Fallout: Equestria - Most Dangerous Game

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