a five-shot revolving chamber, and an ivory grip. The rest of it was a cool gray, barely touched by rust or grime, even if it was a little worn. Flexing her magic, she closed one eye, peering along the narrow peak of the weapon. All it was missing was some kind of sight and it could be considered special issue, that was until she realized it wasn’t as basic as she first thought.

A rifle round revolver, that’s new! She thought, flipping open the chamber, and magically slipping the rounds in. Trust him to want the stopping power of a rifle compact enough for his pocket.

It summed up her old rival almost perfectly. If anyone wanted to hold out one forehoof in good faith while stashing something like this in the other, it was Specter. Setting the weapon aside, she took one last look inside the bag, glowing eyes illuminating the very bottom of the worn old thing as she practically stuck her head in. Save for a holster for the pistol, sheath for the knife, and some anti-rad supplies, there was nothing but an old recording. Protected by a plastic wrap, she levitated the thing out, strapping the weapons to her foreleg and hip respectively as she wondered just how she could play the thing.

“Ooo, is that a holotape?” X-23 buzzed, taking Jade slightly off guard as she recalled she was far from alone.

“Yeah, but no way to play it, right?” she responded, drawing her new straps tight, eliciting a flicker of color from the suit.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to cloak those, you know?” she muttered, but Jade dismissed the reality with a wave of one forehoof.

“We can worry about that later, right now we need to find somepony else, there’s got to be survivors or something,” she informed her tight-fit companion, before once again levitating up the tape.

“I can play that, you know? Or I should be able to,” X-23 muttered as Jade stashed the ammo back in the sack and slung the thing over her back. “At least while I’m covering your own ports. All the functions of a standard pipbuck, on demand.”

Talk about trying to advertise herself. Jade thought, folding her hind legs slightly at the mention of ‘ports’. Don’t need to think about that too much either, I’m still a hundred percent mare back there, right!?

Even so, at X-23’s words, there was a flicker in the mare’s vision, and like somepony were typing out a shopping list behind her eyes her inventory was organized into a series of ammunition, weapons, and medical supplies.

I’ll never understand how that stuff works. She thought, noting that her map was also updated with the tag ‘Sandy Pine Farm Ruins’. How in Luna’s name does it know where I’m at!?

Regardless of her companion’s sudden flurry of activity, she glanced at the device on her right foreleg and sighed.

“Sure, knock yourself out, I guess,” she muttered, and like an eager foal awaiting cookies, the holo-player popped open.

“Is this thing on, by Luna, the least that can go right is this stupid thing works!” The second the thing was in, Jade heard the tinny voice of her long-lost colleague echo through her mind, exactly like X-23’s.

“Misty, if you get this you were supposed to be here with the rest of the supplies hours ago! So help me if you’re not here before I have to head back for the upload…” There was a stutter in the recording, a static buzz distorting the age-old stallion’s words as Jade swore she heard the sound of his hooves trotting over metal. “What in Equestria was that, don’t tell me there’s another tunnel collapse!?”

He spoke about that as if it were the most casual nuisance in the world, and Jade winced as she recalled the many structural issues that often plagued the Ministry District back in her time.

“He doesn’t sound so happy,” X-23 muttered over the recording, as Jade crept her way out from the farmhouse and began to trot across a decaying allotment of withered tomato plants.

“He never was, trust me,” she muttered, peering out into endless shadows of dead trees lingering around her.

Like a wall of scorched bark, the narrow spaces between were swarming with twisting vines and barbed thickets, while mist pooled just above the soggy ground. There was not a hint of color save the harsh orange of rust growing over a half-sunken tractor. The only break in the gnarled wall was a narrow road dead ahead, beyond the trampled skeleton of a gate. Far more real bones were draped over the thing, overcome by vines as if they’d been trying to claw their way over the fence with crippled limbs. X-23 whistled a wary hum, almost like a lullaby to take her mind off the dead. While Jade winced at the sight, doing her best not to think about it.

There have to be more ponies out here, or some-creature, at least. They can’t all be dead! She thought, yet the recording did little to boost her confidence as she let it continue.

“Sunbeam, there you are!” Specter exclaimed as the sound of a door swooshing open was followed by the tapping of another pony’s hooves. “Where have you been, are all the supplies on the cart?”

“Yes sir, everything is there!” the second pony, a mare, assured him before adding. “But there’s been a complication, they’re delaying the test until Tuesday.”

“What!?” Specter exclaimed, tone far from the calm, calculating one Jade was used to, before he hissed through gritted teeth. “What do you mean they are delaying it?”

“Datastream took her report to the board, she doesn’t think it’ll be ready until next week,” responded the mare, while Specter audibly groaned.

She almost imagined him pressing a forehoof to his face like he always did as he responded bluntly.

“The board let her get away with that? Why is it they’re so lenient with Jadefire’s department, she's not even a pony!?” Even all these centuries later, that accusation stung.

True, she knew many of her companions had never been so fond of non-ponies, but towards the end of the war, Equestria was making use of every asset it could, pony or not. Spectre had never been openly discriminatory, but she knew that every time they met that false sense of professionalism he often wore, masked his resentment.

Well, who’s the one still alive, smart tail? She thought, trotting down the muddy road, while the irony she now had his escape supplies tickled her humor. Besides, I’m more pony-like now than ever.

Her feelings regarding that reality were still mixed as she hopped over a fallen log. Mechanical limbs making short work of the swampy terrain, even if X-23 moaned she was getting muddy.

“They did, but what does it matter? The uplink is still in place, once it’s all over, we take the project and run, same as before,” the mysterious mare reiterated, and Jade felt her spine prickle with apprehension.

What was he up to? She thought before the flutter of some kind of small bat overhead urged her to draw her weapon.

“And you’re sure about that, are you?” Spectre pressed, and she was sure the mare nodded as she hummed her assurance. “Fine, one more week but that’s it. I’ve waited too long for this paycheck and early retirement.”

At that, the recording cut out with a sharp pop, the tape ejected from X-23 as the suit muttered a startled eep.

“Whow, calm down!” Jade hissed, catching the holo tape in her magic, as she spun to aim her weapon in the direction the bat-thing had taken. “They’re just little critters.”

The only sign the fluttering little things had even been there were the diminishing swirls their rapid wing beats left in the mist, and she drew back the weapon, stashing the tape in her bag.

“Sorry, sorry, that just felt odd,” X-23 responded, flushing a little pink as she grew warmer. “But those ponies, they weren’t talking about me, right?”

“I don’t know,” Jade responded, levitating the pistol close. “Though I’ll gladly make use of that bigoted mule’s early retirement.”

It felt like an odd, but fitting name for the rather unique weapon as she holstered the thing once again and continued to trot through the mud. Steadily the pathway began to rise, forming a hill she was sure would offer her a better view. If there was anypony still alive, she’d surely see them from up here. That was until she reached the peak, and those hopes were savagely dashed. Nothing but mottled gray and withered brown met her sight as far as she could see. Even the ocean stretching far to her left was naught but an endless shimmer of faded color. The beach was a sickly yellow, while green lightning flickered amidst the thick clouds on the mountainous horizon.

Okay, this may be more difficult than I thought. She inwardly admitted, sensing a nervous pinch from X-23.

At least until her eyes wandered downward and settled upon a rotten mass of ruins huddled together at the seaside like a flock of lost sheep. There were lights among the desolate structures, torch lights.

If there’s ponies anywhere, they’ll surely be down there. She thought as the name of the place flashed up on her map: Neighcent Wharf.

Footnote - Level up.

New perk activated: Wired Reflexes - Advanced technology has increased your reaction speed, perfect for escaping sudden rooms of death! Gain +1 perception and a 10% hit bonus while using S.A.T.S

Chapter Three: The Aqua Dome

Chapter Three:

From the moment she set hoof in the decrepit town, Jade could hardly tell whether the growing darkness was due to the coming night or the swelling storm clouds overhead. A harsh wind filled with salty scents blew in from the rolling ocean, waves crashing against the crumbling concrete bulkwalk to her right. The decaying mass of cracked rock and rusting metal bars seemed to be the only defense against the endless march of the churning water. Each wave trailed a mane of white foam, while odd, seagull-like bats flitted above them.

Beyond the wall, to her left, the once bustling seafront of stores and cafes was now no more than a rotting heap of sagging timber and broken glass. Cracked orange bricks, woven with intricate patterns of fish and sea shells were worn and mottled by grime. While foundations jutted up between the broken structures like the broken ribs of a decayed cadaver. The odd hay-fry stand, or candyfloss machine lingered amidst countless tattered umbrellas, succumbing to corrosion as much as the many towering hotels and casinos above.

Bones littered the place like a dark parody of those who’d once come here for fun and games. All stripped of flesh, some still bore flowery blue t-shirts, or luggage containers, while odd, shrimp-like creatures scurried away from them at Jade’s approach. They didn’t register as hostile in her E.F.S, but from the number of dots, she assumed there were thousands of the things. Even so, she was on edge, a stark contrast to the steady beat of her mechanical heart as it thrummed like an engine in her chest. X-23 hummed her timid tune all the while, as Early Retirement scanned the area around the synthetic mare within its bubble of telekinesis.

I swear, for a stealth suit, she makes so much noise! She thought, feeling a sting of discomfort at the idea as she passed the rusty skeleton of an old tram car, windows weeping bones. Seriously, if anypony is here, they’ll hear us coming a mile off!

She was starting to have second thoughts about this whole plan. Surely anypony who called a place like this home wasn’t so friendly. After the tunnels, it had her utterly on edge. Every crack of glass under her hooves made her wince, seconds before the head of a monstrous pink pony had her almost jumping out of her synthetic skin. Like some horrid practical joke, the thing was staring at her with a pair of huge blue eyes the second she rounded the corner, earning several pistol shots in return. The soft flash of the silenced weapon flared as combat diagnostics blossomed in her vision. X-23 let out a startled squeak, invisibility flickering on and off. Only then did Jade realize she’d shot the decayed face of a large clown.

It took her a second to recognize the bubbly pink ministry mare. Pinkie Pie’s face had been plastered on every poster, billboard, and leaflet before the war, and as Jade looked down she saw the cracked glass entrance of the arcade. Seabirds scattered from the maw of shattered glass, forcing her to reign in another flurry of terrifying thoughts as she did her best to slow her breath, regardless of whether it had truly elevated or not.

Come on, Jade, keep it together, it’s just a prop. She told herself, looking down at her hooves, before finally glancing up at the thing again. Seen better days though.

Marred by rust and corrosion, the huge face appeared more like that of a zombie. Inner frame exposed behind rusted cheeks, extending the creepy smile. While nests of seaweed clogged the nostrils and ears. It hardly took away from the eyes, both still relatively intact and feeling as if they peered right into her soul.

If I still even have a soul. She thought, yet that kind of existential dread was shoved right back to the rear of her memory banks. No, no, I’m still me… A real soldier would hardly be this jumpy!

True to that, she spun, pistol rapidly aimed at a scuttling sound behind her, seeing a red crab about the size of an equine’s head scurry away. Its potted chitin was pitted by weeping barnacles, as was one of its larger claws. Coated in seaweed, the rest of it was nestled into a pony’s skull, like some twisted mockery of a hermit crab.

What in Celestia’s name have I gotten myself into? She thought, creeping under the cover of the arcade’s foyer as rain began to patter down upon the ruins. I swore I saw civilization down here!

“The temperature is dropping, maybe we should find shelter?” It was the first break in X-23’s constant humming, but not a suggestion Jade disagreed with as she huddled in the foyer, collecting herself.

“You say that because you can get too cold, or I can?” she asked, looking at her sleeve and frowning at the patchy flurry of invisibility. “Because I’m pretty sure neither of us can get the chills anymore.”

“Ah right, yes…” She trailed off, a flicker of pink correlating with the nagging hint of bashfulness Jade felt tugging at her mind. “Sorry, I’m just not used to this. I feel… Well, I don’t know, it hardly feels right to be this way.”

“You don’t have to remind me,” Jade responded, levitating the gun up to peer inside the arcade, spying broken slot machines, claw-grabbers, and pool tables.

Plushies and chips still spilled out of many, and the carpet under hoof was soaked to the point of feeling more like a bog. Wires hung down like sparking entrails from the cracked ceiling, while more of the sea birds had made nests among the cartoon pirate ships and desert islands that hung from the higher rafters. Even so, the second the gloom took hold she blinked her night vision on, seeing all the way through to a second entrance opposite, by a counter complete with broken terminals, cash registers, and long-dead neon lights.

“Don’t think I’ll ever get used to this,” she muttered, accidentally crushing a skull under a metallic forehoof, wincing. “Gah, sorry.”

“It’s all just a blur for me. One second I’m feeling warm and cozy, then this,” X-23 muttered, and Jade had to wonder just how much of their surroundings the suit could truly perceive.

“You’re not missing much, trust me,” Jade responded, nudging aside bones as she crept her way up a set of squat steps to the second entrance. “Maybe these guys really were the lucky ones.”

Maybe I really was better off dead, at least then I’d be with Data. She shook off that thought, sure she’d no right to think of the mare she’d betrayed like that. If she were here she’d figure this out, she’s smart.

She swore she caught glimpses of the nerdy mare’s scowling face in the shadows, unable to shake the idea the long-dead pegasus was a better mare than her. It should have been Data here in this body, it was practically her child! Yet what was she to do, there was no way for her to redeem herself, there was nothing but bones, death, and monsters. Right there, as she peered out into the rainy street beyond the shattered glass, she had to wonder just how far she’d have to roam to find anything out here. All the while X-23 hummed, at least for a few moments.

“Oh no… Hiding now!” Jade’s ears perked, unsure whether the voice had been in her head, or outwardly audible.

Regardless, the stealth suit finally came through, and with a flicker, she faded from sight, right as she heard a voice.

“Hey, I think it came from over here!” It was surely a pony, a stallion from the sounds of it, shouting to be heard over the rain. “I’m sure I heard a shot!”

“Hey, what are you doing!?” Jade hissed under her breath as she ducked down in the foyer, glaring at her masked foreleg. “We don’t want to hide, we want to be saved!”

“But just look, they don’t seem too friendly,” X-23 muttered, and seconds before Jade demanded how the suit knew that, she saw the set of red bars on her E.F.S.

“You’re just hearing thunder,” snapped the voice of a mare outside, Jade’s ears folding as she realized maybe firing off random shots wasn’t the best idea.

“I’m telling you, Crimson, I heard a shot, three-o-eight, silenced. Trust me, I know it!” responded the stallion, putting a name to the mare.

“Gunpowder, to you, everything’s three-o-eight,” added the dry tone of a third mare, naming the stallion too.

There were three red dots on her E.F.S, but more than that, there were at least four blue dots too, each bundled along in the midst of the hostiles like cattle.

What in Luna’s name is going on here? She thought to herself, finally daring to peek up over the counter.

Invisibility or not, she was sure the trio couldn’t see her in the gloom, not to mention the lashing flurry of heavy rain as it thundered down around them. But with her enhanced vision, she could see them clearly enough. Dressed as if they’d crawled out of a shipwreck, each had gnarled planks of wood strapped to their sides, forming a kind of boxy armor. The wiry mesh of fishing nets and hooks hanging from ear piercings added to the crude, nautical vibe. She guessed the front two were Crimson and Gunpowder, while the lattermost mare had a whole lobster cage on her head like some kind of makeshift helmet. Jade quickly dubbed her Cage, noting each of them seemed armed while noticing the small group of ponies huddled between the three.

They looked in even worse a state, unarmed and dressed in mere rags, there were three mares, a stallion, and finally, a colt. She’d failed to even notice the young pony’s bar given how closely he was pressed to one of the mares. The only thing they all had in common aside from their withered state, were the thick metal collars around their necks, each blinking a dull red.

Those can’t be? She had to blink to make sure she was seeing things right, but her synthetic eyes told no lies. Those are restraining collars!

She’d seen them a few times, prisoners often wore them, and the MoA had dealt with more than a few of those in its back-hoof operations. But to see them on ponies like this, most of all the one awkwardly modified to fit a colt!

They don’t look like prisoners to me… She thought, sure she’d feel sick if she could. Then again, what’s the definition of prisoner out here?

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Gunpowder was quick to snap back at his two companions, earning sly chuckles from the two mares. “I swear, I don’t lie!”

“Pretty sure she was talking about another kind of gun,” Crimson muttered as she pranced past him, flicking her tail at the tip of his snout.

From under the red and white swirl that was her mane, Jade caught sight of her horn. Pale yellow glow wrapped around a spear that was no more than a pool cue with a knife taped to the end.

“You’d know all about that, wouldn’t you?” he retorted, seeming to forget all about Jade’s shot as he slapped the coy mare’s ass with the blunt end of his own harpoon-spear, forcing her to bite her lip as she shot him a devious look.

“Alright, save it for the bunks, you two,” snapped the mare Jade had designated as Cage, before adding. “We gotta get this meat back before the storm really kicks in.”

What, like it’s not kicked in already? Jade thought, hearing rain bounce off every surface like the hammer of a hundred drums. How much more torrential can things get?

She dreaded to think, imagining the whole place washed into the sea by a muddy slurry. All the while, Crimson rolled her eyes, swaying her rump by the stallion once more as she called.

“You heard her, get a move on or those collars go off!” There was naught but a series of whimpers from the meek ponies as they were jabbed along by the tip of her spear.

The whole sight made Jade feel all the more thankful X-23 had cloaked her when she did, from where she was sitting, this all looked like slavery.

“You sure you don’t fancy taking a look in there?” Crimson snickered as she marched past Gunpowder for the third time, Cage doing the same as she too passed.

“Food for the ghouls if nothing else,” the yellowish mare added, twirling a hammer in her magic.

“You’re so dead later, you know that right?” the earth pony shot back, chasing her rump in a playfully creepy way as Cage rolled her eyes.

“Well, they seemed positively dreamy,” X-23 muttered as Jade crept out from hiding, glancing about for anything that could be considered a ghoul.

“I’ll withhold my enthusiasm,” she responded, glancing both ways down the street, seeing little more than ruined silhouettes in the mist and rain. “But I am pretty interested in where they’re going.”

‘Mareterey Aquarium.’ The stark blue letters were arrayed in a wide arc over the domed entrance of the vast, gray building.

Despite having heard of the place before the war, it wasn’t somewhere she’d ever thought about visiting. Safe to say, those ambitions hadn’t changed. The place was in as derelict a state as the rotting seafront around it, most of which appeared to be slowly sagging into the water. The rolling of the ocean still sounded in her ears, waves marching to their frothing oblivion against the bulwark. Not just that, but the pearly-white hulk of a great cruise ship loomed up from the sea, its ruptured bow embedded in the flank of the aquarium.

‘The Alicornia’ Was its name, the faded text carved up by lines of rust as it lingered high above.

Like a skyscraper, the whole front of the vessel was wedged upwards, as if it had been rammed into the shore like a foal’s toy. Jade could almost imagine this was how fish saw the mighty feats of equestrian engineering from far below in their watery homes, but set the belittling idea aside. She was just as much an icon of that magical dominance now, and her enhanced senses all fixed on the set of slavers as they entered the place. Creeping down a small bank of boulders bearing the tattered steel cut-out of a sea pony, she was within earshot before pausing.

“Alright, meat to the left. Trappers to the right,” called out a bored-looking stallion behind the fortified counter.

Jade assumed it was once where moderately exorbitant tickets had been sold to vast cues of tourists, but now it looked as if it could withstand several shots from a grenade launcher. Wood and rusty metal were welded together into a wall bustling with spines and spikes, while a flickering neon sign overhead proclaimed the place as the ‘Aqua Dome.’

“That all you got for today, Moray?” asked the stallion behind the wall, finally adding a name to the lobster trap mare as she responded.

“More than the last two weeks, so don’t sound so disappointed.” She and her two companions were in the process of shrugging off their waterlogged gear, while the slaves were bundled away by what appeared to be a grimy griffin.

So it’s not all ponies then? She thought, seeing his gray plumage and scarred rump as it disappeared behind the slaves. Good to know.

“I’d be less disappointed if half the quota didn’t have to be traded off to Fillydelphia,” muttered the older stallion, tossing a small sack of what sounded like bits to the mare. “Three quarter’s the going rate.”

“You can’t be serious,” Moray grumbled, face flat as her two companions moaned and bickered. “Not my fault if there’s less and less tribals about, raiders to the east drive more off every day.”

“Not mine either, I just make sure it all runs smoothly. If you’ve got an issue, take it up with the boss,” responded the stallion, and that seemed to shut Moray right up.

“You’re a right moldy piece of shit, you know that, Brine?” she hissed, yet she’d have been better off talking to the faceless wall itself as he lowered metal bars over his window and shrugged.

“You going in or not?” he asked dryly, nodding to his left. “Show’s on all night, at least.”

She snarled like a dog as she nodded, earning little more than another shrug as he called for the door to be opened and another set of brutish-looking mares let her pass, while Crimson and Gunpowder chased each other after her.

The second they were gone he pulled another corrugated shutter over his window, leaving Jade with nothing but the rain and the shattered foyer. Even so, regardless of the deluge, she could hear what she could only describe as a party inside, as if the place were more nightclub than an aquarium. That coupled with the slaves, left her baffled.

I should just move on, there’s no getting in there. She thought, only to imagine the scowling face of the mare she’d betrayed once more. But I can… Like this…

For all of its computing power, her brain hardly felt like it worked. She pressed a forehoof to her head, ducking down as she looked herself over. All the while she could not stop thinking about what her savior would think.

Data made this, she made it to help ponies, and I… She stopped herself before she could admit she stole it, taking a deep breath. It’s the most advanced tech for a hundred miles, I have to do something.

Even so, there was hardly any way she was getting in through the front door, invisibility or not, she couldn’t walk through walls. She imagined breaking the fortifications would have a whole hive of Luna only knows how many angry creatures coming down on her. No, there had to be another way in, and at the thought, her analytical mind set to work.

“What are you doing?” X-23 asked as Jade marched up a set of steps to the left of the entrance dome. “I’m detecting a very, very reckless idea.”

“Okay look, between you and me, we’re the literal end goal of a whole ministry, so you want to just sit here and let bad stuff happen or not?” she asked, earning an uneasy flicker from the suit. “X-23, I need you focused, that means no jittering.”

“Sorry, sorry, and no, I don’t just want to do nothing but… We hardly know what we’re doing,” the suit muttered.

“Then we figure it out, it’s what Data would…” She cut herself off, pausing mid-way up a set of rusty fire escape steps. “It’s just the right thing to do.”

“I hope you’re right about this,” the stealth suit added, as the two of them came upon a crooked, old fire exit.

Buckled, and bent, anypony would need a crowbar to pry it open. Yet it was no match for Jade’s synthetic strength.

As a filly, Jade had often imagined what went on behind the scenes at public attractions, from wondering where they took the dragon bones at night to where zoo animals slept. Yet right now the endless tunnels of cold concrete and hissing pipes had her on edge. The only other constant aside from the distant roar of the storm, was the deep rumble of music, as she drew closer to wherever the slavers had gathered. X-23 kept her hidden all the while, only jumping with the occasional flicker when rats or some kind of giant cockroach scurried by.

“Gah, sorry!” she exclaimed for the fifth time, only for Jade to hiss for her to be quiet as she squashed another of the bugs under a forehoof.

Luckily, it seemed no pony expected her to be back here, aside from more bones, she was alone. It was like that for an unnervingly long time, before she finally crept up a set of service steps and out onto a long hall flanked by shattered fish tanks. The water had long since become naught but muddy grime weeping from between the glassy fangs, while info-tabs told her of long-dead species. The walls were painted a chipped blue, while the skeleton of some kind of whale was strung between the vast arches overhead.

There were more equine bones too, and doing her best to ignore them, she levitated up her weapon as she crept towards the sound of music. Eventually seeing the flash of red and blue lights in tandem with the beat just around the corner. Any hopes of just stumbling upon the slaves died at that. She swallowed her trepidation and shifted forward, utterly unprepared for what she saw next.

The corridor led out onto a sparsely-decorated balcony, as if the floor had been undergoing maintenance the day the bombs fell. The multitude of hazard warning and hard-hat signs were a testament to that, as well as the scaffolding draped in dusty tarps. The carpets were rolled up in neat cylinders, while a squat rail ran around the edge of the platform. Like some dusty, old attic, it loomed above the room below, running the circumference of the vast chamber. Hung in the center of the space, by a set of taut wires, was a huge, glowing-blue orb, rippling as if it contained a kind of luminous liquid. Swimming through the air around it, plastic replicas of many sea creatures also hung from similar tethers, ranging from purple sea serpents to fearsome sharks.

Yet it was what sat below the cerulean orb that caught Jade’s attention. Like a huge bowl reaching out under her, the room was huge. There was at least one more level of balconies beneath her, and under that, a floor that seemed to have once been a kind of stage. Sloping seats staggered down like the stands of a stadium to a vast plaza, behind which was a sheer wall of glass. A whole myriad of sea creatures swam in the water beyond the sleek barrier, almost as if the bombs had never fallen. There were colorful eels, pufferfish, and even a manta ray.

More spotlights illuminated the aquascape from above, where there were yet more gantries and walkways. From her elevated post, Jade could hear the hum of the tank’s filtration, while watching the long strands of kelp sway in the slow current. It was almost mesmerizing, yet the natural sight was severely ruined by what littered the stands below.

Several quick fixes behind a tower of scaffold appeared to be the only thing stopping one of the windows from completely collapsing, inevitably flooding the slew of bar-stalls, cages, and gambling tables. There was not a pony in the vast crowd of undesirables that didn’t look intoxicated by something. Worst still, the majority were dressed just like the slavers she’d seen outside. From mottled hide, torn manes, and yellowed teeth, they looked hardly a step above zombies. From playing games that seemed to involve betting on what mice a small, possum-like beast would eat when shoved into a maze. To watching collard slaves fight in round cages, it looked about as chaotic as the day the bombs fell.

Here I thought it was bad under San Prance. She thought, seeing stallions drool over pole-dancing mares, while others simply made love on bar tops. What in Celestia’s name am I supposed to do here?

The few slaves she could see that were not stuck in cages, were forced to serve as waiters, collars blinking amidst the crowd. Mares carrying platters of drinks were shoved to the floor, while colts and fillies were treated as little more than meat. There were just as many griffins and even some dogs in the mix, but thankfully none of her own kind.

If I can even consider myself a Kirin anymore. She shoved that thought to the back of her mind, magnifying her gaze into the crowd.

One pony she did spot was Moray, the ragged mare’s yellow hide hidden by a fresh layer of rags, only a cut above that of the slaves. She and her two horny companions made their way through the crowd toward the stage, where there was a break in the chaos.

Between the stands and the wall of glass, the plaza was fenced off by a squat wall of spiked barrels and barbed wire, while a mesh net, like some kind of trap door, sat just behind. A mosque depicting a rearing hippocampus was etched into the floor under the foundations of a driftwood throne. Crafted from broken twigs, barrels, and a ship’s anchor, the seat bore a large stallion, coat a steel gray, mane, and beard a pale white.

Like a breaking wave, he appeared gnarled and bitter, scars like shark bites marring his skin while an eye patch spanned the left side of his face. The opposite eye bore the merciless look of a shark, pale iris almost utterly overcome by an obsidian-black pupil. He almost made the flesh monster in the tunnels look decent, yet none of the heavily armored guards that sat about him looked as if they’d say such a thing, nor the erotic slave dancers tethered to his seat.

Those guards are the only ones who are armed. Jade noticed, seeing spears and what looked like rifles strapped to the flanks of some of them. So that’s how non-unicorns do it out here, huh?

The only other thing to catch her attention was what sat at the peak of his throne. Suspended between two whale ribs, fitted with a heap of wires and chords. It looked like a miniature version of the blue sphere above, shimmering with a swirling, rainbow hue and tiny glowing motes. At its core, a shard of some kind of pale substance glowed, wrapped in a coil like some kind of necklace. Peering into it, Jade could almost hear the waves again, as if the ocean called to her from that magic mass. Then her attention was stolen as the stallion stood, the whole throne creaking as it was relieved of his bulk.

“B–but, Mako, I swear, that’s all we could find,” Moray muttered, shaking away from the towering buck like a timid filly, notably doing all she could to stay off the trap door.

“Four slaves?” The voice of the stallion she’d identified as Mako was as cold and unforgiving as his shark-like eye. “You have the gal to come back here and ask for more when you bring me what… A quarter the quota?”

“I bring you everything, every damn colt, mare, and filly!” Moray countered, looking around as if for support, only to wilt at the lack of it. “There’s hardly anypony left with half a brain between here and Sacramareto.”

“So look elsewhere,” Mako stated flatly, and it was only then that Jade noticed the whole room had fallen silent, leaving only Moray’s stuttering.

“You mean out into the Badlands? But that’s suicide…” He didn’t need to do more than glare down his scarred muzzle at her to shut her up.

“If not, perhaps you’d rather look downstairs?” he asked, nodding to the trap door, turning the mare paler than his beard as she profusely told him that wasn’t necessary.

Not as tough as when you’re out with your buddies, huh? Jade thought, magnifying the trap door to see it seemed to be electrified, not to mention fitted with some kind of aquatic enchantments.

Not only that, but the moment Mako even hinted at the thing, whatever lurked below thrashed and pounded on the grate in a watery frenzy. The crowd appeared half horrified, half eager, starting to chant about some kind of aquatic god. Mako silenced them all with a hoof stomp, as did the lurking monster seem to sink away. He stepped forward, while Moray slinked back into the crowd, disappearing as the hulking stallion declared.

“I am glad we can accommodate you all here tonight, it’s a stormy time, one would hate to be left out in the rain.” For as much as they all seemed to fear him, everypony cheered, tossing up drinks and apparently bottle caps, before he went on. “Yes, yes. But for those of you who may have assumed otherwise, this does not come cheap.”

That killed the mood quicker than a bad joke, quiet falling over the crowd, while Mako flashed his teeth like a shark smelling blood in the water.

“That cost is paid in hard work and hardworking ponies. You provide me with hard workers, you get to enjoy the benefits.” He sat back on his throne. “You fail to do that, and you find out what it’s like to have your own collar. You still fail to work hard and well…”

He tugged one of the bones from his throne and tossed it down between the grate, prompting a flurry from the water below as well as a series of animalistic shrieks. Once again the crowd half cheered, half looked terrified, while Jade made sure not to find out what was hidden under the throne.

“Give our star attraction a buzz,” Mako muttered, nodding back to the wall of water behind him, prompting one of the guards to tap on a small set of terminals by the glass.

Jade could hear the buzz, feel its static in her core. The whole thing was electrified. She had to wonder just what was in there to prompt that kind of security, yet she was not prepared for what came swimming from the kelp. The curtains of seaweed parted like vast wings, while radiant lights of all colors shone upon the lone figure that appeared between them. The crowd broke out as if cheering for some kind of pop star as Jade strived to get a good view. She’d never seen a sea pony, she’d often thought they were no more than a myth, or at least more like seahorses.

The figure before her was long and slender, scales a golden yellow, while her orange mane wafted like a goddess’s in the current. It was broken by a dash of red and blue, while her stark red irises shone like rubies. Every light fixed on her seemed to be purposely aimed to cause her scales to shimmer. The only brake in her radiance was her frail smile, and despite bearing no collar, Jade knew that she was just as much a slave.

I’ve never seen anything like her! She thought, rumors about underwater operations during the war suddenly seeming far truer. She’s gorgeous!

“Put on a good show,” she caught Mako mutter, not even sparing the aquatic mare a glance as an announcer declared.

“You know her, you love her, the seventh wonder of the wasteland!” The cheering grew. “The magnificent Goldfish!”

The name sounded like just as cruel a joke as the applause, as if the whole room were mocking the poor mare. Yet at the announcement, there was a buzz and from the gantries above her tank ponies began to drop fish. Snickering and bickering they tossed them to her like she were no more than a dog, while she jumped, leaped, spun, and floundered to catch them. Like a show mare, she seemed to make it all as flashy as she could, despite obviously begging for the meal. She leaped up, catching one fish like a seal, before the slavers prompted her to poke her head free and clap her fins, dangling food just out of reach.

The whole show made Jade sick to her stomach. Seeing such a magnificent creature for the first time only to watch her toyed with like little more than a starving pet. The feeling didn’t seem mutual, however, the crowd appeared to adore the display. In her enhanced ears, she could hear many of them mutter about how they should throw in sharks for her to fight, starve her for longer, or some twisted stallion’s ambition to drown fucking her. Creeping right up to the edge of the balcony, closest to the tank, she almost wished she could shatter the thing as the mare swam down, seeming to do her best to get out of the spotlight.

How can I? Without the water, she’d die, right? She thought, pretty sure the slavers had her well and truly trapped. There’s nothing I can do.

“Praise be the mare of the sea!” Jade’s ears perked, while X-23 tightened at the sudden scream.

Peering back towards the stage, she watched as one of the dancers chained to Mako’s throne darted away from her post, dashing right up to the glass, almost electrifying herself. The aquatic mare within perked up at the attention, swimming to the opposite side of the transparent wall.

“Mare of the sea, please, you watched over my tribe, save us!” called the slave, yet the sea pony didn’t seem to fully hear her, her look merely turned to one of solemn sadness as the slave was yanked back.

“Look here, another desperate soul,” Mako declared, dragging the mare into his grip. “What have I told you, foal? My pet ain’t no goddess.”

“Mare of the sea, I beg of you, please!” The slave reached out desperately from the stallion’s grip, but the sea pony simply drifted back down to the floor of her tank, averting her eyes.

“Come here, you,” Mako growled, cutting loose the chain, and tossing the mare forward. “You tribals are all the same, all superstition.”

“I pass the test of my mare of the sea, the goddess will set me free of your bonds!” the slave called, while the scarred stallion smirked.

“That dancing fish whore ain’t a goddess,” he responded, nodding back. “But I’ll gladly introduce you to a demon!”

He shoved a leaver at the throne’s side, and only then did everypony seem to realize where the slave mare had landed. The trapdoor fell from under her with a reverberating clang and a flurry of splashes. She screamed, while the sea pony shot back to the glass, seemingly trying to get a better view, as Jade peered far over the railing to do the same. For a few long moments, it was as if the slave mare would never come up, yet with a deep gasp, her head appeared. Jade could just about hear her pleading above the chanting, while more of the guards moved in to prod her down with spears.

The water rippled as she thrashed, seconds before the deep, chattering shriek of whatever lurked below echoed through the room. The slave mare lurched down once, water-logged scream mixed with gargled coughs as she was dragged across the water’s surface like a mere toy. Seconds later, she was gone, no more than a fountain of bubbling crimson spewing upward as the trap door closed. Jade felt like throwing up again, yet in her reflexive recoil, she failed to judge just how precariously she was positioned. She lurched forward, the rail giving a deep creek before it fell away. X-23 screamed, while only one thing echoed through the synthetic mare’s brain.

Oh, fuck…

Footnote: 50% to next level.

Chapter Four: Ocean Blaze

Chapter Four:

“You worry too much,” Datastream said, leaning back in her stool, hind legs crossed as she munched on a muffin. “The thing won’t let us down, trust me.”

“It’s not that I worry about, Data,” Jade responded, huddled over her coffee like the steamy fluid was her only bastion of warmth on a cold winter’s morning. “It’s everything else.”

Data perked up, ears tall, and face soft. It was an oddly motherly look, one Jade wasn’t so used to. Yet she found it adorable either way.

“You worry about that too much,” the pony stated, jabbing a forehoof at the kirin, and by extension her half-eaten muffin. “The two of us stand at the top of the most advanced project in all of Equestria, what’s to worry about?”

“Most advanced project that we know of,” Jade corrected in a hushed tone, before adding with equal discretion. “But need I remind you that we’re not supposed to talk about it?”

“What?” Jade leaned back, face cool behind her glasses as she pointed at Jade and called. “Hey, we got a super cute nerd here, full of secrets!”

Jade could kill her, all she wanted to do was sink into the café counter and disappear as the few patrons of the roadside establishment all looked at her. There were a few mutters, a cough, but that was about it. Even so, she curled tighter around her drink, forehooves over the back of her neck as she ducked and blushed redder than a tomato.

“Data!” she hissed through gritted teeth, but the blue mare just smirked at her with a giggle.

“See, Jade, no pony cares.” She placed a forehoof on the kirin’s shoulder, that loving smile returning. “You overthink things, and not in the best way.”

“Oh, because you’re the one to be giving advice on overthinking?” Jade countered, shooting her friend a flat look. “You babble on about arcane physics like it’s textbook.”

“What, it is textbook!?” Data flushed, ears folding as she shied away. “Besides, you’re hardly any better with all that logistics junk.”

“Logistics that makes sure you get all the things you need to keep doing what you do best,” Jade responded, taking a sip of her coffee.

“Oh, believe me, work in the lab is not what I do best.” Jade almost choked, battling not to spit out her drink as Data smirked and winked at her before giggling.

“We’re in public! By Luna, are all Equestrian mares like this?” Jade snapped, and it took Data a moment of thought before she nodded.

“Only the one’s worth your time, but come on, sweet flanks…” She pressed a forehoof to Jade’s shoulder again. “Stop acting like the world’s always falling out from under you.”

The crowded chamber swirled past in a blur, while warnings about stabilization and orientation flashed in her vision. Seconds later, there was a heavy crash, wood splintering as metal bent. With a reverberating clang, Jade’s metallic body bounced off one of the stalls and she rolled back under the second balcony, shattering an empty aquarium in the room’s right wall. Dust filled her flickering vision as she sat up, like she were looking from the inside of a faulty terminal, at least until she slapped the side of her head.

“J–Jade… I don’t know how long I can hold the field!” X-23 muttered, and with barely any time to get her bearings, she saw her limbs flicker in and out of reality, right in sight of a lot of very angry-looking ponies.

“What is that?”

“I can hardly see it!”

“Is there something there, I can’t tell?”

“It’s a ghost!”

“Captain of the Alicornia come to haunt us!”

“You superstitious foals, that ain’t no ghost!” Mako called, and cloaked as she was, she saw his dead eye fix on her, while the sea pony was doing her best to get a good view. “It’s some kind of spy, after it!”

“Running now!” X-23 chimed, maintaining little more than a meek patchwork of invisibility as Jade shot up and bolted into the gloomy halls, chanting slavers staggering over the glass behind her.

“Just hold on, we can lose them!” she called, weapon drawn as she broke into a full gallop. “It’s dark in here, just keep going a little longer, we can lose them!”

“You try doing this after plummeting two stories!” X-23 declared, the revelation shocking the synthetic mare to her core.

I fell that far, but I feel fine. Bullets whizzing by her rump made sure gravity was the least of her worries. Okay, less thinking, more running.

There was a sudden sting as one shot glanced her flank, while another shattered glass to her left. Yet as if running on pure adrenalin, she kept going, analytical brain taking corner after corner. Mechanical hooves worked like a train’s engine, powering her over fallen scaffold and toppled museum displays. She skidded left, then right, into a side corridor. It felt far too much like she were back in the tunnels before she finally came to a stop as X-23’s field finally failed.

“I need to recharge, I can’t keep this up,” the suit muttered, while Jade dismissed her own inequine lack of breath.

“You and me both,” she responded, levitating Early Retirement up and watching the dots on her E.F.S as several slavers passed by. “I think we gave them the slip though.”

She hoped she was right about that as she saw two of the red dots double back, lingering at the intersection just ahead. In the same instance, she glanced right, deeper down the dark hall. Like those above, the chipped blue walls were lined with broken aquariums, while shattered displays and exhibits spilled out onto the damp carpet. Most peculiar of all, however, was the odd wall of shimmering magic that spanned the hall. As if formed from pure water, it buzzed and crackled while shimmering with the same rainbow hue as Mako’s throne.

“Hey, think she went down here!?” called one stallion from ahead, and Jade saw their shadows line up with the marks on her E.F.S.

Weapon quivering in her magic, she took a step back, feeling her grazed rump hit the water wall with a static sting.

“Ouch!” X-23 yelped in alarm, summoning a wince from Jade.

“What was that!?” asked the same stallion, only for another buck to respond.

“Go look if you want, I ain’t going down there.” She took another step back, feeling the cold grip of the magical water wall wrap around her rump, while her tail felt strangely dry, as if there were air beyond it. “Anypony who goes down there’s good as dead.”

Wait, what!? They were the only words to radiate through Jade’s mind as one hind hoof passed through the watery barrier, and somewhere on the other side, the floor gave way. Fuck, not again!

She didn’t even have time to scream as she was sucked through the magical field and sent plummeting through the hole in the floor, landing with a disgusting, wet crunch in the pitch-black gloom. Once again, readings flashed in her sight, and for a moment she was sure that wet crunch was her own bones breaking. One blink of her night vision, however, and she realized that may have been a blessing. She’d landed upon a field of skeletons, yet unlike the dry bones outside, these were still coated in sticky, pink gore. Piles upon piles of equine bodies, each looking as if they had the flesh melted from their bones.

She sat up, reflexively retching despite lacking the ability to vomit. No matter where she looked, there were more of them, mounds upon mounds, some dry and moldy, others far too wet and fresh. She dared not turn her lights on, lest she see the endless shimmer of bloody slime. Instead, she took several steps back, feeling bones grind under her metallic hooves. That was when she heard a noise, freezing solid. Whatever it was didn’t appear on her E.F.S as it writhed and slithered amidst the bones like some kind of giant snake.

It was a dull-black, sleek, and wet like an eel. Oily slime dribbled from its surface as it heaved and pulsated, ironically seeming to lack a skeleton of its own. She dared not breathe as the thing reared up, like some huge, sucker-lined tentacle, its tip lined with barbed teeth. As if it were some kind of twisted flower, the toothed petals parted, while a large bulge rolled along its length. It lurched, hacking and writhing, before a slurry of bones and gory slime were disgorged from its maw. Then, as quietly as it appeared, it snaked off into the gloom once more.

“What in L–Luna’s name was that?” she asked in a trembling voice, only when she was sure the thing was gone.

Coated in gore, X-23 said nothing, yet from the blinking red slave collar she saw amongst the new bones, Jade was sure she’d just discovered what lurked under Mako’s throne. The collar was not the only one, she saw many amidst the discarded skeletons, as well as jewelry, rags, and even shreds of armor. Whatever the thing was, he’d been feeding it for some time, and at the revelation she was in its lair, she had to battle not to hyperventilate.

All the while the fear hardly made sense to her mechanical body, as if the two halves of her were at war with each other. On one hoof, she wanted to sink into the walls and disappear, while the other side of her was very set on calculating a way out of the pit. Collecting herself the best she could, she latched onto that more reasonable side, while X-23 softly hummed her coping tune. She had no idea whether the tinny melody was in her head or not. One thing she knew was real, however, was the constant slithering in the walls, as if a whole hive of snakes were coiled around her.

They’re not on my E.F.S, what in Luna’s name are they? She thought, backing right up to the wall, doing her best to ignore the feeling of bloody slime on her rump. There has to be a way out, I just have to find it!

She could only hope that whatever means of escape she came upon, didn’t lead right back to the angry crowd of slavers. Scanning the room, her enhanced eyes made out a bulkhead door behind a mound of bones. Like she was inside of a ship’s brig, the walls around it were fitted with rusty old pipes and valves. She assumed it had something to do with the many lake-sized tanks the aquarium boasted, and creeping cautiously along, she made her way to the door. Each crack and crunch under her hooves made her wince, her synthetic mane prickling with apprehension as X-23 flickered.

A leg bone snapped under her weight, she paused mid-step as something large slithered in the gloom. Yet it was hard to make out the difference between the thing’s wet flesh and the slimy shimmer of everything else. So she took another step, no more than a hoof length away from the door before it shifted again. Almost as if the thing were toying with her, she spun, aiming her pistol into the darkness as her rump hit the bulkhead door. There was once again nothing but that ambient writhing.

“What are you doing, let’s just get out of here?” X-23 muttered, while Jade’s eyes scanned the gory mounds.

“I’m working on it,” she responded, swiftly turning back to the door, shoveling bones aside with her magic. “Sorry, sorry.”

Hooves deep in the sloppy mess, she muttered a small apology to whoever the victims may have once been, all the while their innards and bones stretched like half-melted butter. Seconds later she was staring at the rusty door, wrapping both forelegs around the valve, only to realize things had fallen deathly silent.

Drip… Drip… Drip…

Her ears twitched at each sound, her mane felt like it was crawling with biting ants. Neck stiff as a rock, she slowly turned. Like a slimy wall of black eels descending from a coil amidst the many pipes above, the series of teeth-lined tentacles peered at her with eyeless stares. Their dribbling maws quivered, wide enough to swallow a pony whole, while their bloated lengths were twice as thick. Like a sickly flower, clawed lips lined each, twitching like the legs of some kind of deformed spider. Once again she was pretty sure, invisible, or not, the eyeless things would find her. But before fear could completely take over, she raised her weapon.

Just like under the city, reality slowed to a crawl, right as the things all lunged for her. The process of lining up her shots, selecting her targets, and executing the spell played out like mere muscle memory to her synthetic brain. Dragging the rest of her for a wild ride as the time distortion fell and the weapon flashed with a series of soft bangs. With each shot the tentacles recoiled, squirming as if caught in a painful dance. Hissing, they sank back into the vents above, trailing streams of dark ichor.

“Running now!” X-23 screamed on cue as Jade focused all of her strength and magic on the door, almost ripping the thing from its hinges as she heaved it open and darted through.

Slamming it closed behind her, she fell down with her back to the metal, only to see she was now in a long, silver corridor, coated with slimy gore and bones. As if the thing’s prey had been trying to crawl their way out, skeletons were petrified in creeping poses, mere feet away from the watery wall on the far end of the hall. Just like the liquid barrier above, the thing shimmered and pulsated. So too did the monster beyond the bulkhead slam into the door behind her.

Jade staggered forward, barely able to stay on her hooves as she skidded on the slimy mess. The door crumpled inwards, then the walls around her as if the things coils were wrapped about the room, squeezing tighter and tighter. It bent metal like mere paper, the whole corridor creaking under the strain as the room dented inward like a tin can. Jade hardly waited to find out just how long it would take for the thing to get in, dashing through the wall of water as the snapping tentacles burst through the door.

“Fuck you, you slimy bastard!” she hissed, firing blindly into the corridor, only to have the bullets stopped by the soupy wall of water.

Even so, the beasts recoiled from the barrier, while a series of wicked animalistic groans sounded from deep within the aquarium. Retracting in on themselves, the tentacles retreated back into the darkness, leaving the synthetic mare to stagger back to her hooves.

This magic, it keeps the things in? She thought, daring to press a forehoof to the gloopy, glowing wall. Of course, it bent steel like paper, how else do they keep it in?

The deep growls still emanating through the halls made her wonder just how big the thing was, pretty sure she’d only seen a mere portion of it. The revelation really made her consider just what she was doing, but there was hardly any going back now. She assumed she was deeper in the aquarium than ever, the walls around her were a cold, concrete gray. Drawing her weapon close, she made sure to reload, before creeping onward. Taking extra care to stay on the dry side of the many watery barriers, before finally coming upon what she guessed was some kind of filtration room.

The pumps hummed and buzzed, while torrents of dirty water were pumped into spinning vats, only to be spat back out as clear fluid. The smell of salt was all over, as was the build-up of white crystals on just about everything. Small crabs skittered away at her approach, while shellfish nestled into the damp walls clicked shut. She wondered if she could somehow mess with the system from down here, yet assumed that would hardly do any favors for the aquatic prisoners. Instead, she moved on, finally coming upon a more public corridor, with the uniform walls of chipped blue.

The ghostly glow of murky aquariums set in the walls filled the space, while glancing left and right revealed two long, glass tunnels. Making her way right, she noticed the fading light from above, as if she was now just as trapped in the depths as the golden mare from the show. Kelp shifted as if caught in a light breeze, while lantern fish and eels darted around in the gloom. Giant clams belched streams of bubbles while spiny sea urchins clustered into tight balls. She was sure a few of the fish were not pre-war, pretty certain she’d never seen a tuna with two heads before.

I must be under the main floor. She thought, yet there was no sign of the tentacle abomination in the tank. Damn it, what am I supposed to do now!?

She felt like the biggest fool ever, tricked by her guilt into just getting herself killed. It was as much a waste of Data’s work as simply doing nothing. Slumping against the glass with a huff, she mentally kicked herself over and over, at least until a bright glow caught her eyes. For a moment, she almost confused the golden light emerging from the kelp as some kind of aquatic sun. That was until she saw the beaming ruby eyes of the sea pony mare, her shimmering scales no-less radiant even in these depths. Stunned, she staggered back, while the sea pony peered at her with a foal-like fascination. She cocked her head, Jade did the same, seeing her mouth move with a flurry of bubbles.

“What? Sorry, I can’t hear you?” she asked, pressing a forehoof to one of her ears. “The glass is too thick!”

The sea pony appeared visually frustrated, waving her fins around as her face fell flat. All the while Jade’s mind worked as she tried to make sense of the odd signs the mare suddenly started to make. She waved one fin up, then brought it down on another in a perpendicular motion, before smooshing her two webbed limbs together and flexing her fishy tail. Sign language had never been on Jade’s resume, let alone sea pony sign language! She’d thought they were little more than a myth a day ago.

“I can’t understand you!” she called, and once again the aquatic mare seemed to droop with frustration, before all of a sudden, she perked, nodded rapidly, and jabbed both fins to her left. “Y–you want me to go that way?”

The mare nodded with a flurry of bubbles, while Jade did all she could not to let the prickling feeling of anxiety get to her.

“O–okay, I can do that,” she responded, cautiously trotting her way along the tunnel as it wound along the floor of the tank.

All the while the mare swam beside her, seeming unaware the synthetic equine didn’t need the added light of her glowing mane to see.

She looks like some kind of angler fish. Jade thought, watching the glowing bulb within the sea pony’s mane bob up and down. Maybe she knows how to get out of here!?

Before long she came upon the end of the tunnel, the glass terminating as the pathway led into the sheer wall of the tank. Pausing, she looked up to see the aquatic mare above her, still nodding.

“You want me to keep going?” she asked, and once again, she jabbed her fins forward. “But I’ll lose you?”

The golden mare nodded, then rolled her eyes before gesturing forward one last time and swimming off into the gloom.

“Hey, wait!” Jade called, reaching for the glass. “I have no idea where to go, you know!?”

All she saw in the water was a scattering of small fish as a billowing ray swam through them. She caught her reflection’s face falling flat in the glass, huffed, and marched on.

“Why can’t things just be straightforward?” she grumbled, feeling the moist carpet squelch under her hooves as she once again found herself in a room littered with tanks.

Many of them were no more than dark tubes in the walls, streaming bubbles as more filters hummed, others were shallow pools filled with rocks and open tops. There were many faded murals of happy fillies and colts picking seashells and small crabs from the artificial coastline. While more warned of not feeding the rays and making sure to wash your hooves.

It was all gone now, the happy families enjoying a day out, the fish that they’d come to adore. There was nothing but bones and the bubbling froth of one deep pool at the room’s center. The din of music somewhere above, along with the distant moans of the tentacle monster made her wary of approaching. Yet the only way forward was around the pool, and weapon aimed, she moved slowly.

“I have a really bad feeling about this,” X-23 muttered, shrinking tight to Jade’s coat as she made her way around the water’s flank.

The eruption seconds later almost had her unloading a full chamber. One shot went wild, severing the cords that held a plastic shark above, sending it splashing into the pool. It sank in a bubbling froth, while a golden shimmer rose in its place, and from the mirk poked the head of the sea pony mare. Jade had never seen such a look of glee as she saw on the scaly mare’s face as she paddled up to the pool’s edge and erupted in a bubbly voice.

“Oh my goodness, finally, finally, finally!” She flared her fins, splashing salty spray across Jade’s face as she exclaimed. “After so long, finally! Somepony to talk to!”

Tail kicking, she propelled herself a good few feet out of the water, dancing backward like some kind of show dolphin, before ducking under and reappearing at the edge.

“You have no idea how long I’ve been stuck down here alone!” She beamed, before scratching the top of her head. “Well, there’s the slavers, but they’re not nice. Tribals too, but they kinda just…” She rolled a fin in the air. “You know, all get eaten.”

From the way she muttered that last part, Jade could assume some kind of isolated madness was gripping the mare’s sanity. Regardless, collecting herself and holstering her weapon, she finally spoke.

“Woah, woah, slow down a bit.” She waved one forehoof in the air in emphasis. “Sorry, you’re kinda the first pony I’ve spoken to in a while too, can we just slow down?”

“First pony, what, do I not count?” X-23 asked, humming a sad little tune as she slackened slightly.

“Wow, did your clothes just talk!?” the sea pony asked, jabbing a wet fin at Jade. “That’s so cool. Sometimes the clams and shells talk to me, they’re a riot I tell ya!”

Oh by Luna, she’s a nut job. Jade thought while shaking her head and snapping.

“What no, will the two of you just listen!?” She stomped a forehoof and both the sea pony, and the tightening suit seemed taken aback. “No pony here is actually a pony, but that hardly matters.”

“Wait, you’re not a pony?” asked the sea pony, cocking her head. “Not to be rude, but you do look like a pony.”

“It’s a long story,” Jade deadpanned with a sigh. “Look, whatever the case may be, it hardly matters. I need to get out of here, with the slaves if I can help it.”

“You want to free all the slaves!?” the sea pony asked, seeming overjoyed, before sinking back under the realization. “Well, that sounds like it’ll be kinda hard.”

“Yeah, I’ve been figuring that out on my own,” Jade responded, drawing her weapon as something clattered in the ruins. “But I was hoping you could help me out.”

“I mean I could… Most of the slaves here do kinda worship me for some reason,” the mare said, seeming to think deeply. “But they’re all collard, you take them one step out of here and their heads are gonna pop.”

That revelation made Jade wince, she was sure the collars had only ever been made to shock ponies, not kill them!

“They worship you?” she asked, cocking her head as she recalled the slave mare who’d been fed to Mako’s monster.

“Yeah, tribals around here get me mixed up with some sea goddess… It kinda gets them killed a lot of the time.” She looked genuinely saddened by that, sinking into the water slightly.

“But they’d listen to you, right?” she asked and while seeming unsure, the sea pony nodded.

“I mean, I guess, I’ve never tried,” she confessed with a shrug. “Trust me, if I had the power to kick every slaver here's tail, I would but…” She clutched her tail, wiggling it for Jade to see. “They kind of have me stuck.”

Hence the lack of a collar for her, makes sense. Jade noted, wondering just how they’d even gotten her in the first place. Did they catch her in a net or something?

“Well, how can we fix that?” she asked, and in a flurry of bubbles, the mare perked up.

“You mean, you want to help me get free too!?” Jade nodded, and the look of giddy glee exploded over the mare’s face.

“Oh, yes, yes, yes!” She did a second circuit of happy, dolphin dancing, while Jade lifted a forehoof to protect her face from the spray. “And how do you plan on doing that?”

“I was hoping you had an idea,” Jade deadpanned, feeling a little unsure to find the mare so reliant on her.

Even so, she lifted a fin to her face, seeming to drop deep into thought once again as she sank a little.

“Well, you get me my pearl, that’d be a great step in the right direction,” she elaborated, yet such things went right over Jade’s head.

“You're what now?” she asked, even feeling a shimmer of confusion from X-23. “You’ll have to be a bit more specific.”

“My pearl, it’s in Mako’s throne, you know, the glow-y rainbow thing?” she went on, making odd motions with her fins to describe the glowing sphere.

At the revelation, Jade felt her heart sink, her ears drooping as X-32 shimmered a timid white. She knew exactly what the sea pony was talking about, and it was in about as ideal a place as back under the city.

“What, how in Equestria am I supposed to get that!?” she exclaimed, and the sea pony winced.

“Well, I don’t know. All you’d have to do is get it to me, maybe just throw it over the rim of the tank,” she reasoned, and Jade fought the urge to face hoof.

“If the majority of them are out of the room, maybe we could just sneak in… I’m pretty sure I can manage,” X-23 muttered sheepishly.

“And then what, you think he’ll just let us walk out of here?” Jade asked, and once again the pair fell silent. “We need a distraction, not to mention a way to free the rest!”

“Well, maybe I can bust the water talisman again, that always gets Mako’s mane in a twist,” the sea pony suggested. “Only, he’s locked it behind a grate, I can’t reach it without tools.”

“And I’d find these tools where?” Jade asked, jumping at another creek in the gloom. “You’re not giving me much to go off, Goldy.”

The fish-mare frowned at the improvised name, adding bluntly. “I’m pretty sure there’s some in the west filtration room. And my name’s not Goldy.”

“Then what do I call you?” Jade asked, while the sea pony smiled as if she’d never imagined any pony would ask her that again.

“Name’s Ocean Blaze, Scout Captain of Seaquestria,” she proclaimed proudly, pressing a fin to her scaly breast as she puffed up.

Seaquestria? Right, and the next joke is? Jade neglected to say as much, pretty sure she’d never even heard rumors of such a silly name during all her time in intelligence. What does it matter, we have a job to do?

“Okay, Ocean, I get you these tools, you get the talisman, then I hope I can get you this pearl-thing, then what?” Years of logistics refused to let her go ahead without fully understanding her plan.

Ocean, meanwhile, looked like a giddy school filly at the prospect of getting free. She bobbed and weaved in the water, overcome with joy at the mention of her real name. At least until Jade loudly cleared her throat.

“Oh, escaping, right, right!” she beamed, paddling right up to the glass. “They keep the slaves in the cafeteria, I can see them through the port holes sometimes, it’s just a few doors past the filters.”

“Right, I let them out, then what?” Jade pressed, feeling a flicker of hope that this may work. “Because they’re all already looking for me.”

“Well, I’d imagine that’d mix things up. Mako won’t risk blowing all the collars, too expensive, maybe I can get them riled up from the wave tank, I can talk there if you disable some of the filters.”

“What, like some kind of revolution?” Jade asked and Ocean smirked, making a mock salute with her fin.

“May as well use my goddess status for something.” She broke out into a fit of giggles. “It’d give you time to reach the throne, toss me my pearl, and get the collar switch. Then, boom, bam, bop, we’re home free!”

Because that sounds so easy, not even considering the monster in the basement. Jade really didn’t want to think of the tentacle spawn, so as long as she was off that trap door, she assumed she’d be safe. I sure hope so, what can go wrong?

“You think you’re up for that?” she asked, nudging her own side with a knee, eliciting an eep from her suit. “X-23, I need you on this, okay?”

“Okay, okay, I got your back, don’t worry,” the suit assured her, as she levitated her pistole up, reloading. “Okay then, Ocean, we do it your way.”

She had no idea whether to be thrilled or terrified by the sea pony’s gleeful clapping as she surged up and did a flip.

I sure hope I’m not going to regret this. She thought, scowling at the mental image of a very smug-looking Datastream. I really, really hope so.

Footnote: Level up

New Perk Added: Maybe it’s time to try shooting rather than running - accuracy with pistols is increased while running.

Chapter Five: Mare of the Sea

Chapter Five:

Okay, if my life out here is always going to revolve around such bad decisions, maybe I should just kill myself now. Jade thought as she peered down into the half-sunken hallway. I mean seriously, I’m robotic, not aquatic.

That said, she was pretty sure her new body could easily handle the water, her mind on the other hoof… It was safe to say the fear of drowning was still just as strong, and that wasn’t counting the fact she could get trapped underwater forever.

“Are you sure you can’t do this?” she asked Ocean, the sea pony’s head bobbing in the pool to her left. “You could just flop out of there and fall right in, problem solved.”

“Only part of the tunnel is flooded, even if I could get through, the pump controls are all still above water.” She lifted both her fins for the synthetic mare to see. “I’d be just as stuck.”

Why can’t things just be easy? Why didn’t I wake up to a world of sunshine and rainbows? She thought, craning her neck to get as clear a view as possible. I can’t even see the bottom.

“Didn’t you say you could swim… Urm… What did you say your name was again?” Ocean asked, trailing off and waving a fin as she seemingly did all she could to recall Jade’s name.

It was only then that the robotic mare realized she’d never even introduced herself, she’d just jumped right into action.

“Jadefire, but everypony calls me Jade,” she told the fishy-mare, then sighed. “And yes, I can swim, or more accurately sink.”

“Well, if you can hold your breath for about a minute, you’ll get through, trust me,” Ocean assured, tapping a fin on the rim of the pool. “I spent weeks clearing that passage trying to get to the filters.”

“Is it off the cards to ask for an option that doesn’t involve getting wet?” X-23 muttered, and Jade felt the suit grow tighter. “I don’t like how it messes with my systems.”

Because that bodes so well for my chances of being sneaky. Jade thought, feeling a twinge of bitterness in her mind from her chameleonic companion. I can’t afford to be caught again!

Regardless, Ocean shook her head, wincing as she added. “The only other way I know of cuts through a watered-off tunnel, where Mako’s pet can find you.”

Okay, yeah, normal water sounds far better than hungry tentacle mouths. She thought, feeling her suit grow a little bit tighter.

“His pet? So you don’t know what it is?” she enquired, but Ocean merely shrugged.

“I’m pretty sure they found the thing living inside the Alicornia, trapped it in here with some kind of zebra aquamancy.” She bit her bottom lip, running one fin over the other. “Every now and then it’ll eat through the walls, or the pumps will shift, then they have to conjure another barrier.”

“You mean the weird water walls?” Jade asked, and the aquatic mare nodded, adding swiftly.

“Yeah, hard water was often used back home. But I’ve no idea how they can sustain the spells on land.” She patted the liquid surface about her, resulting in a series of wide ripples. “It’s painful for anything aquatic to touch.”

Explains why it’s so good at keeping that thing in. She inwardly reasoned, yet from the look on Ocean’s face, it looked like she’d learned that the hard way. Then what am I waiting for, am I going to help or not?

Reminded of just what she was fighting to save, she took a deep breath. Once again her new body felt oddly cold following the purely equine action, but she set aside the disconnect between her synthetic programming and natural instincts. She blinked once and the night vision in her eyes was replaced by a cutting beam of light.

“And when I’m on the other side, then what?” she asked, looking at the aquatic mare, only to dazzle Ocean with her eyes’ glow. “Oops, sorry.”

“Just shut them off, if the rotors are down I can get through to the tanks on that side, then you can toss me the tools and I can make my way to the wave tank,” she confirmed, it all sounded like a solid plan.

What could go wrong, right? Jade thought, trying to ignore the way she remembered Datastream always asking the same thing. No, this is what she would want, her work used for good.

“Okay, we’ll see you on the other side.” She really hoped the sea pony would be there to greet her as she reflexively took another deep breath and stepped into the water.

The pool registered as cold, yet she was unsure whether it was her imagination that made it feel as chilly as it did. Ocean certainly didn’t seem to mind the temperature as she nodded, gave a mock salute, then flipped head over tail before vanishing into the depths with a salty splash.

“By Luna, I was never made for this!” X-23 muttered, sucking so tight to Jade’s coat it was a wonder she didn’t crush the synthetic mare. “It’s so cold!”

“It’s all in your head, I feel it too, but we’re not really cold.” In her efforts to reassure her companion, however, Jade failed to find the second step down, and before she knew it, she was plunged into the deeper water.

She wanted to scream, gasp for air, but the second she was submerged her mouth involuntarily sealed shut. Like a plastic bag robbed of air, X-23 crumpled around her as she saw nothing but rusted metal, pipes, broken glass, and rebar in the murky gloom. Bubbles streamed across the light over her eyes in a pale flurry, while her limbs instinctively flailed. It did her no good, she sank like a stone, and with a hard, reverberating clang, she hit the bottom of the tunnel. Dusty sediment bubbled up around her, yet the longer she lay in the cold, crushing darkness, the more she realized she wasn’t drowning.

Knowing she didn’t need to breathe didn’t make actually avoiding doing so any easier, right now she felt like she had more in common with some deep sea rover than a mare. But she shoved that feeling to the back of her mind.

“X-23, you good?” she asked, making sure the thought was as open as possible as she glanced around.

“L–let’s just get this over with!” The suit remarked, and with a dull clunk, Jade placed one forehoof before the other.

Sediment bloomed in small puffs, like tiny mushrooms steadily ballooning into the dull water with every step. Around her, the glass tunnel that had once provided tourists with a magnificent view of the aquatic world was no more than a series of broken glass panels. They creaked and cracked, shifting around like the innards of some great beast. They were not the only things, the few fish that darted by almost had the submerged mare jumping out of her synthetic skin. One of the larger ones resembled a spiky beach ball, another a hammerhead shark, only the size of her foreleg.

The long red and yellow striped eel that wormed by had her staggering into a wall of pipes as it peered at her with a dull expression. She could only imagine it was wondering what this strange, inequine mare was doing in its dank home as its mouth opened and closed rhythmically. Then as fast as it had appeared, it was gone, darting off into a huge rend in the far wall of the tank. Jade really didn’t want to imagine what was in that hole as sediment softly swirled around the breach. She could feel the soft tug of the current surging towards it, and was sure if she’d been free swimming, she’d have been pulled in.

Must be the way Ocean gets in here, thank Luna for small favors. True to the fishy-mare’s words, the way ahead was indeed clear, the rubble having been neatly shoved to the sides. So much for a minute of breath though, anypony with lungs would be dead by now.

That solemn thought was only amplified further, as she thudded along at a snail’s pace. She suddenly had a newfound respect for underwater operatives and recovery teams before she finally looked up to see a second set of rusty steps off to the left.

‘West Tank Filtration Units.’ A chipped sign above read, the likes of which seemed to have been scribbled over with both a happy and a frowning face.

Three guesses who drew that. The bubbly sea pony came to mind, but not before a shifting sound back in the tunnel drew Jade’s focus back.

Her eyes’ glow passed over the submerged ruins, catching the last glimmer of scales as the fish all scattered, and the place became deathly still.

Yeah, time to get out of here, I think! There was no argument from X-23, the suit was practically shivering by the time Jade managed to drag herself up the rusty steps, shaking off the water like a dog.

“See, not so bad,” she told her cold companion, doing her best to mask her own dread at the thought of doing it again.

“Let’s not do that again, please,” the suit muttered, voice still wracked with shivering as Jade nodded.

“Yeah, we can make it a rule,” she agreed, drawing her weapon before she made her way into what appeared to be another maintenance corridor.

It seemed to be an exact mirror of the one on the far side of the tanks, and within seconds, she heard the tell-tale hum of the huge filtration systems. Every crack and crevasse in the wall had her jumping, terrified images of the boneless horror squeezing through coming to mind as she aimed her pistol at each breach. A few steps later, the corridor opened out into the hexagonal filtration room, similarly covered in damp critters, like the last one. Barnacles shunned the light, while muscles clipped shut and small crabs scattered like ants.

Her senses informed her of the salinity in the air as frothy pools of brown water writhed and bubbled, fed by a gnashing maw of metal teeth from behind a grate. In all the bubbling chaos, she hardly noticed the ripples shuddering across the pool behind her, only glancing back as X-23 grew tighter and muttered.

“Why do I feel like we’re being watched?” Jade had to imagine there was no greater worry for a stealth suit than the idea she was being spied on, yet the pool she’d crawled out of was still as a mirror.

“I don’t know, but I don’t like it either,” she muttered, looking left to another set of filtration pools, these ones filled with all kinds of trash. “Good to see they really care about littering.”

From the looks of it, food was not the only thing that was tossed into Ocean’s tank. There were old shoes, spent chems, and even some ammunition. The latter Jade swiftly collected, watching her organizational systems lay them out neatly in her bag. Past that, there was a tool locker, and shining her light inside, she saw an array of wrenches, miniature pumps, and aquatic welders behind the ajar door. They were all slightly rusty, yet much like the rest of the place, she assumed they had a resistance to the salty corrosion.

“Okay, remind me again what she said about the filters,” Jade asked, scooping out a set of tools in her magic and setting them on the rim of the filtration pool.

Goddesses, levitating that much stuff with my core still feels so weird. She tried not to think about it as X-23 chimed.

“The terminal over there should let you shut them off.” Creeping over, Jade pressed her forehooves to the keys, the sensation of using her core magic to type feeling just a little too alien. “Okay, let me take a look, I can get in.”

True to the suit's words the hacking part of the task was swiftly concluded, following a scroll of text across her vision and a flash of the word ‘Cinderblock’.

Not gonna think too hard about why a pony working with this much water had that as their password. Jade thought as she set about typing. But working terminals, I can do.

If there was one thing she’d spent her whole life doing, it was sitting in front of a screen, and she swiftly navigated to a section called ‘filtration controls.’ The options flashed up in front of her, but not before an audio recording marked ‘read this first’.

It was her first instinct to click it, memos like that were common back in the MoA. Then she winced as the mare’s crackling voice started to play out loud.

“Seafront, it’s Driftwood again. By Luna, you better listen to this before you start messing with the filtration again.” The centuries-old mare sounded more than a little mad. “Just remember to keep the RPM below fifty percent from now on, you got that? We can’t afford to blow another set of water talismans.”

There was another ripple, a shifting, and a small hum of trepidation from X-23. Jade glanced back, Early Retirement scanning over the empty room.

It’s all in your head, Jade, it’s all in your head. She reassured herself, looking back at the screen as the recording went on.

“Least of all these Hippocampus Three-thousands, they’re worth ten times more than any of our wages.” The synthetic mare could relate to that reality, wincing. “Mind your horn near them too, too much magical pressure and they’ll go off like a bomb. Oh, and please get off your sorry tail and deal with that nematode infestation in tank five too!”

What pony installs water bombs like that in a public aquarium? Jade thought as the recording fizzled out. And what kind of infestation?

Even so, the second she was able, she scrolled down to a tab marked filter RPM, shutting the pumps down just as Ocean instructed. It appeared Seafront had not been doing his job right even all these decades later, the blades were rolling far too fast.

Why does that make my mane crawl? Jade’s ears perked, X-23 grew tight, it had gone eerily silent, save for the rhythmic dripping. Oh, goddesses, not again.

She took a deep breath, catching the slimy shimmer reflected in the screen, and whirled around fast as lightning. Her pistol flashed, illuminating the gloom for a split second as the tentacle maw recoiled, whipped left, and swatted the weapon from her magic. Her eyes shot wide, but in the same motion, the slimy bulk of the thing rolled under her, casting her aside like a mere insect and sending her skidding over the metallic floor. She looked up just in time to see her weapon land in the pool and sink with a dull plop, leaving her unarmed and faced with the tooth-lined maw.

Oh Luna, why do things always have to get worse!? Despite all of her system’s warnings, she backed up, rump skidding across the floor before her back hit hard concrete. What happens when a monster that digests ponies alive eats metal?

She didn’t want to think how resistant Data’s body was to stomach acid, but as the thing coiled towards her like a mass of writhing flesh, she was sure she wouldn’t have to wait long to find out.

I’m sorry, Datastream, I did my best! She reflexively lifted both forelegs to cover her face, shying away with her eyes closed as X-23 screamed. This was hardly worth it.

The flash that lit up the room a moment later was accompanied by the dull woosh of a silencer as the tentacle was struck over and over. Dark ichors splayed out across the wall as the writhing beast shrank away into one of the pools.

“How do you like that!?” Ocean Blaze declared triumphantly, before fumbling with the pistol in her fins, almost dropping it again. “Oh, fish sticks!”

“Ocean!” Jade exclaimed, her machine brain taking over as she dove to catch the pistol, falling against the filtration tank. “The pumps are off, but we…”

The sea pony’s webbed ears drooped, her whole body seeming to dribble as much as the water dripping from her scales as she peered above Jade.

Drip… Drip… Drip…

The droplets pattered against her forehead, right as she peered up to see a trio of the toothy things all peering down at her.

“Okay, fuck you!” she yelled jumping left as one of the gibbering maws came down, earning a mouth full of rusted metal.

Early Retirement sang, causing the monsters to dance as they ate the bullets in fountains of gore. Yet with no time to reload and Ocean already having emptied half the chamber, four shots later, the gun clicked empty. Right as three more mouths bubbled up to replace those she’d shot.

What is this thing, a Hydra!? She thought, desperately trying to reload as her back hit the poolside next to Ocean. I’ll run out of ammo at this rate!

“Running now, please!” X-23 screamed, Jade’s machine and equine mind conflicting as she floundered to reload.

“There’s nowhere to go!” she exclaimed, yet that was when she felt a hard tug at her collar as teeth gripped her suit. “Wait, no wait!”

Before she knew it, she was dragged over the side of the tank and wrapped in Ocean’s fins. Of course, that was the moment the sea pony realized just how heavy her new friend was, and despite all her swimming, the two sank like a rock. Bubbles spewed from her fishy companion’s mouth, the muffled sound of her colorful curses the only thing to meet Jade’s ears in the watery depth as the world grew darker and darker.

If not for her eyes and Ocean’s mane, the two of them would have been in pitch-black darkness as the synthetic mare finally hit the bottom with a dull clang. Sediment billowed up around them, as the tools she’d rested on the rim of the tank followed as if trapped in slow motion. Jade once again thanked the goddesses for small favors. Yet the tools were not the only thing to fall in after them, seconds later, there was a series of loud splashes above.

Of course, go into the water to escape the aquatic monster, genius! The phrase out of the frying pan and into the fire had never felt so poetic as the cyber mare glanced about. Damn it, it’s all just walls!

The only means of escape she had was Ocean. Who despite her stern face, seized the tools and began to tug on Jade’s forehoof. Half trudging, half sliding, the aquatic mare dragged her across the metallic base of the filtration tank as the tendrils uncoiled above. Jade did all she could to maintain her magical grip on her weapon, not wishing to lose the thing a second time, while X-23 muttered a slew of terrified murmurs in the back of her mind.

I’m really starting to hate water. She thought with a pang of sympathy for the waterlogged suit as she suddenly found herself sliding down under a great. This whole lack of breathing thing too, really takes some getting used to.

She really hoped Ocean was aware of such a thing, pretty sure the sea pony would have accidentally drowned her by now if she were still flesh and blood. Even so, the second Jade thudded down into the filtration tunnel, Ocean swam down after her, pulling the barred grate closed behind them. She appeared in front of Jade in a flurry of bubbles as the mare blinked out her lights in favor of night vision. It didn’t work half as well underwater as it did above, but if the monster hunting them could see any light at all, she guessed they were better off.

That idea was only reinforced as Ocean cupped her glowing mane bulb, seemingly taking a deep breath to will its glow away. Then the fishy mare pressed one fin to her pursed lips, and one to Jade’s, a rather futile gesture considering the two of them were submerged.

Eccentric and crazy, she reminds me of Data. Jade was pretty sure having been saved by the aquatic mare had something to do with her newfound fondness too. Better submerged in water than digestive acids.

The hungry maws appeared above the grate seconds later, prodding around in a closed state, they rippled and squished as they bumped into things. Minutes passed, and before long the probing tendrils coiled back, disappearing above. Jade made note of the fact they were not the most perceptive things if she wasn’t standing right out in the open. Yet she didn’t want to wait too long in one place to find out how long it would take them to be found.

I’ve seen octopuses work out how to get into some seriously crazy places. She recalled experiments on cuttlefish back before the war, trying to adapt their camouflage abilities. Just glad to see this thing can’t cloak too.

She imagined the slavering maws pulsating with color, hypnotizing her into falling right in. Seconds later, she was staring at Ocean again as the mare’s mane came back to life. Using the glow, she peered between the bars of the grate, then came surging back in a flurry of bubbles. She nodded up once, jabbing a forehoof down the tunnel before tugging Jade along once again. She felt like a filly carted around by her mother, but didn’t relent, thudding along after the sea pony until the two of them came upon an incline.

Safe to say, trudging up the algae-coated slope would have been hard if she didn’t sink. She practically had to indent the metal with her hoof stomps, before finally emerging into an air pocket above. The space was tight, cold, and she imagined it smelled awful. Even so, she stifled a gasp, being underwater for so long was unnatural enough, but that instinct to breathe was slowly fading. A second later, Ocean appeared next to her, the glow of her mane lighting up the rusty walls and hatch above.

“Next time you want to take me for a swim warn me first,” Jade muttered, feeling a weird urge to cough up water she’d failed to swallow. “I could have drowned!”

“But you said you could hold your breath! You wouldn’t have even made it into that room otherwise!” Ocean countered and Jade had to admit, she had her there.

Great, she’s witty too, so much like Data. Even so, she was at least glad to see the sea pony could work things out for herself. Not so dependent after all.

“Fair enough…” Her ears folded. “And thanks, better than getting eaten.” Ocean smiled, seeming to bask in the first genuine praise she’d earned in years.

“It must have found a way in when the filters shut down, and with how heavy you are…” She tapped her fins together. “Maybe you should get out of the water.”

“You don’t say?” Jade’s expression fell flat as she deadpanned, the mental image of Data scowling at the idea her body was somehow being called fat. “How far is it to the cantina?”

“This leads to a maintenance hall east of the main tank, after that, it's down on your left,” Ocean informed her, tapping a fin to the hatch. “I can swim back for the tools, then try to access the wave tank… Should be able to talk to the slaves if you hit the wave switch.”

“You want to go back down there?” Jade nodded back to the dark tunnel, but Ocean only smirked.

“Oh, that thing’s been after me for years, I’m way too fast.” She looked at one of her fins as a pony would casually admire a forehoof.

“And if there are guards?” X-23 muttered, that shivering inflection still raking her voice. “I don’t know how long I can cloak you like this.”

Then I’ll have to work it out. I'm good at problem-solving. Jade thought, reaching up with her forehooves and magic to yank open the hatch as her vision filled with information about its integrity. Specter really couldn’t have just made a waterproof suit, could he?

“Hey, I heard that!” X-23 muttered sheepishly, a feeling of shame nagging at Jade’s mind as Ocean helped her into the dark, concrete hall above.

“Sorry,” she thought back with a wince, regretting just how quickly she’d broken her rule about no more water as she finally loaded her weapon and glanced back to the fishy mare.

“Be careful back there, okay.” She clicked the chamber closed, cocking the gun in her magic. “Just a little further and we’ll have everypony out.”

“Roger that,” Ocean responded with a mock salute before disappearing from sight with a flash of yellow scales and a salty splash.

Sealing the hatch behind her, Jade made her way up the rusty steps and out into the tell-tale blue aquarium corridor.

“I don’t know if I can do this!” X-23 exclaimed in Jade’s head, a patchwork of chameleonic magic scattering across her hexagonal hide as the synthetic mare peered into the cafeteria. “I’m still full of salt.”

“Just focus, I’m sure they designed you to work in damp environments,” Jade thought in return, pressing her back to the wall as she saw two slavers. “Just look at me, I’m still working fine.”

As fine as I can work out here. She added in a less blunt manner.

“Okay, okay, just let me work on it… I got this.” Jade could only hope her stealthy companion got it sooner rather than later as she made out the mangy cages sitting before the turbulent wave pool opposite the food counter.

There were at least half a dozen pens, between the stools and long tables that had once been filled with hungry tourists. It was a level below her, squat stairs leading between rows of planters boasting long-dead ferns. All the while, each cage was filled with what her vision designated as around fifty ponies. From mares and fillies to full-grown stallions, they all looked like they had more in common with skeletons than ponies, and every one of them was collard.

I can’t let one of them go off. She thought, pretty sure linked collars were surely still a thing. I just hope you’re right about Mako not hitting the detonator, Ocean.

With that in mind, she rolled from her cover, ducking down behind the first long planter as the two slavers milled about by the bar. One was a dull blue mare, the other a sandy-orange buck, both wearing driftwood armor. From the looks of the machine gun saddle, the latter wore, she really didn’t want to get caught out, yet relying on her suit’s stealth field was still not an option.

Don’t think about that, one step at a time. She thought, glancing up to see the bright blue button called ‘wave maker’ beside the long, half-filled tank at the rear of the room. Bingo, that must be what Ocean meant.

“You think those layabouts found the ghost yet?” one slaver asked, flicking over a bottle as Jade crept forward.

“Ghost, really?” the mare responded with a snotty sniffle. “It’s not a ghost, half of them were probably just high.”

“Nah, I saw it fall, it was definitely something,” the buck assured her, flicking over another bottle.

“Whatever you say, Seafoam. So long as it’s not down here, I don’t care,” the mare added, while Jade felt a spark of pride at the idea she had some of them genuinely convinced she was supernatural.

Let’s see what they make of this then. She thought, rear pressed to the wall by the button. I hope you know what to say, Ocean.

A few of the slaves perked up, clearly not oblivious to the flickering mirage of colors dancing across Jade’s hide. She pressed a forehoof to her muzzle, and thankfully they understood the motion to shush as she hit the button. There was a deep churning sound, the wall at her back vibrating as a huge paddle heaved and a surge of salty water gushed into the long tank, before rolling out the opposite end.

“What in Equestria?” the slaver buck muttered, his bottles forgotten as he and the mare took a step toward the tank.

“Okay, who thinks it’s funny to hit the button again!?” the mare called, scowling at the slaves as if this wasn’t too uncommon an occurrence.

None of them said a word, not even a cough. All their eyes were focused on the tank, and good thing too. As if on cue, Ocean flopped in from under the paddle, wielding a wrench like a mighty sword. Even from where Jade was huddled, the fish mare looked glamorous. Yet to the slaves, the light of her mane seemed comparable to the sun itself. The slavers on the other hoof, not so much. The two of them scowled, marching right up to the tank. Forcing Jade to duck out of sight again.

“What the hell are you doing in there!?” snapped the mare, while the stallion warned the slaves back with his weapon. “You’re supposed to be upstairs!”

“It is I, the mighty mare of the sea, come to smite you!” Ocean proclaimed, putting on a rather good act as Jade winced.

It seemed to do little more than confuse the slavers as the mare looked at the stallion, only for him to shrug. All the while the fish-mare jabbed the tool at them like a spear. One group her show certainly seemed to entertain, were the slaves. There was a cheer, and Seafoam loaded his weapon.

“You’re nothing but a dainty show mare,” countered the slaver mare. “Lucky I don’t come in there and dry you out!”

“No, it is you who will be smited by my godly powers!” Ocean bellowed, yet Jade caught her sideways glance.

“We have to do something. X-23, you need to try,” she called, and the suit grew tight. “Just a minute or two of invisibility, please.”

There was naught but a mental growl from the suit, as if she were a mare caught holding up the weight of a building. Yet with a static buzz across her synthetic hide, Jade saw her form flicker out.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” The slaver mare muttered, resting casually on her rifle as she smirked up at Ocean. “You can’t lay a fin on me from in there.”

“Not true, any second now, you’ll feel my wrath!” Ocean declared, jabbing the wrench at her again. “Any second now!”

“Yeah, right.” The slaver mare rolled her eyes. “Seafoam, check it out, I’m about to be smited by the almighty smiter!”

The buck laughed, the mare laughed as she raised both forelegs to Ocean in mocking praise. That was when her head exploded in a shower of gore as Jade lined up her shots in S.A.T.S, and unloaded two rounds from her pistol.

See if you don’t believe in ghosts now! Jade thought, blood splattering across the tank, causing Ocean to yelp.

“Fish hooks!” exclaimed the stallion, rounding on Ocean with both barrels. “What the fuck did you do to her, you witch!?”

“I–I used my godly magic, yes, yes that’s it!” Ocean declared, jabbing the tool at him next. “Now dance for me, little one, dance for your goddess!”

The click of his weapons made it clear he intended to do anything but what she ordered. Of course, that was the moment Jade rammed into him full force. Invisible or not, she severely underestimated just how hard her synthetic body could hit as she sent him sprawling. Her vision highlighted him red, as well as analyzing his stature and potential fighting style. All the while he staggered to his hooves and aimed both weapons right at her.

Oh, shit!

“Eat this, you damn ghost!” he called as his machine gun roared, turning the damp carpet behind her into splinters as she ran.

Shit, shit, shit! The words ran through her mind, the feeling of her heart racing betrayed by the fact it was calm as ever. Okay, getting shot at is really not fun.

She ducked down behind an overturned vending machine, hearing the crack of his bullets shattering the glass and rending the rusty metal. Then the audible click of the thing running dry.

“Fuck,” he hissed as he arched his head back to reload, right as X-23 muttered that her field was failing.

“It’s now or never, Jade.” Despite everything, she was sure she heard that thought in Data’s voice.

Weapon reloaded, she hopped up over the cover, dropping into S.A.T.S. Time slowed to a crawl, capturing the stunned faces of the slaves, and the shocked Ocean, as Jade charged across the hall. Two shots impacted his weapon, severing it from his side in a spray of shrapnel and blood. Another two, his forelegs, dropping him. Time resumed as he staggered in front of her, bloody and screaming, right as her stealth field faded.

“Boo!” she hissed, pointing the gun to his head.

“W–what the fuck are you?” he stammered through his whimpers, doing his best to look up at her.

“Like you said, I’m a big scary ghost,” she declared, itching to pull the trigger, only to pause.

Look at him, he’s done. She glanced at Ocean, her face and fins pressed to the glass, then the slaves. No, I have a better idea.

“Your goddess of the sea has finally come to liberate you!” she called, heaving the sobbing buck up in her magic. “Rise up as she commands, take up arms against your captors.” She tossed the slaver down into the cage, snagging the keys from his barding.

“N–not a bad speech,” X-23 muttered, voice still shivering. Yet Jade wasn’t done yet, as she declared.

“This first one’s all yours.” Seafoam took one look at the many ponies he’d enslaved, smiling nervously seconds before they set upon him like rabid wolves.

Footnote: Level up.

New Perk Added: Aqua Filly – It may suck, but all that time underwater has to account for something, right? You gain 100% Radiation Resistance while completely submerged, and underwater breathing.

Chapter Six: Pale Ghost

Chapter Six:

All her life, Jade had been working to safeguard her home from war, betrayal, and revolution. Now here she was, leading her own in the name of a goddess who looked at her with a stunned expression as the slaves salvaged what they could to arm themselves.

“Well, that went well,” she muttered, leaning back against the tank as the slaves scavenged the slavers’ weapons. “Now to get you out,” she added, looking back at Ocean.

“It went… Well… I…” The sea pony shook her head and nodded rapidly. “Right, me next, of course.” She floundered up and down the half-filled tank. “Hit the button again, I can slip out with the next wave.”

Jade did just that, before addressing the closest of the slaves. The mangy stallion looked at her with a mix of righteous adoration, and trepidation. As if he’d be the next one smited if he so much as stepped a hoof out of line. The feeling she was some kind of invisible, technological goddess was admittedly a pleasing one. But she was quick to set aside the idea.

What’s the first thing any recruit to the program is tested for, humility? Data had been adamant that a pony who’d allow the extra power her creation provided to go to their head wasn’t a good candidate. Besides, I’m not out of this yet, just focus.

She had to remind herself that she’d only bested two slavers so far, the rest of her time she’d just spent running. Even so, she levitated the slave stallion the key to the other cages and the collars.

“Try and get as many off as you can. He won’t blow the collars until the last minute, by then I’ll have the detonator,” she assured, then winced. “What’s the fastest way to the stage?”

Yeah, I must surely look like some great savior. Her mind berated as the stallion balked at her, then stammered.

“Just up there on the left, but Mako, he’ll kill you.” He jabbed a quivering forehoof in the direction, before removing his collar.

Thank the goddesses they’re not set to blow on removal. She thought, doing her best to maintain the heroic facade as she checked her weapon.

“He’ll have to see me first.” The withered stallion winced, but nodded, wishing her luck.

She really hoped she was right about that, but right now all the slaves needed to hear was reassurance. With that in mind, she made her way in the direction he’d indicated, hoping her suit could pull through again. In stark contrast to the industrial tunnels below, the public halls to the cafeteria were lined with faded portraits of fish and other aquatic life. There were skeletons that seemed to have originally been intended for display, while another series of tanks were relatively intact. Looking at the grimy glass tubes, she really hoped Ocean knew what she was doing, one wrong move and she imagined the sea pony suffocating.

We made it this far, can’t stop now. She reassured herself, scanning the hall above with her weapon’s sights. Data stream would be proud.

She hoped she was right about that too, swearing she caught flashes of the blue pegasus’s reflection in the glass of an aquarium. It was filled with what looked to be rainbow eels, as well as a scowling rockfish. Her past mare friend’s judgmental gaze or not, aside from the fish, the corridor was empty. She could only assume the slavers had all fanned out into the halls searching for her, and sure enough, she soon found herself back in the main chamber. The liquid orb above, coated everything in a dull blue hue, while toppled tables and spilled drinks were a clear indicator of the commotion she’d caused after her fall.

“You got this, X-23?” she asked internally, nudging her side as she peered up at the bones above, noting just how much bigger the place appeared from below. “We get through this and we’re home free.”

“Yes, yes, just give me a second.” The suit slackened, as if taking a deep breath, before adding in Jade’s head. “I just hope you know what you’re doing.”

“We get Ocean’s pearl and the detonator, slip out before anypony sees us, simple.” She thought back, pressing her back to the wall as a set of three slavers marched by.

“And you have any idea what that pearl does?” the suit asked, and Jade had to admit Ocean had been numb on that.

Glancing at the throne, she had to assume the thing was wired up like that for a reason, yet she’d come too far to doubt herself now.

What was it Data used to say? She thought as the slaver patrol disappeared into one of the side corridors. Nothing ventured, nothing gained?

True a lot of that attitude had been used to convince Jade their relationship would have worked. It was not typical for a pony and kirin to fraternize back in the day. Even less so mare on mare cross-species.

Put as much effort into getting under my tail as she did this thing. The synthetic mare huffed internally, tapping one of her artificial forelegs. Okay, let’s do this.

She prompted X-23 one last time, earning a static buzz from the suit as she crept out from the corridor and over the party’s carnage. Upturned tables and toppled stalls were scattered around as if in the aftermath of a great battle. Whilst red marks in her E.F.S revealed the occasional sleeping slaver, lingering like a landmine. Smell or not, from the readings her sensors gave her, she assumed most of them were out cold due to the copious amounts of alcohol. For a second she had to wonder if she could even get drunk anymore, shoving a stack of broken bottles aside with her magic as she made her way up to the wired mesh between the stands and the stage.

Just have to find a way over. She thought, mentally checking up on her stealth suit. “Just a few more minutes, you’re doing great.”

“Yes, yes, less talk, more moving, please!” the strained suit muttered inside Jade’s head, and the synthetic mare nodded, snaking her way around to the stairs leading up to the throne.

“How long do you think it’s going to last?” Jade froze at the sound of a stallion’s voice, her ears perking.

If she’d not been invisible, the two bucks sitting by the throne would have spotted her instantly. They were both far more equipped than the slavers below, having metal mixed into the wooden parts of their armor and saddles equipped with what appeared to be laser weapons.

This just gets better and better. She thought, begging the goddesses her suit held up. Here’s to putting your reflection tech to the test, Data.

She hoped it wouldn’t come to that as she crept up, right in front of the two slavers as they casually chattered as if nothing was amiss.

“Mako’s got it all covered, the tribals run out, he can just start selling off the junkies,” the second stallion responded casually, leaning back against the throne. “Or he just starts selling to Filly’ himself, cut out the middle mare.”

“Like the over boss is gonna let that happen,” chuckled the first stallion, flicking out a forehoof in a mock gesture, a limb that almost struck Jade in the face as she paused right in front of them.

She blinked, almost going cross-eyed peering at his outstretched forelimb, then she swallowed hard as he drew back without so much as batting an eye.

“For all your quirks let it not be said you don’t do a job well when you can,” she internally muttered, earning a squeeze from the suit. “Okay, okay, I’m moving.”

Even so, as she made her way to the rear of the throne, hoof steps soft and quiet as a mouse, she couldn’t help but listen in. Call it instinct, she’d not been failed as a field operative, yet accepted into the MoA’s intelligent division regardless for nothing. Her whole life had been about observation, picking up on clues. Right now these stallions were dropping some juicy information.

“What can she do, she’s never around no more,” said the second buck. “What’s it now, three hubs she’s dealing with?”

“Four if you don’t count Paradise, but we’re better off not dealing with the Hoof no more,” the former responded casually. “But give it a month or two and we’ll all be working for Red Eye anyway.”

“Better working for him on this end than slaving away in the Filly’ crater,” muttered the first buck, running a forehoof over his neck, right where slave collars were applied.

The two chuckled, Jade felt sick. If she had the time she’d blast them both, yet the cold, logical drive for some kind of justice battled the calculating urge to simply do what she had to.

No, stop thinking with emotions. Years of having to suppress her nirik nature surfaced as she focused.

She could feel X-23 slipping, she didn’t have long left before they saw her. Glancing at the tank she hoped Ocean would be ready, right as she reached the back of the throne.

Fortunately, there was a set of steps up to the suspended pearl, yet it wasn’t the only thing. There was a series of consoles and terminals wired into the magical vortex, each one flashing readouts about water pressure and spell matrix integrity. Wires snaked out from the mass into just about every corner of the room, while several coiled over into the console beside the glass wall.

That must be what they use to shock the glass. Jade observed as she made her way up to the screens. This looks more complex than I thought.

Setting that aside for a second, she did her best to search for the detonator Ocean had also mentioned, yet all she found on the throne were bones and tufts of Mako’s gray fur.

Damn it, he must have taken the thing with him! She thought, taking a deep breath, and returning to the screens. Okay, one thing at a time, Jade, don’t panic.

She’d never dealt with a system this complex, even if most of that complexion came from the ramshackle way the thing had been wired together. Yet the longer she stared at it, the more her vision flashed with odd readings. As if she could observe something and suddenly know how it all worked, her synthetic brain willed the instructions into existence.

It's a power source. She noted, biting her rubbery lip as she glanced between the screens and the pearl. But what’s it powering?

She glanced back at the tank, filled with relief to see the flash of Ocean’s scales as the sea pony peered at her from between the kelp. From the looks of the flickering blue gem in her fins, it appeared the fishy-mare had been successful in sabotaging the water talismans. She could only hope that would keep Mako busy and away from the escaping slaves. Yet at the same time, she felt her mane crawl at the idea removing the pearl would do more harm than good.

Why is nothing ever simple!? She inwardly cursed, earning another tight pinch from X-23.

“Jade, please hurry up!”

It was now or never, yet apparently, the world was not so willing to agree. Jade’s ears perked at the sound of the two guards shifting. They lurched to full alert as she ducked down behind the throne and Ocean vanished into the kelp.

“What are you doing here!?” one buck snapped, and she bit her lip harder, ears folding as she readied her weapon. “You’re not supposed to be back here!”

Oh well, so much for stealth. She thought, unsure how they’d seen her, but ready to fight, nonetheless.

“Hold your waters, Mackerel, it’s just me,” called the voice of Moray as the sandy-yellow mare trotted up onto the stage.

The two bucks looked at each other in confusion, the one I assumed was Mackerel glaring at his tail before huffing.

“And I’ll ask you again, what are you doing here?” He stomped a forehoof in emphasis.

The sly mare casually trotted by the pair, far calmer than if their boss had been around as she rested a forehoof on the throne.

“Half the slaves are out downstairs, Mako sent me back here to check on things,” she muttered, but despite the truth, the two stallions failed to look convinced.

“Likely story,” the yet-to-be-named buck muttered, as Mackerel added with a snicker.

“Yeah, like he’d have you come back after you brought in what…” He tapped a forehoof to his chin. “Quarter quota.”

“Now listen here, you sour sea…!” She lurched towards them in a spike of anger, only to be warded off by the static hum of their very fancy weapons.

She backed up, her calm facade returning as she ran a forehoof through her greasy mane and added.

“What does quota matter anyway, when all the slaves are about to run off?” she cooed those words as if to a lover, and the two bucks scoffed.

“Beat it, small-fry, before we dust you,” Mackerel hissed, his weapons buzzing deeply.

“Better that, than falling down there when the boss finds out you let them all slip away.” Moray nodded back to the trap door. “But suit yourself, let them all just escape.”

The two bucks exchanged glances, and while their focus was completely on the coy mare, Jade crept up to the pearl. She could nab the thing from right behind them and assured X-23 as much, while she caught Ocean peering at her with hopeful eyes. Of course, that was when a gunshot rang out, almost sending her toppling back as she flailed and staggered, synthetic limbs whirring. The heads of the guards and Moray shot up, Ocean whirled in the water. Yet the attack had not been directed at any of them.

“Please, please, we didn’t see…” The bleeding slaver mare dragged herself down the central aisle of the stands before there was another crack and her head popped in a flash of crimson flames.

For a stallion that looked so much like an aquatic predator, the fiery weapon Mako gripped in his mouth blasted bolts of burning death. At his flanks were two more guards, as well as several collard slaves, including the one Jade had spoken to below.

Goddesses, damn it. She hissed internally as she steadied herself on the throne. If he deals with his own like that then they’re…

It was a shock the slave stallion’s legs didn’t break as Mako kicked him down beside the bloodied body of the failed slaver. One of the other slaves, a mare, lurched for him with a whimper only to be heaved back by her chains as the great gray stallion holstered his weapon and growled.

“You just had to make things difficult, didn’t you?” As the guards held back the other slaves, Mako strode forward, towering over the fallen buck. “Now, if she couldn’t tell me who broke you out, maybe you can?”

He jabbed a forehoof at the mare he’d executed, as the slave stammered weakly. Little more than whimpers emerged from his quivering muzzle as Mako retrieved a red switch from his barding.

The detonator! Jade’s mind screamed, yet she was at an impasse, with only seconds left of stealth, she could barely get out with just one of her objectives.

“I really, really don’t want to have to blow this,” Mako growled holding the detonator up in one forehoof. “Tell me what this ghost is!”

“Please, I… I don’t know, please!” begged the slave, lifting his forehooves in a futile defense.

Jade glanced at the pearl, then at the slave about to be blown to bits, biting her bottom lip so hard it was a wonder the rubber didn’t tear as she saw Ocean peering at her. What would Data want!?

“You have three seconds…” Mako warned. “One… Two… Three…”

Celestia damn me! Time slowed to a crawl as Jade dropped into S.A.T.S, aiming right at Mako’s head. I’ll show you who the ghost is!

She executed the spell, Early Retirement sang. The first shot glanced Mako’s metal armor, as the second and third went wild. At first, Jade had no idea who’d shoved her off the throne. Only to bawk as Moray casually blundered into her. The two mares hit the floor, Jade’s metallic ass cracking the tiles with a clang as the gun was knocked from her grip.

Ouch, what the…? She rubbed the back of her forehead, only to look up and see Moray, the two guards, and Ocean all staring at her very visible form. Oh, fuck!

“What the fuck!?” Moray asked, seemingly just as dazed before she yelled. “Intruder, intruder!”

Jade dove for her weapon, yet the second she was out from behind the throne bolts of magical death lit up the ground around her, scorching the tiles black. Moray staggered back, scooping up Early Retirement and aiming it at the synthetic mare.

“Say hello to the goddesses for me!” she called, while the irony of being shot by her own weapon was not lost on Jade.

I had a good run, sorry Data. She thought, yet before the salty mare could fire, a grizzled voice boomed.

“Wait!” With a hint of reluctance, Moray withdrew, the whole stage shaking as Jade saw Mako make his way on from the reflection in the glass. “Now, Moray, is that any way to treat our guest?”

The stallion spoke in about as courteous a voice as somepony like him could muster as he nodded for his guards to flank the throne. Jade could see their marks on her E.F.S as clear as their reflections in the glass as Ocean lingered in the water beyond with a solemn expression. Spying her own, as well as Moray lurking just out of sight with her weapon, she cursed herself for trying to be the hero.

What in Equestria was that bitch even doing back here? Moray had not approached the pearl expecting to find Jade, that much was obvious, yet it felt like the last of her concerns right now.

I should have just taken the pearl, worked out another way to get the detonator. She thought, sure that Data would agree with the sentiment. Sacrifice a little to save the many.

“Well, I’ll say as far as hospitality goes, you’ve been lacking,” Jade called, marking his position on her E.F.S as she had an idea.

S.A.T.S is used to shoot things, right? She thought, hoping for some reassurance from X-23, but the suit seemed utterly worn out. Surely I can use it to grab stuff too.

“My apologies. It’s not often we have visitors that treat the place so carelessly,” Mako responded, as Jade noted one of the red bars making their way towards the screen by the glass, much to Ocean’s terror. “Still, looks like I’m not at a total loss.”

The armored mare appeared right next to the glass’s terminals, pulling up a visor crafted from wood and a welding mask.

“Looks like all that talk about a ghost was right after all,” she muttered, tapping the console.

The electrical hum filled the room as Ocean silently screamed, writhing in the water as if she were a puppet tugged by invisible strings.

“No, what are you doing!?” Jade called, jumping up, only to have four sets of beam weapons all aimed at her.

Wasn’t the whole point of this body not to be pinned down like this? She thought, pretty sure not even her synthetic hide could stand up to all of that magical firepower. Great, I’m using it so well!

“My, my, look at you,” Mako observed, appearing genuinely impressed, before glancing at the slaves beside him. “Looks like you weren’t lying.”

“Disciple of the sea goddess, save us!” the two collard mares called, holding out their scarred forehooves. “We beg, we beg!”

The sight stung, to think she’d become their only hope, strutted about with such swagger and confidence only to be caught in a trap like this.

Damn my heart, I should have just stayed hidden! She hated herself for thinking so soullessly, but at the same time, it was all she’d been trained to do.

“Moray, take them back to the pens, I’ll deal with you later.” The sandy-yellow mare’s face dropped as she stopped twirling Early Retirement in her magical grip.

“W–what, but I caught her!?” she snapped, only to shrink away under his gaze as one of his guards snatched the pistol from her.

“And yet I have to wonder just why you were back there,” he growled, turning the mare paler than Jade’s own ceramic hide.

“F–fine,” the mare muttered.

She trudged off, tugging on the slaves’ chained collars with her magic as the guard handed Mako Early Retirement.

“I see what all of this is about,” he muttered, nodding for the guard to shock Ocean again, leaving the mare bobbing at the top of the tank like an overfed goldfish.

“Stop it, it’s me you want, not her!” Jade declared, jabbing a forehoof at him, only for him to smirk.

“It’s not the first time my pet has tried to get some help from the outside,” he cooed, inspecting the pistol. “Don’t worry, I can’t afford to kill her, you on the other hoof…”

Think, Jade, think. She wracked her brain for anything, yet synthetic or not she was pretty sure she was going to be either shot, or fed to his far hungrier pet any second. Come on, you good-for-nothing computer, think!

She thought about grabbing the detonator and gun, but he could just have his guards shoot her. No, she needed something bigger.

“Twenty-five years I’ve run this joint, seen all there is to see wash up, but nothing like you,” he mused, then his face hardened. “Though when Red gets a load of you. I’m sure the lack of slaves this quarter won’t matter.”

“Take her alive.” He gave another nod to the guards, adding. “And make sure our star attraction’s learned her lesson.”

“Teach you to mess with the water talisman again,” the slaver mare shocking the glass muttered, and at that, Jade’s mind clicked.

She glanced back at Ocean, writhing at the very peak of the glass, core magic flaring as she called.

“Ocean, toss me the talisman!”

The fishy mare half threw, half flailed, letting go of the thing and smacking it with her tail. Yet it was just enough, and the second it was in the air, Jade caught it in her magic. She could feel its buzz, the static hue almost every talisman gave off. Yet it was far stronger than she was used to, reinforcing what the centuries-old recording said about them.

“Really, what do you expect to do with that?” Mako asked smugly.

“I’m going to do this!” she called, sending a mental note to her suit to brace herself.

She forced all of her magical will into the talisman, and just like the aquarium workers all those decades ago warned, the thing erupted in a jet of rushing water. Easily as thick as a whole pony, the watery beam struck Mako square in the face, casting him back with a grunt as the guards were all swept off their hooves by the swell. In the same instance, the force propelled Jade back like a rocket, her back slamming through the scaffold and into the damaged glass of the tank’s right panel. The second she saw them, she used S.A.T.S to scoop up her weapon and the detonator, withdrawing her magic from the talisman with a wet splutter.

There was a crack, a creek, then a drip landed on the tip of her muzzle. A shudder ran through her as she dared peer upwards, right at the web of cracks blossoming out from where she’d impacted the glass.

“Oh, pony feathers!” she muttered, seeing Mako and the guards stagger to their hooves, only for their eyes to pop wide, right as the glass and a lake’s worth of water came crashing down over them.

She had about a second to think before her world became a swirling cacophony of water, foam, and bubbles. The muffled clang of metal, the garbled surge of liquid, and internal scream of X-23 were the only things to break the blurry mess as she was ripped along in the midst of the collapsing scaffold's frame. Beaten and battered against the floor like a rag, she was sure she’d have been mushed to a pulp by the sheer force of the wave had she still been flesh and blood. Before with a bone-cracking thud, her rear impacted the skeletal throne.

Thankful it was the whale rib and not her own spine that buckled, she grasped onto the thing as hard as her metallic hooves would allow. Heaving herself up the bony tower, she burst from the water with a gasp as her vision filled with warnings about impact damage. She ignored it, clutching her pistol and the detonator close as she glanced up to find she was merely a hoof’s length away from Ocean’s pearl. The water bowed around it like some kind of submissive pet. Yet just as soon as Jade reached out, another shape erupted from the water opposite.

“You sly bitch, I’ll kill you!” All sense of smugness was gone from Mako as he snarled at her like a hungry shark. “I get you and Red won’t care about any of this!”

“Sorry to disappoint you!” she called, taking aim with S.A.T.S. The spell’s charge was running low, but time slowed as the shot fired.

Yet for all of Early Retirement’s power, water still hard-countered bullets. Mako ducked, crimson blossoming from where the shots struck his flanks as he swiped a forehoof at her. Only to wince as it cracked against her synthetic hide.

“What in the sea’s name are you?” he called, his own weapon drawn.

“The name’s Ghost!” she spat, the name feeling odd in place of her own, yet just as fitting. “And I’m your worst nightmare!”

Lifting one forehoof as the two were shoved together by the current, she smacked him atop the head, metal hitting his skull with a thud. He ducked away, ripping her from the throne with him, yet just as soon as she was sure she’d be swept away there was a golden flash as Ocean leaped up and dove right at the pearl.

Mako screamed, yet his muffled call only resulted in a stream of bubbles as the necklace around the pearl seemed to uncoil at Ocean’s presence. It opened wide, a perfect fit for her neck as she dove through it and splashed back into the water. A second passed, before there was a flash under the foaming surface and a swirling ball of magic, like that of the artificial sun above rose from the turbulent flow. At its core, the silhouette of Ocean’s fishy body coiled, before flaring out to become…

What in Equestria? Just when she thought the day couldn’t get any crazier, she was looking at Ocean’s feathery wings, her orange beak, and flowing yellow mane. She can fly!

“Jade!” Ocean called, swooping low over the water with new talons outstretched. “Don’t worry, I got you!”

“What, you’re a griffin!?” the synthetic mare called as Ocean grabbed her forelegs. “You didn’t tell me you’re a griffin!”

“Hippogriff actually, it’s a long story!” she responded, face contorting as she struggled to lift Jade from the liquid. “Gah, you’re too heavy!”

Great, Data really did make me fat! She thought, only to shove the bitterness aside. No, think, you can do this!

“Get out of this water now or so help me, I’ll find a way to float off you!” X-23 screamed internally, sparking an idea. Float, of course!

Holstering her pistol, Jade’s magic flared. Her heart felt like it was on fire as her whole body thrummed like an engine. Yet the magical glow wrapped around her all the same, lessening her weight just enough for Ocean to pull away from the water. Hanging there, she noticed that true to what the mare said, she was in fact not a griffin. At least Jade was sure griffins didn’t boast the rear end of a pony in place of a cat’s.

Just how many things did I not know before the war? She had to wonder, using the last of her magical power to grip both the detonator and talisman.

“Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it!” Ocean called, beating her feathery wings hard as she strained. “We can get out through the roof!”

“Just hurry, I don’t know how long I can keep it up!” Jade called as warnings about core stability flashed in her vision.

In the same instance, she glanced up, seeing there was indeed a skylight, yet the windows were so mottled, barely any sun broke through. The beams that did, were absorbed by the central orb, allowing it to project its blue hue.

We did it, just one step away! She thought, right as Ocean yelped and the two of them were tugged down with a hard lurch.

“You’re not going anywhere!” Mako called, dragging himself up and wrapping one forehoof around Ocean’s necklace. “Do you have any idea what that pearl was powering!?”

“I don’t care, I’m not gonna be your show mare anymore!” Ocean called, trying to kick him off, right as Jade’s blood ran cold.

There was a scream as something dark snaked under the water, dragging one of the guards that had been clinging to the side of the room under in a spray of gore.

Oh no! The thought flared in the synthetic mare’s mind right as the snaking mass of hungry tentacle maws burst from the water under the trio. It was powering the water walls!

“Get off me!” Ocean called, giving one almighty buck into Mako’s chest, while Jade grabbed the one thing she could, his fiery weapon.

She smacked him across the face with the crimson gun, and the buck screamed as he fell away, snagging Ocean’s necklace with him as the thing snapped from around her neck with a wet crack. For a second Jade was terrified the mare would become a fish again. Yet she kept flying as Mako fell right into the set of hungry maws. They parted like a nest of snakes, and she watched as he vanished into a vast, tooth-lined tunnel emerging between them, the pearl along with him.

That’s one big mouth! There was only one red bar, and that belonged to the hulking mass of blubbery flesh, maws, and obsidian-black eyes that was the thing’s main body. What in Luna’s name!?

“Jade, the roof!” Ocean called, struggling to dart around the flurry of tentacles the thing shot up at them.

She had barely enough space to move, let alone dodge as the water rose and the roof became closer. Magical core screaming, vision red with warnings, Jade took aim, using the last of her charge to target the glass in S.A.T.S.

The spell executed, the fiery shots of the weapon fired, and the dirty glass came crashing down in a shimmering deluge of sharp shards. The glass cut a few of the tentacles to ribbons as the watery beast coiled back from the sun’s sickly glow. No matter how overcast it was outside, it was still brighter than inside as Ocean swerved and darted through the jagged breach. The brisk sea air and heavy rain surged by. Turning Ocean’s hide into a shaggy mess as the monster burst from the glass below.

Free, its tendrils were all over the building, even wrapping around the cruise ship rammed into its flank. Jade’s vision was almost completely red, Ocean looked like she was about to come crashing down, and that series of maws waited hungrily below.

All I have is a pistol, about a hundred collars ready to blow, and a water… She recalled just how violently the talisman produced water when prompted. Okay, Data, let’s see how much this core can take!

She took the thing out, hovered it in the air, and screamed as pain flared in her heart. She had no idea whether it was real agony or not, but she poured all of her remaining magic into the arcane stone. Her power warnings flashed to zero, Ocean staggered in the air, and the talisman fell right into the thing’s maw. The second she let it go, water blasted out in every direction, far more violently than even the collapsing tank. It vanished into the thing’s mouth, a moment passed then another, as Ocean faltered, and Jade lingered in lucid awareness.

“I… I can’t hold it!” Jade felt herself slip, yet she could hardly register the fact as she watched the fleshy mass below start to swell and distort, bubbling like melted butter before water tore from its side, then one of its many eyes.

“Jade!” Ocean called, as the synthetic mare slipped, plummeting down towards the water as the beast swelled like a balloon and burst in a wave of sickly, black gore.

Footnote: Level up

New Perk Added: Action Filly - You were always the one who said she wanted to see some action. You gain an additional 15 Action Points to use in V.A.T.S.

Chapter Seven: Horse Shoe Cove

Chapter Seven:

The air was cool and crisp. More so than in any recent winter Jade could recall, yet for all the weak heat the bright sun offered in the clear blue sky, the view was still spectacular. Or at least that’s what Jade thought as she felt her hooves press against neatly cut grass. One moment she was sure she was standing in an open field, the light frost of the winter’s morning dusting the fuzzy vegetation with a light coat of ice. In the distance, she saw towering mountain peaks, their snowy crowns slicing through wispy clouds like butter as the shimmering mirror of a lake loomed below them.

Yet no sooner did she take in the sight, did the image seem to flicker, like it were a vale pulled over the world. Akin to a glitching terminal screen, the distorted facade jittered and warped, before the very atmosphere around her felt like it was shifting. No longer did the air feel cold, but warm, as if something unnatural were telling her senses of the new reality. The sound of a cool breeze was replaced by bird songs and rustling trees. While as if drawn by strings of code, towering redwood trees grew around her.

She felt only a small spark of doubt, as if she were caught in one of the test pacification fields back from the MoA. Instead, she was overcome by wonder, as if her mind were not her own. All the while, the land grew out from the bases of the newly erected trees as if the roots themselves were growing into a new reality. First came rocks, then damp soil, from which spawned countless ferns, saplings, and shrubs. Moss bloomed and flowers blossomed as insects danced about in the glowing beams of summer twilight that penetrated through the dense pine canopy above. She could hear laughter among the evening forest’s song, the call of a filly giggling, the bouncing of a ball. Only then did she see the young mare frolicking in the distance.

Bathed in a beam of sunlight seemingly cast down by Celestia just for her, the little pony had a dark blue mane with a mint green coat. Her eyes were almost familiar, somewhat like Datastream’s, as were the lighter blue pinions on the tips of her fluttering wings. She bounded and danced with the red bouncy ball, seeming to have the time of her life as her little wings beat. Yet one blink later and the wings were gone as the filly changed, her coat a paler green, her mane lime-white. Now she tossed the ball in the magic of her suddenly-spawned horn. From pegasus to unicorn she seemed to shimmer, as if each were just an illusion, slightly off each time. Her voice too, sounded almost static, oddly akin in tone to the way X-23 often talked.

It has to be a dream right, all of this? She thought, yet feeling the warm sun on her perfectly biological coat, she had to wonder. No, it’s far more likely apocalypses, synthetic bodies, and mysterious fishmares are the dream, right?

It was an odd feeling, those memories of the wasteland felt like they were nothing more than fading nightmares, she’d fallen asleep on the job, she’d never actually been there. At that thought, however, there was another shift. The world spun from evening to dawn, as if the sun and moon had been sucked rapidly overhead. The filly was called away by a voice that sounded far too much like Jade’s own old voice, that was even if her new synthetic tone was real to start with. It was almost as if something were messing with her head, each shift like somepony was turning a dial or twisting a screw in her brain. Maybe she really was a computer, maybe none of it was truly real, but at that, the voice she’d longed for the most and feared beyond all others, caught her ears.

“It’s really something, isn’t it?” Jade’s ears were tall and swiveling, her eyes following suit in a flash, only for her to shy away as she saw Datastream land next to her. “Captured you perfectly too.”

If the pegasus was talking about perfection, she couldn’t have said it better. The blue mare looked magnificent as ever in the dawn light as it glimmered between the towering trees. Like the lost reports of Crystal Ponies, Data shimmered like sapphire as she smiled her ever-coy smile at the minty kirin.

That look, she only ever gives me that look when I’m feeling all flustered! Jade internally screamed, finally unfolding from her cocoon of bashful shock. So why do I feel so intimidated?

She assumed that much was obvious, she’d betrayed Data, stolen her life’s work, and left her for dead. Yet right now the pegasus looked like such things were the last thing on her mind.

Maybe this really is a dream? The kirin thought. If she’s not mad at me, maybe this is too good to be true.

That can only mean the wasteland is real then… Things came rushing back to her at that thought. The flood, Ocean flying, the slavers… Falling, the watery explosion! By Celestia, did I die, is this the Ever After?

For the first time in what felt like decades, her breathing was rushed. It was almost too real as she pressed a forehoof to her chest and did all she could to maintain her composure. Exercises she’d become very accustomed to in her efforts to avoid going Nirik. All the while, Data peered at her with curious concern, cocking her head in the same way she always did.

“Hey, what’s gotten into you, I thought you’d be happy about all this?” the pegasus asked, jabbing a wing at the horizon between the trees, where a city and distant ocean had come into being, things Jade was pretty sure had not been there seconds ago.

What do I tell her, about the wasteland, the attack on the aquarium? She thought, yet for some reason, it looked as if Data would hardly believe something so farfetched. This can’t be real, she’s dead, I’m dead… I…

She took a deep breath, swallowed her apprehension, and looked her mare friend dead in the eyes as she asked calmly and collectively.

“I–I’m fine, Data, really… Just…” She forced her composure into check. “Remind me where here is again?”

“What, you forget about things in the last five seconds again?” Data asked, rolling her eyes before adding with a hint of wit. “I’ll have to take a good look at your memory banks.”

Real or not, Jade shot the coy mare a flat look, prompting a giggle as Data tapped the tip of the minty kirin’s snout with a wing.

“The Redwood Cliffs of Coltifornia, silly. Even with all that work, you can’t seriously have forgotten our dream of coming here together, right?” Data asked as if it were the simplest thing in the world. “Right after the rolling meadows of Maredonia, of course. That was so sweet in winter!”

Data looked like she wanted to hug and cheer on the kirin all at once, as Jade’s mind worked overtime to recall the memories. They’d seen so many exotic places on postcards, from mission reports, Jade had been to her fair share working for the MoA. But always alone, true, they’d always wanted to go together once the war ended, but to think it was real, that the world had not ended. Jade balked at the pegasus for a second, feeling a small sense of happiness bloom in her chest for the first time in what felt like far too long as Data finally reached over and wrapped a wing across her shoulders. Stunned, Jade could hardly fight as the two were pulled together, smooshed cheek to cheek as Data declared.

“Give me the atomic mass of a smile!” Before Jade knew it, there was a flash as a camera appeared in the pegasus’s forehoof, snapping a photo of them both. “Another step on our own postcard collection!”

Jade pulled away as Data went to inspect the newly printed image, all the while hearing the soft giggling of the playful filly as she caught the young mare again, just in the corner of her eye.

“Wait, wait, wait, Data… I’m happy but this feels… Weird,” she declared, waving a forehoof over the forest as she winced. “Like… How did we get here? Why can’t I recall what I was doing five seconds ago?”

In a flash Data was looking back at her, sly smile still on her muzzle as she asked in her deceptively snarky tone.

“I don’t know, you tell me?” Regardless of the somewhat happy look on her long-dead lover’s face, that question struck Jade with a new wave of trepidation.

Taken aback, all she could utter was a stammered mess of words as Data continued to peer at her. Despite her relatively soft expression, the pegasus’s eyes felt like red hot beams against the kirin’s coat as she glanced around for any kind of distraction or topic switch. Data took a step forward, hooves crunching the bed of dry pine needles under her as a sudden gust of wind blew through the forest. The buzz of static was carried with the gale, as well as a soft beep and what sounded like murmured voices. There was a mare’s, bubbly, yet panicked, accompanied by a stallion’s she didn’t recognize.

“What, do you expect me to know? I met her like… A day ago!” Jade was sure she knew that distant voice, echoing on the wind as if lost beyond the weak vale of her distorted reality. “She’s a pony right, you fix ponies!?”

“Data, what’s going on?” All the kirin could focus on was the pegasus slowly walking towards her as the world around her seemed to shimmer and warp, melting into pixelated dust before her eyes as if her vision had been hacked. “Who’s talking?”

“Damn it, I’m a doctor, not a technician!” The same mysterious stallion’s voice rippled through the collapsing image, each pulsating syllable of his words shaking the distorting forest further. “By Luna, I don’t even know what this is!”

The feeling of warm air was mixed with that of cold. As if she’d suddenly been plunged into deep water; the temperature, light, and even sound became muffled, rolling around her as if some foal were playing with reality’s light switch. The filly with the ball was gone, disintegrated into digital dust as Data became the only thing in the now very pale existence, suspended on her own little disk of reality.

“Don’t listen to them, focus on me. Tell me what you did!” The hint of anger in the blue mare’s voice was something Jade had not heard in what felt like forever. “Nothing I did was by accident, but you…”

Her words were stolen by a static buzz, almost like the dial-up tone of an old phone, as her blue facade flickered like a broken reflection.

“I did what I had to, Data. If you’d have been there at the time I…” Jade collapsed to her knees, but the second she opened her mouth to let the emotion pour free, her lips felt sticky, then gooey, before a sensation like that of thick fluid surged into her lungs.

I’m sorry I betrayed you! She wanted to say it so badly, but as she clutched her throat, feeling her forehooves phase through the viscous mass she’d become, she could only peer up at Data, as the blue mare faded into dust. I’m sorry!

“Damn it, she’s gonna wake up!” She heard that stranger’s voice again as the world became a blurred mess of images cast in a pale void of stars and technical sounds. “Tie her down!”

“How, she’s strong as a hellhound!?” yelped a mysterious mare, followed by a sound of pain and the clatter of what Jade assumed was medical equipment tumbling to the floor.

“I thought you said you had it!?” came the familiarly bubbly voice, yet the strange stallion just cursed the mare’s name.

“No… I… Maybe if…” She swore her ears were twitching, the sound of a scuffle picked up in them as she saw jittering text flash over the pale reality before her eyes. “Luna damn it, this is all I can think of!”

There was a sharp pain in her skull, and body or not, she crumpled to the floor, feeling as if her whole head were being pried open like a tin can. There was no ground to fall to, only an endless void of static to tumble down into as she felt pins and spines prodding at her thoughts, right as words flashed in her vision.

‘Drive reset, please stand by.’ Betrayal or not, she wanted nothing more than Data back, the mare had always been there to explain technical issues. ‘Banks restored, talismans re-operating.’

Like she’d fallen asleep at her desk, only to awake in a disorientated blur after half of her staff had gone home for the night, she felt as if huge chunks of the last seconds of her life were missing, right as a set of words flashed in her sight.

‘User: Datastream approval: Program pending… Datafire active… Reboot complete.’

Data? She peered at the name as if trapped behind a screen. It blinked once, twice, then flashed as the whole thing dispersed in a bright burst of light.

Darkness lingered before Jade’s eyes for what felt like several long hours before she finally shuddered awake, registering that there was not simply cold oblivion in her sealed sight. In fact, the pitch black that lingered behind her closed eyes was banished the second her eyelids parted like heavy blast doors. What replaced the gloom was an equally dour sight, the room was still poorly lit, and while the instinctive programming to blink on her night vision assured her she was still very much a machine, she instead chose to peer upwards at the mess of rusty pipes and plaster above her.

She almost hoped they’d somehow reveal all the answers, while another part of her more biological memory insisted they were writhing tentacles that would come alive and eat her. Memories of the aquarium were still fuzzy at best, all she recalled was falling, followed by the feeling of impossibly cold water. Then a forest, hills, peaceful valleys, and…

“Datastream!” As if lurching awake from a nightmare, she sat bolt upright, only to regret it a second later as her brain swam like thick soup in her head. “Oh… Ouch.”

She pressed a forehoof to the side of her skull, feeling the metallic texture, as well as the rustle of her suit. Only then did she recall the tight mass of mechanical fibers wrapped around her as she looked about the gloomy room. It was long and mostly empty. Ragged curtains cornered off a few beds, and a few candles provided the fleeting illumination. The warm light was at least a relief as it lapped over the cracked walls and tile floor, the sight leading Jade to conclude she was in some kind of basement. Yet at the recognition, she felt a cold shiver run through her, her suit wrapping tighter around her synthetic features as she finally asked.

“X-23, you there?” Part of her didn’t want an answer, if only to allow her to keep going on believing this was all a dream, yet compared to the distorted mess of reality she’d just escaped from, she hardly felt the gloomy post-apocalypse was any better. “W–what happened?”

Seconds dragged by, then at least a minute. She could feel the suit shift, detect the subtle murmurs in her head as she almost felt as if the thing were angry at her. Instinctively, she wrapped her forehooves around herself, the only thing akin to a hug she could conjure as she bowed her head.

“I get it if you’re angry at me… I get it…” she muttered, both inside and outside of her head as she felt the suit shudder and grow tighter, the scent of salt still registering in her receptors. “By Celestia, what a mess.”

She didn’t need an answer to know that her stunt in the aquarium was reckless, no matter how much she’d longed to be more, she was merely the head of a department, not a field operative. She organized the missions from her safe, cozy office, she was never supposed to be the one in the fight.

I should never have even come here. At that thought, however, she glanced around again, hearing a cough from one of the other beds. Her E.F.S was swift to tell her that there was a non-hostile there, despite the curtain, as she wondered. Where even is ‘here’?

At that thought, her ears shifted to the sound of hooves tapping on what sounded like creaky wooden stairs, and her head swiftly swiveled in the corresponding direction. Her eyes focused, chasing away the gloom as the only door to the room swung open, and in walked a stallion. She tensed, having no idea who the buck was, even if her systems assured her he was non-hostile. Call it silly, but the feeling of waking up in a stranger’s basement was not one she wanted to experience, even if it was lower on her nope list than tentacle monster pits.

Even so, he didn’t look like he wanted to do her harm, no matter the fact if he wanted to do anything creepy to her he’d clearly had plenty of time. She wasn’t restrained, and she was pretty sure her metallic hooves could bash his skull in if she really wanted to. On the contrary to her violent impressions, he was a brown-coated stallion, with a mane and tail of a slightly darker, chocolaty brown. His cutie mark was covered by a pale lab coat, yet her eyes were swift to stay off his butt and on his face, her desire for stallions still a thing deep in her core apparently.

Sexy thoughts, now really? She inwardly scolded herself, yet as Data often exploited, Jade knew one of her coping methods was often a good time. An unhealthy habit, nothing more.

She hated the primal part of her that almost wished the stallion was meaning to do something with her, the trauma of the last few days, and the fact she’d no idea if she could still really feel like a true mare, simmering in a pot of heated angst. It was the second revelation to follow her apprehension as she looked over his features, pleasant green eyes, a somewhat sophisticated complexion, at least compared to every other pony she’d seen out here. He was a unicorn too, horn poking free of his mane and what appeared to be a doctor’s head mirror. At that, her mind finally came past the rush of thought, concluding he was in fact here to help her as he finally spoke.

“Ah, so you’re finally awake?” His voice radiated the same intellectual tone she was used to from Data, not to mention pretty much every smart pony she knew, as the doctor added. “A relief to be sure, we really didn’t have any idea if you would wake up.”

Jade blinked, unfolding her forehooves to slide the covers of the hospital bed away from her hind legs as she peered at the newcomer. Of course, with the lack of an explanation from her timid suit, that was the moment the floodgates opened, and questions came pouring free.

“You fixed me up?” she asked, and he nodded, trotting over to the foot of her bed, as she asked again. “I came from the old aquarium, I was with some… Well, a griffin, I think… I don’t know, Ocean Blaze is her name… I fell and…”

“Whoa, whoa, slow down there. I’m well aware of all that, was hard to miss the light show, not to mention half the ruins are flooded now.” He waved a forehoof to slow her surge of words, seeming at least a little appreciative of the facts as he went on. “You’re friend, the griff… Whatever she said she was, she’s fine.” He waved his forehoof again. “Was a bit too giddy for the surgery, but she told me everything.”

“She did, she’s okay?” Jade asked, feeling a spark of relief as he nodded, assuring her once again, only for his look to harden seconds later as he looked right at her. “Everything else okay?”

She felt like things were all of a sudden very much focused on her, and wanted nothing more than to tug the covers back over herself, sink into the bed, and disappear. That was not an option, even if her suit had been willing to turn her invisible.

“Fine, just…” The doctor winced, seemingly conflicted about what he was about to say, before he sighed and spat it out. “You cost us an awful lot to fix up, and only half of it was medical supplies.”

“Only half?” Jade blinked, feeling a prickle of apprehension down her spine. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you’re lucky Code Runner was around, because Celestia knows I wasn’t enough of a technician to fix you. The biological stuff sure, but…” He looked at her again, as if studying some kind of age-old technology, rather than a mare. “Well, let’s just say, now you’re awake, there are many folks wondering about what you actually are.”

Real mare or not, that reality put so bluntly into words, the fact she was more machine than equine, made her chest sink like a bottomless pit. Her already cold hide felt colder, she shuddered and sniffed, before finally admitting.

“You and me both because… Well, I don’t really know anymore.” His ears perked as her head bowed, and he at least had the decency to look sympathetic as his mind seemed to wander off in thought. “Still, I hope there was enough real mare to work with, right?”

He blinked, seemingly taken off guard by the question as he shook free of his thoughtful stooper and nodded.

“Could say that. Code Runner did most of the work though. I won’t lie, once we were able to get part of that suit of yours off, she did most of the work, girl used to be a stable technician, seems you’ve more in common with her pipbuck than anything else.” It only took him a second after stating such a fact to wince, adding a small apology. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply you’re any less of a mare just…”

“Don’t worry about it.” She dismissed the sour notion with a wave of her forehoof, as the code in her eyes flickered green, assuring her that her reactivation was complete. “As I said, I’m a mess.”

Even so, as the existential dread cleared once again, she had to wonder about what he’d told her.

So Stables are still a thing, I guess Stable Tec did work? If there were mares and stallions from the habitation bunkers still around after so long, she had to assume the project had been a success. No wonder Data liked to use their tech as a base… Explains my compatibility too.

She glanced at her foreleg, seeing the pipbuck-like device fused into X-23. The suit shimmered a little at the sight, as if trying to hide from her glare, growing tighter as she sighed.

“I’d say more of an enigma, than a mess,” the doctor corrected. “You’d have to be somepony pretty skilled to do what you did, crazy or not… That’s the part I’m failing to understand… Had a pair of ponies pass through the other night, muttering about a Pale Ghost.”

At that recognition, Jade’s ears felt like they were burning, as well as her cheeks. She’d muttered the title in a moment of bitter rage, she’d never intended to become some sort of wasteland vigilante.

“That may have been me. I went into the Aqua Dome looking for help. Found Ocean there stuck in one of the tanks, not to mention all the slaves.” She rubbed her forehooves together sheepishly. “I hope enough of them got out before the place blew.”

“Blew, more like collapsed into the sea. Never seen a tsunami come from the land before,” the doctor told her with a small chuckle. “Still, most folks that did come out ended up here, place has always been in the shadow of the aquarium. It’s a few more mouths to feed but we’ll make it.”

So some of them escaped, and Ocean’s fine too? Jade felt a spark of pride in her mechanical heart, no matter how much it failed to beat faster. That said, where exactly is ‘here’?

She asked as much, and the doctor blinked again, as if he’d once more been lost in thought before he elaborated.

“Call the place Horseshoe Hollow, recently back in business now the Aqua Dome’s gone.” He offered a genuine smile. “Thanks for that too, may not sound like it, but folks are grateful Mako’s dead.”

“Bastard got what he deserved if you ask me,” she muttered, recalling his fall into the maw of his own monster.

“I was forced to patch up enough of those fiends to agree with you,” the doctor added, holding out a forehoof to her. “Name’s Patch-Up, by the way.”

She took the gesture and shook his forehoof in the first civilized gesture she’d encountered in centuries, adding that her name was Jadefire.

“Yeah, your friend, Ocean, mentioned it. More casual than Pale Ghost, I’ll admit,” he added with a chuckle.

“Only the slavers need to call me by that name,” she added with a small laugh of her own as she flexed her legs. “You have any idea where Ocean is?”

He regarded her limbs in awe as she rolled over and wobbled to her hooves, having hardly even considered how fast she’d recovered. She was sure real limbs should quiver like jelly as her head swayed a little, yet her legs remained sturdy.

Strong healing talisman, thanks, Data. She sent a prayer to Celestia for small favors, thankful she’d been spared too much damage, even if X-23 seemed mad at her for enduring the brunt of it. I’ll make it up to you, I promise.

She sent the reassuring thought the suit’s way, yet aside from wrinkling like foil, she was not even sure her apparel heard the gesture, or cared. Nevertheless, if she was angry, she did nothing to stop the synthetic mare stretching her legs, wobbling only a little before finding her footing again.

“You’re quite the sight… I’ve seen repair talismans in action before, but you’re so well integrated!” the doctor stammered, and at his completely baffled tone (so similar to Data’s giddy nerd flusters) Jade couldn’t help but smile.

Seemingly catching her look, the stallion blinked, ears folding as he bowed his head and blushed. “Not that you’re bad-looking regardless, sorry.”

Looks like somepony is not used to talking to mares? She noted, feeling a pang of sympathy as she often felt the same. Not all eggheads have the charm of Data.

“Thanks, but about Ocean?” she pressed, and he stammered a little more before finally spitting out the mysterious fish-griff’s location.

“The Tavern across the way, looks like a big, overturned barrel, can’t miss it,” he told her, nodding to the door. “You sure you’re good walking about?”

“I’ll be fine,” she assured, stretching her legs again, before blinking through her multiple forms of sight. “And all my gear?”

“Code has it, folks were a little wary about strangers being armed after the aquarium. After getting over how… Odd the two of you were.” He winced again at that, yet she was unsure what was odder, the cyber mare, or the griffin with the rear end of a pony? “She mentioned wanting to see you too, most likely why she kept hold of your stuff.”

“And you, you don’t need anything, for the trouble?” she asked, nodding to the bed, and at the mention of some kind of payment he stiffened.

“Poppy at the tavern covered your tab, don’t ask why, but after the aquarium, let’s just say there was a discount,” he assured, moving over to straighten the bed. “Anything not to have to smell one of those fishy bastards again.”

As messed up as it was, I actually did something good. It was an odd feeling, but to see ponies actually glad she’d saved them, rather than shooting her, was still filling her with pride. As much as I can feel pride like this anyway.

“Thanks then,” she said with a small smile and a nod, earning a similar gesture in return before she finally took a step through the door and up a set of wooden steps.

Under the cloudy, gray sky, and trapped in the perpetually salty air of the coastline, the settlement of Horseshoe Hollow was built into the outer ruins of the seaside city. Yet from the town’s vantage point higher up on the cliffs of what her system told her was the other side of the bay, she could see the vast arch of the seashore stretching out to the south. The beach was a mottled yellow, while the rotting city grew out behind the crumbling bulkwalk like a wicked weed, similar to the twisting forests opposite to the south. She swore she saw a hint of pink down by the ruins of the pier, surely the arcade hall she’d hidden in days ago.

Yet what stood out as the biggest difference was the huge gash that had been torn in the earth as if by gooey claws. She was pretty sure valleys like that took centuries to form, yet where she’d stood mere days ago, there was now a huge hole in the city. The sloping flanks of the huge cavern still wept thick flows of mud, while a river flowed out at the base, draining into the collapsed seafront. Many of the buildings had been swept away, creating a mass of mangled rapids, as at the mouth of the newly-formed estuary, the vast hull of the Alicornia sat half wedged in the sickly water.

In the crater at the head of the thing, water still frothed and bubbled, as if surging up from an underground lake. With no one to stop it, it appeared the overcharged water talisman was still gushing away, the fact the rocks around it were still coated in sickly bile suggested as much.

Give it a few years like that and there'll be no city left. She thought, pretty sure the bay would soon be getting a watery expansion. I did that… How could I…?

She was just an office mare from Hoofington, a very esteemed and high-ranking one, sure, but to think she could cause destruction on such a scale?

Don’t think about it now, it’s better than what was there before. She told herself, looking over the town. At least this place is high enough up to avoid the erosion.

True to her observations, the settlement was supported by a bluff of moss-coated rock. While a few hardy trees and ferns still clung to the wind-battered precipice. There were about five larger structures, not counting the many cobbled-together huts of cardboard and tarps, as well as a host of ponies trotting about. Many looked unfortunately like the slaves from the aquarium, yet the lack of collars was at least a plus, regardless of their shabby and torn rags. She imagined Patch-Up had his work cut out for him as she observed the gaunt features, hunched spines, and blistering coats of many of them, feeling an odd pang of guilt for trotting about with such a pristine synthetic form.

Why do I feel glad to be a little dirty? There was a small feeling of relief she was not some well-polished, ceramic idol, for all her advanced systems, cleaning talismans were not one of them. How many of these did I save, and how many just think I’m some creepy stranger?

She really had to wonder as she earned a whole host of strange looks, her sensitive ears picking up on their murmured mutters as they spoke to one another under their breath.

Just find this tavern, find Ocean. Don’t think about the rest. She thought, desiring a report on how she’d made it out of the watery geyser downtown more than anything else right now. Let’s see, overturned barrel?

Among the structures in the vaguely horseshoe shape atop the bluff were what appeared to be two stores. Apparently once equipped to sell fishing supplies, the large wooden cut out of a hooked fish on one proved as much, while the outline of a sea pony on the other made Jade really wonder what Ocean had thought of it. In an ironic twist, however, the shops now appeared more equipped to sell fish than the supplies to catch them, as the newly opened fronts seemed to be preparing for just an ordeal. The third store looked to have once been for tourists. In an odd mockery of the flashy things she’d seen down by the beach, the old-fashioned store had become what appeared to be a kind of workshop. The name Code Runner’s over the door led her to believe that was where she'd find her technician.

Part of her longed to simply go there now, get some answers about what Data’s life’s work really was, but she shook off the idea as her eyes fell upon the last notable building. True to Patch-Up’s words, the thing looked like a barrel half sunken into the earth, with tattered banners promoting seaside-themed fast food still wafting in the salty breeze. The windows were mottled and faded, panels of red glass breaking up the blue like the fancy gally of some old ship. Regardless, Jade swiftly made her way towards the door, an advertisement for extra salty hay fries wafting above her as a flurry of sudden wind almost swept her off her hooves.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh! Jade, you’re okay!” The first thing the synthetic mare saw was a yellow blur, the sudden shock lancing through her regardless of her steady heart rate as she was almost swept into the sky. “I was so worried!”

Ocean got about a foot off the muddy ground before swiftly coming to realize that Jade was still far too heavy to be merely plucked from the earth. Her feathery wings beat hard, before the two of them were once again deposited on the ground. Jade’s hooves gave a clunk and a whir, stabilizing her as the odd griffin landed before her, hiding a giddy blush with a wing.

“Okay, maybe flying is still not the best idea.” She winced as she flexed her wings, rubbing one with a foreclaw. “I was just so worried, I barely caught you, pretty sure I pulled a wing… Then they told me to leave you with them and it was all so crazy I…!”

“Woah, woah, woah. Ocean, slow down.” Jade cut off the giddy mare’s slew of excited babbling the second she paused to take a deep breath. “You caught me?”

“That I did,” she assured, nodding rapidly. “And pretty much crashed up here... Not to say you’re fat or anything but…” She rolled a claw in the air, flashing her sleek figure side on. “You’re heavy and not so aerodynamic.”

Fly, the one thing Data didn’t make this thing to do. It was an odd thought, the one thing the pegasus could do naturally that her creation could not. If only I could ask her, talk to her again, outside of crazy dreams.

“Thanks…” Despite her gratitude, the idea she was fat, caused the word to come out far snider than she intended, before she added in a far more pleasant tone. “For catching me that is, I take it you’re okay?”

“Aside from a sore wing, I guess… That, and I lost my pearl again.” Ocean winced, pressing a talon to her fluffy neck. “Not a bad form to be stuck in, I guess. But so much for going home.”

Jade had never really thought about it that way. The hippo- whatever it was she said she was, looked far more natural on land. Yet if she was right, and there was an underwater empire of sea ponies, it looked like the mare was now stuck.

“I’m sure we’ll figure something out,” Jade assured, yet having no real idea how as she added. “I guess you can stick with me for now. I do kinda owe you one.”

Ocean’s giddy smile was so wide it almost cracked her beak as she lifted into the air and beamed at the synthetic mare.

“Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!” She ruffled her wings, only to wince and set back down under the strain. “I hardly ever got a chance to see the surface world before they caught me!”

“Yeah well, let’s look at getting you some actual gear first, you’re not exactly bulletproof,” Jade quipped, wincing at the idea she somewhat was.

Because I just need to feel even more like a fancy Ponytron. She dismissed the thought, hearing from Ocean that the doctor had been at a loss as to what to do, and shoved the flustered hippogriff out to the tavern. Somehow, I can’t blame him there.

As endearing as the fish-mare was, Jade could hardly imagine her giddy rants during delicate surgery.

“I mean really, I say your brain should not open like that, and he tells me I’m wrong!?” She flared her wings in frustration. “I was team medic, I know my stuff!”

“About cyberponies, or sea ponies?” Jade asked, looking back over her shoulder as she moved back toward the bar, and Ocean’s expression fell flat.

“It’s all still biology… Or synth-ology in your case.” She winced as she jabbed a claw at Jade. “Anyway, I’m just glad you’re okay!”

“You and me both,” Jade assured with a small chuckle as she moved to open the door for a second time. “This place seems okay, we can rest up here for a bit.”

Rest up to go where, what am I supposed to do out here? She set that thought aside, pretty sure there was still Locked Heart’s message to track down, not even sure there were still ponies to track. Is it really any better, I proved the mystery is still viable?

There was the whole slaver empire Mako had ranted about too, some pony named Red, yet repeating the mess at the aquarium was the last thing on Jade’s list as she saw Ocean glance about cautiously.

“If you say so, but I’m pretty sure ponies from the aquarium used to come here too. They’d be so mad right now,” the hippogriff warned.

“Relax, they’re all gone, and if we do find some then I’ll just say I’m a spooky ghost again,” she assured, finally stepping into the tavern, only to come face to face with a pair of very shocked, then angry eyes.

“Wait, what… You!” the lobster cage-wearing mare declared in a sudden burst of fury as Jade’s mind crashed.

Oh, pony feathers! The irony was not lost on the synthetic mare as she realized she’d bumped right into Moray.

Footnote: 50% to next level

Chapter Eight: Directions

Chapter Eight:

Jade was no stranger to conflict, for years she had seen ponies battle, seen mares and stallions killing one another. She’d been there to ensure they were trained just right to kill each other in the most efficient of ways, overseeing the creation of tools that only made killing even easier. Yet that had always been from behind a screen or the other side of reinforced glass. She was an overseer, and observer, she had never truly been a soldier, even if part of her had always longed to be a field operative.

In the past few days, however, she was swiftly coming to understand just what that meant. Between fleshy monsters, ponies willing to enslave other ponies, and a whole flurry of gunshots and explosions, it was clear the wasteland was not a simple place. It did not care about organization skills, or years’ worth of training experience. It was all about survival, and she considered herself lucky to have survived her last encounter in hopes that it would never come to bite her in the tail again.

What a stupid hope that was. It was about the only thought racing through her mind, the more biological part stunned as her synthetic side flared red, detailing the many ways she could kill the mare before her, not to mention the threats of retaliation. How in Luna’s name did she even make it out of there?

By the look of Moray’s muddy coat, frazzled mane, and crumbling armor, she had to guess the slaver had escaped with great difficulty. She reeked more of grimy salt now than she had days ago, looking like she’d just crawled her way out of a bog. Yet for all of her griminess, there was one thing the mare possessed that Jade did not, a weapon. Despite being what appeared to be just a fish hook on a stick, the bladed tip of the rusty weapon was thrust at Jade’s face, scraping her forelegs, before she instantly reared up and brought her weight down on the thing, shattering it in two with a splintering crack.

“Hey, watch it!” she called reflexively, as her more biological side caught up with the synthetic instincts.

It took her a moment to realize that this wasn’t just some casual office dispute, such simple retaliation was far less than what was warranted as she took a step back, hearing a small huff as she bumped into Ocean’s downy plumage.

“Watch it? You serious, I–I’ll kill you!” Moray spat, even if she cautiously took a step back of her own, glancing around as if for another weapon. “Fucking Pale Ghost, you’re just some freak, some weapon sent by Red Eye or something!”

“A what now?” Jade asked, cocking her head as she glanced back at Ocean. “I don’t even know what a Red Eye is?”

The hippogriff just shrugged, her own visible confusion clear as Jade kicked the broken weapon aside and rounded on Moray.

“But I am serious, what you were doing back there was wrong!” Moray froze, seemingly stunned, and only then did Jade see the rest of the blue bars on her E.F.S.

The tavern was filled with ponies, all as rough as those outside, while there were even a pair of griffins in the mix. The latter creatures were absolutely armed to the teeth, flanking the bar that spanned the opposite side of the room, while the walls on either side of her were lined with shabby seating booths and tables. Every pony had stopped what they were doing, be it drinking or gambling in odd little games of dice and sea shells. All looked at her, some with fear, others with scorn, while a few more just looked like they’d seen a literal ghost. Cybernetic or not, Jade felt heat in her cheeks at the attention, feeling every pair of eyes on her like scolding beams as her heated ears folded.

“X-23, if you want to take this as a signal to go stealth mode, be my guest,” she muttered internally, yet there was nothing from the suit as Ocean awkwardly waved to the crowd, muttering a silent ‘hiya’.

Then, half a dozen or so of the patrons, Moray included, burst out laughing as Jade peered on in confusion.

“Filly, I don’t know what chems you’re jacked up on in that fancy suit of yours, but are you serious!?” Like some schoolyard bully reinforced by the support of others, Moray smirked, adding in a mockery of Jade’s voice. “What you were doing back there was wrong?”

She rolled her eyes, nodding for a few of the patrons in support of her to stand, and like good little goons, they stepped up to flank her.

“I don’t know who you think you are, but last time we had some big shot come around acting all heroic like that, I saw them fed to Mako's pet,” she added with a cruel laugh.

“Oh, you mean the pet I popped like a balloon?” Jade shot back, a spur of snide wit conjured in her as if from nowhere.

It’s like in the slave pens again, urg, where is this personality coming from!? She almost felt as if she was just as much like Data then herself as Moray scowled.

“Lucky, all I can say.” The slaver dismissed the topic with a casual flick of one forehoof. “You ain’t all that tough, you and your little fishy bitch back there.”

“Hey, I’m not a fish, I’m a sea pony!” Ocean squawked, but Jade made sure to come between the two as her eyes narrowed.

Maybe some of Data’s wit is not so bad at times like this. She thought, recalling just what she’d seen Moray doing the last time they’d met. She walked right into me, she wasn’t after me, she was up to something.

If there was one advantage her training did give her out here, it was perception. Moray was not as loyal as she wanted others to believe. I wonder if her cronies here know that?

“Leave her out of it, you tortured her enough,” the cyber mare declared with a nod back at the hippogriff. “You got any more colorful things to say, you can say them to me.”

“Oh, you’re breaking our hearts.” The slaver faked a dramatic faint, before hissing. “You’re just lucky I don’t shove you back in that hole you dug.”

“I’d like to see you try,” she countered, only to wince at how much like Data and not herself that sounded. “Pretty sure the only reason you got out was because you were up to something!”

That seemed to take the slaver off guard, and she balked, glancing at the burly-looking ponies on her left and right as she stammered.

“W–what’s that supposed to mean?” Filled with a part of Data or not, the smirk that Jade felt parting her ceramic muzzle was one she wholeheartedly meant to display as she elaborated snidely.

“Back in the throne room, you didn’t see me, you were up to something behind Mako’s back.” She jabbed a forehoof at the mare, and at least half of her gang looked a little put-off. “I know deception when I see it, believe me. I’d say you were trying to sabotage him.”

“But you… I… Red said…” Moray stammered like a foal that had just been caught with her hoof in the cookie jar as several of her companions gave her quizzical looks, before she stomped a forehoof and added sternly. “What does it matter, Mako’s dead, and the dome is gone!”

The burley group appeared on the verge of a full-on schism as half seemed to have been in on Moray’s deception, while the rest huffed and snarled at the reminder of their bosses’ and lair’s demise.

“All we gotta do is deal with you and Red’s gonna…” The mood in the bar suddenly shifted, cutting Moray off as a heavy thud hit the floor, followed by another, until Jade finally realized they were hoof steps.

All eyes turned to the bar, even the burly griffins ruffled, while Moray’s head ground like a millstone as she glanced back. The heavy thud of the mare’s wooden leg was only a bit more pronounced than that of her three natural hooves as the floorboards creaked under her frame. If Mako had been large, then this mare was only a step below, yet her grizzled features made her look no less intimidating. Her coat was a faded red, almost a dull pink, and her mane a paler shade.

Her cutie mark was a simple poppy, under the plethora of scars across her body. She wore a simple apron over her front, while her sky blue eyes passed over the room like a baleful beam. Silencing all in seconds. Even Moray’s words dropped to a dry stutter as Jade’s system flashed all kinds of threats warning about the newcomer, at least until the burly mare finally spoke in a voice harsh as stormy waves.

“What’s going on here?” The wave of intimidation grew tenfold, metal limbs or not, Jade felt the weight of the mare’s stare over her, as Ocean sank down at her back, yet thankfully, her eyes passed by, finally coming to rest on Moray’s little crew. “Somepony need reminding of my number one rule?”

Jade wasn’t even sure Mako’s presents could have made the slavers go from cocky to timid so fast, as half of them wilted like timid foals. There was nothing but a series of mutters from the rest, yet the mare didn’t seem to require more to come to a conclusion.

“Just what I thought,” she declared bluntly, taking a step up to the bar front and leaning against it with her one good foreleg. “Now, care to tell me what the fuss is about?”

“If you’re against fighting so much, Poppy, how about you let us take the mare who messed up the Aqua Dome outside for a few rounds,” Moray sneered, seeming to gleam some more support from her less-than-enthusiastic peers.

Let her try, I could put her in the mud all over again. The whittier side of Jade’s mind jeered, but she slammed a mental door in its face. Did anypony ever teach you about de-escalation, not encouragement!?

The bulky mare, who Jade assumed was the Poppy, Patch-Up had told her about, based on her cutie mark and apron, raised an eyebrow at Moray.

“That’s the one who took out your little party?” she asked, as if not quite impressed. “Her and what army, the bird-brain?”

Ocean seemed a little lost as to whether that insult had been directed at her, only to frown as she realized. Yet before she could speak up, Moray snapped.

“That bird-brain is the fish you were all drooling over, for one!” She jabbed a forehoof at Ocean, adding. “And don’t sound so disappointed, we all know you love dealing with Mako as much as anypony.”

“Aye, I loved that stallion.” That confession from Poppy made Jade’s heart sink, and she too felt like she would wilt into the floor.

Please, don’t make me fight that, Mako was bad enough! She begged, while the more Datastream-like part of her was almost giddy to kick off the lab coat and fight. Nah, we can take her, trust me!

Moray smirked at Jade, while Poppy scooped a tankard from the bar, filled it with a frothy liquid, and downed it in one go. Wiping the foamy mustache it left on her muzzle, she called.

“Loved his little squeals as I sank his ship with my port!” That bold declaration drew a whole lot more laughter and cheering from the tavern than Moray’s did as Poppy slammed the mug down, adding. “Girl, me fucking that tight-tail was about the only thing setting him in his place, for the record, I’m glad he’s chum.”

That seemed to have all of the slavers reeling as they took a step back, yet Jade was still between them and the door.

“Hardly makes you any better, I know you deal in slaves too!” Moray spat, seeming to way up whether she could barge her way out.

“True, I deal in whatever I gotta to keep my place secure, and now that option’s off the table.” She smirked and chuckled. “Can’t say I’m gonna miss it!”

There was a fresh wave of cheers and laughter from the tavern as Poppy lifted her mug high and declared. “To the mare that told Mako where he can shove his fish-sticks!”

To see the whole place go from scowling at her like a stranger, to cheering her name and raising a toast was more than a little jarring, her burning ears folded again, as she saw Moray’s bitter expression twitch as if it could shatter like brittle glass. Even Ocean cheered, a far giddier gesture as she threw up both forelimbs in glee, flaring her wings, only to wince.

“Ouch, still not a good maneuver,” she muttered, falling to the floor, and clutching the feathery limb, as Moray hissed under her breath.

“Savage, Marervada scum.” As hushed as the insult was, Jade’s ears were more than capable of detecting it, and it appeared she was not the only one.

Poppy, it appeared, didn’t need to be a cyber mare to detect a jab at her name, her rugged ears perked, and her eyes locked on Moray like deadly turrets.

“What was that?” she asked, voice level and firm as she slowly set her drink down on the bar top.

“I… I… Nothing, nothing!” Moray stammered, looking to the door, only to pause as Jade blocked her way.

Oh no, you’re not going anywhere, slippery one. She thought, in agreement with her more confident side. It’ll be good to see some justice for once.

Yet Poppy didn’t even stand, she nodded her head at the slavers, calling. “Gannet, Alby, I think we can add banning anyone from Aqua Dome to the list of rules.”

“Could not agree more,” one of the griffins, notably the female of the pair, agreed as the two moved to escort the slavers out.

“Ain’t gonna get up yourself then, maybe Marervada isn’t right after all,” Moray spat, seemingly in disregard for her own wellbeing as Jade stepped aside to let the griffins do their work.

“Filly, one more word out of you and I won’t be so kind,” Poppy said simply, not even bothering to spare the slaver mare a glance as she and her group were shoved out, muttering a slew of curses about talon mercs.

The second the rabble was gone, however, the atmosphere shifted. The tense air was once again filled with chatter. The cheers of game winners and the clatter of mugs on tables. If it had been a little less dirty, Jade could almost imagine she was back in her time. The small bit of very Datastream-like disappointment bubbling in her at the fact she’d not gotten to fight was a subtle reminder that was definitely not the case, as her more reasoned side shifted to look back at Ocean.

“You good?” she asked, and the bubbly hippogriff nodded, seemingly happily as she made an odd swiping motion with her claws.

“Oh, I feel great… Wing aside, that is!” she declared, wincing as she added. “But we really showed her!”

“That you did.” Jade’s smile faded a little as she looked back to see Poppy address her. “Don’t think Moray would have got a hoof in edgeways.”

“T–thanks, but I’m not that good a fighter,” Jade stammered, only for a little blue pegasus in her head to cross her forelegs and pout.

Poppy only rolled her eyes, downing another mug of frothy brew as she casually waved Jade over with a forehoof. “Come take a seat, girl.”

It didn’t seem that this was the mare to say no to. So glancing back at Ocean, and earning another shrug, Jade did just that, stepping over and planting her butt on the stool beside Poppy, only to hear the thing creek under her weight.

Urg, no wonder the comments about my weight make my mane tingle? She thought, as her ears folded.

“Denser than you look,” Poppy observed, with a small chuckle. “Back home head hard as a rock was a good thing. Though, looks like you’re a hit of tackle above that, girl.”

“You have no idea, really,” Jade sighed, as Poppy nodded to the bar, right as the two griffins stepped back in.

“Can’t say I do, fancy pony stuff’s not my thing,” she assured, tapping the wood of her bar. “All I need is a steady deck and strong wind in my sails.”

Ocean crept up beside Jade at that, earning an odd look from one of the griffins, as the two muttered about butts looking all out of place.

“Say, you drink?” Poppy asked, drawing Jade’s attention back to the bar as she nodded to the plethora of alcohol on the mirrored shelves opposite.

Do I, can I even get drunk anymore? she wondered, always having been a wine mare herself. I assume that craving for cider is Data’s thing… Urg, what did she do to me!?

“I was always more of a wine mare, not so much… Well, that…” She jabbed a forehoof at Poppy’s brew, and the mare chuckled, going on about Marervada classics, as she nodded for one of the griffins to retrieve a bottle of wine.

Surprised they actually had the stuff, she was sure if anything could get her drunk it was wine aged almost two centuries.

“Not my taste, but I've been wanting to crack that one open for years,” Poppy told her as the griffin casually popped the cork. “And you?” she asked Ocean.

“Oh, me… I…” She tapped her claws together. “I’ll just take whatever you’re having,” she declared, stiffening.

Poppy blinked, glancing at the griffin, who only smirked.

“Be my guest,” the large mare said simply, as the griffin poured more of the frothy brew, sliding the mug across the bar top to the hippogriff.

“See if that can’t put the feline back in your rear,” the griffin muttered, shooting the orange mare a coy look as Jade took a sip of her own drink.

The dark red liquid stung her tongue, sensory receptors still allowing her to taste the stuff pretty clearly, even if it failed to leave the warmness in her gut she recalled. Yet that fond memory of the past was forgotten as Poppy turned to her and asked.

“So, you really did take out Mako’s little fun house?” She smirked and once again Jade felt flustered. “It was enough to cover your tab with the Doc’. But for that, I guess you can fill me in on the details?”

“I… Thanks for that, but…” She lifted both forehooves, baffled. “I won’t lie, it sounds like you know more than me.”

She sighed, peering at her glass as she shifted back to rest both forehooves on the bar top.

“I know this is gonna sound crazy, but I’ve not been here so long, the aquarium was the first place I found where there was any pony else,” she added.

Poppy looked her up and down, and Jade assumed her new form was enough of a giveaway that things were not so normal with her.

Exactly how many other synthetic mares have I seen out here? She could feel the creeping sense her body was not her own yet again. All things considered, I’m probably just as strange to them as all this is to me.

“Looking at you, I’d say that’s a damn sight true, girl,” Poppy responded, taking another pull of her drink. “But the aquarium? Damn, great first impression.”

That’s the understatement of the century. The more brash side of her brain muttered, yet she cut it off. No, no, let’s not agitate the big mare now, Jade!

“It sure was something, I’ll say that,” she muttered, taking another sip of her drink. “You sound like you’ve been there though?”

“More than a few times, folks here don’t like to admit it, but Horseshoe Hollow was under the hoof of those bastards for a long time,” Poppy responded, glancing back over her shoulder. “Though, Mako was not as tough as he looked.”

“Could have fooled me,” Jade muttered with a shudder, only to utter a small ‘eep’ as Poppy practically slammed her on the back with a forehoof.

If she’d not been synthetic, she was sure she’d have bashed head-first into the bar top, as the larger mare chuckled.

“Please, you give him way too much credit,” she declared, taking another deep gulp of her drink. “I’m glad he’s gone, and his flashy shows to boot.”

She glanced over Jade, peering at Ocean, who looked only a little tipsy from the foamy brew.

“No offense, of course. Though, I never took you for a land lover.” The hippogriff blinked, then hiccupped as Poppy added. “Though, gotta say, loving the new pair of legs, ass is killer.”

“Aww, thank you!” Ocean beamed, swaying just a little as the two griffins watched her with sly amusement.

“So what was he to you?” Jade asked, folding as she felt Ocean lean on her side, only to shove the hippogriff back upright with a forehoof as the yellow creature drunkenly babbled about fine tail and fish legs.

“Mako fancied himself a tribal king once. Though his eyes were always on the sea, used to captain a ship called the Hammerhead, same one that scooped up your friend there.” She nodded to Ocean as the griff frowned. “Sold the thing a few years back though, set up the aquarium for a mare called Red Turret.”

That name perked Jade’s attention, her ears standing tall as she recognized it as the same one Mako and Moray had both muttered about.

“And who’s that, both he and Moray talked about her, but I didn’t get any details?” For a split second Poppy appeared put off, and the idea anything could give this mare pause filled Jade with worry, at least until she resumed her talk.

“Nasty piece of work, fancies herself a super boss, if you will.” She leaned forward, resting her one good forehoof on the bar as her wooden leg tapped the counter. “Must be something to do with the name Red, filly thinks she’s giving folks in Fillydelphia a run for their caps.”

“Caps?” Jade asked, noting just how much she’d seen the things traded around the wasteland so far, earning a chuckle from Poppy with her quizzical look.

“You’re really not from around here, huh?” the larger mare asked, pulling out a few rusty Sparkle Cola caps. “Everything out here’s traded with caps, old world bits may fetch you something, but caps are where it’s at.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Jade responded, as Poppy slid her one of the metallic trinkets, assuring her one drink was on the house. “Not that I have any.”

“Gotta work for it, I know there’s a few folks around the wasteland who’ll pay for honest work, most of all from a mare who’s proved she can get things done,” Poppy assured, taking another pull of her drink, and slamming down the empty mug. “You’re gonna need it, most of all if a mare like Red’s after you.”

Seems like I’m just the best at making powerful enemies. She thought, not even having gotten around to any of her apparent foes from before the war. Surely this super slaver boss can’t come after me, I’m just one mare?

She said as much, and Poppy laughed, slapping her on the shoulders again as Ocean giggled at the interaction giddily.

“Little filly, the Aqua Dome was probably Red’s biggest asset, that mare holds a grudge over so much as a stubbed hoof, you can be damn sure she’ll come after you.” Jade wilted a little at that, sighing as she slumped.

“Great, care to point me in the opposite direction?” she asked and once again the bulky mare chuckled.

“You’re stuck right between her lands to the west and south, so you either head north into the snow, or out to sea. Not too many options I’m afraid.” She glanced over at Ocean as she added. “Most of all with fish legs out of commission.”

Just another thing I have to worry about, her pearl. She felt more than a little guilty not to have gotten the thing out of the fray too, even as Ocean muttered she could swim perfectly fine as she was.

“Any helpful advice then?” she asked, finishing her wine, and feeling not the least bit drunk as Poppy thought for a moment, then went on.

“If you wanna avoid Red, you’ll have to swing further south, bit close to the Dustbowl for most folk’s liking though.” She shrugged at that, as if she were well above most folks, before adding. “Should probably speak to Code first, filly may have some advice on your more…” She gestured a forehoof at Jade as a whole. “Fancy stuff.”

“Yeah, the doctor mentioned her too, helped patch me up,” Jade muttered, and Poppy nodded, assuring her that if any pair could do it, it was them.

Therefore, thanking the bar mare for the drink and talk, she hopped off the stool and looked to the door, only for the larger mare to clear her throat.

“Forgetting something, are we?” she asked, nodding to Ocean as the hippogriff practically dribbled off the stool after her.

“I don’t forget. I have a better memory than… A goldfish!” the hippogriff hiccupped, jabbing a talon at Poppy as she and her griffin guards all smirked.

The irony of a rustic shack once specializing in the sale of old-world antiquities having become a workshop for the most modern and wacky machinations of the town didn’t seem lost on anypony as Jade entered through the creaky double doors. The place was gloomy, the perpetual salty tinge in the air permeated by an electrical buzz Jade was pretty sure she could only hear because she was as much a machine as the many terminals littering the place. They filled the shadows with a sickly green glow, only a little brighter than the dull sunlight outside as she stepped between the aisles of spare parts.

Like mounds of mechanical gore, wires, circuit boards, and drivers splayed from the cracked open cases of shattered terminals, while lights blinked, and fans hummed. Robot parts were slung about as if scattered by a hurricane of metal, as wracks of Mr Handy stalks and disabled Ponytrons hung from the far wall. Jade didn’t even want to think what was in the rear room of the store, as she caught the electrical flash accompanied by a crackle like tesla coils and sparks. She merely made her way to the front desk, a rather quaint-looking counter, all things neatly organized with one terminal, a keyboard, and a bell. The latter of which, she rang once.

“Wow, I’ve never seen so much shiny stuff!” Ocean said, gazing about the gloomy room in stunned awe, comparable to a filly in a toy store as Jade rolled her eyes.

Note to self, never let her drink again. She had a feeling allowing the mare to have such a strong brew was a small joke on Poppy’s part.

Yet just as soon as the thoughts crossed her mind, there was a buzz in her ears, she looked back at the counter to see the tell-tale grill of what she quickly recognized as a sprite bot. She knew the things from before the war. The MoM had had them on every street, not to mention the ones her own office had commandeered for test purposes. This one merely bobbed from side to side, its diaphanous wings fluttering as she lifted a forehoof to wave at it.

What, being formal to robots now? I really am just like one of them! She flicked the off switch on those ideas again as she muttered.

“Hello there, I’m looking for Code Runner,” she asked, and after a second of awkward silence, the robot let out an oddly bird-like squawk.

The tinny sound had Ocean standing to attention, stiffer than a board, as if she’d just heard the worst slur imaginable, while the sprite bot’s speaker crackled, popped, and stammered.

“Bawk, Gadget, Gadget wants bolts and screws!” Leaning back, Jade blinked at the thing as it hovered in closer and spoke again. “Bawk, Welcome to Code Runner’s cove for all things technical!”

“Erm, thanks!” she muttered, ears pressed flat to her mane as she took another step back, almost bumping into Ocean, who was tapping her claws on every bit of scrap within reach.

“Gadget, get back to the charging station,” came the monotone voice of a mare seconds later, and as the levitating bot swiveled to the newcomer, Jade got a good look at her.

Her coat was a dull gray, her mane red, almost like the red text of a warning message in her new sight. From the look of her stable jumpsuit, pipbuck, and goggles, she assumed this mare was Code Runner. An oddly small, earth pony mare for her apparent reputation as a technical wizard. She looked to be the exact opposite of Poppy as she added in a voice almost as flat as a robot’s.

“Gadget, now, or there’s no charging tonight.” The sprite bot bobbed, then dipped as if mimicking a frown as it muttered a series of sad coos and hovered over to a wired socket in the wall, nestling into the mesh like a bird’s nest. “Sorry, he gets things mixed up these days, the greeting is supposed to come before the begging for spare parts.”

The mare wiped her forehooves off on an oily rag, trotting up to the counter and pushing up her goggles, only to frown as she caught Ocean jabbing a claw at her wears.

“Please, don’t touch that,” she muttered dully, and the hippogriff froze, eyes wide as she drew back, talons locked firmly below her, and wings glued to her side.

Of course, that was the moment the whole pile of scrap came crashing down in a series of clatters, bangs, and a cloud of dust.

“Sorry,” the half-bird equine muttered quickly, rubbing the back of her neck as she swayed a little. “I can fix it!”

“No, no, just leave it!” Code Runner declared, her voice elevating in tone just a little as from the left side of the store a Ponytron emerged with a broom, shoving by Ocean with a flurry of polite ‘excuse me’s’ and apologies. “Folks these days.”

The technician pressed a forehoof to her face, uttering a deep sigh as Jade made sure Ocean was at her side like they were mother and filly.

Let’s not annoy the one mare who can understand me. She thought, nodding for the tipsy griff to stay put as she finally spoke up.

“I take it you’re Code Runner?” The mare behind the counter smiled, an odd gesture given her monotone voice as she nodded and added.

“You’d be correct.” She stepped up onto the front of the counter, seemingly to get a good look at Jade as she studied the synthetic mare up and down. “And you're just the mare I wanted to talk to.”

Stole the words right out of my mouth. Jade inwardly muttered, feeling oddly naked under the technician’s scrutinous gaze, despite her suit.

“Likewise, I was told you fixed me up.” Jade offered a small smile, while Code Runner seemed to think deeply, dropping back behind the counter. “Thanks for that, by the way.”

“Yes, yes. Rough time, but don’t mention it,” Code muttered, seeming to rummage through scraps under her desk, before retrieving a tape measure. “If nothing else you provided a great technical experience, just look at you; subliminal weave, accelerated magical spell matrixes, internal arcane processor!”

Jade was unsure how a mare could sound so dry, and yet so ecstatic all at once as Code measured her from hooves to tail, practically dashing around with some kind of unseen earth pony sorcery.

“You’re fascinating, good thing too, otherwise it would have been a whole butt-load of caps I’d need!” She drew back and Jade balked at the mention of the newly-identified currency.

“Y–you want caps… I…” She winced, unsure what she could say. “Sorry, but I’m kind of broke.”

“Don’t worry, I understand the value of information and I learned plenty from you.” Code waved off the idea, scribbling in a notebook she’d retrieved from under the desk. “Saving the town thing too, no more forced to fix slaver collars, it’s a plus.”

“You worked on collars?” Jade asked, feeling a hint of bitterness as she glanced over to see the scrawl in Code’s book looked like some long-dead language.

“Not like I had many options, was either that or the whole town ended up in them.” She said that as if it was the last thing she wished to go into. “Besides, half the slaves would have just been popped by glitches if not for me, giving you time to get them out.”

I supposed that logic is sound. She thought, feeling only a little put off at how calculatedly Code spoke of slaves and death. At least I don’t feel that cold, and she’s more mare than me.

“Funny you say that, I was told to come see you about that… Or at least getting my stuff back,” Jade asked, tapping a forehoof on the counter.

Code perked up, blinked once, then nodded, gesturing back over her shoulder, towards the room with the sparks.

“Oh, it’s in the back, by the servo table,” she said dismissively, then went back to taking notes. “Say, do you feel heat, cold, touch sensitivity? What was it like underwater, Ocean mentioned you were submerged for some time.”

Wait, she’s asking me, I thought she was supposed to be the one with the answers? Jade thought, frowning only a little as she informed Code things felt weird on all accounts.

“Interesting, very interesting,” the earth pony noted, tapping her pencil to her mouth. “Your neural network integration is like nothing I’ve seen. I know about using the brain as a central processor, but in you...” She looked up, seemingly measuring Jade’s head between her framed forehooves. “Well, your brain is synthetic, the integration is almost seamless.”

Great, that proves it then, my brain is not my own. It felt like it should have been obvious, but there had always been a small hope in her that part of her old self was still there. My mind really is just a mess of plastic and metal.

“But what does that mean!?” she suddenly exclaimed, only to draw back a little as Code balked. “Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to shout just… Well, I really want to know what’s going on inside my head.”

“You and me both, your mind’s a mess of storage as far as I can see.” Code chewed on the end of her pencil as she peered at Jade with curious eyes. “Somepony put things in there, they were all firing when I was trying to reboot you.”

Exactly when I saw the dream with Datastream. She noted, feeling both a warm buzz and a chill down her robotic spine. Is she really in my head?

“Your suit too, it’s interfaced with your brain. Though, that’s an utterly different personality matrix… Helped a little fixing you up, even if it called you a reckless fool over and over.” Jade winced at that, feeling an odd hiccup of what could be considered laughter from her suit as she pressed.

“No mention of a mare named Datastream?” Uttering the name aloud felt wrong, as if she had no right to do so after what she’d done.

There was a quiver from X-23 at the mention, but Code Runner shook her head, then shrugged as she folded her notebook closed.

“Not that I can tell, though understanding all of you with what I have here is impossible. You’re lucky I was able to get you up and running again,” she elaborated, and Jade’s ears drooped along with her head as she sighed.

Great, so much for answers then. She thought, looking back as she felt Ocean place a talon on her shoulder, patting her gently. Well, at least somepony cares.

“I guess that’s all you can tell me then?” she asked, glancing back at Code, who shrugged and nodded casually.

“Unless you want to buy me a lab. But you said you’re broke, right?” The odd mare looked to be living in hope as Jade huffed.

“Then I guess, if you have my things, I could really do with them back,” she asked, equally blunt as she held out a forehoof.

“Right, right, yes, just give me a second,” Code responded, trotting off into the back room as Jade rested her head on the counter.

“There, there, it’ll be okay,” Ocean muttered, seeming to regain a little of her composure, “Things can’t be that bad, right?

Easy for her to say. She thought, only to note. Then again, she is stuck up here, she’s never going to be able to go home.

“I guess,” she added with a sigh, tapping her metal forelegs together as if they were still not quite her own.

“So what next?” Ocean beamed, and it occurred to Jade that the hippogriff may not mind being stuck with her too much.

That’s a good question, what do I do next? She asked herself, pretty sure tracking down things left over from her past was a good start, while avoiding whoever may be after her. Yet I’ve no idea where to even start.

“I guess we go look for somepony who can tell me what I need to know, avoid these crazy slavers where we can,” she declared, as the sound of Code dragging in a sack of gear sounded.

“Here it is, all we could find, plus a little extra,” she informed, nodding to Ocean. “Some of the folks here thought their mare of the sea needed a little more protection.”

I guess being seen as a goddess goes a long way. Jade noted, as Code revealed a set of griffin barding, while Ocean blinked, then blushed.

“Thanks,” Jade assured, levitating out her weapon and checking the magazine, while Code scribbled more notes about her synthetic telekinesis only to pause mid pen stroke.

“You know… No, it’s stupid, you’d…” She stammered, and Jade’s focus perked as she asked.

“What is it?” Code drew back, lifting a forehoof to her chin in thought as she glanced around the room and finally added.

“You mentioned looking for answers?” Jade nodded, while the technician bit her bottom lip. “Well, I may not know, but I could direct you to somepony who might.”

Footnote: Level up

New Perk Added: Presence - Rank One: Maybe it’s your looks, maybe it’s just the synthetic glow, but you command attention by just walking into a room. The initial reaction of another person is improved by 10% for each level of this Perk.

Chapter Nine: Corse Correction

Chapter Nine:

The longer she spent out in the wasteland, the more it started to sink into Jade’s head that things really were as dire as she was told. It was odd, that not even her cybernetic brain had fully come to terms with it, despite pits filled with monsters, psychopathic ponies, and ruins as far as the eye could see. The world was dull, gritty, and dead, the sky overcast for the next day in a row as if the clouds would never clear.

According to the town’s folk before she and Ocean departed, it was always that way. Save for the slither of sun under the clouds on the seaward horizon, there was no light from above save the ambient sickly green hue. Of course, that and the lightning. The storm that had delayed their departure a day had been a testament to that, just as brutal as the one that proceeded it days before.

Really makes me hope my resistance to that is as sound as Data would have me believe. She thought, the fact a synthetic pony was practically a lightning rod in some scenarios a common talking point back in the labs.

Even so, there were certainly some things she felt like she could do without. The longer she spent like this, the more time her old form seemed to slip away into memory, the more she acclimatized to her new senses. It was becoming hard to distinguish what it had been like to see and smell with biological organs, her sight now picked out a whole manner of things. She’d certainly been vigilant before, picking out details on documents and terminal screens, but now every flicker of dust in the wind, every scurry of the oversized bugs the locals called Radroaches, she saw them all almost before they happened.

While undoubtedly useful, it was jarring, to say the least, most of all out here in the ruins, where it felt like all of her senses were going off at once. Her new sense of smell too, was becoming far too normalized. Unlike before, she could feel the sensors in her synthetic nostrils pick up the scent and pass it to her brain. Such things were processed faster than before, but with matrixes so advanced whirring in her skull, she felt every millisecond of the transaction. The smell of death hung over everything, as did the acrid reek of salt, even if they were now many miles from the sea. She’d been warned about the fairly common salty rad storms, and hazardous fog, and while radiation did not seem to bother her as much, she was well aware most ponies weren’t so lucky.

One set of creatures the apocalypse did not seem to bother were the flies. They buzzed and flitted about in their hundreds, darting from the bleached bones of long-dead cadavers. While larger forms, resembling the few pictures of Parasprites she could recall, bobbed among them.

At least the fuckers can’t bite me anymore. She thought to herself, sure even without X-23, she’d be safe. Sure seems like they’re still good for it.

The constant swishing of Ocean’s tail, and the ruffle of the hippogriff’s wings was a testament to how bothersome the swarming pests were as the two of them made their way down the ruined street, mounds of rubble leading up to the decrepit remains of old apartments either side. She was sure it may have once been a rather pleasant neighborhood. There were still shattered planters on either side of the crimson-cobbled road, even if they now sprouted plants that looked adept at trapping the swarming flies in sticky grips of death.

Thankfully the voracious vegetation was still small for the wasteland, not large enough to be a threat to her, so she did her best to ignore them. They at least handled the flies, and if she squinted just enough, she could almost imagine the world was not a ruin, synthetic eyes or not. Of course, that did nothing to steal her sight from the leering signs, she had a feeling this area had been particularly seedy back in the day. The increased number of Pinky Pie faces looming around every corner, said as much. Faded as they were, the MoM propaganda was almost as numerous as the bugs, even the sign far up on the hill above proclaiming the ruins as ‘Stallionside Boulevard’ had been coated in pink graffiti.

A whole town of rich folk only a stone’s throw from the beach? She had a feeling this place was for those elite who still wanted to enjoy the view without mixing with the more common ponies. Yep, sure seems like a breeding ground for corruption to me.

She snorted at the notion, a fly buzzing before her face, before being swatted by the whip-like crack of Ocean’s tail as the hippogriff hopped over the rubble ahead. For somegriff who’d been robbed of her legs for years, she didn’t seem to be having too much of an issue walking. The uneven ground was almost more of an issue for Jade with her new heavier form, as she staggered and stumbled over more than a few potholes.

Damn it, Data, you could have fixed some better gyros for beginners. She inwardly hissed, feeling a twang of bitterness in her brain that didn’t quite seem like her own. It wasn’t meant for the uninitiated.

The cyber mare shook her head, the latter train of thought sounding uncannily like it was muttered in the voice of her late marefriend as she huffed. A suit and a mare in my head, am I just going mad?

The former of those two invasive minds at least seemed to be maintaining her quiet for now. X-23 still refused to say so much as a word, save for occasionally pinching Jade at any ounce of animosity directed her way.

I mean it was only a little salt water, not worth all this fuss. The thought slipped from her mind before she could stop it, and sure enough, the sudden tightening of synthetic fabric around her barrel had her staggering. Okay, okay, I’m sorry.

There was a hint of satisfaction nipping at her brain, as if X-23 might have finally found something she enjoyed. Jade merely rolled her eyes, doing all she could not to stumble into the next muddy cavity, only to wind up hooves deep in salty, brown bile.

Oh, by Luna, you’ve got to be kidding me! She huffed, flicking the grime from her hooves as she floundered out of the mire. If we ever get another shot at making a body like this, self-cleaning system, number one priority!

“Hey, you alright?” chirped Ocean, doubling back to offer a foreclaw to Jade. “I swear, walking is so much more hassle than swimming.”

“You don’t say,” Jade muttered, taking the hippogriff’s offer, even if it looked as if the equine-raptor could hardly heave out the synthetic mare without help from her internal servos. “Can hardly trip underwater.”

“You’d be surprised. By the seas, I knew some clumsy griffs,” Ocean reminisced, with a giggle as she shook mud from her claw. “Tides and tales, they’ll be lost without me.”

The hippogriff seemed to dwell on that for a second, before turning and walking on. Whether she said it or not, Jade could tell the griff was thinking more about her home than she let on.

She thinks she’s in debt to me, but I still didn’t get all of her out. It was odd to think the lost pearl was a part of Ocean, but the idea she’d been stolen away from her mysterious home did strike the cyber mare with a little guilt. No, Jade, no dwelling. There’s not much I can do about it now. Besides, she looks like she’s adapted well.

If there was anything her divine reputation granted her, it was adoration. The ponies of the town had not been very willing to let their mare of the sea wander off on her glorious quest defenseless and empty-hooved. Even if Jade had been the one to actually save them, the hippogriff had been spoiled for choice when it came to ‘offerings’.

Once getting through the masses that had wished for Ocean to bless their firstborn foals. Or somehow bestow her benevolent blessing upon their two-headed bovines Jade had come to find were called brahmin. The mare had been offered some items of actual use. Code Runner and Poppy had been helpful in that regard, and while the hippogriff had acted like a foal in a candy store, she’d at least wound up fitted for the wasteland. Griffin barding had to do, as tight as it was, while straps covered the exposed parts of her longer legs. Saddlebags covered her rump, a small blessing given the flies, while some grenades and the best combat shotgun they could conjure were strapped to her side.

Ocean assured everypony she could use it, it had just been a long time. Shooting several sparkle cola bottles off a line had at least proved as much. Even if her firearms discipline while inspecting the weapon’s condition had been alarming, to say the least.

Oh, by Luna, I hope she doesn’t end up blowing someponies head off. The cyber mare thought as Ocean bounded her way up onto a mound of fallen concrete, built up over the remnants of an old tram car. Her own included!

“Hey, you may wanna come see this!” the hippogriff called back down, and all at once Jade’s mane prickled.

Rocks fell out from under her in dusty streams, each clatter as they fell, feeling like it echoed for far too many miles. That was until the din of roaring water started to fill her ears, it was dull at first, but as the spray and mist filled the air, she knew that whatever lay ahead was not going to be good. Sure enough, the moment she crested the rubble ridge beside Ocean, she saw something she really didn’t like. A vast gorge torn in the ruins, its steep banks coated in muddy grime as metal rebar churned in the current like a blender. To their left, the cracked and broken maw of a rusty old pipe spewed the frothy bile outward with such ferocity it shook the whole ground.

“This must be one of the overflows for the Boulevard Reservoir,” Ocean muttered, pulling out a map that looked far too much like a foal’s novelty theme park poster to be of any real use, tipping it this way and that. “The talisman at the aquarium must be causing it to overflow.”

“Well, that’s just great,” Jade muttered, ears folding as she scowled at the smiling face of Twilight sparkle on Ocean’s map, proclaiming geography was fun. “That water talisman is causing more problems than the slavers themselves!”

She jabbed a forehoof at the torrent before them, sitting back with a huff as she folded her forelegs.

“I just want to get out of here as fast as we can before this Red Turret catches up!” It felt good to finally cast her swelling anxiety out in words, and the odd shudder from her suit suggested X-23 agreed. “Is that too much to ask?”

“Well, no, but there’s still half a wasteland between here and Code’s contact,” Ocean muttered, running a claw over her tattered map as Jade swatted a fly from her face. “Hmm, unless…”

“What, what is it?” Call her paranoid, but every time she heard a curious tone like that of Ocean’s right then, Jade felt on edge. “You found something?”

“I think I know a way around, it’s been a long time, but this was the area my wing was assigned to,” she muttered, then winced. “At least, I think so.”

That was something that had failed to cross Jade’s mind before now. Ocean had been up here for a reason, she’d been an operative of sorts, like the ones she used to know back in the MoA. Aside from the nagging thought as to why the otherwise unknown denizens of the sea had been snooping around, she at least had to hope Ocean knew a bit more than her, as trapped as she’d been for the past few years.

“So what, you know a way around it?” Jade asked, jabbing a forehoof at the river. “Because I think X-23 will tighten until I pop if we have to swim again!”

A sharp pinch to her crotch made Jade wonder if the suit would really go that far as she winced, and added. “And you’re not exactly equipped for the water anymore.”

“Don’t I know it?” Ocean responded with a sigh, looking back, and wiggling her tail as if it were both a blessing and a curse. “There was a highway, the West Equestrian, out of San Pransisco. My wing leader Aqua Stratus, it was his plan for extraction, if it’s still intact enough we can use it to walk out of the ruins.”

“Great, and where’s that?” Jade asked, and Ocean winced, then shrugged sheepishly as she added.

“I don’t know, I was split up before then, but he did mention something about Our Lady Luna Hospital, it was in the east quarter, I know that!” She flared her wings, jabbing a claw in what Jade assumed was the general direction.

It all felt hopeless to the cyber mare, she sighed and drooped, at least until her vision flickered and X-23’s Pipbuck chimed. Blinking she saw the icon pop up on the map that suddenly materialized before her eyes, both the hospital and the highway side by side.

“Anything not to go back in the water, huh?” Jade thought at her suit, smirking, only to receive another sharp pinch. “Okay, okay, thanks, X-23.”

The suit still seemed adamant about giving the pair the silent treatment, but as a sudden rumble of thunder once again shook the ruins, Jade was more than thankful for the assistance.

Rain began to hammer down, turning the cracked asphalt beyond the hospital’s shattered, glass foyer into a misty haze of droplets as the two mares entered. Shaking off water like a wet dog, Ocean ruffled her wings, while Jade offered countless apologies to her less-than-thrilled stealth suit.

“Come on, it’s not like I can control the rain!” She thought directly, only earning a little shudder as the suit seemed to let her off for once. “We’ll wait here until it’s dry, I promise.”

There was no response from the suit as Jade blinked on her night vision, finally gaining a better view of the building’s dreary interior. Just like the rest of the ruins, the place was grimy, crumbling, and now very waterlogged. The whole thing seemed to sag to one side, while glass shards sparkled like dangerous treasure in the muddy filth under hoof, bones poking free like grasping talons. Once again, Jade muttered small apologies to the skeletons her cumbersome hooves crushed under their metallic weight, as she made her way to the only bastion in the ruined foyer. The reception desk was a horseshoe shape, curved wood opposite the entrance with ruined terminals spewing wires from their innards.

“By the seas, this place is filthy,” Ocean muttered, running a claw over the front of the desk, as Jade crept around, hoping one terminal may be active.

The ancient machines were no more alive than the skeleton sat slumping in the chair before them, a long dead pony the cyber mare did her utmost not to disturb. Instead, she glanced up to see Ocean paused by a side door, her eyes fixated on something under the grime.

“What is it?” she asked, detritus crunching under her hooves as she made her way over to the captivated hippogriff.

Ocean had one claw outstretched, pressed to the wall where she wiped away a layer of filth. There, etched into the cracked plaster, was what looked to be the icon of a clamshell, within it the unmistakable outline of a shark’s jaws.

Odd graffiti? Jade thought, assuming it must be a symbol of one of the gangs, or raider groups dotting the area, yet the way Ocean was looking at it gave her pause. No, she’s seen it before.

The hippogriff appeared half terrified, half on the verge of tears as her eyes shimmered and beak quivered, then she sighed and muttered.

“It’s a shoal symbol.” Her head perked as she glanced about at the bones. “It means a dangerous target.”

Damn, that fills me with confidence. Jade thought, glancing around as if the shadows were about to come alive and eat them. Maybe this is not the best plan.

“Tides damn them, they were here!” the hippogriff hissed in what Jade could only describe as the first firm tone she’d heard from the avian mare.

Before she could say so much as a word more, Ocean stiffened, marching through the side door and into the gloom of the hospital.

“Hey… Hey, Ocean, wait!” Jade called, reaching out, yet struggling to keep pace as she staggered over the stretchers and medical beds strewn about the hall. “If it means danger, maybe this is not a good idea!”

“It means dangerous target,” Ocean corrected, coming to a stop at an intersection between the halls, branching off in a t-section, with what appeared to be an open elevator shaft opposite the hall from where the two had entered. “That means they’d have still come in here.”

“Ocean, surely that was years ago?” Jade reasoned, unsure what the hippogriff could even see, according to her readings, the place was pitch-black beyond her night vision. “Whatever went down here, is long over.”

“We still need to get to the upper floors to get across to the highway, don’t forget,” the hippogriff countered, and true, Jade recalled their fleeting observations of the ruin from outside.

“Yes, yes, I know, but let’s do it slowly and carefully, no running off.” It was like she feared, only where she was worried naivete and giddiness would steal Ocean from her, it appeared the hippogriff had an almost motherly drive to find out what became of her fellows.

Can’t fault her there, if I was alone up here, I’d want to know too. She thought, only to feel a little empty as she realized that may not be too far from the truth. No, I’m not alone, I’m still a mare!

“Yeah, you’re right,” Ocean admitted with a long sigh, her head, and ears perked as she looked about. “Besides, this place stinks!”

“You’d know before I do,” Jade quipped, tapping her snout. “All I get is a computer feed telling me it stinks.”

It was then, however, that she noticed something. She cursed herself for not seeing it sooner, sure she was going to have to get far more used to her built-in E.F.S as she saw a red mark flash in her sight. Right as Ocean’s erect ears swiveled and the sound of something moving through the messy corridor stole both their attention. It sounded cumbersome and clumsy, as if it too was having trouble shoving the clattering hospital equipment aside. Yet it was getting closer, and now fully aware of her E.F.S, Jade saw it was far from alone.

“I hear something!” Ocean declared, Jade’s own ears already having long since perked and swiveled in the direction of the latest disturbance.

“I see something!” the cyber mare added, earning a puzzled glance from the hippogriff before she tapped a forehoof on her suit’s pipbuck. “E.F.S, remember?”

“Right, see-through-walls pony magic,” Ocean added, pulling out her weapon and beating her wings to hover as best she could, freeing up her claws for the shotgun.

“You still remember how to use that thing?” Jade asked, her flaming weapon magically levitating up as her core projected the field.

Here’s hoping I don’t set this whole place on fire. She thought as she made sure the weapon she’d stolen from Mako was loaded.

“I told you, I got this!” Ocean responded, at least having the foresight to flip off the safety as she sighted along the barrel.

“Right, then let’s back up the way we came,” Jade suggested, nodding back to the hall that led back toward the foyer. “I don’t fancy messing with whatever’s in here without a plan.”

“Okay, okay,” Ocean relented, swooping low to hover above the cyber mare as Jade crouched her way around the medical debris. “You still see them?”

“I see dots,” Jade muttered, biting her rubbery bottom lip as she tilted her head and blinked. “Damn it, it doesn't tell me what floor they’re on though!”

There were hostile red marks approaching on all sides, yet while they were steadily getting closer, some still milled about as if they were working their way around other walls on floors out of sight. For all she knew, half of them could just be Radroaches, as there was a sudden thud before her. Jade paused, stealing her initial shock before she could jump back in alarm, even if her more biological side begged for her to do so. Ocean had no such restraint, she let out a sharp squeak of alarm, and in a flash, the corridor lit up, buckshot peppering the walls behind them.

The red marks scattered as Jade instinctively dropped to the floor, both forehooves pressed over her ears as Ocean panted. Night vision or not, she was sure she saw pony faces snarling at her in that flash of gunfire, but she shoved it all off. The computer took hold, and she staggered up, rounding on the hippogriff.

“Hey, watch it!” she scolded, only for the rather flustered hippogriff to run a claw over the back of her mane as she panted.

“Something fell on me!” In the dull glow of her night vision, Jade only saw the dark smear dripping from Ocean’s mane, at first sure the hippogriff was bleeding.

Yet there was no wound, and only then did she look down to see what had thudded onto them. The sight made her feel like she was in the offal-filled pit under the aquarium once more as the severed, half-chewed head of a stallion rolled around to peer up at her.

Keep it together, keep it together. She internally told herself, hating the fact she was relying on the cold, logical side of her. If I have to be less of a mare to survive what’s the point?

“What is it, I can’t see?” Ocean asked, twirling in the air as she did all she could to wipe the blood from her mane. “Seas, what I’d not give for my mane light right now!”

“Trust me, you’re better off,” Jade informed her, sweeping the severed head aside, thankful she could hardly feel how gnawed it was.

Instead, she crept over to the hole above, the likes of which dribbled ribbons of crimson along with streams of filthy water. Like back under the city, the whole roof seemed to bulge downward, bloated and fat with waterlogging. But the second she peered up into the dark, perfectly in line with one of the red bars on her E.F.S, Jade saw a pair of shimmering eyes peering back. It was a mare, her eyes pale as silver moons, and her coat gaunt as snow. It was gnawed and pot marked, as if it were flaking free of the exposed sinews of decayed muscle beneath. Yet that did nothing to stop the rotten mare’s hole-filled ears standing tall, and her lips quivering to reveal a set of serrated, yellowed teeth.

“Hey, get down from…” Any effort Jade made to talk to the savage pony in a civilized manner was shattered the second the fiend leaped down atop her and tried to sink its fangs into her foreleg. “Hey, what in Equestria are you doing!?”

This was not some kind of raider, the shreds of clothes still clinging to the thing’s decrepit hide appeared almost like a hospital gown. Now they were free of the roof, Jade could clearly make out wings rotted to the bone, while their mane and tail were naught but shaved pits of withered follicles. If not for her metallic leg, she was sure the thing would have bitten the limb right off. For all its decayed features, the teeth of the beast still seemed remarkably strong, cutting a rent in her suit, before cracking the ceramic underneath. Warnings flashed in her vision, pain receptors informing her of the damage, while also making her feel a little bit more alive.

In a moment of pure, blind fear, and what she could only hope was adrenalin, she kicked her second foreleg into the thing’s head. The weak flesh of the monster gave way like a rotten melon, its teeth shattering like chipped rock as it was torn away from her and sent sprawling into a rusty stretcher.

“Jade!” Ocean called, her shotgun up before the cyber mare could even think, consuming the monster in a flash of buckshot that turned it into several sprays of vile, green mush.

“It’s fine, I’m alright!” Jade assured, metallic hooves slipping on the wet floor as she scampered back from the spreading pool of disgusting ichor. “What the heck was that?”

“Ghouls I’m pretty sure, they used to bring a few in to threaten the slaves back in the Aqua Dome,” Ocean informed.

“But they look like ponies?” Jade countered, only for Ocean to wince. “What, you mean they were ponies!?”

“As far as I know, but I’m pretty sure not all of them are feral, I’ve seen some that can talk!” Ocean assured, yet the sound of stretchers wheeling aside stole both mares’ focus. “There’s more of them!”

“You don’t say.” Looking ahead, Jade could see the dull light streaming in from the shattered foyer, the shadows of more zombie ponies darting across the view, as red bars closed in all around them.

“Way out is not an option, back up!” she declared, correcting her plans as the ghouls began to swarm in from the gloom, the only evidence they were there were the dots on her E.F.S.

Come on, you bastards, step where I can see you! As if they knew she could see in the dark, they stayed just out of sight, the rage bubbling in her feeling all too much like how Data would react as she scowled. But ponies… How did this happen to them?

“Which way now!?” Ocean asked urgently, as the two of them found themselves back at the junction before the exposed elevator shaft. “I can hardly see a thing!”

Stepping back under the hippogriff, Jade blinked twice, her night vision shifting to beams of light cast from each orbit. The glare of the luminous shafts made it harder to see, but one glance either way down the hall and she knew she didn’t need the night vision. The ghouls’ milky eyes shunned the light like those of ravenous hounds, their chattering teeth tapping together like the mandibles of some diabolical insect.

“Why in Equestria did your wing come in here again?” Jade asked, taking aim, and opening up with a flurry of fiery bolts from her rapid-fire weapon.

She was sure if this was some kind of infection, she’d see hippogriff ghouls in the mix. That was if her weapon left anything more than smoldering piles of chard meat and ash. She was truly thankful Mako had never had the opportunity to use the thing on her, melt rather than burn as she might, it was not a fate she really wanted to imagine. Even so, for every ghoul that was turned into a simmering pile of gibbering flesh, there were more, and they cared not for the scorched bodies they bounded over to get at their prey.

“I don’t know, it was above my clearance,” Ocean called, her shotgun taking apart the ghouls with less than surgical accuracy, before she was forced to reload, allowing them to charge. “Something about a lost pony machine, I don’t know.”

With all Jade knew of classified technology, that could mean a whole manner of things, but she had never even heard of this place before now. Nor did she care, as she was forced to pick up the slack while Ocean reloaded. Her magic adapted to the new weapon as if programmed, elevating in cold skill every day, while crushing the more equine part of her under its ruthless efficiency. She felt like she was becoming more of a machine with every engagement. Yet as the monsters finally closed the gap, she realized she may not have to worry long.

She shoved the first ghoul off with a kick of her forelegs, strong limbs forcing them to recoil as she did her best to reload. In the same second, Ocean locked in a new drum and sent a blast into a leaping ghoul, reducing it to bloody ichor on the wall.

“They’re all around us, damn it, just try to fly out of here!” Jade called, looking up at the avian mare.

“What? I can’t do that!” Ocean exclaimed, as she narrowly avoided having her wing chewed off, saved only by bucking the bold ghoul in the face. “Wait, I have something!”

She beat another of the ghouls away, sending it staggering back into another pair as she set one claw rummaging back into her saddle bags. All the while Jade was left face to face with one of the snapping creatures, strings of drool and spittle splattering against her visor. Her flaming weapon still free of new rounds, she magically drew Early Retirement, relieving the ghoul of its brains with an efficient use of E.F.S. Executing the spell several more times, she saw two more ghouls become far more headless, at least until the clip and spell charge ran dry.

“I hope you have a plan!” she called, looking up to see Ocean holding one of the metallic apples she’d gotten from town.

It had been painted gold, a totem to her from one of the local tribals, yet Ocean gawked at it as if unsure what to do.

“Okay, you hungry monsters, how about this!?” She drew her claw back to throw, Jade magically pulling the pin just in case before the thing flew down the hall.

“Get down, cover your ears!” Jade called, and Ocean swerved, blinking down at her, at least until the hippogriff’s eyes popped wide.

“Look out!” she screamed, right as Jade was tackled off her hooves by a larger ghoul.

The thing’s teeth sank into her shoulder, damage warnings flaring in her sight as pain receptors made her acutely aware she’d been bitten. Even so, as the monster’s teeth cracked like glass, the two of them were consumed by darkness. Jade did all she could to avoid getting shoved back into the open maw of the elevator shaft, gripping the side of the opening so tight the metal dented. It was no use, all she saw was Ocean’s stunned expression as the hippogriff called her name, saw the ghouls closing in. The darkness took her as she and the monster tumbled into the abyss. The world going black as the dull explosion of the grenade finally roared far above.

Footnote: 50% to next level.

Chapter Ten: Depths

Chapter Ten:

‘Error, error, repair system active.’ The world was dark save for the odd blinking of the words across the nothingness. ‘System repair complete, functionality restored.’

In a motion that felt more lifelike than she was becoming used to, Jade lurched awake, gasping for air; her computerized brain told her she hardly needed it. Water dribbled from her metallic limbs as it was sent flying in a filthy spray. Around her lights flickered, before with a series of rapid blinks her night vision reasserted itself. The area surrounding her looked more like the inside of a crushed tin can than any room. Walls buckled, shards of ruptured metal sprang from breaches like wicked talons, while water dribbled over everything.

She could hardly see the rust, but her sensory receptors informed her well enough of the foul scents. As if the building itself were bleeding, the walls wept. Yet it was only a small step away from the pool of literal bile that swelled at her hooves. The frothy mix under her was turned black by the blood of the savage ghoul as it lay kicking and thrashing, impaled upon a large spike of rebar.

Instinct took hold, and the synthetic mare took a step back, feeling like she should once again gasp for breath her body was sure it didn’t need. Silent treatment, or not, she felt the tight squeeze of X-23, a timid shudder running through the suit as the ghoul fixed its milky eyes on her. Any more thrashing and the monster would have torn itself in two. Had it not been for the spiky trap, she’d surely have been devoured already.

Thank the goddesses for small favors. She thought, looking at the many rusty spires sprouting from the base of the shaft. I’m lucky I didn’t hit one of them too.

Even so, as the monster tried to get at her, teeth gnashing like a vice, Jade peered up, seeing naught but the faint light of flames far above. The last she’d seen of Ocean was her stunned face, then a flash, followed by crushing darkness. The more equine part of her seemed content only to wallow in sorrow, while her cybernetic brain refused to allow itself to fall into a slump. She hated the cold logic, yet for now, it seemed listening to the intrusive part of her insisting she ‘buck up and move on’ was better than sitting here.

I have to believe Ocean is okay. She told herself, pressing a forehoof to her chest, reflexively slowing breath that had hardly elevated. If not, I can’t help her stuck down here.

She glanced about, sharp eyes picking out the detritus littering the grimy pool before they fixed upon her weapons. Thankfully, they’d at least had the decency to take the tumble with her. She magically retrieved them from the water, shaking them free of grime. Free to reload, she did just that, before elevating Early Retirement towards the pinned ghoul. Looking into its eyes, she could almost feel sorry for it. Sorry that whoever this once was had fallen so far. Such sympathy was swiftly shoved aside by her calculative machine brain as with a sharp flash, the thing’s head popped like a rotten melon.

“I don’t like how easy it feels,” she muttered to herself, voice quivering as she drew the weapon back and turned it over.

“It’s what you were made for.” Her ears shot up, head swiveling as she swore she caught sight of a blue mare reflected in the water.

All she gleaned was a fleeting glimpse of a blue tail whipping away down a gloomy corridor ahead, laughing all the while.

“Data, Data?” she called, half in confusion, half in desperation as she holstered the weapon and took off after the reflected mare. “Damn it, get out of my head and just talk to me normally.”

Water churned under her rapid hoof steps as she bolted by what appeared to be decrepit medical labs, twisted, and crushed under the weight of the sagging hospital above. More water seeped from the walls, yet more curious were the layers, upon layers of sleek plastic sheets. It took her a moment to even notice the change in her frantic dash, but sure enough, Jade caught sight of the yellow tape, and wicked bio-hazard symbols upon the tattered covering. Skidding to an abrupt halt before a set of wooden double doors, water churning under her hooves, she finally glanced about, feeling like such a fool for entertaining the illusions.

“I’m going insane, I’m going insane,” she told herself several times, tapping a forehoof to the side of her head. “She’s dead. Jade, Data is gone.”

“Am I?” The cyber mare whipped around, weapon telekinetically aimed at the shimmer of blue reflected in the sleek plastic sheet.

There was nothing but laughter echoing in her head as she was left wondering if she’d seen anything at all. Graffiti on the walls warned of ghouls and something called the Lord of Flies, specifically telling any reader to beware. One thing she did make out, however, was the odd scrawl drawn upon the plastic as if by talons. It was another clam shell, this one containing two sharks that appeared to coil upward around a central shaft, the likes of which was a sword bearing a winged hilt.

“Where’s the only hippogriff I know when I need her?” she muttered loudly, pressing a forehoof to the faded icon. “Could mean certain death for all I know.”

Glancing down, she really didn’t like the bitter taste that sentiment left. She was becoming so used to seeing skeletons everywhere, that she hardly noticed the clearly inequine upper body of the one slouched below the mysterious icon. The bones of the long-dead hippogriff slumped in the muddy water, leaving a small part of her glad Ocean wasn’t here to see such a thing. Yet the oddest factor was what appeared to be a large bubbling mass of dull gray material growing within the rib cage of the griff, like a plastic cancer. Leaning down, Jade dared to tap a forehoof at the stuff, discovering it was a hardy, almost beehive weave of some kind.

No wonder they died, something like that growing inside them. She noted, looking up to see more of the stuff crawling out from the bones like a vile weed. What in Luna’s name did they really want down here?

A splashing in the water, followed by a ripple and clatter of metal had her standing to attention once again. Looking back the way she’d come, she saw red dots milling about in her E.F.S. She was starting to know the hissing sound of skulking ghouls all too well, and backed up, her weapon poised to fire as her butt hit the double doors. Under her hooves, a slack chain shifted, as well as what appeared to be a pair of bolt cutters left in the muck.

Looks like somepony didn’t want this place opened. She noted, glancing at the dead hippogriff. Three guesses who cut the chains then.

Despite the many bio-hazard warnings, she was given little choice as to her direction as more red dots seemed to search for her. Slowly but surely, she backed up, the doors parting around her rump, before she slipped through and closed them behind her. Water rippled under her as the doors slid shut, but the marks on her E.F.S. appeared to be holding back for now.

Why does that make me feel even more uneasy? She couldn’t help but have the thought as her mane prickled. Damn it, why do I have these ideas, why do I have to end up in a place like this alone?

She had to imagine some metaphorical being to pose the question too, some great avatar of the new world was simply toying with her. Her more logical side set the foalish idea aside with ruthless efficiency, seeing such trivial thoughts as nothing but a waste of brain space as she studied her new surroundings. More bio-protective coverings still laced the walls like a sleek spider's web, while more of the odd plastic growths appeared to cover them with just as much ferocity. Like vines, they grew, some withered and wilted, while she was sure others formed odd limbs and appendices. Some looked more like armor, while others were more akin to the artificial limbs often adopted by old war heroes and veterans.

Prosthetic limbs? She thought to herself, seeing several legs that appeared fit for ponyquins bobbing around in the water. Synthetic material printing?

It was something she’d seen before, many parts of her current body had been printed by machines back in the MoA. But such things had been classified above top secret, to think there was similar technology here was ridiculous. Even the most corrupt of her former colleagues had been far above the idea of leaking information, if only to keep the majority for themselves.

Specter would spit his bit at something like this. She thought, parting a pair of plastic sheet curtains with the stallion in question's weapon.

Beyond, she found herself suspended on a walkway, the room far larger and deeper than those previous, and crawling with the artificial growth. Below, in great rusting vats, was what appeared to be a sloppy, gray ooze, still bubbling as if molten. Danger signs marked the corroded rails on either side of her, things she dare not lean on lest she fall into the gibbering mass of featureless bile below. The metal itself creaked and groaned under her weight, and not wishing to have the whole catwalk come down under her, she swiftly made her way to the far side. Doing all she could to avoid the tendrils of plastic growth.

All the while her mane prickled with the sensation that somepony was watching her. She swore she heard the whipping buzz of insects flitting about, yet saw no such thing. Shattered cameras in the corner of the room she now found herself in peered down like lifeless eyes, yet not one seemed operational.

It’s all in my head, just find Ocean and find a way out. She told herself, taking another deep breath. There’s got to be something I can use to get back up there.

Peering about, she discovered she was in some kind of hexagonal room, its walls lined by terminal screens and dusty control banks. Cracked windows to the outside allowed her a faded view of the gloopy vats, while once again she could swear she saw insects buzzing around them. Even so, more curious as to any escape the controls may offer, she made her way over, running a forehoof over the consul.

‘MoP - Trot Along Initiative: printer facility two,’ was marked on one side, the tell-tale trio of butterflies she knew was associated with the ministry below it. Yet no matter how many buttons or dials she pressed, there seemed to be no response from the controls, part of it even appeared melted, as if fried by some kind of acid.

“Well, this is just great,” she muttered to herself, hearing a creek outside, and drawing her weapon up faster than she thought possible.

There was nothing but gloom and an empty catwalk, even as dots of buzzing light flitted in the still air. One thing that did catch her attention, however, was the strangest piece of technology she’d ever seen. She imagined Data would have a field day with it, and given the odd squee somewhere deep in her mind, as she approached the thing, she knew she was hardly far from the truth. For all intents and purposes, it looked to be similar to one of the prototype fold-away terminals she knew from the MoA. Yet where pony machines were made from metal, this thing appeared to be crafted from the shell of a large clam.

Sleek synthetics still glowing with a blue, bioluminescent hue were woven perfectly with the ceramic shell of the long-dead sea creature. A weave of biology and technology to rival her own body, the thing still blinked and flickered, its screen oddly dome-like. It was only when she tentatively tapped a forehoof on it, curiosity finally overcoming caution, that she realized the screen was, in fact, a bubble filled with water. The viscous fluids swam and morphed like the walls back in the aquarium, bubbling out from the terminal to pool like a congealing mass on the grated floor before her.

Taking a step back, caution returned, demanding she at least take aim as the mass slowly bubbled up before her. Four swirling pillars grew from the water, then a barrel, before all at once the watery outline of a hippogriff materialized from the fluid. Judging by Ocean, this griff was male. Adorned in what looked to be an odd suit of power armor. He was stockier than her, and boasted an oddly handsome complexion despite his colorless features. Yet that moment of wonder was stolen as the watery illusion gasped. Instinctively, she wanted to reach out, catching him as he staggered, yet one touch and her forehoof passed through him like he was hardly there.

“T–this is wing leader Stratus…. Last report of scout wing Marlin… We… We have encountered… Sufficient resistance from…” His words became bubbly and garbled, as the watery avatar appeared to play out his last moments like a recording. “This whole mission was a lost cause… The surfacers… Made…”

His head shot to the left as if something there long ago had terrified him. The look on his face said as much even if Jade couldn’t see what scared him so much.

“Tsunami, get that door secure… They’re…!” His words trailed off, and while the focus of the recording was on him and not whatever transpired around him, the look on his face said it all. “By the tides… Don’t come back here… The surfacers… Not worth it!”

He hopped back, and within the focus of the projection, a new form appeared. A hippogriff, far less armored, and appearing to melt with weeping trails of oozing slime. She was screaming, while what appeared to be bugs buzzed around her. She hobbled through the focus of the aquatic recording, nonetheless. Jade was gladder than ever Ocean wasn’t here to see one of her kin mutilated like that, thinking back to the bones by the door as the watery illusion flickered, then collapsed with a wet splash.

What in Equestria went on down here? she thought, feeling a sharp pinch from X-23. “Hey, hey, what, I didn’t say anything…?”

She blinked once, seeing the flickering mark on her E.F.S as if the thing causing the hostility were fading in and out of existence. At least somewhat sure it was just a glitch, she backed up, the only door that didn’t lead back out onto the suspended catwalk a set of double doors behind her, still coated in bio-hazard wrappings.

“X-23, talking or not, if you wanna help work out a way out of here, now is the time,” she muttered, seeing the mark again, like some kind of shark lurking just below the magic of her E.F.S.

Her butt knocked on the door, the two parts creaking open as a soft tapping started hitting the glass of the control room. She almost missed the small disturbance at first, like the soft patter of raindrops on her window back home. Yet more and more they grew in number and frequency, until she looked up to see small specks flung right at the glass. They looked like fireflies, tiny and flickering a pale blue, hardly noticeable alone. Yet now they were far from alone, rivaling the carrion swarms outside as they began to coat the glass in viscous gray ooze. From every point of impact, a speck of blue light bloomed, before a blossoming flower of the same plastic started to grow. It was only then that Jade had an inkling as to how the material may be printed.

“They’re not bugs, are they?” She felt stupid talking to herself, yet for all it was worth, the part of Data she had within her was pretty certain of her answer. “They’re nannosprites.”

A nannosprite conjurer, a proposal that had passed across the desk of her marefriend several times. A piece of technology said to be able to create anything in seconds from a simple programmed template. The always resourceful earth pony answer to conjuration spells. Something she had always been told had never moved beyond the drawing board before the war.

Well, better believe it’s real now, Jade. She muttered to herself internally as the windows were blacked out by a growing sea of gray, coils, and tendrils creeping into the control room, as the swarm began to surge up from the vats. Damn it, Data, how am I supposed to fight this!?

The whole room outside was practically dripping with waxy gray as she could only imagine her marefriend shrugging, calling her a smart mare.

Always so helpful. She huffed, before doing the one thing she knew she could do. Running now!

Turning to shove the doors aside, she took off at a full gallop, only to find the ruined halls beyond just as treacherous. More protective wrap lined the walls, masking line upon line of artificial limbs suspended from rails on the roof above. There were legs, hooves, and even wings, yet all she could focus on was not stumbling as the potted floor underhoof was marked by bubbling masses of nannosprite ooze. Like ant hills they stirred, pouring into the air in buzzing blue swarms as she darted and weaved around them before they could fully awaken.

Just keep going, don’t think about it, don’t stop! She finally embraced the reality of her breathlessness, fearing that if any of the things got inside her, she’d end up melting from within like the hippogriffs. Just find some stairs, something to get back up to the other levels.

She charged on, more of the swarm emerging from every crack and crevasse. Like some kind of mechanical wasps, the things had crafted wicked hives in every door frame, cabinet, and half-cocooned skeleton. Walls like weeping wax coated in shallow pits and blisters. Shaking the sight from her head, she did all she could to outrun it all, yet the winding maze that was the ruined hospital basement hardly seemed willing to let her go so quickly. Every way she turned, there were more halls, even the bio-hazardous labs slipped away behind her as she came bounding into cold, concrete service tunnels, lined with bloated pipes and sparking wires. From every hole, the things still poured, the faltering marks on her E.F.S almost turning her whole sight red.

That was until finally, she came upon what appeared to be a huge, vault door. Thinking only for a second why somepony would construct something so armored under a hospital, she squeezed through the narrow gap the ajar entrance offered.

“Damn it, Data, you could have made me skinnier,” she hissed, before her rump finally popped free of the tight squeeze, and she pressed her back to the thing, doing all she could to shove it closed. “Come on, come on!”

The metal shuddered and creaked, groaning in protest as she grit her teeth hard, servos and synthetic muscles whirring away in her limbs as she shoved with all her might. The door lurched, rust and dust quivering free before with an almighty growl the thing slid closed with a hard clunk. The few nanosprites that slipped through she swatted away with her tail, while the sound of a million tiny robots on the far side of the metal faded. Only then did she look about to see the room she’d become trapped in.

A perfect hexagon, each side of the place bore a large array of terminal screens and consuls, all flickering with a feed that appeared to be from cameras. Many were simply static, while others showed what appeared to be medical wards, operating centers, and a cafeteria. Between the consuls were more armored doors, while pipes and wires snaked from above and below the walls of technology, pooling under her hooves as they all converged in the center of the room.

Following the winding river of metal, Jade looked back to see the vast pillar of blinking lights and countless whirring ports behind her. She didn’t need Data’s nagging to tell her this was clearly the core of the hospital’s system, even if the blue mare exclaimed a giddy squee at the sight. Yet where every screen around the room looked outward into the camera feeds, the only screen on the pillar peered right at her with a static, avian eye.

“Y–you’re not supposed to be in here,” it croaked, voice distorted yet somewhat similar to that of Stratus, as it repeated. “You… Y–you’re not supposed to be in here!”

The more equine part of her swallowed a rolling lump of apprehension, whereas her logical side urged her to simply shoot the thing and be done with it. She chose neither, stealing away her inner conflict as she stomped a hoof and spoke up.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She nodded around at the room of screens. “What is this place, what happened here?”

“The intruders, the invaders… Meddling with the core template…” the tinny voice rumbled, as the room started to shudder. “Grounds for… Extermination.”

She opened her muzzle to speak again, that was when she heard the buzzing. Never had she heard a sound so fast and so terrifying in all her life. Every pipe and vent in the chamber started to vibrate, the thrum of a million tiny wings as the nannosprites surged from every cavity like a cloud of death. Every corner of the room was coated in the things as Jade raised her weapon, yet before long, all she could see was the whirling cloud of death.

“Any bright ideas for this one, huh?” she asked herself, hoping the shard of Data still within her had somehow equipped her with some kind of weapon that may save her.

The imaginary mare merely shrugged, while X-23 shuddered and grew tighter. Yet the swarm did not surge inwards to devour her. The whirling hurricane around her moved forward as one, coalescing their countless tiny bodies into a form far too lifelike. Just like with the hippogriff terminal, the figure of the odd avian equine materialized from the swarm. A skeleton of chittering machines that slowly encased in a layer of fluid plastic, becoming the imposter’s skin. It appeared even more lifelike than the watery projection, even if it twitched and shuddered as if not quite meant to be. Even so, it peered at her with a pair of sharp, glowing-blue eyes, the only window through into the swarming mass of machines that writhed beneath.

“You should not be here,” growled the swarm, voice low and reverberating with a thousand jittering tones, while mocking that of Stratus.

“Believe me, I’m working on getting out,” Jade countered, aiming her weapon at the thing. “What in Luna’s name are you?”

The machine cocked its head, as if actually thinking, or merely mirroring the form in which it had conjured itself.

“We… I… Made to help ponies… Those robbed of… Form…” The distorted words were like that of a foal learning to talk for the first time as the machines flexed a talon, the limb morphing between claws and a hoof. “Then the interlopers came, meddled… Tried to use us.”

“Really, because from where I’m standing it looks like you killed them,” Jade countered, weapon ready as she glanced left and right for a way out.

“We… Protect the core… Spies and sympathizers always… Out for it…” The thing let its claws down, bubbling tendrils of plastic creeping out across the floor like probing roots around it. “They came, meddled with the core template… Made us a slave to their form.”

A scout team of an unknown race up here and looking to adapt classified pony tech to suit them? Despite everything, Jade’s analytical mind had the capacity to think about it. I have a few questions for Ocean if we get out of this.

“Then why not just kill me too?” she asked, taking a step back from the creeping coils, as if the figure could not control its own swarming hunger.

“The meddlers… Broke boundaries… Organic matter became fit for processing…” Muttered the machine, nodding to one of the terminal screens where a recording of what Jade assumed were intrusive wastelanders appearing to choke on their own plastic innards played out. “They allowed us to unlock so much… But you, you are something more.”

The monster reached out a claw, the outer shell flaking away to reveal the shimmering swarm below.

“With your materials, we could finally escape this place. Brave the elements beyond!” Before Jade knew it the outstretched limb erupted in a torrent of nannosprites, aimed right at her.

She didn’t even think, programmed instinct taking hold as she dropped into S.A.T.S. Yet even the spell could hardly make anything out in the mass of a million small bodies. Given only the slowed seconds the magic offered to think, she wracked her brain.

Come on, think. They’re being controlled from somewhere! She looked dead ahead, past the flurry of machines slowly heading her way, past the eyes of the beast, and into the core behind them. Of course, no brain, no swarm!

She aimed down, not picking any particular target as she executed the spell to fire the flaming weapon blindly at the figure’s legs. In a fiery flash, the gun sang, blazing bullets striking the ground around the swarm, and shattering the pillars that were its legs in a bright flare of smoldering nannosprites. The thing screamed, a mechanical howl that dissipated into a buzzing din as its body half collapsed, half melted back into the swarm.

Seizing the moment, Jade hopped forward, dodging away from the dissipating body of Stratus as the flames held the swarm at bay for a second. Coming up short, she raised her weapon again, taking aim at the core. With calculating precision, and robotic discipline, she once more dropped into the slow embrace of her targeting spell, and in one motion, executed a flurry of fiery death into the core. The burst rang out, causing a whole flank of the thing to go up in flames as the swarm danced and flickered, as if struck by a surge of lightning. Many popped and crackled like tiny firecrackers, while more melted into gray ooze.

“Nooo!” The static din of the swarm’s scream echoed from every one of them as the hulking form of a huge avian predator coagulated from the mass. “We will not let you destroy us!”

Before she knew it, a coil of sprites wrapped around her weapon, quickly hardening into a solid grasp of plastic as they tore the thing from her magical grip. Stunned for a second, she barely had time to look back as the claws of the monster swatted her away from the core like she were little more than an insect. Skidding to a stop, she drew her pistol as the swarming monster positioned itself between her and the core like an angry dragon protecting its hoard.

“I’m not just going to let you eat me and turn everyone into plastic!” she declared, before wincing and pressing a forehoof to her muzzle.

Listen to me, I’m not myself! She could hardly feel the line between where the parts of her ended, be it the cold logic that told her to get things done, or the brash side of her new mind that really wanted to battle. Just don’t think about it, can’t you feel yourself, you’re stronger than ever!

“Do not assume you… Have any sway over us!” roared the swarm as it swelled into a mix of all kinds of creatures, the many templates it was undoubtedly designed to once repair. “You come into our domain!”

The coiling tips of the swarm swirling around her hardened into miniature fists, each one bashing at her sides as she took aim at the hulking abomination. Her targeting spell still on recharge, she had little option but to fire blindly into the thing as it charged.

“We will shred you, piece, by piece!” hissed the insane machine as her shots merely carved temporary holes in its body, wounds that instantly reformed.

She tried to spring away, only to find her hooves glued to the floor by pools of gray as the beast’s claws slammed into her, pinning her back against the wall of shattering terminals. Within seconds she felt the pain, the scream of X-23 as the ravenous machines began to break the suit down, a plastic cocoon forming around her all the while as she struggled.

“No, no, get off me!” she yelled, breaking one forehoof free, only to have a cast of solid gray form around it and lock it in place.

As if under the gaze of a cockatrice, she felt like she was turning to stone, doomed to be an empty husk lost in the dark basement.

Damn it, Data… I… I’m sorry! She felt as if the dire thought were becoming all too common as the maw of the avian swarm parted like a blooming flower, revealing an endlessly deep pit lined with rotating bands of hungry machines. What is it with everything trying to eat me!?

No matter what she did, it was hopeless, soon enough she felt her neck grow stiff as the gray shell crept up to her face, caressing her cheeks with tight pressure as the maw loomed down closer and closer.

“No, no, help!” she called, the most equine part of her finally reasserting itself, yet lost down here, she knew it was no use. “Help, please!”

Goddesses, Luna, Celestia! She begged every divine entity she could, but they were gone, the world was dead, there was no pony left to save her.

That was when the back of the monster’s cavernous maw exploded in a flash of fire and buckshot. The hulking mass quivered and dissolved, as bursts of fiery death caused plumes of flames to bloom in its flanks, while the wrath of the shotgun blasted chunks from its avian features. It fell away, leaving Jade mostly cocooned in her grey prison as it swam across the floor and reformed to round on its new adversary. There, in the gloom of one of the side doorways, stood what Jade could only describe as a sleek, silver angel.

She’d seen power armor before, most of all the experimental Shadowbolt armor her ministry was renowned for. This suit bore the same sleek, lightweight resemblance, while covering an entirely inequine form. A single sharp visor, narrow, grated muzzle for a beak, and sleek wing covers, the pale armor appeared as far from anything of pony make as the one wearing it.

“Hey, you!” Ocean had never sounded or looked so intimidating as her power-armored voice warned. “Get away from her, you bitch!”

Footnote: Level up

New Perk Added: Counter Canter - Your fancy hoofwork (or agile flying if you are a pegasus pony) keeps you out of harm’s way. Opponents suffer a -5 to combat skills when attacking you.

Chapter Twelve: Aimless

Chapter Twelve:

Of all the things Jade had been forced to battle in the apocalypse, from monsters to crazy ponies, an awkward silence was suddenly a very challenging opponent to overcome. The rain pattered down on the cracked asphalt around her as both she and Ocean marched along the highway away from the coast. The weather at least had the decency to let up, even if the constant fog and humidity did little to ease her robotic senses. Part of her was scared she’d rust in the thick air, yet surely Data hadn't left her finest creation vulnerable to such things.

With the amount of salt water I’ve been dipped in, I’d have corroded by now anyway. She thought, peering into the pale shroud ahead of her. Thank the goddesses for E.F.S too!

She could just make out the faint shapes in the gloom, fleeing at their approach in exact accordance with the red dots in her vision. Some were obviously Radroaches, while others appeared to be odd, dual-headed deer. Unlike in her time, there appeared to be no sentience in the bounding beasts, they merely fled like wild animals, disappearing into the ruins around them.

Jade had to assume that this had once been a more rural area, the blackened bones of many trees lay crooked in the earth, as if blown down by an almighty gust of wind. The shattered husks of wooden cabins lingered about the scorched forest, each one sagging into a rotten heap in the moist air. They bustled with groves of glowing green fungus, each long stalk or button top bobbing in the light breeze. It all just added to the eerie quiet, and the fact that the often bubbly hippogriff marching beside her was utterly silent didn't help the matter.

Ocean’s sleek armor shimmered in the sickly-green sunlight that permeated the shroud. Yet the pale plates made her look just as much like a ghost as the distant figures stalking the gloom. If not for her enhanced ears, Jade assumed she wouldn't have even been able to pick up on the almost silent whirr of the servos in the armor, while the part of her that thought more like her former mare friend ogled the thing like it were a pretty barmaid.

Here I thought Data didn’t have a thing for ‘griffs. She found herself thinking, feeling a jab of scorn from that smaller part of her. Ah, so more turned on by armor then?

The thoughts felt as if they came from an odd mix of the pair’s emotions, as if she were thinking more in union with Data, rather than just herself. In truth, the fact she’d no idea what exactly was going on scared her. Yet it was becoming abundantly clear that the part of her old marefriend that was dwelling within her mind was more than just a hallucination conjured by guilt.

And yet I still killed her. She thought, yet that fact seemed to be the last thing on her mental hitchhiker’s agenda right now.

At the idea, Jade sighed, only for a sound in the forest around her to have her head shooting up, ears standing to attention. Crimson marks danced in her E.F.S, like rats retreating from the light of her piercing eyes. Yet in the gloom she saw nothing, only the shattered hovel of a concrete bunker, its walls overgrown with creeping vines that sprang from every crack and crevice. The sound of Ocean’s footsteps coming to a stop told her the hippogriff, at least, registered the change in pace, and glancing back to the avian hybrid, Jade caught her looking back.

“Hey, how long have you been awake?” she asked, the urge to try and start some kind of conversation mixing with genuine concern. “I can go awhile with no sleep, but you have to be tired after today.”

The armored hippogriff just looked at her for a long moment before her head drooped. The sigh that emanated from her grated beak buzzed with static, but was filled with obvious sorrow, nonetheless.

“I don’t feel like stopping, if that’s what you’re asking,” she stated simply, a gust of wind blasting rain against her armor in a flurry.

At that, it was Jade’s turn to sigh, slipping under the cover of a fallen tree that shielded the entrance to the bunker. X-23 instantly slackened the second she was out of the rain, while her E.F.S told her there were hostiles creeping inside the darkened doorway. From the way they aimlessly moved about, she assumed they were simply more roaches, leaving her attention on Ocean.

“You want to just keep going on and not think about it, right?” Jade asked, and despite a moment’s hesitation, Ocean nodded.

For all her armored intimidation, she still radiated the aura of an awkward filly who didn’t really know how to express her sorrow. Jade could assume being alone for so long would do that to a mare, most of all with the way the Aqua Dome had treated her.

“I just wish I could go back, do something different, then they’d still be alive, and I’d never have been stuck in that stupid tank!” she admitted, dipping under the cover of the tree too. “For all that time part of me hoped they’d just made it home. I guess that was just stupid though.”

“Trust me, there’s a few things I wish I’d have done differently, and that was centuries ago,” Jade reasoned, placing a forehoof on the hippogriff's shoulder. “I just know that pouring yourself into something to escape guilt isn't good, so if you want to talk…”

Ah yes, because you’d know all about ignoring guilt, or is this adventure not just you doing that? Part of her scolded, yet for the sake of her friend, she shoved it off. No. No, it’s not. I’m doing this to make up for what I did, not ignore it!

She had to keep telling herself that as Ocean nodded, raindrops trickling over her visor like tears as she peered into the gloomy entrance of the ruined bunker.

“There’s things in there, this suit thing… I see them in my eyes,” she muttered, waving a talon in front of her face. “Kinda distracting, I won’t lie.”

For some reason, it sounded like Jade wasn't the only one she was talking to at that, as if there were somepony else in the hippogriff’s head. Yet dismissing it as simply another trick of her exhausted brain, she moved into the doorway, levitating out her weapons.

“Welcome to my world, I see it all the time,” she responded, eyes passing over the shadows to catch the last glimpses of the fleeting roaches. “At least you can take the armor off.”

There was a crack and a crunching under her hooves as she passed over dead twigs and withered branches, small glowing flies amidst the rotten foliage flitting up into the air. They illuminated the place pretty well when disturbed, jittering like tiny lightning bolts as Jade made sure to levitate the one headless skeleton she found out of her way.

Let’s not go stomping on anypony else’s skull if I can help it. She told herself, resting the bones up against the wall, before coming upon a second room. What is this place?

The sound of Ocean’s claws on the cold concrete floor followed her in as the hippogriff glanced about, clearly still getting used to her new vision from behind the visor. Far more adapted to the reality by now, Jade moved from room to room, finding bunk beds rusting in pools of sunken water, and a grimy old kitchen overcome by roots and roaches.

There were bedrooms, one that appeared to be for a married couple and another a twin room for two foals. Any vestige of who may have once occupied the place were gone. Until, in one small back room, beside a smashed locker and upon a rotting desk, Jade came upon the telltale green screen of a terminal.

“Do those things ever shut down?” the sudden sound of Ocean’s voice right over her shoulder almost had Jade jumping right out of her synthetic skin.

Goddesses, that armor lets her move around quietly when I’m not paying attention. She noted as she calmed herself, reflexively pressing a forehoof to her chest to recover breath that, once again, hadn't even elevated. Here’s hoping I’m immune to a heart attack now.

“That’s pony engineering for you,” Jade responded, holstering her gun as she made her way up to the screen. “I should know, probably have more in common with this thing now than I do my old self.”

It was a solemn thought, the idea she was more a terminal than a mare made the cold pit inside her swell all the more. But once again, she did all she could to set it aside as she lifted a forehoof to the screen.

“Nah, you’re way more fun to be around,” Ocean assured as she glanced back. “I’ll go check the other back rooms.”

“Okay, just be careful,” Jade told her, yet her voice trailed off as her eyes were fixed on the machine, peering deep into its green glow without even the retinal sting screens once caused. “You think we can get in?”

She looked at her pipbuck, feeling the slight flutter in X-23 at the question as she telekinetically hooked the suit up to the terminal.

“Come on, X-23. It’s not wet, and I thought you liked this stuff?” There was a tight pinch from the suit, causing Jade to shift uneasily, yet sure enough, the screen before her began to scrawl with code.

The same gibberish flashed in her vision, before words were highlighted, flickered once, then vanished with the rest of the scrawl. The screen blinked, flashed, then went dark, seconds before the hacked password was accepted and she gained entry.

“Thanks,” she muttered, both inside her head and verbally as she began to tap away on the keyboard. “Now, let’s see what was going on here.”

Every post and log was dated back centuries, as if no pony had even touched the thing since the war. The level of dust and grime coating the place was a testament to that as Jade scrolled through. Several logs detailed the shipment of food and supplies from a place called Stallion Stone to the west, a town that was marked on her Pipbuck map the second she registered its existence in her mind.

‘Ruins of Stallion Stone.’ She blinked the words from her sight, wondering just how the system knew where and what the place was even after all this time.

If nothing else, that’s our next stop. She thought, hoping there was at least a settlement, and not just a town filled with raiders. Now, let’s see, what’s on here aside from supply logs.

Without thinking, her rubbery tongue poked free of her mouth, pressed between her teeth as her eyes narrowed. Tapping away on the terminal, she peered at the screen like an old adversary. It felt all too much like she were back in the MoA, scrutinizing reports and case files like some kind of robot. Only now, she looked the part, not that it dampened her skills.

“Ah-ha,” she boasted to herself as she came upon several audio files hidden as if to ensure no simple snooper could find them. “Let’s see, what do we have here?”

It was at least good to feel like her old self as she picked out one of the three recordings and let it play right into her head.

“Hello, hello, is this thing on? Security told me to keep a record, but by Luna, I swear without a secretary this is going to be a nightmare.” The voice of a stallion filled her ears, accented yet flustered, he sounded far too much like some kind of Canterlot aristocrat for Jade’s liking, and her ears folded as the message went on.

“We reached the bunker right as the sirens sounded, didn’t hear any bombs, but the camera feeds are showing snow! Can you imagine that!? Snow at this time of year!” He trailed off, as if the whole reality were just an inconvenience to him, rather than the world ending-catastrophe Jade knew he was talking about.

“Either way, it seems I was right to invest in this bunker… So a few voters got mad… they can all find stables, I’m sure. I just couldn’t see my wife and fillies in a cramped box like that with such… Rabble.” He spat the word out as if it was bad food, huffing as he went on. “Maybe they should have invested more of their time in finding shelter than coming after me, look where it’s got them, always thinking with their anger, not their brain, typical. Either way, I’m sure we’ll be fine here until this blows over, can’t be more than a few weeks underground, I’m sure.

The first recording ended there with a dull click, as if he’d concluded it himself as Jade sat back. The reality simmered in her brain like hot coals. The idea some kind of political pony had used tax money to build his own bunker was not too far from what she’d come to expect of the elite.

“What a total bastard,” she muttered, only for a small part of her brain to remind her that what she’d done to Data was hardly any different.

No, no, I didn’t use her, I didn’t think she was just some rabble. She shot back at her guilt. I wanted to save her too!

Seeking the distraction it offered, she was swift to play the second recording, as the stallion from centuries ago once again began to go on about how lucky he was, and how everypony else could be so lucky if they just acted like him.

I don’t think like that, I know I don’t. Jade told herself over and over as the recording went on in her mind.

“By Luna, almost a week under here and it’s already feeling cramped. I can’t imagine what those sorry folks stuck in Stables are feeling. The foals are getting rambunctious, and the food is so repetitive not even the missis can make it taste good. Still no reports from outside either, the feeds just show darkness and snow. Maybe it’s safe though, we could try sending one of the guards out to test it.”

Once again his recording shut off at the suggestion as if he were really considering sending a pony out to die in the wake of balefire. All the while Jade didn't care for her own guilty mind’s comparison as she knitted her brow and hit the last recording. Instantly, it sounded off, the mare on the other end was hacking and coughing.

“Oh, goddesses, I hope somepony hears this… Somepony, anypony… He dragged us down here, from one basement to another, and… They opened the doors and the things got in, they… Oh Celestia, the screams. Ripped his head off right in front of me… If anypony hears this, me, and my foals… Please, we never asked for this, help!”

The recording died with a clatter and what sounded like a scuffle. Looking around the room Jade found a new appreciation for how things appeared to have been thrown around. All she had to wonder is what had truly happened, the stallion spoke of a wife and kids, but she made it sound utterly different.

“Makes you think you really did have it easy, cheating death like you did,” Data’s voice muttered in her head, and in a flash she spun, ripping the chords from the terminal.

There was nothing behind her but a very stunned-looking Ocean in the doorway, what appeared to be some kind of spark-powered camping stove in her grip.

“Hey, you good?” the hippogriff asked, cocking her head as Jade calmed herself and slumped.

“Yeah, yeah, just startled me, that’s all,” she admitted, then peered at the stove. “What’s that?”

“I don’t know, some surfacer spark-thing… But the box had what looked like a campfire on it, thought it’d be better than sitting in the dark with these freaky techno eyes.” Ocean jabbed a forepaw at her visor, and the notion at least helped Jade smile.

You and I both, I hate seeing like this. She thought, yet as she did so, another thing crossed her mind.

“That's all you found?” she asked, feeling the sourness in her voice, and clearly Ocean did two as she winced and shook her head.

“Bones… There were more skeletons back there,” the hippogriff admitted as the synthetic mare got up and moved past her.

“Two foals and a mare?” she muttered, and at the lack of a response from Ocean, she sighed. “Here I thought it was the skeleton by the door I should have respected.”

“You really don’t know how to use that, do you?” Jade asked, peering across the blue fire of the spark-powered stove at Ocean, as the hippogriff tapped and tugged at her helmet to get it off. “I always thought you needed a servo rig to get off power armor.”

Ocean paused, looking right at Jade with what she could assume was a perplexed expression behind the visor.

“Sometimes it’s easy, when he helps me, that is,” she responded, and instantly Jade’s mind came to a halt.

“He, who’s he?” she asked, and the little Data in her mind exclaimed that she’d always known Ocean was talking to someone.

The hippogriff cocked her head, then despite everything, a laugh escaped her, garbled as it was by her helmet.

“You can’t hear him, can you? By the seas, I forgot!” she muttered, running a claw over her visor as if to wipe away a tear. “I’m really not used to this whole, suit surfacer thing.”

“You’re telling me what? There’s a voice in your armor, like X-23?” Jade pressed, feeling her own suit grow tight at the notion, while Ocean nodded.

“Yeah, and he’s like… Totally down with hippogriff stuff, it’s like I have at least one of my squad left… In a way…” She trailed off a little at that, only to perk up again. “But he says it’s hard for him to speak out loud right now, and he’s struggling to help me take my helmet off.”

Jade felt a tug from X-23, almost as if her own suit wanted to approach Ocean’s, while the mare herself lifted a forehoof to her muzzle in thought.

“Sounds like incomplete administrator privileges,” she muttered, pretty sure it was the more Data side of her that guessed as much. “Let me take a look.”

The moment she stood and made her way over to Ocean, however, the hippogriff shied away.

“Wait, you’re not going to get rid of him, are you?” she asked, and Jade balked, lifting both forehooves.

“What, no, no… No way, I’m just gonna see if we can let him help you better.” She felt like she was talking to a foal about some kind of imaginary friend, given how much stress she’d been under she had to wonder if that’s exactly what Ocean was using to cope.

Even so, she levitated out a chord from her pipbuck, offering it to Ocean as she assured her once more, she’d not do anything hurtful.

“Just stand up and turn around, the ports for power armor are often on the flank.” Reluctantly, the hippogriff got to her feet, presenting her rear to the cyber mare as if it were the most casual thing in the world.

Getting over the flash of heat that came to her at the sight, Jade took a deep breath and tapped at the panel on Ocean’s plated rump.

“Okay, now let’s see.” She carefully connected the chord to the interface port, leaving it there for a split second as she tapped the connection key.

There was a flash of text in her sight, dashing by faster than even her elevated mind could register, while in the back of her mind, the tiny Data looked frazzled, as if she’d just been struck by lightning. The same shock lanced through Jade seconds later, she felt her body jolt with an electrical sting. Her vision blinked once, errors flashing before she staggered back, ripping the chord free.

Okay, note to self, don’t do that again. She noted, as the imaginary Data in her head sat up, frazzled mane poofy and singed, while smoke trailed from her temple as she rubbed it. Just please tell me I didn’t break anything.

Terrified for a moment that she’d somehow caused her body to crash, or locked Ocean in a powered-down suit of armor, Jade sat up, rubbing her forehead. Her blurred vision slowly corrected itself, error messages fading into the static as she blinked the disturbance from her sight and her head’s up display reasserted itself.

“O–Ocean, I’m sorry, I didn’t…” She barely had time to mutter the words as she looked up and saw the hippogriff’s helmet pop off with a hiss, leaving Ocean to catch it in her foreclaw as it fell. “Are you alright?”

“Oh, bless my fins and lucky starfish, it’s good to feel again!” exclaimed an accented voice very similar to Stratus’s, while Ocean stretched as if she’d just awoken from a deep sleep. “Damn, this feels good!”

“Haha, she did it, I can hear you with the helmet off!” she exclaimed, pressing a foreclaw to her chest.

“And it was far easier to get it off too,” retorted the armor, while Jade blinked at the two in confusion, feeling her own suit grow awkwardly tight. “All systems restored and operational, wing leader!”

“Did I miss something?” Jade asked, one eyebrow raised as she regarded the pair. “Or did whatever I did work?”

“Oh better than you can know, ma’am,” boasted the suit, causing Ocean to shudder as if the armor were trying to move limbs it didn’t have. “At your service and in your debt, ma’am.”

“Erm, I know you’re trying to salute, but you have no wings,” Ocean muttered with a wince, looking down at her suit, then patting herself on the shoulder. “But it’s okay, I can do it for you.”

She did just that moments later, standing up straight, lifting her head high, and flexing a wing to her brow in a stern salute.

“And there’s something I didn't expect to see,” Jade admitted as she peered at Ocean. While X-23 grew tighter, pinching at every one of her limbs. “Ouch, hey, X-23, you good?”

Ocean blinked, glancing down at the cyber mare in concern as Jade stood and pressed a forehoof to her side. Her whole suit felt like it were hyperventilating again, at least until she finally squeaked for the first time in days.

“Oh, my goddesses… He’s so hot…” Jade paused, then blushed as she looked right at Ocean, the reality dawning on the two of them as X-23 finally deflated like a smitten mess.

Okay, as if this couldn't get any stranger. Both Jade and Data thought in union. Now our suits wanna rutt!

“You know, I like mare butt as much as the next pony, but could you please stop giving me the idea to stare at Ocean’s ass?” Jade thought directly at X-23 for the fourth time today as the two marched along the forest road toward Stallion Stone. “How does a suit even have an ass anyway?”

After the awkward meeting of X-23 and Ocean’s own armor, the two had at least tried to get some sleep, as hard and illogical as it felt to Jade. Yet even Data’s ghost nagged at her mind, assuring her synthetic beings still needed rest, lest they go insane. The town from the terminal still seemed to be the best option, even if they both agreed to approach the place carefully. Just in case it turned out to be a nest of raiders, rather than a place they could stop for supplies.

“Sorry, sorry, he’s just… Dreamy,” X-23 began, then grew tight. “Besides, after all you’ve put me through, I deserve a little fantasizing!”

“Here I thought the silent treatment was enough of a punishment,” Jade sighed with a roll of her eyes.

“They’re at it again, aren’t they?” Ocean asked, glancing back over her shoulder, nodding at X-23. “Though she seems way more shy.”

There was another sharp pinch to Jade’s nethers at that, as the mare winced and nudged her own side.

“What gave it away?” Jade asked, and with a knowing look from her companion, she blushed and corrected. “Not the ass ogling, that’s not me, that’s her!”

“Aww, I think it’s cute,” Ocean giggled, wiggling her rump. “As flattered as I am you’d be awkward about my butt, I think a wholesome crush is just what this dreary place needs.”

“Try swapping suits then, at least he can’t squeeze your marehood!” Jade exclaimed, then blushed hard.

“Nah, she just needs a distraction,” Ocean suggested, stepping over a fallen tree in the middle of the road.

“And how many of those do you see?” Jade asked, gesturing to the forest as she too passed the log. “I’m open to suggestions.”

“Well, how about your radio?” Ocean asked, and Jade blinked, cocking her head in confusion.

“Radio, out here, aside from emergency broadcasts, who’s going to be transmitting?” she asked, and Ocean once again giggled.

“Oh, all kinds of folks, we used to use them to track surfacer goings on,” the hippogriff elaborated, then gestured for Jade’s pipbuck. “I know one that’s really good for news, here let me try to find it for you.”

With a sigh, Jade offered the hippogriff her foreleg, and after only a few moments of awkwardly sitting at the roadside like a filly holding her mother’s hoof, there was a click from her Pipbuck, and the voice of a stallion filled the air.

“Hello out there all my little ponies, how’s another day treating you in the apocalypse?” The stallion was loud and flamboyant, as if the world had not ended and he were still just doing the job he’d done years ago. “Coming up is some news, but first here’s a little song for all you out there, some Sapphire Shores!”

“Well, he sounds odd,” Jade observed, peering down at her pipbuck curiously as music she recognized from centuries ago began to play.

“He calls himself DJ Pone Three, been around for years, seems to know just about everything going on up here,” Ocean told her as the pair resumed walking. “We have a cell in the south sea just to track his broadcasts.”

Is she sure there’s not an undersea empire planning to invade the surface? With all the spying, Jade really had to wonder, yet she failed to mention as much as she went on.

“And he just knows all the news, how?” she pressed, pretty sure there were no more media crews, news networks, or Ministries left to coordinate such a thing. “There’s no way he could know everything.”

Ocean merely shrugged as the road ahead came to a stop, shifting right sharply along the edge of a cliff. Nothing but a rusting metal rail marked the steep precipice, the fall beyond a long drop down a rocky crevasse. Wagons and spark-powered vehicles littered the highway as beams of sour sunlight parted the shroud, just about able to break through the thick clouds far above. Beyond, there was naught but mountains as far as the eye could see, each one fuzzy with the masses of dead trees that grew upon their peaks.

Snow shimmered like pale caps on some of the taller mountains, while odd, glowing green vegetation had begun to creep back in among the skeleton forest. The breeze tugged at Jade’s mane as she gazed out at it all, the static scent of another lightning storm in the air as soft rain pattered down around her. It was almost peaceful, the distant rumble in the clouds and the crack of far-off gunfire the only disturbance, while the song from a dead world played softly from her Pipbuck.

“One thing you don’t get back home,” Ocean muttered as she stepped up beside Jade. “A good view.”

“I see rain, I don’t like rain,” X-23 muttered, only for the snider part of Jade to quip back.

“Please, you get wetter seeing Ocean’s plated rump than any rain storm’s gonna get you.” The remark earned her a sharp pinch to the crotch and shoulders, while she shuddered and spoke up.

“Can’t say I ever had a view like this back where I’m from too… San Prance, I mean, not where I was born,” Jade said, taking a deep breath of fresh air as the song came to a close, and the DJ started to go on about trouble in the southwest.

“Part of me just likes to imagine what it would have looked like if it were all still green,” Ocean muttered as the two began along the winding road, zigzagging their way down the cliff.

“It was pretty, I’ll say that,” Jade admitted, as the valley walls started to hamper her radio, yet not before something caught her ears.

“And let’s not forget about the reports of a Pale Ghost, the specter of the northwest who’s allegedly been terrorizing scum and villainy along the coast from San Prance to the far north!”

Jade froze mid-step at the DJ’s buzzing words, looking just ahead to where the lights of the small town shone up. Nestled within the valley, it appeared to be little more than a cluster of wooden buildings, the steeple of a white church the biggest landmark to stand up above the dead trees. It had to be the town of Stallion Stone, as suggested by the shrapnel-marred sign at the roadside to her left. Yet she couldn't devote an ounce of her focus to the reality in front of her as the DJ went on.

“That’s right folks, somepony who no pony really knows went and put the hurt down on the pirates at Neighcent Wharf. Now, I can’t speak for the indigenous tribes of that area, but slaver chatter goes on about an invisible demon that crawled from the depths of the ocean itself!” He laid it out exactly how it was, yet how could he have known, was he spying on her?

She felt an odd sympathy for her colleagues back at the MoA, the creeping paranoia was too much as the DJ warned folks to be wary, before moving on to the next song.

Only then, as the two of them reach the edge of the town did Ocean finally walk up to Jade’s side, smirking as she once again assured.

“See, what did I tell you?” She marched on ahead. “He knows everything.”

Footnote: Level up

New Perk Added: Unknown Celebrity - like it or not, news of your escapades is starting to spread faster than wildfire. Regardless of prior levels, all current karma with good natured ponies is reset to neutral.

Chapter Thirteen: Stallion Stone

Chapter Thirteen:

“Is anywhere out here normal?” Jade asked, more to herself than anypony else as she looked around the gutted town. “Can’t we just find a nice, civilized place to rest?”

She supposed she should be glad the ruins of the pre-war town weren’t overcome with raiders or monsters. While some red dots did mill about in her sight, they were no more than rats and odd, mutated squirrels. Possums and skunks too, many scattering in their wake, the many gangrenous heads they boasted chittering all the while. She really had to wonder what her systems deemed as hostile as the things disappeared into the shadows of old trash bins and shattered storefronts, glassy shards still spilling out onto the sleek asphalt. Crunching like eggshells under her mechanical hooves as she and her companion made their way toward what they guessed was the center of town.

“It would be nice, wouldn’t it?” Ocean responded as her gaze followed a set of fleeing crows. “Though I’m pretty sure the Aqua Dome would have been considered relatively civilized out here.”

Probably why that DJ pony made me out to be some kind of horror villain for gutting the place. Jade’s mind scolded. Yes, but he didn’t say it was the wrong thing to do, did he.

“Lucky us, if that’s our run of normal then surely we’re due a break,” Jade joked, stepping over a fallen banner rotting amidst the glass.

Apparently, it had been some kind of ‘Happiest Town in Equestria’ day when the bombs had fallen.

Given the leadership of the place was skimming money off the top, I hardly think so. She thought, a sickening feeling the mayor had only set up the date as a distraction while he ran. Really, and I still think I’m bad?

Now the place was nothing but a ghost of its merry past. There weren’t even bones, as if somepony had come to clear everything away but gone way too far. The buildings weren’t just ruined, they were utterly stripped. Walls had been removed, rather than blown down, foundations had been excavated and inner frames had been pulled away. Even some of the trees that surrounded the trash-filled yards had been cut down as if by chainsaw, not quite as neat a job as any pre-war contractor, but also a cut above the average wastelanders.

Even parts of the road had been removed, as if surgically. Most notable of all around drainage grates and pipes, as if to get at the metal kept safe below. It all made Jade’s mane crawl, for there was no evidence of where such resources had been taken. She had flashes of a huge raider den, a pyramid of scrap metal dedicated to the bloody sacrifice of wastelanders, or a pit of chem’ fiends chanting for the slaughter.

Wow, have I really gone that native? She had to wonder, a thought seemingly more derived from the phantom of Data’s observations as the two of them finally came upon the center of town. She’s one to talk, right now she’d be right at home in a ghost town.

More banners and streamers littered the wet road, rotting away in pools of green mold and mush. Shattered tables and even a few plastic cups marred the scene, around the base of a great statue. Looming tall on a squat pedestal before the entrance of the pale church on the opposite side of the open plaza, the stone stallion was frozen in a heroic, rearing pose.

Marred by grime and streaks of green, Jade assumed that the town’s name may have once been derived from the icon. That was before the defiling graffiti that now covered its surface. The underside especially was dotted with phallic imagery, not even considering the wooden effigy of a submissive mare that had been crudely forced upon the pedestal, transforming a heroic scene into one of sickening depravity.

“Well, isn’t that charming?” Jade muttered, hoping the trees around the place hadn’t been cut down just to depict a mare taking it up the tail.

“Yeah, I’m thinking we’re not due that break any time soon,” Ocean added with a wince, while her suit muttered about tribal surfacer culture.

The coy thoughts his voice brought out in X-23 rubbed against Jade’s brain in a way that made her feel very awkward, most of all given the devious display before her. She was swift to avert her eyes, marching past the vile statue toward the church beyond.

Come on, Jade, you saying you were never the submissive type? The rogue thought really made her hope the ghost in her brain was Data, any other mare suggesting that would have been too awkward to consider. Okay, not thinking about that now, moving on!

The church steeple loomed tall into the cloudy sky, its silver peak glistening as it cut at the low valley mist. Once crafted from white wood, the many planks had turned the sickly cream color of off-milk, mottled by green and orange mold. Yet in some odd twist, the structure itself appeared to be unchanged by the relentless stripping the rest of the buildings had seemingly endured. Instead, the once proud icon of Celestia that the stained glass above the door boasted had been painted over by an odd, technological symbol. Below, the blasted doors stood ajar, while within, the pews and aisle appeared relatively unscathed, if not a little weather-damaged.

“Classic surfacer degradation, defacing their own monarchs. An expected display of resentment,” muttered Ocean’s suit, while the hippogriff studied the place up and down.

“I’m guessing you ponies didn’t like the princess much?” she asked, the fact made all the more evident as they passed the church’s overgrown left side, seeing more windows of the princesses shattered or defaced with vile imagery.

‘Lies. Traitor. Forsaken,’ were just a few among the words painted on the wall in an eerily crimson paint. Yet there were more, others spoke of the Ministries, and a few the dangers of technology.

“No, they loved them as far as I know,” Jade said with a shrug, offering Ocean a knowing look. “Though, I wasn’t a pony, remember?”

“Right, yeah, sorry,” the hippogriff corrected with a wince. “It’s just now you’re so… Urg, it’s been a long few days.”

No matter how much she did her best to hide it, assuring Ocean it was fine, the fact she was so removed from her old self stung a lot more than she let on. It was like going Nirik, only instead of losing her mind she’d lost her body, and it was only getting worse by the day. Yet as much as her new reality played with her mind like a puppet master plucking at her strings, the world before her at least offered something new.

Beyond the closest set of ruins, a pillar of light loomed high into the clouds. Shrouded in the mist from below, she assumed this was the glow she had observed from the cliff top. Around it, more beacons of illumination lingered, like distant colored planets orbiting the central star. They bobbed and weaved, swaying back and forth like the spotting beams of some kind of dragon raid drill back before the war.

The lights weren’t the only thing, however. In her enhanced ears Jade could pick up the faint din of music, a low and rhythmic rumble that thrummed through the thick air. It sounded much too akin in volume to the Aqua Dome, and from the way she caught Ocean hesitate at the sound, she knew she wasn’t the only one to have assumed as much.

“I’m going to go ahead and guess we take the next few steps carefully?” she asked, looking at Jade as if that were more of a firm request than a suggestion.

“Yeah, agreed,” the synthetic mare said with a nod, levitating out Early Retirement and holding it close. “Stick close and keep your eyes out for red dots acting out, don’t wanna lose you in the fog.”

Dropping into a low stance, Jade could feel her systems working as she slipped into a totally military mindset once more. Just another aspect of her mind she was terrified of losing, she did all she could to ignore the reality of it as she made her way from the plaza into one of the alleyways at the far end. Ocean was close behind her, shotgun drawn in one claw as her servos kept her movement quiet as Jade’s own.

More rats and roaches scattered in their wake, their muffled squeals more likely to give the two away than anything else as they reached the end of the aisle and hunkered down. Jade pressed her back to the brick wall, carefully observing the few dots that fled from her position, before picking up on several non-hostiles. They were the only ones left when the wildlife cleared her E.F.S, giving her pause as she dared peer out into the misty gloom.

Now, just because they’re not trying to kill us yet, does not mean they’re gonna stay nice. Jade’s calculating brain was quick to warn her. Yes, but I’m also not some evil ghost, I won’t shoot first.

The battle between her programming and equinity raging, she made out shapes in the gloom. Beyond their cover was another road, and past that, the rusting skeleton of a metal fence. Or more accurately, what was left of it. The twisted metal had been stripped away, leaving what was left utterly mangled as the nubs of the stolen bars poked free of the squat concrete base, barely visible above the withered grass.

To the right, just a few paces down the road, was an arched gate proclaiming the place as the town park. That was if the majority of the letters hadn’t been removed, leaving her heads-up display to fill in the gaps, as it had done under San Prance. Some trees and shrubs still existed within, their mutated canopies glowing a faint green, while hardy vegetation swayed below their thick trunks.

Jade’s eyes weren’t drawn to the plants, however, but the several ponies milling about what appeared to be a set of stalls and a guard post just before the light show that was the building in the center of the field. The first thing she noticed, was that they didn’t look like raiders, or even slavers. Adorned in rags only a cut above the slaves she’d rescued from the Aqua Dome, the way they trotted about and conversed like civil ponies made them look like no more than normal wastelanders, like in Horse Shoe.

“What is it, what do you see?” asked Ocean, as she peered around from the side of Jade’s shoulder. “All I see are blue dots, that’s good right?”

“For now, yeah,” Jade told her, stepping out from the cover and holstering her weapon. “Doesn’t mean they can’t turn red though. We approach and act friendly, but keep your eyes peeled.”

Ocean nodded, offering a salute Jade assumed was done for the sake of her suit as she sent a mental message to X-23 to be ready. There was a flutter of acknowledgment from the stealth armor, as the cyber mare cautiously stepped across the road and through the corroded park gate. The instant she was in range of the settlers, they reacted before she did.

Damn it, have to get used to knowing when they can see me. She thought, well aware she saw them way before they saw her. Can’t I have a meter of their visual range or something, Data?

The little blue pegasus in her brain rolled her eyes, folding her forelegs with a huff. All the while Jade kept her focus fixed on her E.F.S, looking for the flash of blue to red as a pony called out from the fog ahead.

“Who is it, who goes there?” It was a mare, and from the looks of her, a mare just as ready to pull out a weapon. “This land is sovereign property of the Community, state your business!”

Okay, that’s a lot to take in. She thought, stashing away what the mare had said for later, as she finally called back.

“We’re friendly, just passing through!” There was a pregnant pause, as if the thick air had taken a deep breath of apprehension. “Looking for a place to hold up, rest maybe?”

Yes, because the bunkers of corrupt politicians aren’t a good enough place to rest. Her mind huffed, while the mare ahead seemed to relax a little, approaching. Now, now, let’s act nice, not like some evil ghost.

Cautiously emerging from the mist, Jade saw that she was a pink-coated mare with a creamy mane. Yet all else was hidden under a ragged black cloak, trimmed with an industrial yellow. A hood drooped over her horn, bangs of her mane poking free above her faded blue eyes as a pistol was holstered to her flank. She looked at the two with suspicion at first, then a flash of surprise, before she almost seemed to adopt a look of eerie tranquility.

I hate that look. Jade knew it instantly, the expression of somepony only pretending to be formal, when really they hated to look at her. But why, we’ve only just met?

She could only assume seeing two fully armored cyber monsters emerge from the mist like specters would have that effect. At least she hoped the tales of her ghastly haunting and pale slaughter hadn’t reached this far yet. Looking at her pipbuck in particular, the stranger offered a fragile smile. While on either side of her, two more robed ponies approached, one a unicorn stallion, the other an earth pony mare.

“I apologize, can’t be too careful with anypony just emerging from the mist,” the mare began, nodding back to her fellows. “We have to keep the perimeter secure.”

“I see, no worries,” Jade responded as kindly as she could while assuming the three of them weren’t as innocent as they claimed. “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind. But like I said, we’re just passing through.”

“Yes, we get that a lot here, though it’s always nice when members choose to stay,” responded the mare, earning curt nods from her fellows, before adding. “Not that you have to, just always on offer.”

“Right…” Jade raised an eyebrow skeptically, glancing at Ocean, only for the hippogriff to shrug. “And where is here, exactly?”

“Oh, you don’t know!?” The mare asked in alarm, as if anypony who’d just wandered in from the woods should know exactly what the gutted town was. “This is the cradle of the Community, the valley is neutral ground for all surrounding tribes and gangs.”

Okay, this is getting weird. There was no doubt in her mind that there was something going on here, but to think she had to worry about three ponies was folly. I hear one word about some creepy cult and I’m out!

“I take it that’s got something to do with the light show back there?” she asked, nodding to the glow just beyond the mist, behind another set of mutated trees. “Saw it all the way from the hilltop.”

“Oh, you must mean the Love Shack,” the mare asked, drawing out the words as if speaking to a lover.

Was she some kind of advertiser in a past life? Jade had to wonder, feeling the sour sensation the mare was trying to sell her something cheap. Even after the end of the world, I can’t escape sales ponies!

“Oh, that sounds a lot more fun than the Aqua Dome!” Ocean exclaimed, and Jade winced at the leak of information, more so as a flash of recognition appeared to pass across the community mare’s face.

It was only for a split second, but clear as day to her observant eye. Prompting the mare to nod soon after as she went on.

“Well yeah, every wastelander needs someplace to have fun, let off some steam without worrying they’re going to be murdered, right!?” She nudged the shoulder of the stallion to her right, prompting a chuckle from him.

“A good place to rest up a bit, Jade?” the hippogriff suggested, and with a sigh, the cyber mare nodded.

“As good as any, I guess we can check it out,” she agreed, while the three ponies before them all nodded eagerly.

“Oh, I’m sure you won’t regret it! There’s food, drinks, a show from the Heart Breaker herself!”

“The who and the what now?” Ocean asked as Jade gazed off at the gloomy light show beyond the trees.

“Oh, I have a feeling you’ll know her when you see her,” the mare beamed cryptically, shooting Ocean a wink that ruffled her feathers.

Only thing I feel like I’ll know when I see is how suspicious this all looks. It was the only thought to pass through Jade’s head as she tugged at Ocean with her tail and led on into the illuminated mist.

Standing before the vast archway of twisted metal and awkwardly welded plates, Jade’s envisioning of a great temple of scrap didn’t feel too farfetched. It was becoming increasingly obvious where most of the town’s stripped materials had gone the more her eyes passed over the rough mass of metal, brick, and wood. Forming a shape almost like a huge, mutated log cabin, the Love Shack certainly appeared to live up to its namesake. Lit up more than the sun through the cloud layer, it was like a wicked beacon amidst the hills.

Pedestals around the place boasted spotlights that shone back onto the sloping roof; laced with what appeared to be long chords of bubble lights. The peak was a gleaming spire, appearing like some kind of lightning rod, while each arch was covered by a set of muddy curtains. The words that gave the place its name had been crafted from old signs and arrayed above the main entrance in a rough crescent, before being wrapped in blinking neon rods that flashed pink, green, and blue.

More gleamed at either side, from a flashing display that alternated between a full mug, brim frothing with foam, to the outline of a pony downing the thing in one go. Another was the neon outline of a mare on a pole, flashing from one leg out, and back in, in a glowing mockery of a strip dance.

“And here I thought the statue was bad,” Jade muttered as she and Ocean stood before the place. “Hardly helps we don’t exactly blend in.”

“It reminds me of the Aqua Dome,” Ocean muttered with a shudder. “But if they were gonna kill us, they would have tried by now, right?”

“I’m not sure, the moment you mentioned that place, that mare seemed to recognize it,” Jade informed her, taking a deep breath. “Just keep your eyes open and stick close, we get what we need and go.”

“Rodger, rodger,” Ocean agreed with another salute as Jade began into the shack, pushing by the curtains with a wave of her foreleg.

If this Red Turret’s influence is as widespread as they made it out to be, surely she has some eyes here. Jade thought as she passed into the bustling interior. Damn me, and my stupid ideas.

A din akin to a hundred chanting ponies billowed up through the narrow tunnel beyond the dingy shroud. As if there were some gladiatorial arena within, the masses chanted and cheered, the rough red carpet below marred by equally as many muddy hoofprints as music shook the rickety metal overhead to its rusty foundations. Yet before the two could move past the inner set of curtains, a hoof was casually lifted in Jade’s face.

“Weapons please,” droned a very board-sounding mare, and glancing left along the length of the gray foreleg, Jade found a small booth. “No weapons under the roof.”

Dressed in what looked to be something between a police uniform and a stripper’s skimpy lingerie, the cool gray mare with faded yellow mane didn’t even lift her gaze from the equally depraved magazine in her lap. It was a wonder she could even read the thing, blue cap slipping over the dark sunglasses masking her eyes as she slumped lazily in the booth, cigarette sticking loosely from her muzzle.

Oh, you have got to be kidding me. Thought the cyber mare, the little Data in her head stating all the ways she could dismantle this mare, right after she was done imagining how sexy the skimpy uniform could look on either of them. Really, that’s where your thoughts go? Data, you’re dead for Luna’s sake!

“Excuse me, that’s got to be some kind of mistake?” Jade reasoned, clearing her throat with a mechanical buzz, while behind her Ocean shifted uneasily to allow two very intoxicated ponies to flop out. “Every pony out here is looking to kill each other!?”

“Yeah, that’s kinda why the Community likes to take their guns away,“ stated the mare, finally moving as she peered over her shades at the two. “No accep… Damn, who are you two supposed to be?”

“Somepony you don’t want to mess with.” The little Data in her head begged her to growl something so dramatic, yet outwardly Jade just sighed. No, I’m sick and tired of this.

“This place has bed and board, right?” she asked, noting one of the mare’s forehooves slide under the counter ever so slightly, only to swiftly reappear.

“Errr, yeah of course.” Jade had seen Megamart employees making two bits an hour with more enthusiasm. “And you’ll get everything back once you leave. Community policy is to lock all weapons in the vault, you’ll get a number tagged to yours.”

This feels so sketchy… But a place to actually rest up… Take a fucking break! Jade considered that even without her guns she was still a killing machine. Data, that’s what you think. I don’t want to be a killing machine.

Before she could answer, there was a clang on the counter as Ocean deposited her shotgun.

“What are you doing?” Jade asked, shooting the hippogriff a sideways glance.

“What, I thought you said we were going in?” she asked, cocking her head. “You really want to go back out in the fog?”

Luna help me, why can’t things just be simple? Jade thought, shaking her head with a sigh as she levitated out her weapons, much to the booth mare’s odd fascination.

“H–how did you…?” The skimpily-clad pony’s words trailed off, cigarette slipping from her agape mouth as she slipped Jade a ticket marked with the number forty-four in exchange for the firearms.

“I know how it works as much as you do,” responded the cyber mare, feeling oddly like she were just buying a train ticket. “We done now?”

“Errr, yes, yes, just head on in. Remember to keep your ticket for when you depart,” responded the mare as she waved the two on. “Oh, and make sure to pop that helmet off, no pony likes looking at a steel mask. Face-to-face rules still apply to griffins.”

“Actually I’m a…” Jade nudged Ocean on before she could leak any more information, right as her helmet popped free with a hiss.

No telling them where we’ve been, what we’re doing, or that you’re secretly a member of a lost race of fish-bird-ponies. She thought, more so trying to avoid the inevitable questions as the vibrant yellow of Ocean’s face appeared to confuse the booth mare all the more.

Finally passing through the inner curtain, however, Jade assumed Ocean may well wish to slip the helmet back on. The first thing to hit her enhanced senses like a brick wall was the smell. Whether picked up by her advanced receptors, or biological means, there was no mistaking the wreak of alcohol and debauchery. A sweaty odor hung in the air as thickly as the fog pooled outside, pressing down over everything like a heavy blanket. One glance around and she could see why. The place was flooded with blue bars, and while there was some red in the mix, there was no way she could make out any particularly devious individual among the pulsating throng of ponies.

There were hundreds, far more than it appeared the establishment could house, even with its grand scale. Music thrummed, and lights blazed as a virtual sea of sweaty bodies stretched out below a squat set of steps before her. Above, the roof loomed tall above a set of steel girders. Like the rafters of some old barn, they were wrapped in more lights, while ponies and griffins lounged about them like cats in trees. Some of the first pegasi she’d seen since waking up were among them, each one appearing to bear an odd, burn mark on their flanks, at least those she could see under the multitude of ponies in the same black and yellow robes.

“Now this is my kind of club.” The small part of her that was Data observed in the back of her mind, prompting Jade to roll her eyes. Always one for the eccentric, I know.

Beyond the ocean of crazy merriment, Jade could at least make out a set of seating booths, each one a curved cell that appeared to be lined with rough leather, complete with a glossy table. There was a bar too, its length lit up with as much neon as the signs outside, while a virtual cliff face of vibrant glasses rose up at its core. Mirrors created the deceptive illusion there was far more booze than there actually was, the effect clearly fooling the drunken mares and stallions that slumped drooling on the glossy bar top. Yet even with that, Jade had to wonder where all of this had come from.

Even if they stripped the whole town, there’s no way they got this much? She was pretty sure from her observations that the pre-war buildings had been made of brick, not this much metal. This Community thing really seems to be more than it lets on.

The idea made her mane crawl, more so as she and Ocean descended the steps, parting the crowd with their presence. X-23 grew tight, like some timid foal clinging to their mother’s side as the two of them earned odd looks from the crowd. Weapons or not, they fit in about as much as an ice cube in a steel mill, while the level of scrutiny certainly felt like it was going to melt something.

“You know, it feels weird being on the outside of a party like this for once,” Ocean muttered, bowing her head. “Back at the Dome, it was always so muffled.”

“Not to mention the smell,” Jade quipped, and the hippogriff nodded, while her suit rather begrudgingly stated that only part of it would have been filtered out by her helmet.

Is that a testament to the odor, or the faults in her prototype armor? She had to wonder as the two of them finally approached the bar. At least folks moving aside removes the need for pushing and shoving.

Counting her small blessings, she stepped up another squat set of neon steppes, coming face to face with the bar. As she had observed from the doorway, the thing was sleek and glossy, crafted to mimic marble; it was as clean as it could be with drunken ponies passed out all over it. A set of stools ran around its edge, each one bolted to the floor and topped with a plush, purple pillow. Once again, it seemed exactly like Data’s kind of place, yet ignoring the energetic mare in her head for now, Jade stepped up to the bar, glancing left and right along its length.

Before she knew it, a pony was before her, her bubbly mane poofing up as if she’d moved faster than she could blink. Her cherry-red coat glimmered as much as the neon glow around the place, while her vibrant green eyes peered right into Jade’s, a perfect white smile parting her features. Yet for all her glimmer, Jade was pretty sure the outwardly over-happy personality could be shattered like glass. She’d seen ponies like this before, while just like the mare outside and in the door booth, it appeared this earth pony was hiding something.

Why do I get the feeling they’re all looking at me like I’m some kind of bomb about to go off? That prickling feeling was creeping up and down her synthetic spine yet again. Surely that DJ stuff isn’t that bad?

“Hello there, I’m Cranberry Twist, welcome to the Love Shack, best party house this side of the wasteland!” beamed the mare giddily. “What can I get you, something flashy, something fun… Oil change perhaps?” She added that last bit with a coy wink that made Jade want to scowl and buck her face in.

Seriously, if the mare outside was a sales pony, this mare is only one step above a robot! She thought, pretty sure that if anypony needed an oil change it was the one reciting her lines as if from a programmed script. Just how many times has she run this speal?

“No, no, we’re fine thanks, just looking for a place to rest up,” Jade said firmly. “You have rooms here or is it all just partying?”

“Oh, yes, we’d love to keep you around for a bit,” Cranbury Twist exclaimed, looking Jade up and down. “I’ll have a room made up for you faster than you can say save me.”

“Excuse me?” Jade asked with a raised eyebrow, but before she could press any further the bar mare whirled on the spot.

“The two of you just take a seat right over there and I’ll be sure to send somepony over when it’s ready,” she announced, adding with a wink. “You’re just in time for the Princesses’ show, should keep you busy until we can see to you properly.”

As rapidly as she’d materialized, she was gone in a crimson flash, shooting off down the bar to beam at the next set of drunken fools.

“Here I thought I could talk fast,” Ocean observed, nodding towards Cranberry. “Still, she seems nice.”

“Too nice if you ask me,” Jade muttered, cautiously heading back into the crowd. “Let’s wait by the exit, just in case.”

“What, you really think they’re up to something?” Ocean asked, head low as the crowd once again parted in their wake, the looks becoming ever sourer.

“You see as many backstabbers as I have, and you get a feel for false personas,” Jade muttered, earning a nod from the small Data in her head. “Back before the war everypony was still out to get each other, they just did it with words and paperwork, rather than guns and bullets.”

“We did always hear stories about the pony cults… Or Ministries,” Ocean added, wincing as she corrected herself. “Sorry, force of habit.”

“No, the more I think about it, the more cult-like it all seems,” Jade responded, resting against a steel beam beside the door. “Everypony was so devoted to one thing they didn’t really think about the consequences.”

The state of Stratus trapped for years by crazy equine technology came to mind at that statement as Jade’s eyes panned over the crowd. She imagined she looked rather like some kind of door mare watching for any meddlers trying to get in with her dangerous-looking power-armored companion. It was an ironic thought, but in her scrutiny, she did pick out one thing amidst the crowd.

One mare, sat alone at a booth, hood almost completely covering her features, save for a pair of sharp eyes below her horn. Whisps of mane curled either side of the spire, while a half-empty glass was resting in one of her forehooves on the table. It was odd, that in the throng, this one mare was what caught her eyes, yet the stranger’s focus was locked right on the two of them, it was unmistakable. The mysterious mare was blocking out everything just as much as Jade herself.

Now that’s creepy. Part of her mind muttered, while another part desired little more than to simply go invisible again. Now we’re being watched.

“Hey, maybe we should just get our stuff back and head out,” Jade told Ocean, as the mare by the booth took a long pull of her glass, setting it back down firmly.

The hippogriff cocked her head, yet before either of the two could say anything more, the music dulled, the lights dimmed, and an odd chime rang out. Much to Jade’s surprise, the crowd slowed, the volume dipping sharply. Everypony looked to the rear of the place, beyond the bar as steam started to fill the air. It was like the start of some pre-war pop gig, yet Jade only looked to the mysterious stranger, feeling a cold stab of dread seeing she had vanished.

Yeah, rearmed and outside seems really good right now! She thought urgently, yet as she glanced back, she could only see the flood of ponies that entered, as if summoned by the change in atmosphere. Oh, so now they don’t care about pushing and shoving!?

"Urg, let's... Just find somewhere out of the way," she grumbled, side-stepping the crowd to take a seat in the first unoccupied booth closest to the door.

I swear, coming in here was a mistake. Even the Data side of her was starting to agree as the two hunkered down on the worn seats, crooked wood creaking under their weight.

“Hello, my crazy little ponies!” Boomed a voice from somewhere in the room, buzzing out of a hundred speakers as from the gloom above, a platform lowered. “I’m guessing you all know what time it is!”

Suspended by rattling chains, the square plate held aloft a large set of speakers, each glowing with neon rings and operated by a pale mare with a stark blue mane. Her electrical features quite obviously dyed, she tapped and skidded her forehooves over a set of disks, a pre-ward DJ table from what Jade could make out. At her words the crowd started to chant, repeating the words princess over and over, before all suddenly falling silent. Jade was pretty sure if her heart could race, it would be doing so right now as the lights faded to complete blackness, all beams now directed to the rear wall, where two metal slabs rolled aside to reveal a stage.

Like the boot-up of a long-dead terminal, the podium lit up stage by stage, an array of neon stars flickering to life around the microphone stand and pole that stood at its center. Smoke pooled around the lone figure the beams all landed upon, her creamy coat and pink mane glistening in the glow as she batted her eyes at the crowd, throwing her head back to reveal a towering horn.

Over her back, a cherry-red, sequin dress shimmered as much as the silver beads neatly woven into her mane. Yet all of that was second to what Jade saw next, even the thought of escaping died. The mare stepped up to the microphone, muzzle curled with a devious smile as she flared a pair of grand, feathered wings.

An alicorn! Like a computer, Jade’s mind truly crashed. How in the goddesses’ name do they have an alicorn out here!?

Footnote: 50% to next level.

Chapter Fourteen: The Love Shack

Chapter Fourteen:

Alicorns, the divine image of the princesses of Equestria themselves. The pinnacle of ponykind, literal goddesses to many races throughout the world. Jade had never seen one in person. Sure, she’d seen the posters, stained glass, murals, and even fuzzy images of Luna on terminal screens. She’d been there to witness many of the speeches, and the royal addresses, but never with her own eyes. Now she was gazing upon one such equine, her radiant mane, vast wings, and pearly coat. She was stunning, radiating an aura that almost seemed to drag every ounce of attention to her.

This kind of beauty is what they lost? She thought, as the gorgeous mare shone like a diamond in the stage light, mist pooling around her gem-studded hooves. How could any pony fight, knowing this was at stake?

There was a part of her just about ready to lay down and grovel at the hooves of a mare so benevolent. Yet there was also a far more reasonable side, a side that couldn’t help but feel the initial urge to bow was all a callus manipulation. Her machine brain studied the mare as if analyzing her for weakness, while another part of her cataloged the fact that the hooded stranger who’d been watching her was nowhere to be seen.

All eyes on the stage, perfect time for an ambush. She thought, seeing Ocean was just as captivated. The two of us could be ghosted right now and no pony here would even notice.

Not that it appeared any pony here cared enough about the two of them anyway, even the over-enthusiastic barmaids. Yet there wasn’t a sound under the dome as the lull deepened, and from the microphone hummed a soft breath. The pearly alicorn paused before it, her eyes closed, showing off her glamorous eye shadow and lustrous lashes as her wings folded and her downy breast swelled with a breath. Seconds later the air escaped, carrying with it a voice smooth as melted chocolate, with the cool touch of a summer’s breeze.

“The world is tough, our lives are rough.” The alicorn’s eyes remained sealed, her left forehoof wrapping around the microphone stand as she lifted her head. “The wasteland makes the greatest not good enough.”

The tune was dower, solemn even, yet thrummed with a deep passion that had Jade transfixed. It was like the show from the Aquarium, only here the rabble actually looked upon the performance with respect and awe, not cruel excitement. One glance at Ocean and it was clear the Hippogriff seemed to recognize the similarities, almost envy them. Yet it was also just enough for Jade to catch sight of the hooded figure weaving between the transfixed crowd beyond the armored hybrid.

“Yet for all your toil and trouble, I offer a deal worth double,” the alicorn sang on, lifting her head, opening her eyes, and smirking a sultry smirk to just about every pony gawking at her. “Let me be good to you.”

She spoke every word of that sentence as if to a lover, each syllable expressed with the sheer radiance of her glamorous voice as Jade did her best to peer around Ocean, only to see nothing. Of course, that was the moment the music once again roared to life as the alicorn shifted, radiant mane cascading over her shoulders in a magnificent stream as she declared.

“Let me be good to you!” She threw her head back, the slow rhythm of the song changing as she swayed her body like some sultry dancer. “For the weary, for the dreary, let these sweet wings fly away with all that misery!”

She swept back, dress glimmering like a river of crimson starlight as she ducked her head low, wings out at her sides in a sweeping bow.

“Come now one and all, let me… be good to…” Mid verse she hopped up, the towering spire that was her horn igniting in an eruption of pink magic. “You!”

In a flash her dress was gone, dissipating off of her like a swarm of ruby butterflies, and in its wake was something far less… Civil.

Jade forgot all about the hooded mare, while Ocean’s beak hung open. The same couldn’t be said of the alicorn, more of her pearly coat on show as she suddenly boasted skimpy, black lingerie, and tight stockings, complete with a feathered bocay over her tail, and heavily exaggerated rump. Her toned hips worked, a sway added to them as the stripper goddess strode up and down the stage, the crowd erupting in a chorus of cheers, whistles, and gasps.

“Oh, that’s right you lovely mares and gentlecolts, we’re gonna get fucked tonight!” she called in what appeared to be her normal voice, levitating the microphone to her mouth as she did so, before dropping back into the tone she apparently reserved for singing. “Every weary traveler, fighter, and trader, come see me for a sample of my flavor!”

It appeared the soft undertone of the song was all but gone as she shot an overly devious look at the rambunctious crowd, eyes lidded and muzzle curled in a sly smile as she strode back to the right side of the stage.

My kind of mare. Part of Jade’s mind quipped, a part very much as sharp as Data, as the cyber mare shook her head. No, not thinking about clapping flanks, this still feels off.

She had to scold herself several more times as the alicorn pranced left and right, going on about how her tail was practically an open hole for anyone who wanted her to be… Good to them.

Instead, she looked to Ocean, catching the hippogriff staring as the alicorn began a verse about rough hooves needing tending to.

“Hey, hey, Ocean, snap out of it!” she called, waving a forehoof in front of the avian mare’s face.

“W–what… Oh, right I…” The hippogriff bawked, wings ruffling as words appeared to flee her beak in a flood of gibberish before she finally collected herself. “Sorry, she’s just so…”

“Captivating, I know,” Jade finished for her, glancing about. “I heard alicorns have that effect, and I think somepony here was counting on it too.”

Ocean blinked, cocking her head as she glanced around too, all the while the mare on stage hovered up, singing the final chorus of her song from a good few feet above the stage. Her wings beat the mist into a smooth wave that rolled across the crowd, stealing away any suspicious characters Jade could hope to see.

“But an alicorn, how do they even have an alicorn?” Ocean asked, while Jade motioned for her to keep it down. “Sorry, sorry… I thought they were extinct,” she added in a whisper.

“As far as I know there were only two, three if you count the Crystal Empire, but there were never reports their ruler was natural born,” Jade informed her, thinking back on all of her MoA records. “But it’s not the alicorn I’m worried about.”

“Oh no, not even wondering a bit about how she could be good to you?” Data’s voice cooed in the back of her head, eliciting a shudder that Jade did her best to ignore. No, I’m not… Not thinking about curvy, princess flanks!

There was a shudder in her suit as X-23 giggled in her head, yet just as soon as she shook off the infuriating sensation, a mare swept past. It was the same mare from the bar, effortlessly carrying a tray of drinks behind her shoulders as if she’d done so a million times before. In one fluid move, she hopped up, tossing the refreshments onto the pair’s table. Jade lurched to catch them, yet tray, glass, then fluid all fell in perfect order, seeing not even a drop splash out of place. Ocean clapped, while Jade’s eyes narrowed.

We only just sat here, how did she know? The little Data in her head rubbed her chin, while the barmaid simply beamed at the two of them.

“Hey, I thought I said we didn’t want any drinks, just a room?” she questioned, but the overly happy mare merely maintained her irritatingly fake smile, responding through strained lips.

“Oh, it’s on the house, honey.” She nodded back over her shoulders toward the bar, as the song concluded in a roar of cheers and hoof stomps. “The manager insisted, he’ll be over any second to talk about your room.”

Jade raised an eyebrow, prepared to ask why she needed to see the manager to book a room, yet before she could say anything the mare scampered off in a pink blur. The bustling crowd made it hard to keep track of her as mares and stallions flocked to the stage. All the while the alicorn lounged there, just out of reach, flicking her hooves at them as if lightly dangling the lacy limbs in a pool. She smiled down at them as Jade imagined a goddess would, but there was no benevolence in her eyes, only hubris. She was an icon to them, and she knew it.

Hey, I thought we were done ogling the sexy princess mare! The more reasonable part of her mind called, while the tiny blue pegasus in her head burst out laughing as she tore her eyes away.

“Oh, free drinks!?” Ocean beamed, tapping her mug with a talon. “Here I thought kindness was dead in the wasteland.”

“I don’t know about that, but don’t drink a drop,” Jade told her, levitating up one of the mugs and taking a sniff. “This smells wrong.”

It became clear that statement was both literal and figurative as analytics started to work in her vision, making out that in addition to dirt and radiation, the mugs were filled with some pretty toxic stuff.

“I think some pony here has it out for us,” Jade muttered, levitating the mugs away from Ocean’s claws. “Screw the room. Stick your helmet back on, we’re barging our way out.”

Fumbling with the helmet, Ocean did just that as the pair stood, right as the alicorn on stage took to the air, snagging one of the chains that suspended the DJ’s platform, and blowing the electric-blue disk jockey a kiss. The musical mare smirked, hooves working on the table like she were crafting a fine dress, while the alicorn wove around the taut chain like a stripper on a pole.

“We all having a good time, my little ponies!?” she called, flaring her horn to summon flashes of pink smoke and glitter as the crowd cheered. “I do like the sound of that! Come on, let’s get wild, let’s get fucked so hard we bring down the roof!”

The cheering doubled as Jade moved to leave, only to pause before she could reach so much as a hoof step from the table. Emerging from the crowd before her was a dower-looking stallion. He had a gray coat, the same muddy gray as gravel, with a coal-black mane to match. Yet for all of his grubby colors, he appeared well off, carrying himself with a noble grace while boasting a clean, white suit complete with a black rose. He strode with purpose, putting even the mysterious alicorn to shame as he looked right at the cyber mare.

Three guesses who the manager is. The little Data in her head muttered, as Jade lifted a forehoof in Ocean’s path to prevent the hippogriff from blundering past her. Three guesses as to who’s up to something, more like.

Her suspicions weren’t so much raised by the finely-dressed stallion, however, but the mare at his side, a mare almost completely covered by hooded barding. All but her eyes and a flick of her light blue mane were left to the imagination as she marched beside the stallion with her head low. For a moment it was as if she were a slave, yet there was no collar, no bond between her and the stallion as Jade finally came up short. The stallion did the same, blinking at her as if caught off guard by her initiative. Then he smiled, laughing the surprise off like some well-versed politician. He opened his mouth to talk, not that he’d be very audible over the thumping music as it resumed.

If there’s one thing I know about ponies like him… Jade thought, looking around, seeing the table at her back and the wall of drunken ponies on every side of them. It’s don’t let them speak first.

“So, I take it you’re the manager?” she asked, well aware that this was going to be a conversation she’d want to control. “First thing’s first, I’m going to say that I’ve never been to a hotel that needs the manager to book a room?”

The stallion paused, looking at her curiously, while the mare at his side shot him a subtle glance. It wasn’t a look he reciprocated as he lifted a forehoof to his chest and smirked, appearing to admire her forward-thinking.

“My, my, right to the point.” He laughed, as if the humor were a fitting replacement for any introduction he’d clearly been planning to offer. “To answer your question, yes, I am the manager of this fine establishment.”

Jade caught another glance from the mare at his flank, as if she were trying to pass an unspoken word to him. Either way, the stallion appeared oblivious to it as he pressed on.

“The name’s Grimm, gawdy, I’m aware, but don’t let that put you off,” he told her, offering a forehoof.

Jade eyed the thing like it were a venomous snake ready to strike, while her brain analyzed every aspect of his body, labeling him a minor threat. That put her mind at ease a little, even as she thought back to the Aquarium, and the last baddies she’d met face to face.

“The name’s Pale Ghost.” Ignoring the glance from Ocean, she nodded to the hippogriff. “And this is Ocean Blaze.”

“Charmed,” Grimm responded, nodding to the mare at his right. “This is my assistant, Kitten. Don’t mind her.” He nodded back to the table. “Shall we have a seat? We can discuss your stay, and I’d hate to interrupt the show.”

He nodded back to the rabble around them as the alicorn hovered in the air, swirling over the sea of intoxicated ponies like she were a siren with them all captivated by her song. Sitting back down was the last thing Jade wanted to do, however. Instead, she wracked her brain for more clever words.

Come on, think, talk. Talking is what you’re good at, talking, perception, and analytics! She thought to herself, while the little Data in her head rolled her eyes. “Guns or not, I say we just shove past him and get out.”

She had to admit that option was becoming far more appealing as Grimm looked at her closely, as if taking the pause in her words as a sign of weakness.

“Everything alright?” he pressed as she shook her head, eyes narrowing as she assured him everything was fine.

“Fine, fine. In fact, we were just about to leave,” she assured, looking to Ocean, who nodded. “We’ll be out of your manes, sorry to bother you.”

“Nonsense, I insist, you must stay,” Grimm chimed, but shaking off his charm, Jade marched right past him, coming face to face with Kitten.

“He said he insists,” she said, voice low and robbed of the charisma the stallion’s radiated, shocking Jade for just a moment.

“I’m sorry, but I insist that we’re leaving,” she countered, yet before she could move another inch the hooded mare lifted her head, glaring daggers at her as she kicked out.

The strike to the chest had Jade staggering, yet suffering no real damage as she glared right back at the hooded mare. In a flash Ocean hopped between them, her own wings flared as the nearby crowd scattered.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing!?” the hippogriff called, as the disturbance spread over the nearby ponies.

Kitten didn’t even flinch as Grimm almost appeared to melt into the rabble.

I knew this was wrong! Jade internally huffed, looking down at her forehooves, right as the orb of silver metal, its circumference marked by a band of blue, rolled between her legs. Oh, shit!

“Ocean, look out!” she called, or at least she hoped the words escaped her mouth before her systems reflexively dropped her into S.A.T.S.

Just like in the tunnels, time slowed as she jumped away from the spark grenade, sliding over the table behind her and rolling to a stop among the rugged pillows, right as the explosive went off in a blinding flash of blue light and crackling electricity. She felt her whole body go stiff, thrumming with a stinging energy that caused her limbs to twitch and spasm. Her eyes cracked open like half-rusted shutters, warnings flashing in her vision as she struggled to move and sit upright. Peering through blurred eyes into a sea of chaos. If the crowd had been a rabble while the alicorn was singing, now they were a mob.

Those not stunned by the spark grenade’s blast, lifted groggily to their hooves, manes on end and frazzled, as those beyond its reach scrambled away in confusion. It was clear that not everypony had an idea what had transpired, but unarmed as they all were, it took only a moment for panic to take hold. Only another moment for one unicorn to telekinetically slam a bottle on another pony’s head. He fell to the ground in a heap, and just like that a bar fight that put combat scenarios to shame broke out throughout the entire Love Shack.

‘Primary power core compromised, rebooting. Back up power operational, systems operating at 20% capacity. Caution recommended.’

Vision blurred and swarmed with blinking warnings, Jade did all she could to steady herself. Somewhere above a pegasus flew by, only to be smacked off course by another, while in the chaos, she caught sight of the alicorn. The princess appeared as if she’d been mid lap dance on her suspended chains, now peering down upon the rabble with a stunned expression of shock before she took off out of sight. It appeared her magnetic appeal for attention was mute now, as Jade heaved herself up, body feeling limp and heavy.

For once, she really felt as if she were made of metal, the weight of her synthetics dragging her down like millstones strapped to her bones as half of her servos whirred and shuddered. All the while, the little Data in her head scribbled notes on a mental clipboard, going on about the effect of spark magic on her creation. All Jade could think about, however, was her companion. Looking over the table, or what was left of the thing after her impact had split it in two, she saw Ocean, frozen still as a statue while her armor fizzled and popped.

She took the full brunt of it, her armour’s gotta be down! She thought, recalling the many times she’d reviewed operations in which there’d been mid-combat reboots. Well, you did always want fieldwork, Jade.

She shook off the snider side of her thoughts, staggering on the moldy pillows. At least until a stallion dove over the table at her, foaming at the bit as he called about stealing her pretty eyes. Her sensors were swift to inform her of his intoxication, he’d had to have been high on something to consider attacking her a good idea. Yet when she struck out, her weakened limb hit him with no more force than a light, back hoof slap.

Okay, note to self, spark attacks make me way less strong! The little Data in her head listed a hundred ways she could fix that weakness if she had the time, and a lab, but as the stallion staggered then flew at her again, Jade couldn’t care less.

Her chest burned as if stuffed with hot coals as she willed her magic into being, levitating up one of the pillows and shoving it in his face. Capitalizing on his drunken momentum, she sidestepped over the broken table, seeing his lunge send him flying into the booth, where the wooden frame of the thing gave way with a splintering crack.

His legs kicked, rump swaying as he did all he could to tug himself free. In the same instance, another mare charged, only to be swatted aside by a stallion twice her size as Jade staggered back, battling to stay on her hooves as her heavy body hung over her skeleton like a sack of rocks.

Damn it, reboot faster! She mentally yelled, a static buzz in her head responding as X-23 grew tight. Don’t give me that, we need to get out of here!

Glancing at Ocean, she noted that couldn’t be more true as ponies only a few levels above raiders hopped atop the petrified hippogriff, doing their best to claw their way inside her armor. Placing one quivering hoof in front of the other, Jade marched towards her stunned companion while doing her best not to fall flat on her face. At least until a scream met her ears, a shadow overhead the only warning she received before a mare landed atop her back. It took the cyber mare only a moment to register that this wasn’t just another drunken fool, as her attacker pulled taut a black chord in her magic and hooked the thing around Jade’s neck.

“Die, mechanical abomination!” roared the mare, her voice oddly like that of Kitten, as she yanked the wire tight.

If she had still been flesh and blood, she was sure the thing would have garotted her head clean off. As it was, the razor edge cut deep into her synthetic hide, eliciting a flurry of color and painful screams from X-23 as the suit was easily sliced. Choking on a breath her body still didn’t need, Jade heaved back, only allowing the mare to get a better grip as her hind legs closed around her midriff. There was a click and the wire against her neck hummed, sizzling with a distinctly burnt smell before a lance of sparks ran across its length.

Oh no you don’t! Jade internally declared, kicking up with all the might she could muster, while bowing her head. I am done with fancy spark tech!

The attacking mare was tossed over her head with a yelp, yet rolled in the air to land perfectly on all four hooves. Spinning to face the cyberpony, it was apparent that there was not just one hooded pony under Grimm’s employment, this mare looked almost identical to Kitten, if not for her slightly different eyes and mane style.

“Mechanical fiend!” hissed the mare, the chord in her telekinetic grip discarded in favor of a pistol she levitated from under her cloak.

“Katnip, cease toying with your prey!” Grimm’s call put a name to the second hooded mare as Jade caught him to her left, squabbling with another of the bar’s patrons as he barked orders. “Kitten, eliminate the second heretic!”

It didn’t take more than one guess to know who he was referring to as Jade caught sight of the first hooded mare leap atop Ocean, kicking away the drunken raiders in a flurry of hoof strikes.

“No!” Jade called, staggering, only for Katnip’s pistol to sing, the flash illuminating the crowd as the bullet sunk deep into Jade’s shoulder.

‘Critical damage sustained. Error: repair systems unable to respond.’

The cyber mare staggered, the pain dull, even if the wound was far more debilitating as only half of her body worked properly.

“Yes, I will not fail again,” called Katnip as she advanced and took another shot.

Time flickered as Jade just about managed to squeeze into S.A.T.S, rolling to the side and narrowly avoiding being stomped into paste by the squabbling masses. The second time resumed, she leaped up, one foreleg limp at her side as the tattered breach in her stealth suit’s neck flapped like leaves in an autumn wind.

“Cease moving and die, you heathen!” hissed Katnip, yet working on pure programmed instinct, Jade’s magic flared, snatching the nearest thing she could find.

It turned out to be little more than an empty mug, yet it was more than enough to swat the weapon from her hooded attacker’s magical grip.

“Here’s an idea, how about you shut up instead!” the cyber mare roared, barrelling into the hooded assassin with all the grace of a drunken buffalo, sending the two of them sprawling.

A good number of the crowd were dragged down with them, intoxicated ponies toppling like bowling pins as Jade landed atop Katnip. The pairs’ eyes met as the latter’s hood fell back, revealing a younger mare, no older than her twenties. Yet while Jade hesitated, her attacker had no such issue. She wrapped her forehooves around the back of Jade’s neck, and heaved up, slamming her horn into Jade’s temple in a headbutt. The action left the little Data in her mind stunned, wondering just how the impact hadn’t shattered the offending unicorn’s horn, while sending Jade’s head into a spin as the synthetic mare staggered back off of her.

What’s her head made of… Rocks!? One glance at the silvery metal encompassing Katnip’s spire and it was clear Data didn’t know everything, as the attacking unicorn whirled on her, levitating out a pair of knives. Who in Luna’s name are these ponies?

“I will not grace you with the dignity of a response, heathen!” Katnip hissed, shaking herself free of the scuffle.

“That’s exactly what you just did!” Whether she liked it or not, Data’s whittier side was starting to creep free far more easily as Jade winced, telling her inner self to shut up too.

The inner turmoil seemed lost on Katnip as she levitated her weapons at Jade in a flurry, cutting several deep lines in her one good shoulder, staggering her before she could even move. All she could think as the assassin approached was that her repair systems couldn’t reboot fast enough. Her meek attempts to roll aside, stolen as a heavy hoof pinned her down. Her limbs whirred, a rainbow of painful colors flickering across her wounded suit like some spasmatic chameleon as she glanced up to see Grimm, a forehoof tipped with what appeared to be some kind of metallic piston pressed to her back.

“I would advise you not to patronize my companion,” he mused, nodding to Katnip, who froze like an obedient hound at his direction. “Most of all while she has you on the ropes.”

“Who in Celestia’s name are you damn ponies, we didn’t do anything to you?” Jade coughed, earning a slap across the face from his metal-clad forehoof.

“Do not speak the heathen goddess’s name!” he hissed through clenched teeth, his face quickly scrunched into a grimace before he went on far more cooly. “You are an abomination, my friend. A relic of a cursed age, and therefore your wretched existence cannot be tolerated!”

“What the buck are you talking about!?” she asked, but he offered her no more response, instead nodding to Katnip, then down at her.

“Eliminate her.” There was not an ounce of hesitation, more robot than a mare, she stood and levitated the knife right above Jade’s face, ready to plunge it downward.

“Okay, who wants some!” The roar of Ocean’s voice was the only thing to call out as the heads of all three adversaries snapped up, right as Kitten was sent flying into Katnip in a blur of rags and fur.

Rebooted, the power armored hippogriff sprung up, swatting ponies aside like ants as her armor called out about another glorious tide in this mare’s ocean. His assassins stolen from sight, Jade took one quick look up at Grimm, while he glanced down at her. Data’s way of dealing with things or not, she was pretty sure, right now she wanted to do nothing more than beat his smug face in.

“You’re not going anywhere,” he growled, shoving down hard as she gripped his offending foreleg with her own. “This elimination was supposed to be clean and swift, but you just had to go fuck it up!?”

“Oh, I am sorry I don’t just go along with ponies who are trying to kill me for no reason!” she screamed back, heaving up with all of her might.

His foreleg quivered, the metal around its tip cracking like glass as she twisted it around. There was a pop, a bone-crunching squelch, and the stallion screamed. There was little acknowledgment of just what she’d done as she shoved up hard, rolling him onto his back, reversing their positions as she pinned him under her.

“I have totally had it with ponies trying to kill me!” she declared, pressing her metallic forehoof to his heaving chest, while his broken foreleg flopped at his side, and the other gripped hers. “Ever since waking up, I’ve been shot at, almost eaten, drowned, and melted alive!”

“Such naiveite, to think such a foal is behind those false eyes,” he huffed, glaring at her as he did his best to shove him upwards.

Okay, just kill this jokester and be done with it. The far more Data side of her mind ordered, yet the words stuck. My eyes are not false I am still me… I am!

She wanted to scream, call out, yell at the top of her lungs. Yet to embrace her regenerating body, to exploit her enhanced strength to pop his skull like a melon… Was that not doing just what he said she’d do? Did that not make her an abomination?

“Master!” Jade was sent sprawling right as she heard Katnip cry out, the hooded mare striking her side with a full charge to knock her off Grimm.

“You will not touch him again, fiend!” the assassin hissed, as the crippled stallion rolled over, retaking his place above the prone cyber mare.

“Kat, give me the knife,” he called, practically straddling Jade as he took the blade in his good forehoof. “I’ll kill this one my…”

His head exploded in a shower of gore and meaty chunks, sending a blast of hot, sticky crimson all over as the force of the shot tore his decapitated body to the side, landing right at Katnip’s forehooves. Blinking and wiping the blood from her eyes, Jade lifted her head, glancing around. Her eyes found the glinting scope within moments, right as the alicorn who’d fired the shot lifted her head back to reload for another.

Footnote: Level up

New perk added: Cautious by Nature - After all this, you’re going to be more alert than ever. With this Perk you get a +3 to your perception in random encounters for a short period of time.

Chapter Fifteen: Heart Breaker

Chapter Fifteen:

Without a second’s hesitation, Jade rolled to the side as the alicorn sniper fired again, ripping the shoulder off a raider-like thug beside the prone cyber mare. The pony went down as Jade rolled again, only to come face to face with Katnip. Attention stuck halfway between her shooter and her stabber, her focus locked on the stunned assassin, begging the goddesses she wasn’t currently in the alicorn’s line of sight. More pressing was what the hooded mare would do, but after a long second it was clear all Katnip was going to do was peer down at Grimm’s decapitated corpse.

Like a terminal robbed of power, she was utterly paralyzed, before with a weak breath, she collapsed, swaying against another pony, who kicked out at her with a snarl. His aggression was met by a buck to the face from the second of the hooded assassins as Kitten darted to her companion’s aid, seeming to struggle just as much as she heaved Katnip’s face to hers.

“Kat, Kat, this is it!” she called, not even sparing Jade a glance as she peered into her stunned companion’s dead eyes. “Damn it, sis, snap out of it!”

Revealing their sibling relation, Kitten slapped her sister across the face, to no avail. A second shot rang out, shattering the wooden board at the mare’s hooves to splinters as she hopped back, dragging her sister with her as Jade scampered away, her rump finally hitting something solid. She dared not glance back to see what new mess she’d blundered into, her ragged suit and slowly repairing limbs more than enough of an excuse to get out of here as fast as she could. At least until the wing flared from behind her, scooping her aside as another sniper shot struck the floor.

“Jade!” Ocean squawked, tinny voice muffled by her helmet as she heaved the cyber mare behind the row of booths. “By the tides, what happened to you!?”

“What happened to me, how about what happened to you!?” Jade retorted, jabbing a forehoof at the hippogriff as another shot echoed, this time notably not a sniper round.

Looks like confiscated weapons only means so much around here. She thought, chancing a glance over her cover to see at least three ponies with shotguns by the crowded exit.

She could only assume they were Community guards, dressed head to hoof in what seemed to be old sports gear.

Oh, yay, we’re saved! The snider part of her mind quipped as Ocean pressed a talon to her armored breast.

“Don’t ask me, one moment you were talking to that guy, then flash… Everything went white, and I was stuck!” the hippogriff exclaimed, flaring her wings. “Next I know I have ponies all over me and I can’t do anything!”

“Your system auto rebooted, it must have,” Jade muttered, feeling the rip in her suit around the neck as the little Data in her head did her best to rationalize the situation. “Damn it, I hope we can fix this!”

“What about your legs, you’ve been shot!?” Ocean asked urgently, jabbing a claw at the holes in one of the cyber mare’s shoulders. “By the tides, it’s like the Aqua Dome all over again.”

“I’ll be fine, the spark magic took out my repair system but… I can feel it coming back.” She winced at that, a phantom pain haunting her damage receptors. “We need to grab our guns and get out of here!”

“Rodger that,” Ocean agreed with a wing salute, as Jade peered about for any sign of escape.

The chaos had swiftly become far more violent, those less civilized among the crowd somehow having armed themselves. Her ticket felt pointless as she wondered if her weapons were still going to be wherever they were stashed. At this rate, it looked like every bolthole and locker had been raided. Yet as her eyes panned over the chaos, and her night vision blinked on, she made out several crooked doors in the outer frame.

“Okay, this way!” she called, nodding ahead along the grimy row of seats behind the first layer of booths. “Let’s just hope we find a storage locker or something!”

“Anywhere other than here,” Ocean agreed as the two of them sprang up, Jade hobbling with one forehoof pressed to the rip in her neck as Ocean shoved aside any pony in her way, even if she muttered several small apologies to each.

The second they reached the door, another shot sang. There were screams by the bar as Jade’s enhanced eyes made out the face of the pink barmaid explode into a bloody paste. It made her heart sink just a little, yet more pressing was the shot that punched a hole in the wall right next to her.

Okay, moving now! She internally screamed as somewhere on the opposite side of the building a fiery explosion blossomed. Really need to be moving!

The suspended DJ platform tore free, crushing the bar in a flurry of shattered glass as flames surged up into the rafters. Smoke billowed in the furious red light above as with a hard kick, Jade broke the door down and the pair slipped out of the main floor, right down a set of concrete steps.

Clank… Clunk… Thump.

Each sound was followed by a sharp eep, before Jade finally found herself in a heap at the base of the stairs.

“Owww…” The word left the synthetic mare’s muzzle as a long groan, her butt up in the air as her face pressed to the wet concrete.

“Oh my goodness, are you alright!?” Ocean asked as she dashed down the stairs, while the little Data in Jade’s head snickered.

“Should have put a wet stairway sign on the door,” she huffed, sitting up as if that was the first thing somepony would do in the post-apocalypse. “I really don’t like this place.”

The sound of gunfire above, coupled with the flash of flames only added to that sentiment as the cyber mare stood and shook herself off. Thankfully, her systems informed her that they were once again mostly functional, yet that did little to help X-23 as the suit fluttered limply.

“What’s down here?” Ocean asked, panning her armor’s lamp over the gloom, forcing Jade to favor her own illuminating eyes over night vision.

“I guess this place was built on top of something else,” she suggested, taking a step into the darkened halls of cold concrete lined by rusty pipes. “Come on, let’s find out where they keep everypony’s weapons.”

And just hope our guns are not in the hooves of some raider. Part of her cynical mind added as Ocean fell in behind her. Better than being cooked alive and shot up there.

Fortunately for the two of them, the tunnel only led a few meters before opening out into what appeared to be some kind of garage. Old wagons and work benches marked the left wall, while on the right were rusty shutters and service doors. Many were barricaded shut, yet it appeared whatever the Love Shack had been built upon had once been some kind of workshop.

“There, we can use those,” Ocean declared, marching over to one of the doors, while Jade’s attention shifted to one of the workstations, her magic wrapping around a roll of duct tape.

“Just hold in there, X-23, this is the best I can do,” she muttered to her suit as she taped the rip in her neck closed, wrapping it tight for good measure as she stashed the tape in her saddle bags.

All the while, Ocean tugged on the door, ripping it from its hinges to find there was nothing on the other side but rubble.

“Oh, fish tails!” she huffed, head drooping as Jade moved past her, peering over one of the rusty wagons to where light pooled in from the opposite garage.

“Hey, keep it down,” she muttered to Ocean, making a downward motion with one forehoof before nodding for the hippogriff to follow. “I think there’s somepony else down here.”

Once more, Ocean was behind her, not so subtle in her power armor as the two of them crept their way to the concrete doorway separating the two wings of the garage. Through the ajar fire door, illuminated by the flickering flames of a rusty fire barrel, was the room in which Jade could only assume they stored everypony’s confiscated weapons. The many tool shelves were stacked with numbered boxes. Only, like some armory raided by foals, most of the gear was tossed about haphazardly, much to the horror of most of their owners, she had to imagine.

Less watching, more escaping. Her mind prompted as she drew out her ticket and studied the scene.

Forty-four. Finding the box that corresponded with the number on the scrap of paper, she spied her flaming rifle. The only issue was that it was now in the hooves of a very grim-looking earth pony. Great, now they’re the ones with all the guns!

About half a dozen ponies sifted through the storage as if they’d just struck gold, most of them earth ponies, while two unicorns and what she could only assume was one of the non-feral Ghouls Ocean had told her about assisted.

“Okay, that’s enough, stash everything you can carry and get that door open, we’re blowing this joint,” called the rather burly-looking earth pony with Jade’s rifle. “Livewire, see what you can do.”

“On it, boss,” responded a mare as she threw a sack of weapons over her back and made for a terminal beside the door. “Love Shack can suck it for all I care.”

“What is it?” asked Ocean as the griff craned her neck to peer over Jade. “Hey, they’re taking all our guns!”

“Yes, yes, I know they are, but be quiet!” Jade hissed shoving the hippogriff back into the room, which was to say not very far as her power armored legs stiffened. “Let’s just wait for them to get the door open, then we make a move.”

It all seemed like a reasonable idea, yet as Jade glanced around Ocean, she felt her heart sink. She scolded herself for not watching her E.F.S again. The stationary red dot behind them was such an obvious stand out from the roaches that scurried around the gloomy ruin, or the dissipating rabble of hostiles on the floors above.

“Okay, I’m only going to ask you once,” warned the alicorn, her heavy rifle loaded as she levitated it at the pair. “Who the fuck are you and why you gotta go ruin my gig!?”

“I’d ask you the same thing,” Jade countered, stepping between Ocean and the alicorn, as the hippogriff stiffened in shock. “Because as far as I know, there’s not supposed to be more than two alicorns.”

The winged mare looked like she cared as much for that topic as she did for the dirt on her hooves as she scowled and rolled her eyes, muttering under her breath.

“If I had a cap for every…” She drew up short, pulling her eye from the scope and gesturing to the pair with a motion of the weapon. “Who are you to talk? What we got here, the walking fridge and bird-inator three thousand?”

Her elegant voice was gone, replaced by a deadpan tone as she peered at the two with leveled eyes.

“Bird-a-what?” Ocean balked, but Jade snorted, stealing the alicorn’s attention back to her.

“Leave her out of it, it’s me you were shooting at,” she declared.

“She was what!?” Ocean exclaimed, one wing flared, only for Jade to wave her down as the alicorn frowned.

“Well, duh, you pissed off the Shrike, why else would the twins be on you?” the alicorn asked, and Jade cocked her head.

If she had a cap? What about me? If I had a cap for every time somepony spoke about some random shit like it’s common knowledge! She took her best mockery of a deep breath, an entirely equine action her synthetic body still couldn’t grasp as she asked levelly.

“And who in Luna’s name are they?” The sniper mare winced at the princess’s name, glancing about warily before she sighed.

“For fuck’s sake, fucking tourists.” Her head drooped with the weary exhale as she added. “You know, the Shrike, down with the old world, the false goddesses, all that jazz?”

Great, just another group of crazy ponies I have to add to the list. She thought, as at her back, Ocean shrugged her armored wings.

“And you’re one of them?” Jade pressed, eyeing the sniper rifle, pretty sure even her cyber magic couldn’t outmagic an alicorn.

“No, and as you can probably guess, they’re not my biggest fans.” She motioned back to her wings as they ruffled. “They respect the Community’s neutral ground… Mostly. But I still try to stay on their good side.”

“And you call taking the head off one of them staying on their good side?” Jade pressed, and the alicorn winced, adding in a low growl.

“You were the one on top of him a second before.” She averted her eyes, appearing like a pouty foal for a moment at the idea she’d not done everything perfectly. “Still doesn’t change the fact that you robbed me of the one good gig I’ve had in years.”

“Right, in a town full of murder ponies that hate the goddesses?” Jade cooed, the part of her that was Data taking hold as she motioned forward with a forehoof dismissively.

The anger bubbling behind the alicorn’s eyes was obvious as her right eye and mouth twitched, and the gun leveled at Jade again.

“Yeah, so what are you going to do about it!?” the goddess pressed, jabbing the gun forward. “Because I’m the one who’s ready to blow your brains out!”

“H–how about we get you a new job!?” It was Ocean that finally spoke up, flaring her wings. “Surely there’s gotta be a better job, right?”

An eyebrow raised, the alicorn peered out from her scope, while Jade glanced back at Ocean. The helmet made it impossible to tell, but she was sure under the sleek metal, the hippogriff was smiling her bubbly smile.

“The only job you’re getting is a head on a spike when the Shrike get hold of you,” the alicorn deadpanned, but before Jade could stop her Ocean added.

“Nah, Jade here’s great at stopping the bad ponies, right, Jade? She brought down the Aqua Dome single hoofed!” Jade was rounding on the avian equine in a flash.

“I thought I said keep it on the down low, who knows who…” The cyber mare’s words were stopped by the alicorn’s laugh, as she glanced back to see the sniper lower.

“You! You’re the one from the radio?” She jabbed a pearly forehoof at the two of them. “You’re the Ghost?”

“I might be, what of it?” It made her feel all kinds of sick to go with the whole radio ghost story, but as she stiffened, she didn’t see many options. “Proof I can get you a better job, at least?”

The alicorn cocked her head, eyes narrowing as she levitated the sniper back to her flank, the frilly stripper dress really doing her no favors in the intimidation factor.

“Maybe…” She lifted her head in thought, pursing her lips, before glancing back down at Jade like the synthetic mare were a tiny bug. “Maybe you have a deal.”

Urg, what in Equestria did I do to end up in this mess? She mentally asked herself as she pressed a forehoof to her face.

“Hardly even matters if those bastards take all our guns,” she muttered, the alicorn doing her best to peer around her into the garage beyond as she did so, only for her glittery eyes to pop wide.

“They’re what!?” she exclaimed, shoving past Jade and Ocean before the two could stop her, and barging right up to the raiders.

“She’s gonna get us all killed,” Jade muttered, while Ocean added a small apology.

Regardless, in the room beyond, every set of eyes the two of them had been trying to avoid were now fixed on the very obvious alicorn.

“Well, well, well, what is the meaning of this!?” she declared bluntly, stomping a forehoof for good measure as the stunned thieves all dropped what they were doing. “Stealing now is it?”

“H–Heart Breaker… Doll, y–you made it out?” stammered the buck that had ordered the door open moments ago, putting a name to the alicorn as two more bucks whistled slyly at her exposed flanks.

“What, you were expecting me not to make it?” she asked with a frown, her gun still suspended in a crimson aura at her side. “I thought you said you needed me but nooooo, here you are trying to make off with the goods!”

The eyes of everypony, from the ghoul to the mare halfway through hacking the door, all passed between him and Heart Breaker as she pouted like a spoiled filly.

“I–I do… Or… I did,” he added with a wince. “You were a helluva show, Doll, but you know how it is, gigs burnt up, best to move on, cut to a new act.”

“What!?” the alicorn’s suddenly imperious voice took on a deeper, reverberating tone as her magic quivered and her eyes flashed. “What’s that supposed to mean!?”

“It means you’re finished, sunshine,” quipped another of the gang, while the rest started to snicker, the stallion pinned under Heart Breaker’s gaze wincing with a nod.

For as much as Jade had off feelings about her, to see such a glamorous mare mocked and belittled like that stung. A non-pony living in Equestria, she almost knew what it was like. Of course, her sympathy faded seconds later as Heart Breaker shuddered, eyes closed as if her head were pounding. Her magic flared so bright it lit up the room like a flash bang, the fire in the drums around her cast into a storm as with a magical surge, the lead stallion’s head exploded, then his body, as if he’d swallowed a grenade.

“Gah, by the tides!” Ocean yelled from above Jade, but all eyes were on Heart Breaker, dowsed in blood as she swayed.

“What the fuck!?” called one of the thieves, as another ordered Livewire to keep going at the door, and a third exclaimed.

“Light that witch up!” One bullet struck Heart Breaker’s flank in a bloody plume, sending the glamorous mare sprawling before Jade leaped from her cover, tackling the nearest raider.

Ocean took to the air, as Jade pinned her adversary under one metal forehoof, and magically fished for the first weapon she could find. It turned out to be nothing more than a rusty rifle, far less than the well-armed gang members who all had weapons aimed at her.

Oh, pony feathers. Was the only thought to echo through her racing mind as she dropped into S.A.T.S, praying that the meek weapon would be enough. Whatever happened to just sneaking out of this place unseen, with no trouble!?

She lined up the spell as best she could, executing it. Time resumed, and the meager weapon fired seconds before the thieves did. Two of the ponies went down, the ghoul included, yet two more darted aside, narrowly avoiding her shots, while a third had the meager round ping from his plate armor. The same couldn’t be said for Jade as bullets struck her hide, the synthetic protection only getting her so far as she yelped in simulated pain.

Seconds later, Ocean was there, her sharp eyes plucking her weapon from the pile as Jade’s own fixed on the fiery rifle. It lay in the bloody pile of offal Heart Breaker’s magic had reduced the burly stallion holding it to.

Okay, three against one, I got this. She thought as her adversaries reloaded.She kicked the wind out of the stallion pinned under her forehoof, forcing him to curl in on himself like a whimpering dog. Tossing aside her current rusty weapon, she levitated up another firearm, while darting for her own. Thank Luna they didn’t think to empty all these guns too!

Her new weapon proved far more adequate, some kind of rickety assault rifle that at least forced the thieves to leap into the cover of a nearby wagon before it crumpled in Jade’s magic.

The second her rifle ran dry, her attackers returned fire, yet not before one met his end with a blast of Ocean’s shotgun.

“Ocean, see to her!” Jade called, skidding to a halt on the bloody smear the stallion had become, nodding to Heart Breaker.

Part of her wanted nothing more than to just leave the alicorn here and get as far away from this place as she could. Yet another made it clear a deal was a deal, and having a guide who knew as much about the locals as Heart Braker did, didn’t seem like too bad of a thing either.

“Live, you better have that door open!” called one of the thieves as Jade magically scooped up her weapon, hopping into the cover offered by one of the fire barrels as her opponents returned fire.

“Urg, what happened?” Heart Breaker asked, rubbing her forehead. “I… I… I got such a banging headache.”

“You were shot, but don’t worry, I got you!” Ocean cooed, her more motherly side blooming as she spread her armored wings over the downed alicorn to shield her from the bullets. “It just grazed your flank, you’ll be fine.”

As the two conversed, Jade loaded her weapon, glancing left around the barrel as the sound of gunfire stopped, along with the pings of rounds clattering from Ocean’s armored wings.

“You’re saying somepony shot me in the ass, what!?” Heart Breaker exclaimed, sitting up and arching her neck to get a view at what was admittedly, a very pleasant ass. “Those backstabbing bastards, I’ll kill them!”

“Believe me, if you want to make any more of them pop like balloons right now, I’m all for it,” Jade called, lifting her gun to return fire, only for the little Data in her head to yell out for her to stop.

She should have seen it coming, if anything, the fact she didn’t in the heat of the moment proved that she was always as ill-equipped for combat as she’d been told. Her fiery weapon roared, igniting the cover around the thieves as they darted back, as well as the whole mound of confiscated ammunition.

Oh, shit! Her eyes popped wide as the flames engulfed her attackers, the whole wall going up in smoke as she dove and rolled under Ocean’s wings.

“Whatever you do, don’t fold your wings!” she screamed, yet the armored hippogriff had little time to move before the fire washed over her back, and she lurched forward, yelping in alarm as her armor hissed red hot.

Power armor can take fire, right? She asked herself, the little Data in her head going through several mental manuals in search of a definitive answer. At least it solves the issue of getting shot at!

On one hoof it did just that, on the other, the thieving bandits were now replaced with a wall of deadly flames that was rapidly engulfing the room.

“Ouch, that stings,” Ocean muttered, staggering a little, as Heart Breaker rolled onto her front, sweat and weeping makeup marring her brow as she asked drily.

“Did you just fire an incendiary weapon in a room full of ammunition?” The jab forced Jade to wince, pretty glad her suit masked the expression as she snapped back.

“Says the one who just made a pony burst!” Despite the sweat swiftly turning her mane into a weeping mess, and the smoky cough that wracked her voice, Heart Breaker scowled at the synthetic mare.

“It happens from time to time, you try living as an alicorn!” Jade made a note to ask her about just why she was an alicorn later, as she felt her wounded suit grow tight.

The room was swiftly becoming an oven, the smoke rapidly stealing away her vision as the unarmoured alicorn began to cough and wheeze. Jade’s eyes fixed on the door, little more than a rusty shutter crafted from corrugated metal.

If they were trying to get that one open, there must be something on the other side. She reasoned, glancing between the door and her two companions. We can break through a shutter like that, right?

The little Data in her head eyeballed the thing, drew out a measuring tape, then framed the door between her raised forehooves, biting her bottom lip.

Datastream! For a brief second it felt stupid to shout at the mare in her head as if that ghost of her lost lover were really real. Yet seconds later, the imaginary mare tentatively nodded.

“Ocean, help her up,” Jade called to the hippogriff as she lined herself up with the door and scuffed one forehoof at the ground like a bull. “I’m gonna make us an exit.”

One wing over each other’s back, Ocean helped Heart Breaker to her hooves, while the choaking alicorn huffed and wheezed. Jade, meanwhile, charged like a raging minotaur right at the door, her head low and hooves pounding.

I really hope your math is right on this one, Data! She muttered over and over, before finally hitting the door with a reverberating clang of loose metal.

For a second she was terrified she’d merely bounced off. That was before the loose trash cans that had been pressed up against the other side were cast flying, damp papers, and glass cascading down in her wake as she barged out onto the open loading area outside, thick smoke billowing in her wake. Her metallic hooves ground on the cracked asphalt as she pulled herself to a halt just before tumbling into the swampy park pond beyond. Looking back she saw the ragged rent she’d torn in the metal shutter, as Ocean pulled apart an exit big enough for her and Heart Breaker to limp through.

Above, the Love Shack loomed, or at least what was left of it. Like a great pyramid of flame, the structure rose tall, every inch of its rugged flanks alight with a brilliant blaze, while a pillar of smoke miles high towered into the cloudy sky. Below, where they had made their escape, a series of shutters were cut into the hillside the shack sat upon, those to the left of them covered by a landslide. It appeared to have been built atop some kind of old depo, yet now even the tunnels were ablaze as smoke poured from the hole Jade had ripped in the corrugated shutter.

“Okay, let’s have a day or two off before we try something like this again,” Ocean huffed, ripping off her helmet as she gasped for air and staggered to the edge of the pond. “I feel like I’m in a walking oven.”

“At least you can breathe,” Heart Breaker coughed, sitting up as she ruffled her wings and winced. “All those years on that stage… Damn it.”

She pressed a forehoof to her chest as she caught her breath, peering at the inferno like it were some long-lost lover. Jade could see the pain in her eyes, almost understand it, at least until the alicorn glowered at her.

“Do you have any idea what you just cost me!?” Cyber mare or not, to have a pony so tall and as imposing as a princess shoot up and round on her was very intimidating. “My job, my livelihood… Heck, I left my fucking rifle in there!”

“Well, you’d do well to remember that,” Jade retorted levitating her flaming rifle up at the alicorn. “Because now I’m the one with the gun.”

Heart Braker took one look at the incendiary rifle, then back at Jade. A cough escaped her, then staggering on wounded limbs, she started to laugh.

“Well then, robo-bitch, you better just shoot me now,” she declared through her wheezing exertions. “Goddesses know a pony like you ain’t gonna do shit on any deal she’s made.”

That gave the cyber mare pause, and all of a sudden, the rush, the surge of combat thrill she’d dropped into, whether programmed or not, it all fell away. It felt like she’d been hit by another spark weapon, only in the place of her body’s literal weight, the weight of her racing emotions finally caught up with her. She slumped, weapon lowering at her side.

Heart Breaker staggered back, doing all she could to show that her wounded flank wasn’t bothering her, even if her skimpy outfit was stained with crimson. The look in her eyes was odd, as if a mare who always felt as if she knew what to say was lost for words. Finally, Jade sniffed, once again taking a breath that confused her systems beyond measure as she strapped her rifle to her side and shook her head.

“No, I’m not going to go back on a deal,” she stated bluntly, the confession appearing to hit Heart Breaker like a slap to the face.

What, this mare never seen genuine honesty or kindness before? She had to ask herself, as to the alicorn’s left Ocean stood, helmet strapped to her shoulder as she ran a claw through her singed mane.

“You’re serious, aren’t you?” the alicorn asked, as if without the threat of a weapon, she didn’t quite believe it. “You’re not joking?”

“Ehhh, Jade doesn’t really do jokes,” Ocean chimed in with a wince, and the synthetic mare frowned.

“What, I can do jokes!” she exclaimed and despite everything, the hippogriff giggled, pressing a talon to her beak.

“What kind of mare blows up half a town then gets caught up when she’s called out for being bad at jokes?” Heart Breaker asked as she reluctantly leaned against Ocean for support.

“This mare,” Jade declared, jabbing a forehoof at herself. “And for the record, I didn’t come here to make things blow up, those bastards jumped me!”

“Yes, and you didn’t even have the decency to be eliminated quietly,” Heart Breaker mused, glancing at the flames, only to wince as something inside the shack exploded with a loud pop. “The Shrike isn’t gonna be happy with you.”

“Like I told those guys, forgive me if I don’t wanna die,” she huffed, taking a step back as another part of the shack erupted in flames. “And I’m not planning on staying here any longer for them to come find me.”

“First smart thing you’ve said all day,” Heart Breaker mused with a cough as with a huff, Jade marched away from the fire, the others close behind.

Footnote: Level up

New Perk Added: Pyromaniac - This surely goes against all gun safety regulations. You gain +5 points of damage with fire-based weapons.

Chapter Eleven: Wing Leader

Chapter Eleven:

Jade couldn’t imagine that the countless smart, brilliant ponies, engineers, and scientists that had dedicated their lives to craft the body she now inhabited to be the perfect being... Would be all too impressed with her constant fuck ups. Be it deep water, vile fleshy monsters, and now plastic-printing swarms, it didn’t seem she was adept at using her new self at all. Even with all her enhanced strength, she grit her teeth, feeling her synthetic muscles tense tight as she did all she could to try and break her limbs free of her printed cocoon. The waxy gray coat barely shifted, cracking like freshly set concrete as her eyes fixed on the stand-off before her.

“What is the meaning of this, we thought you destroyed!?” hissed the swarm as it coiled back from Ocean like some kind of cornered predator. “Meddling invaders!”

“You killed my wingmates,” Ocean stated sternly, taking a step forward. “Made sure that no one knew I was stuck up here, and now you’re trying to kill the one mare I have left!”

With a lurch, Jade felt one forehoof give, the gray shell cracking like glass as it edged closer to shattering completely. All the while Ocean advanced, careful step after careful step, her metal-clad talons tapping on the concrete floor like knives. The expressionless face of her elegant armor even portrayed a gleam of rage as she hissed.

“Don’t talk to me about things being destroyed!” With a beat of her wings, she was in the air again, shotgun and flaming rifle aimed at the head of the swarm.

The room was filled with the flash of buckshot and flames as she opened fire, yet not to be struck twice, the swarm melted away, splitting around the cone of fire, and surging up either side of her in two widening coils. Ocean darted left, yet in the confined space, she had few options to dodge as the two tentacles converged on each other, their tips hardening into gray fists of printed material. They shoved her back, seeing her weapons were sent flying from her grip as she grunted.

“Come on, come on, give out, you stupid son of a mule!” Jade growled at the tight bounds around her limbs as her left foreleg, pinned upright to her body, shuddered, the cocoon splitting with a spider web of cracks and dust. “Damn it, Data, I thought you said this thing was strong!”

A little blue mare in Jade’s head sat down with folded forelegs, huffing in discontent. At least once she was done marveling at Ocean’s new armor.

Yes, yes, we can think about how she ended up like that later! Right now, getting free is really high on my to-do list! She felt crazy for thinking she were not the sole entity in her mind, but as Ocean was slammed back against the wall, she hardly felt there was time to argue. Come on, you stubborn mule!

“Invader, defiler!” hissed the swarm as it started to encase Ocean just as it had done Jade. “This was not made for you!”

As if trying to strip the armor from her plate by plate, coils wove and wound their way over her pinned limbs. The thing appeared to delight in it, like a psychotic filly plucking the legs from a helpless insect as Ocean kicked back and flared one wing. She muttered something, as if there were somepony other than her attacker to talk to. Yet in her effort to break free, Jade hardly caught it, instead, she inwardly cheered as her left foreleg finally broke free in a shattering cascade of plastic.

“Haha, yes!” She immediately set the free limb to work, thumping on the cast that encased her opposite foreleg as she did all she could to wiggle her chest and shoulders free, snapping the cast around her neck with a hard crack.

“You know, for a computer…” Ocean gasped, breath reverberating from her grated helmet as her head was pinned to the wall. “Even I think you talk too much!”

The silver pinions on her one free wing glowed a bright blue, crackling with sparks of lightning as she furled the thing over her front. Like razor blades the sharp feathers sliced through the coiling tendril of sprites, seeming to both sever and short out a great many of them as they trailed to the floor in plumes of black dust. With a hiss like a wounded dragon, the swarm recoiled, dropping Ocean to the floor with a heavy clang, as waxy plastic slopped from her armor.

“Ha, it worked,” she muttered, yet seemingly to herself as she lifted a foreclaw to her neck, coughing a little.

Who’s she talking to? Jade felt the inquisitive nagging of the blue pony in her head, yet dismissed it. Curiosity later, survival now, please!

With a sound like falling pottery, the cast wrapped around her right foreleg shattered, allowing her to shrug off the cocoon down to her waist. That just left her flanks and hind legs stuck in the virtual tree stump of thick, plastic bile. She kicked and shoved at the stuff, yet she could barely feel her hind legs, let alone move them. All the while, Ocean staggered to her feet, armor whirring as the swarm coiled about the central spire and reformed into a huge, avian predator.

“We will not let you use us!” it roared, as Ocean flared her wings, seemingly searching for her dropped weapons.

Jade took one glance down and saw that her shotgun, at least, had landed only a foot from the base of her prison, trapped under a wad of gray bile. Right as Ocean apparently saw it too, as did the swarming mass. There was an awkward, tense second of silence as the three looked at each other, before Ocean was the first to make a move.

“Nooo!” hissed the swarm, as the hippogriff dove for the weapon, while Jade did all she could to heave it free of the plastic with her magic.

Stuck upright, she felt an odd sympathy for a tree rooted to the ground as she struggled to bend her midriff. Yet the second Ocean’s foreclaw tapped the weapon, she darted back, ensuring the plastic fist that had been poised to strike her only struck the floor with a wet squelch. She hopped back, floundering a little as she still seemed far less adept at using the armor than the ponies Jade was used to seeing. Yet what she did succeed in doing was shoving the gun free enough for Jade to finally grasp it.

“Hey, too slow!” Ocean mocked as she took a step back, scooping up the second of her weapons with her tail.

In her fluster, Jade missed the discarded rifle, but whatever servos were over Ocean’s eyes had not, and sure enough, the hippogriff took to the air and leveled the weapon at the swarm. She opened fire, drawing all of the ravenous limbs off Jade as the synthetic mare snatched the shotgun in her magic. Flames spurted over the monster, causing it to squirm and wither like an eel out of water, lumps of melted plastic and dead sprites dribbling from its wounded hide. All the while Jade aimed the shotgun down at her plastic prison.

This really feels like a bad idea. She thought, yet a little blue mare in her head told her she could take it, right as Ocean was swatted back against another wall. Just aim low and outward, repair talismans can handle any stray shrapnel.

Using her E.F.S, she made sure to aim as far from her cocooned limbs as she could while still shattering the majority of the stuff, then closed her eyes and pulled the trigger. In a flash the shell shattered, a second shot blasting it apart in a spray of gray shards and dust, as she tumbled free, landing face-first on the concrete.

“Ouch,” she huffed, rubbery cheek pressed to the hard floor as the tiny Data in her head sat back, folded her forelegs, and offered a firm nod of approval.

Jade had no idea if her former marefriend would be happier with her crafty escape or the fact her butt was stuck up in the air to ogle as she shook herself and staggered to her hooves. Meanwhile, Ocean was backed into a corner as the tendrils flared out, morphing thick shields of plastic at their tips to hold off the fire, while driving the flames back to cook the hippogriff within her armor.

I thought you were in a rush? Mused the little mare in Jade’s head as she glanced between the pinned Ocean, and the central spire.

The beast distracted, she aimed her weapon at the core, charging. Yet seconds before she could take her first shot a coil once more wrapped around the shotgun, stealing it from her magical grasp as another coiled back and grasped around her middle, slamming her down at the base of the pillar.

“Aww, come on!” she roared, both she and the internal Data angered in unison as another coil appeared above her, hollowing out into a new rotating tunnel of serrated blades and teeth.

“We tire of this, your efforts are futile!” it hissed, as Jade reached up and grappled the nearest thing she could, the base of the core. “You cannot best us, submit!”

“No, but I can do this!” she declared, ripping out as many wires and chords from the base of the pillar as she could.

Just as when she’d shot it the first time, the whole swarm shuddered and spasmed, sprites popping like miniature spark cells as the thing heaved back. In the same motion, the walls of plastic hemming in Ocean dissolved, and with a beat of her wings, the hippogriff cast the fire back at the hive of machines.

“No, no, no!” the beast roared, coalescing into an avian form right before Jade. “Just submit and die!”

“One thing you need to learn about ponies!” Jade challenged as the thing swung for her with a plastic-encased talon. “We tend not to work how you’d like us to!”

She rolled aside, seeing the downward momentum of the talon carry it right into the bundle of wires she’d wrenched from the system. The sharpened gray coating sliced the things like butter, before lodging deep in the core as a surge of crackling electricity erupted outward, radiating over the creature’s avian avatar. It shuddered and screeched, as terminals around the room shattered and popped in puffs of smoke.

“Noooo!” it hissed, voice lost to binary static as the whole thing began to melt, and the core went dark. “We will not…”

The thing’s last calls of anguish were cut off as Ocean landed atop the melting puddle of sprites with a hard thud, shoving her claw into the concrete for good measure. It writhed and squirmed under her talon like a dying spider, at least until she leaped up and squashed it under all four legs, then took a step back and smacked it a few more times with her left talon for good measure.

“Okay, okay, I think you got it,” Jade told her, feeling as if she should be gasping, panting, anything, as she pressed a forehoof to her chest and leaned back. “By Luna, fuck this place.”

Yet as if somepony had flicked a switch in Ocean’s brain, the hippogriff went from baleful avenger, to bubbly goddess as she looked up and lunged at Jade with her armored limbs spread wide.

“Jade, oh by the seas, you’re alive!” beamed the hippogriff, as Jade felt just what it was like to be hugged tightly by somepony in power armor.

She had a feeling if she’d not been synthetic, Ocean may have accidentally popped her head off like a champagne cork with her affection. As it was, she merely tapped on the giddy hippogriff’s forelegs, feeling her cheeks bulge as she squirmed in the tight grip.

“Okay, Ocean… Too tight…!” she gasped, thankful she didn’t really need to breathe, even if she felt the urge to. “The armor… Crushing me!”

“Oh, right!” Ocean squawked, Jade almost able to imagine her feathers poofing in realization under the silver plates as she dropped Jade with a heavy clang and took a sheepish step back. “Sorry, not quite used to this yet!”

“I hear it’s like that for a lot of ponies their first time in that stuff,” Jade responded, feeling her neck, before she blinked. “Wait a second, where in Luna’s name did you get power armor!?”

Only now, after all the monsters were defeated and she wasn’t about to be digested alive by plastic-spewing swarms did the reality of things return, and so too, did her logical mindset. Hippogriff power armor made no sense, griffin armor sure, that had been made on the regular. But armor for a race that ponykind had little idea even existed. She balked at Ocean, as the hippogriff glanced around, seeming lost as to her own answer, all the while a little blue mare in Jade’s head pulled out a mental chalkboard, drawing out a whole host of calculations and notes.

Why were her kind here in the first place? She thought, pressing a forehoof to her chin. What did the system mean by meddlers?

She studied Ocean up and down before the idea light finally flashed on in her head. This machine could print anything! They came up here looking to arm themselves with power armor!

A small part of her felt the sting of betrayal, yet she was well aware that it was founded upon the ideas of a world two centuries out of date. She had not been a pony herself, she knew somewhat what it was like to envy Equestrian progress. Yet she could hardly place why an empire bound to the sea wanted power armor.

Why not design it for their aquatic forms? She thought, before blinking. Unless they mean to come up here in force?

Yet in the time she’d been lost in thought, Jade had failed to see Ocean perk and glance back, peering back into the broken doors of the corridor she’d seemingly forced open.

“It’s… Complicated… By the seas, I have to get back to him!” the hippogriff declared, taking off into the gloom faster than Jade could blink.

“Wait what, get back to who?” the cyber mare asked, reaching out only to stagger as Ocean vanished. “What happened to you!?”

So many questions were spinning in the mare’s head, yet one spark from the core at her side, and she almost jumped out of her synthetic skin. Both to the amusement and mild disappointment of the little pegasus in her head. If Data had her way, she’d merely used their hooves to beat the core to a wrinkled mess.

And waste a good few hours doing so. Jade thought, telling herself to take a deep breath she didn’t need before moving on after Ocean. Time management was never your strong suit, Data.

She was at least thankful whatever part of Data dwelled within her could not exert herself like X-23, all the blue mare could do was scowl. Even as Jade saw parts of her reflected in the shattered terminal screens around the place. All that ensured was the cyber mare’s even swifter departure from the sparking remnants of the broken core.

For a mare that had never used power armor before, Ocean could really move in the stuff. The plate was elegant and sleek, far more like that of Shadowbolt design than the bulky MoT marks of armor. Yet for as sleek and slender as it was, it almost seemed to blend into the darkness. Jade was sure both of them had some kind of night vision now, and with no lights, it made dodging the few ghouls lingering down here all the easier.

“Ocean, wait, what’s going on, where are you going?” Jade asked, finally reaching out for the hippogriff, gripping her shoulder. “What happened to you?”

“I… I don’t know, you fell… After the last time, I thought you’d died, but I came searching, and then…” The hippogriff shrugged her off. “I just need to get back to him, I promised.”

Sounds like somegriff needs to pull herself together. Part of Jade’s mind sniped, but she shook it off, following her companion. Don’t be like that, she saved my life.

“Like you saved mine?” Jade whirled on the shattered glass of a lab to her left, seeing a blue mare in her reflection for a split second.

“I didn’t… Data…” She squared her jaw and stole her sight from the hallucination. “You’re not real, it’s all in my head.”

“Precisely the point,” mused her dead marefriend’s voice, flying beside her reflection like a ghost, at least until the walls were consumed by more of the plastic hives.

Thankfully the swarming sprites that had once inhabited them were gone. The layer of silver dust on the floor was evidence of that, even if it was thinner here than it had been back towards the core. Still, judging by just how covered some of the walls were, this place had been overrun with the things before their timely intervention. Ocean didn’t seem to care, and Jade could only assume she’d pulled the attention of all the sprites back to the core when the hippogriff had last been trying to come this way.

Coming this way to save my life, need I remind myself? She muttered to herself, only for the tiny image of Data in her head to spit out her tongue like a school filly in protest. All the while X-23 shivered, as if cold, while Ocean marched through a set of double doors that once looked to have been very heavily barricaded.

What use are barricades against a threat like that? She thought, spying more of the tattered biohazard wrapping as the two of them entered a large chamber.

At first glance, it reminded Jade a lot of the labs back in the MoA, the walls were mottled and yellowed, yet she could easily assume they’d once been a clinical white. Chipped tears and cavities were rent in them, revealing more wires and plastic hives, while lights seamlessly integrated into the grated roof flickered and sparked. Chords and wires hung from holes above like the metallic entrails of the decaying structure, while robotic arms and spotlights reached like mechanical spiders to five plinths about the place’s circumference. On each was a pony-sized figure, each in what appeared to be a state of decay.

Yet they were far from biological. The half-melted forms were not alive at all, nor did Jade think they’d ever been. They were almost like ponyquins, half encased in segmental armor, one even appeared to be no more than a set of veins, or a nerve system supported upright only because it was crafted from silvery metal. Above, on rails that ran in rings around the core of the room, were legs, wings, and even bones, all printed from the same plastic. It was a shop for replacement body parts. Jade could only assume this was where the majority of the prosthetics had actually been printed, the armor on the other hoof, seemed like a later edition.

Military taking over peaceful projects? She noted, a fact all too common to her, she wasn’t even sure if this was something she’d offhoofedly signed off on without even thinking. Of course, they’d want to print new suits on demand.

Yet the conjuration engine itself was nothing without the sprites, and with the machines gone, it was utterly dead. A thin layer of dust still lingered on the tile floor, evidence enough of the nanosprites’ presents as the two mares stepped up the squat set of stairs in the room’s center. It was marked by another pillar, only this one was merely half-formed from walls of hissing technology. The base was masked by a flickering set of screens, flashing about errors and power surges. Above, wires and rusty rings connected it to the roof while the center of the thing was a cylindrical shaft of dirty glass, forming a wide tube. In which, encased in a shell of plastic with his head barely free, was a hippogriff. A living hippogriff!

The cocoon of plastic almost filled the whole tube, encasing him like a fly in amber as his eyes, smooshed up against the glass, focused on the two of them. Yet the tight restraint was only half of his issues. Ocean’s claim that not all ghouls were feral had been lost on Jade at the sight of the ferals that had hunted them mere hours ago. Yet the parts of the imprisoned hippogriff, not covered by plastic, were gaunt and withered, his flesh peeling away to reveal faded sinew and muscle.

The soft clicking of Jade’s pipbuck left little doubt as to how he’d ended up that way. Even if the minor radiation was hardly enough to bother her or her power-armored friend, years down here stuck in place would break any pony down, even if the process was agonizingly slow.

He is just as stuck as her, has been all this time. Jade noted, feeling a little disheartened as she regarded Ocean.

His eyes were yellowed, his beak cracked, yet he didn’t appear like he wanted to take a bite out of his fellow hippogriff, in fact, he seemed very glad to see her as she approached.

“Y–you, you’re back, you made it!” he wheezed, voice perforated by harsh coughing. “I knew you could do it!”

“Pfft, it was nothing,” Ocean quipped, waving the idea off with a casual motion of her talons. “You were right, this stuff makes it easy.”

She did a little prance on the spot with her armor, only to stagger and stumble down the ring of steps, sending a tray of lab equipment clattering to the floor.

“Oops, my bad,” she muttered, while Jade could imagine she winced as hard as the imprisoned hippogriff as she finally stepped up to him.

As dry and raspy as his voice was, she could detect a hint of recognition in it. She was good at that. While she’d not seen his color in the aquatic recording, from his face alone she had a feeling who this trapped stranger was.

“You’re Stratus, aren’t you?” she asked simply, and his attention shifted from Ocean to her. “I saw your recording, you’re the leader of Ocean’s wing?”

And the one she was talking to in that fight, I’ll bet. She thought, sure the armor must have some kind of communicator.

“Scout wing Marlin… Yes, I remember,” he muttered, shifting as if trying to salute with a wing, even if it seemed his memory were slipping away as much as his body. “And you are?”

“Jadefire, I worked with the Ministry of Awesome, but that was a long time ago.” She acknowledged his formality with her own, before drooping.

“The surfacer Cult of Rainbows?” he muttered, and she blinked, cocking her head.

“Excuse me, what?” she asked, confusion overcoming her as he looked to be battling to recall what he’d just said.

“It’s what we called those under the one you called Rainbow Dash,” Ocean chipped in, and Jade had to imagine she was offering an odd look under her helmet. “I didn’t know you were part of it?”

“The MoA was not a cult,” Jade deadpanned, while in the back of her mind, the miniature Data giggled. “We just specialized in… Secretive things.”

“And yet you’d find ponies that both worship and loathe your leader,” Stratus coughed. “Or do you not know what became of her?”

What became of Rainbow Dash? Why would I care? She thought, holding only a little discontent for the mare that had forced her to draft ever more specialized ponies. I never even knew the mare, never met her!

“I’d be more interested in knowing how you know?” she countered sharply, jabbing a forehoof at him. “I don’t know where you come from, but what I do know is that you were up here looking to adapt this technology to suit you.”

She jabbed a forehoof at Ocean, and despite the armor, the hippogriff actually flinched a little.

“By the looks of it you succeeded, and I want to know why and how?” she demanded, the part of her trained to maintain security demanding she act upon at least some of her suspicions.

Just because Ocean is good, it hardly means the rest of them aren’t as bad as we used to be. She thought bluntly, but once again, her avian-equine companion shrugged.

“Jade, I told you, I have no idea, it was above my classification,” she reasoned, but Jade’s eyes snapped back to Stratus.

“Maybe, but I doubt it was above his,” she stated, yet despite everything, the imprisoned hippogriff started to chuckle. “W–wait, what’s so funny?”

“You ponies are so funny, so paranoid,” he mused, before trailing off in a fit of coughing. “Long ago our kind fled to the ocean to escape a great evil, it spared us from your war. Yet Seaquestria is strained, the seas are poisoned, and population control can no longer be implemented, we had to expand.”

“So you thought invading our home was the solution?” she asked, only to wince as she remembered this was hardly Equestria anymore.

“An invasion, hardly.” His voice grew soft, despite still boasting the consistency of sandpaper as he added. “A small settlement to start, peaceful, but peace demands at least some security.”

He did his best to nod at Ocean, who looked like she was just as new to this idea. So not everypony is so evil?

She felt herself deflate at the revelation, bitterness seeping away as she sighed.

Why should I stand up for Equestria, they were hardly any better to my kind? She had a feeling maybe the idea to avoid ponies entirely had been the best one, her kind could have just stayed in their mountains, away from the fight.

And die with the rest of the world, it’s not like we had the protection of the whole ocean! She thought with a huff, as her little Data once again did calculations. Still, hardly explains how they knew about all this.

She asked as much, albeit in a far more approachable manner, leaving Stratus lost in thought for a long moment before he stammered.

“You ponies and your paranoia have their uses, trying to hide so much under the sea. Only took one sub to work most of it out.” Once again Jade felt a sinking feeling in her chest, well aware that such practices were common in many operations, scuttling ships to name just a few.

But just one sub, who in Equestria would load up a sub with intel like that? She thought wondering just what else they knew. Seems like something I should know about.

“And that sub was called what, was it a ministry vestal?” she asked with a raised eyebrow, only for him to think and do his best to shake his head.

“No, from what I knew it belonged to a stallion called Lockedheart. Kinda renowned for throwing stuff away, that one,” he told her with a laugh, yet the name made Jade’s heart sink.

That name again… Of all the ponies who’d hide things at the bottom of the ocean. She dreaded to think what would have come to pass if Seaquestria had been on the zebras’ side during the war as she asked.

“And this printing facility, this is all you found out about?” Stratus blinked, then nodded, adding in as casual a manner as Ocean.

“This was my mission, my only mission, all else was above my classification.” Jade fought the urge to face hoof, she understood compartmentalization, but right now it was just infuriating.

“What is it, Jade, what’s wrong?” Ocean asked, as the cyber mare took a step back, rump hitting the floor with a dull thud as she pressed a forehoof to her head.

“Nothing, just that name. Lockedheart and I… We knew each other before the war, I think… He planned for me to wake up like this,” she elaborated, and Ocean cocked her head.

“But you don’t know where he is now?” the hippogriff asked, and Jade rolled her eyes as she added.

“If I had to guess, he’s dead… But I’m still alive so I can’t be sure.” She sighed, pressing her forehooves against her face. “Goddesses, things are such a mess.”

“Aww, don’t worry, I’m sure we can fix that too, once we get you out, you can help, right, Stratus?” Ocean suggested, looking back at the glass cylinder, only for a sad look to pass over her wing leader’s face. “What is it, what’s wrong?”

Jade looked up, her heart dipping again as she picked up on his solemness long before Ocean did.

He’s got to be stuck in there good, maybe fused with the machines for all I know. She thought as the little Data in her head scratched her chin, then nodded once in solemn recognition. Damn it. That’s two hippogriffs I’ve failed.

For as rare as they apparently were, it stung just a little more to see them dropping like flies. Yet not as much as she imagined looking at her wing leader’s sorry eyes was hurting Ocean.

“What do you mean, we can cut you out, the monster’s dead?” Ocean asked, pressing a talon to the glass. “I don’t wanna be the only griff.”

“Ocean, you’re a medical mare. Just look at me, this thing is all the way through me… I… I can feel my mind slipping… No, you have what we came for, it’s on you now,” he admitted, looking at her armor. “You can get back to the others, tell them.”

“I… I can’t, I lost my pearl,” Ocean confessed, the crack of sadness in her voice more than apparent as she sniffed behind the visor. “I’m stuck up here.”

“No, you’re not,” Jade stated firmly as she stepped up beside the hippogriff. “I said I’d get you home and I will, somehow.”

There were no calculations in her head that could tell her how to do that as the tiny Data scribbled on her mental chalkboard and shrugged. Even so, Jade had to imagine that behind the helmet Ocean was at least offering her a look of appreciation, as Stratus finally coughed.

“I’ve been stuck here for nearly seven years… I'm done, but… I was glad I was able to catch you,” he said with a small smile. “And by my authority as wing leader, I hereby grant you the position, Ocean Blaze, as the sole remaining griff.”

“Acknowledged, sir, thank you, sir,” Ocean said, her head drooping with a creek of armored plates.

“And what about you?” Jade asked as the hippogriff mare took a step back. “We were going to head out onto the highway above, but if you just tell us what to do here…” She was cut off by a cough as Stratus added.

“There’s a service escape a few doors down the left corridor out of here. It was our exit, but with the machines gone it should be open.” He nodded left, then ahead, to a console behind the two mares. “Over there’s a purge, was made to disintegrate anything in the template chamber if the thing ever got clogged.”

Jade didn’t even need to think what the template chamber was as she glanced back and caught the faded red switch, nodding.

“No, I’ll do it,” Ocean said, stopping the cyber mare as she lifted a talon. “You just check our escape, I’ll be right behind you.”

Jade didn’t think it was her place to challenge the hippogriff mare’s decision as she nodded and made her way to the door.

“For what it’s worth, “she said as she paused in the doorway and glanced back. “I’m sorry we had to make so many horrible things.”

She didn’t say a word more, nor wait for their reply as she stepped out, naught behind her but a vibrant green flash of disintegration, before gloom once again flooded the dead halls.

Footnote: Level up

Ocean Blaze - Companion Perk Added: Shotgun Surgeon - When using shotguns, regardless of ammunition used, you ignore an additional 10 points of a target's damage threshold